As COPE contributors you know better than anyone that we have to fight to make sure
that our laws and our lawmakers have our backs. Powerful, greedy, anti-worker
forces are trying to rig the system against our families and our
communities. COPE is how we fight. And when we fight, we win!
Incumbent
candidates who are labor champions, are joining at a series of SEIU
California, One Voice endorsement process, member engagement events. We
enthusiastically invite you to attend this COPE-member-only events!
SEIU COPE members and Assembly Member Miguel Santiago
Monday,
September 25, 5:00 PM State Senator Robert Hertzberg (SD 18) SEIU 99
8363 Reseda Blvd Suite #6
Northridge, CA 91324
Monday,
September 28, 6:00 PM State Senator Holly Mitchell (SD 30) SEIU 721
1545 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Friday,
September 29, 12:30 PM Representative Norma Torres (CD 35)
SEIU 121RN
1040 Lincoln Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91103
Friday,
September 29, 1:00 PM Representative Julia Brownley (CD 26)
SEIU 721
2472 Eastman Ave #30
Ventura, CA 93003
INCONVENIENT TRUTH brought climate change into the heart of popular culture. The follow-up shows just how close we are to a real energy
revolution. Former Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight
traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and
influencing international climate policy.
Critics Reviews
The New York Times
Al Gore, in
“Sequel,” takes on the air of a Shakespearean figure, a man long cast out of
power by what he casually refers to as “the Supreme Court decision” (meaning
Bush v. Gore) but still making the same arguments that have been hallmarks of
his career.
If there is a
thesis in this new documentary, is that a rise in extreme weather is making the
impact of climate change harder to deny.
“The dots are
seldom connected in the media,” Gore says at one point, but events like these
are symptoms of global warming.
The sequel delves
deeper into the arcane details of compromise than its predecessor, with scenes
of Mr. Gore working to find a middle ground between the needs of developed and
developing nations.
The movie has been
updated since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival to include Mr. Trump’s
announcement of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, a
decision that probably forecasts another sequel.
Rolling Stones: Al Gore Returns to Save the World, One Lecture at a
Time
Gore meant the new film as a celebration of the
progress we've made in eco-awareness since the first film, and the cut of Sequel
that was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January preceded Trump pulling
the U.S. out of the Paris Accords on climate change. So the doc was re-edited
to include reference to what Gore calls Trump's "reckless and indefensible
action. If President Trump won't lead, the American people will."
His latest cinematic salvo in the fight to save our
world certainly makes a persuasive argument in its depiction of eco-disasters,
such as soaring temperatures, rising sea levels, a shrinking glacier in
Greenland and flooded streets in Miami.
The public will realize that pollution isn't
politics – it's an urgent issue of global survival.
Gore recalls how the first film was roundly mocked
for suggesting that storm surges could flood the 9/11 memorial site in Lower
Manhattan – and as footage here shows, that's exactly what happened during
Hurricane Sandy. Eco-deniers will continue to throw stones, and for those with
no intention of joining the choir that An Inconvenient Sequel is
preaching to, Gore offers a simple alternative: Don't go to the movies. Just
look at the world around you.
For decades, there have been reports of toxic contamination from the Exide
battery recycling plant in Vernon: leaks of toxic chemicals, including arsenic;
emission of so much lead that children were warned not to play in their yards.
Finally, after the threat of federal prosecution, Exide has been shut down —
with promises of demolition and cleanup. That's not due to action by the State
Department of Toxic Substances Control, which allowed Exide to operate without a
permit for more than 20 years. It took the threat of federal criminal
prosecution.
Department of Toxic Substances Control statement:
Our commitment
is to protect the health of the community by ensuring that Exide properly and
safely closes its Vernon facility and cleans up contamination in the
surrounding neighborhoods. We began the process of denying the
company's permit application and shutting down the facility. And we will use
every tool at our disposal to ensure that Exide meets its obligations going
forward.
Exide Advisory Group
The
California Department of Toxic Substances Control(DTSC) and the South Coast Air
Quality Management District (AQMD) have joined together to create and support
an advisory group for the Exide Technologies project in Vernon.
The purpose
of this advisory group is to create a forum for the diverse interests of the
community to discuss their needs and concerns related to the oversight of
closure and cleanup work on and around the Exide facility. It creates the
opportunity for community interests to be considered early on by the oversight
agencies, and keep the community informed about data, plans and work throughout
the cleanup process.
How
does the advisory group fit in with other elements of public outreach?
• Advisory
group meetings are one of a variety of public outreach methods that will be
used to engage the community. They enhance, increase and complement the
opportunities for the public to provide input, and do not replace other
outreach such as public meetings, workshops, and open houses. All other
outreach activities will be continued. Advisory group meetings are open to the
public, and will be announced publicly. Each agenda will have an opportunity
for members of the public to speak. ·Each meeting will
have a purpose and agenda. Because the meetings are open to the public a
Spanish translator will be provided. • There
will be an opportunity for public comment at the end of each meeting. • At each
meeting the advisory committee will review action items from the prior
meetings, present or update advisory group members on the progress of the work,
discuss upcoming work, review and discuss new information. • Each
meeting will include time for the discussion of upcoming agendas.
Excerpt of Jay Inslee’s, Governor
of Washington, article that appears on the Huffington Post to bring awareness
on climate change.
As the hurricanes and forest fires
rage, we know there are no Republicans or Democrats in lifeboats, only
survivors. Where are climate change deniers supposed to go?
Climate
change deniers are running out of places to hide ― places to hide from
hurricanes, places to hide from forest fires, and places to hide from
scientific truth. Yet this did not stop Donald Trump’s administrator of
the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, from taking time to
proclaim: “To have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm
vs. helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm, is
misplaced.”
For
the Trump administration, talking about climate change is always
“misplaced.” The fact is that climate change is altering our climate, our
weather and our future. These changes leave us precious little time in the
future when climate change is not inflicting pain on someone, somewhere.
The current administration never wants to
address either the science, or the public health, or the economics of climate
change. They can run, but they cannot hide from Mother Nature.
Now is the time for a national commitment,
when the winds are blowing and fires are burning. What we’re starting to
see is beyond the normal bounds of mere weather changes.
The
floods and fires are not a time just for sorrow; they must be a time for
action. We must seize this moment to help the victims, and we must seize
this moment to take action on climate change.
For
the complete article please click on the link below:
