truthout--2020-04-22--Trump Puts For-Profit Insurer in Charge of COVID-19 Hospital Funds

Watchdog groups and healthcare advocates are raising serious concerns about conflicts of interest and corporate profiteering after the Trump White House tapped UnitedHealth Group — the largest private health insurer in the U.S. — to help distribute billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to hospitals struggling to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic .
The Trump administration earlier this month awarded UnitedHealth with a contract to “ expedite ” hospital relief money authorized under the CARES Act , a massive stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law last month .
Politico reported over the weekend that the White House ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the large sum of taxpayer funds “ surprised many in healthcare , including employees at the Department of Health and Human Services who had assumed that HHS would administer the program itself.
” One HHS official told Politico that “ UnitedHealth was picked because it was better positioned and more cost-effective to get the money out the door more quickly than other options that we considered.
” Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington ( CREW ) , a government watchdog group , said Tuesday that the Trump administration ’ s deal with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ In a rush to respond to the pandemic , we can ’ t let ethics issues go unaddressed while taxpayer dollars go out the door.
” Stephen Parente , a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers , is one of the officials tasked with managing the hospital relief funds .
As Politico noted , Parente has financial ties to UnitedHealth .
“ As a Minnesota-based health economist before joining the Trump administration , Parente served as a consultant to companies including UnitedHealth , which has also backed some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported .
“ Five months after President Donald Trump nominated Parente to an HHS post overseeing health insurers in 2017 , UnitedHealth donated a $ 1.2 million multi-year grant to a small research center that Parente directed and helped found at the University of Minnesota.
” “ After the White House withdrew Parente ’ s nomination in the face of congressional concerns about his relationships with the healthcare industry — and UnitedHealth in particular — and omissions about finances that Parente had made on his financial disclosure form , the president appointed him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not require confirmation , ” Politico added .
Wendell Potter , a former insurance executive turned Medicare for All advocate , tweeted late Tuesday that “ nothing my old industry does shocks me — but this is close.
” Potter said he has “ never heard of anything like this ” and warned that the involvement of UnitedHealth raises serious alarm bells , despite the company ’ s vow not to profit from the arrangement .
“ UHC execs are canceling contracts with doctors and raking in millions , during a pandemic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Trump admin is having them manage a multi-billion dollar pot of relief aid ?
!
” “ It ’ s time to stop UHC greed , especially during this crisis , ” said Potter , who currently heads the advocacy group Medicare for All NOW .
“ It ’ s simply bizarre and unconscionable that the Trump administration would have United manage billions in relief to hospitals.
” As Common Dreams reported last week , UnitedHealth Group posted a significant increase in profits in the first quarter of 2020 while the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. economy and forced millions off their employer-provided health insurance .
“ Now , ” Potter said Tuesday , “ America ’ s largest health insurer has yet another way to profit off the pandemic .
”

Trump tapped UnitedHealth Group, the largest private health insurer in the U.S., to help distribute funds to hospitals.
Watchdog groups and healthcare advocates are raising serious concerns about conflicts of interest and corporate profiteering after the Trump White House tapped UnitedHealth Group — the largest private health insurer in the U.S. — to help distribute billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to hospitals struggling to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Trump administration earlier this month awarded UnitedHealth with a contract to “expedite” hospital relief money authorized under the CARES Act, a massive stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law last month.
Politico reported over the weekend that the White House’s choice to empower UnitedHealth to oversee the large sum of taxpayer funds “surprised many in healthcare, including employees at the Department of Health and Human Services who had assumed that HHS would administer the program itself.”
One HHS official told Politico that “UnitedHealth was picked because it was better positioned and more cost-effective to get the money out the door more quickly than other options that we considered.”
Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group, said Tuesday that the Trump administration’s deal with UnitedHealth “raises serious red flags.”
“In a rush to respond to the pandemic, we can’t let ethics issues go unaddressed while taxpayer dollars go out the door.”
Stephen Parente, a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, is one of the officials tasked with managing the hospital relief funds. As Politico noted, Parente has financial ties to UnitedHealth.
“As a Minnesota-based health economist before joining the Trump administration, Parente served as a consultant to companies including UnitedHealth, which has also backed some of his non-profit activities,” Politico reported. “Five months after President Donald Trump nominated Parente to an HHS post overseeing health insurers in 2017, UnitedHealth donated a $1.2 million multi-year grant to a small research center that Parente directed and helped found at the University of Minnesota.”
“After the White House withdrew Parente’s nomination in the face of congressional concerns about his relationships with the healthcare industry — and UnitedHealth in particular — and omissions about finances that Parente had made on his financial disclosure form, the president appointed him to his current post, which does not require confirmation,” Politico added.
Wendell Potter, a former insurance executive turned Medicare for All advocate, tweeted late Tuesday that “nothing my old industry does shocks me — but this is close.” Potter said he has “never heard of anything like this” and warned that the involvement of UnitedHealth raises serious alarm bells, despite the company’s vow not to profit from the arrangement.
“UHC execs are canceling contracts with doctors and raking in millions, during a pandemic,” Potter wrote. “And now, the Trump admin is having them manage a multi-billion dollar pot of relief aid?!”
“It’s time to stop UHC greed, especially during this crisis,” said Potter, who currently heads the advocacy group Medicare for All NOW. “It’s simply bizarre and unconscionable that the Trump administration would have United manage billions in relief to hospitals.”
I was a health insurance executive for many years. I’ve never heard of anything like this. The U.S. government pays hospitals all the time. Why would they need to pay a third party — a for-profit insurer — to help them do it this time? (3/7) — Wendell Potter (@wendellpotter) April 22, 2020
As Common Dreams reported last week, UnitedHealth Group posted a significant increase in profits in the first quarter of 2020 while the deadly coronavirus pandemic ravaged much of the U.S. economy and forced millions off their employer-provided health insurance.
“Now,” Potter said Tuesday, “America’s largest health insurer has yet another way to profit off the pandemic.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-04-22--Big Insurance Is Propping Up Big Oil. Activists Say It’s Time to Pull the Plug.

In the western world , paying for insurance each month is as ubiquitous a routine as paying for the internet .
Once insurance companies collect monthly premium payments , the industry turns around and invests the pool of money in profitable ventures — many of which are fossil fuel companies .
A new coalition is teaming up to demand Big Insurance cut the lifeline it ’ s providing to the floundering fossil fuel industry .
Back in 2013 , tens of thousands of insurance professionals ranked a set of extreme risks , noting which they predicted would pose the greatest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whole .
“ Pandemic ” came in first , followed by “ natural catastrophe.
” Seven years later , two-mile-wide tornadoes and looming megadrought set the backdrop for the coronavirus pandemic .
Our current circumstances are no surprise to the insurance industry , according to Elana Sulakshana , the Rainforest Action Network ’ s energy finance campaign director .
“ They have the most sophisticated models .
And they ’ re making business decisions to account for that , ” she tells Truthout , in reference to a flurry of nonrenewal notices insurance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in high-risk fire zones — policies that companies deem “ bad business ” because they carry a high likelihood of needing to be paid out .
With oil prices having turned negative , some fossil fuel executives appear to be coming to terms with how the fossil fuel industry has just about hit rock bottom .
As Scott Sheffield , the CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources told the Texas Railroad Commission in April , “ No one wants to give us capital because we have all destroyed capital and created economic waste , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet the insurance industry — which props up the fossil fuel industry with hundreds of billions of dollars in coal , oil and electric utility stock — appears to be in denial .
As companies cancel individual policies in vulnerable areas where global warming has heightened the incidence of fires and floods , the industry continues to cover new oil pipelines , including the Trans Mountain pipeline , which remains under construction amid the COVID-19 pandemic , thereby increasing risk to workers and Indigenous communities nearby .
In addition to posing a threat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ main source of drinking water , three First Nations chiefs wrote in a statement , the pipeline is projected to elevate oil tanker traffic sevenfold , raising the likelihood of a coastal oil spill and the collapse of salmon stock .
Ongoing construction means that temporary “ man camps ” already notorious for abuses and disappearances of Indigenous women now pose the dual threat of infected workers bringing in disease .
“ The level of hypocrisy is astounding , ” says Sherry Pollack , the co-founder of 350 Hawaii .
On April 23 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ event paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day , Pollack and Sulakshana , along with a coalition of over 90 groups called Stop the Money Pipeline , will ramp up efforts to urge insurance companies to pull out of the fossil fuel industry for good .
The online protests and digital actions will target Liberty Mutual specifically , which has at least $ 8.9 billion invested in the fossil fuel industry .
Activists will also target the largest asset management companies — BlackRock , Vanguard and State Street — demanding that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of JPMorgan Chase .
Raymond has been on the board for 33 years , is the former CEO of ExxonMobil , the former chair of the American Petroleum Institute , and is an avid climate change denier .
When activists wage selfie storms and mass calls , they will ask Liberty Mutual to rule out insuring all future tar sands projects , including Enbridge ’ s Line 3 pipeline , and to drop insurance policies for the Keystone XL and Trans Mountain pipelines .
They ’ ll also pressure Liberty Mutual to reinvest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stop the Money Pipeline have chosen the company as a target for a slew of reasons .
Liberty Mutual continues to advertise on Fox News , even as the channel fuels climate change and coronavirus denial .
And at the company ’ s annual policyholders ’ meeting on April 8 , Liberty Mutual executives failed to respond to customer concerns over climate that dozens of policy holders submitted in writing ahead of time , and closed down the meeting after six minutes .
Liberty Mutual did not respond to Truthout ’ s request @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time .
Perhaps one reason Big Insurance , including Liberty Mutual , has flown under the radar in supporting fossil fuel companies for so long , is that to an unsuspecting policyholder , it ’ s counterintuitive that the “ experts in risk ” would turn around and invest in the riskiest business .
In addition to investing customers ’ premium payments into fossil fuel stocks , insurance companies underwrite coal mining and replacing natural gas pipelines .
There ’ s simply too much liability associated with fossil fuel infrastructure projects for companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rise in climate lawsuits , Sulakshana explains , executives rely on additional policies to cover their backs in case they are sued as individuals .
“ If the insurance industry tomorrow said , we ’ re not going to cover any projects or officers in the fossil fuel industry , that could halt the [ fossil fuel ] industry overnight , ” she says .
Sulakshana thinks there ’ s a good chance Liberty Mutual will budge .
Back in December 2019 , following in-person protests that fall , the company hired @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chief sustainability officer , and announced it would restrict some coal insurance .
“ They have a long way to go to meet the urgency of the crisis , but it certainly showed that they are listening and paying attention to what we are doing , ” Sulakshana said .
The campaign has begun to attract insurance industry workers , as well as those training to work in the industry , who could be key to the campaign , given that the industry is facing a mounting worker shortage .
As Schuyler Holder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , just months shy of graduating from college , “ I want to build a career with a company that is taking responsibility for its role in this crisis .
Not one that is insuring drilling in the Arctic , or making payouts to an oil company for a spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
” Given that the industry is counting on an influx of young talent to fill hundreds of thousands of jobs as baby boomers retire , the op-ed continued , now is the time to reform business practices that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s take our seat at the table , ” Holder wrote , linking to a petition signed by hundreds of new and future insurance professionals .
Providing insurance to a pipeline company is often a collaborative affair .
According to a certificate of insurance signed on March 21 , 2019 , a company called Zurich Insurance Ltd. covered the Trans Mountain pipeline up to about $ 10 million in damage .
In the event of a major accident costing more than that , two other companies by the names of Lloyd ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in to cover the next $ 25 million in damage .
And so on and so forth .
Liberty Mutual is listed as one of the companies providing the eighth “ layer ” of protection .
“ If they move ” Sulakshana explains , “ other companies will move.
” Many of the other insurers do not offer individual policies , and are not as recognizable as Liberty Mutual , which in 2018 spent $ 263 million on advertisements for car insurance .
“ We want to ensure that when people think of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pipelines they ’ re insuring , the coal companies they ’ re insuring , the Indigenous rights abuses that they ’ re complicit in , ” Sulakshana says .
“ Instead of increasing our risks , ” Pollack concludes , “ they can be helping us transition to the renewable energy future we need.
” This story is a part of Covering Climate Now ’ s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions , to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day .
Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

Part of the Series Covering Climate Now
This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
In the western world, paying for insurance each month is as ubiquitous a routine as paying for the internet. Once insurance companies collect monthly premium payments, the industry turns around and invests the pool of money in profitable ventures — many of which are fossil fuel companies. A new coalition is teaming up to demand Big Insurance cut the lifeline it’s providing to the floundering fossil fuel industry.
Back in 2013, tens of thousands of insurance professionals ranked a set of extreme risks, noting which they predicted would pose the greatest threat to the insurance industry as a whole. “Pandemic” came in first, followed by “natural catastrophe.”
Seven years later, two-mile-wide tornadoes and looming megadrought set the backdrop for the coronavirus pandemic. Our current circumstances are no surprise to the insurance industry, according to Elana Sulakshana, energy finance campaigner at Rainforest Action Network. “They have the most sophisticated models. And they’re making business decisions to account for that,” she tells Truthout, in reference to a flurry of nonrenewal notices insurance companies have sent to California residents living in high-risk fire zones — policies that companies deem “bad business” because they carry a high likelihood of needing to be paid out.
With oil prices having turned negative, some fossil fuel executives appear to be coming to terms with how the fossil fuel industry has just about hit rock bottom. As Scott Sheffield, the CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources told the Texas Railroad Commission in April, “No one wants to give us capital because we have all destroyed capital and created economic waste,” the Texas Tribune reported.
And yet the insurance industry — which props up the fossil fuel industry with hundreds of billions of dollars in coal, oil and electric utility stock — appears to be in denial. As companies cancel individual policies in vulnerable areas where global warming has heightened the incidence of fires and floods, the industry continues to cover new oil pipelines, including the Trans Mountain pipeline, which remains under construction amid the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby increasing risk to workers and Indigenous communities nearby. In addition to posing a threat to the Coldwater Indian Band’s main source of drinking water, three First Nations chiefs wrote in a statement, the pipeline is projected to elevate oil tanker traffic sevenfold, raising the likelihood of a coastal oil spill and the collapse of salmon stock. Ongoing construction means that temporary “man camps” already notorious for abuses and disappearances of Indigenous women now pose the dual threat of infected workers bringing in disease. “The level of hypocrisy is astounding,” says Sherry Pollack, the co-founder of 350 Hawaii.
On April 23, as part of a three-day online event paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Pollack and Sulakshana, along with a coalition of over 90 groups called Stop the Money Pipeline, will ramp up efforts to urge insurance companies to pull out of the fossil fuel industry for good. The online protests and digital actions will target Liberty Mutual specifically, which has at least $8.9 billion invested in the fossil fuel industry. Activists will also target the largest asset management companies — BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street — demanding that they drop Lee Raymond from the board of JPMorgan Chase. Raymond has been on the board for 33 years, is the former CEO of ExxonMobil, the former chair of the American Petroleum Institute, and is an avid climate change denier.
When activists wage selfie storms and mass calls, they will ask Liberty Mutual to rule out insuring all future tar sands projects, including Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline, and to drop insurance policies for the Keystone XL and Trans Mountain pipelines. They’ll also pressure Liberty Mutual to reinvest in clean energy companies. Activists with Stop the Money Pipeline have chosen the company as a target for a slew of reasons. Liberty Mutual continues to advertise on Fox News, even as the channel fuels climate change and coronavirus denial. And at the company’s annual policyholders’ meeting on April 8, Liberty Mutual executives failed to respond to customer concerns over climate that dozens of policy holders submitted in writing ahead of time, and closed down the meeting after six minutes. Liberty Mutual did not respond to Truthout’s request for comment on this situation by press time.
The insurance industry continues to cover new oil pipelines, including the Trans Mountain pipeline, which remains under construction amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps one reason Big Insurance, including Liberty Mutual, has flown under the radar in supporting fossil fuel companies for so long, is that to an unsuspecting policyholder, it’s counterintuitive that the “experts in risk” would turn around and invest in the riskiest business. In addition to investing customers’ premium payments into fossil fuel stocks, insurance companies underwrite coal mining and replacing natural gas pipelines. There’s simply too much liability associated with fossil fuel infrastructure projects for companies to proceed without insurance. And given the rise in climate lawsuits, Sulakshana explains, executives rely on policies to cover their backs in case they are sued. “If the insurance industry tomorrow said, we’re not going to cover any projects or officers in the fossil fuel industry, that could halt the [fossil fuel] industry overnight,” she says.
Sulakshana thinks there’s a good chance Liberty Mutual will budge. Back in December 2019, following in-person protests that fall, the company hired Francis Hyatt for a new role as chief sustainability officer, and announced it would restrict some coal insurance. “They have a long way to go to meet the urgency of the crisis, but it certainly showed that they are listening and paying attention to what we are doing,” Sulakshana said.
The campaign has begun to attract insurance industry workers, as well as those training to work in the industry, who could be key to the campaign, given that the industry is facing a mounting worker shortage. As Schuyler Holder wrote in Teen Vogue in October 2019, just months shy of graduating from college, “I want to build a career with a company that is taking responsibility for its role in this crisis. Not one that is insuring drilling in the Arctic, or making payouts to an oil company for a spill in the Gulf of Mexico.” Given that the industry is counting on an influx of young talent to fill hundreds of thousands of jobs as baby boomers retire, the op-ed continued, now is the time to reform business practices that are driving climate change. “Let’s take our seat at the table,” Holder wrote, linking to a petition signed by hundreds of new and future insurance professionals.
“We want to ensure that when people think of Liberty Mutual, they also think about the pipelines they’re insuring, the coal companies they’re insuring, the Indigenous rights abuses that they’re complicit in.”
Providing insurance to a pipeline company is often a collaborative affair. According to a certificate of insurance signed on March 21, 2019, a company called Zurich Insurance Ltd. covered the Trans Mountain pipeline up to about $10 million in damage. In the event of a major accident costing more than that, two other companies by the names of Lloyd’s and Ironshore Canada Ltd. — a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual — would step in to cover the next $25 million in damage. And so on and so forth. In total, Liberty Mutual contributes to providing three “layers” of protection. “If they move” Sulakshana explains, “other companies will move.”
Many of the other insurers do not offer individual policies, and are not as recognizable as Liberty Mutual, which in 2018 spent $263 million on advertisements for car insurance.
“We want to ensure that when people think of Liberty Mutual, they also think about the pipelines they’re insuring, the coal companies they’re insuring, the Indigenous rights abuses that they’re complicit in,” Sulakshana says. “Instead of increasing our risks,” Pollack concludes, “they can be helping us transition to the renewable energy future we need.”
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now’s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-04-22--This Earth Day, Stop the Money Pipeline

This Earth Day, Stop the Money Pipeline

Nineteen-seventy was a simpler time .
( February was a simpler time too , but for a moment let ’ s think outside the pandemic bubble . )
Simpler because our environmental troubles could be easily seen .
The air above our cities was filthy , and the water in our lakes and streams was gross .
There was nothing subtle about it .
In New York City , the environmental lawyer Albert Butzel described a permanently yellow horizon : “ I not only saw the pollution , I wiped it off my windowsills.
” Or consider the testimony of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ person who spent his life in the Adirondacks has nice pink lungs .
The city dweller ’ s are black as coal.
” You ’ ve likely heard of Cleveland ’ s Cuyahoga River catching fire , but here ’ s how New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller described the Hudson south of Albany : “ one great septic tank that has been rendered nearly useless for water supply , for swimming , or to support the rich fish life that once abounded there.
” Everything that people say about the air and water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said of America ’ s cities then .
It ’ s no wonder that people mobilized : 20 million Americans took to the streets for the first Earth Day in 1970 — 10 percent of America ’ s population at the time , perhaps the single greatest day of political protest in the country ’ s history .
And it worked .
Worked politically because Congress quickly passed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and scientifically because those laws had the desired effect .
In essence , they stuck enough @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and factory effluent pipes that , before long , the air and water were unmistakably cleaner .
The nascent Environmental Protection Agency commissioned a series of photos that showed just how filthy things were .
Even for those of us who were alive then , it ’ s hard to imagine that we tolerated this .
But we should believe it , because now we face even greater challenges that we ’ re doing next to nothing about .
And one reason is you can ’ t see them .
The carbon dioxide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s levels you can ’ t see it or smell it , and it doesn ’ t do anything to you .
Carbon with one oxygen molecule ?
That ’ s what kills you in a closed garage if you leave the car running .
But two oxygen molecules ?
All that does is trap heat in the atmosphere .
Melt ice caps .
Raise seas .
Change weather patterns .
But slowly enough that most of the time , we don ’ t quite see it .
And it ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You can filter carbon monoxide easily .
It ’ s a trace gas , a tiny percentage of what comes from a power plant .
But carbon dioxide is the exact opposite .
It ’ s most of what comes pouring out when you burn coal or gas or oil .
There ’ s no catalytic converter for CO2 , which means you have to take down the fossil fuel industry .
That in turn means you have to take on not just the oil companies but also the banks , asset managers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them ( and may even own them , in the wake of the current economic crash ) .
You have to take on , that is , the heart of global capital .
And so we are .
Stop the Money Pipeline , a coalition of environmental and climate justice groups running from the small and specialized to the Sierra Club and Greenpeace , formed last fall to try to tackle the biggest money on earth .
Banks like Chase — the planet ’ s largest by market capitalization — which has funneled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industry since the Paris Agreement of 2015 .
Insurers like Liberty Mutual , still insuring tar sands projects even as pipeline builders endanger Native communities by trying to build the Keystone XL during a pandemic .
This campaign sounds quixotic , but it seemed to be getting traction until the coronavirus pandemic hit .
In January , BlackRock announced that it was going to put climate at the heart of its investment analyses .
Liberty Mutual , under similar pressure from activists , began to edge away from coal .
And Chase — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ activists engaging in civil disobedience in several thousand bank lobbies across America , sort of like the protest in January that helped launch the campaign ( and sent me , among others , off in handcuffs ) .
But we called that off ; there ’ s no way we were going to risk carrying the microbe into jails , where the people already locked inside have little chance of social distancing .
Still , the pandemic may be causing as much trouble for the fossil fuel industry as our campaign hoped to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it ’ s clear that these companies have no future .
The divestment campaign that , over a decade , has enlisted $ 14 trillion in endowments and portfolios in the climate fight has a new head of steam .
Our job — a more complex one than faced our Earth Day predecessors 50 years ago — is to force the spring .
We need to speed the transition to the solar panels and wind turbines that engineers have worked so mightily to improve and are now the cheapest way to generate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the way is the political power of the fossil fuel companies , on clear display as President Trump does everything in his power to preserve their dominance .
That ’ s hard to overcome .
Hard but simple .
Just as in 1970 , it demands unrelenting pressure from citizens .
That pressure is coming .
Indigenous nations , frontline communities , faith groups , climate scientists , and savvy investors are joining together , and their voices are getting louder .
Seven million of us were in the streets last September .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ but it ’ s on the way .
We can ’ t be on the streets right now .
So we ’ ll do what we can on the boulevards of the Internet .
Join us for Earth Day Live , three days of digital activism beginning April 22 .
We ’ re in a race , and we ’ re gaining fast .
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now ’ s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions , to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day .
Covering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story .

Part of the Series Covering Climate Now
This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Nineteen-seventy was a simpler time. (February was a simpler time too, but for a moment let’s think outside the pandemic bubble.)
Simpler because our environmental troubles could be easily seen. The air above our cities was filthy, and the water in our lakes and streams was gross. There was nothing subtle about it. In New York City, the environmental lawyer Albert Butzel described a permanently yellow horizon: “I not only saw the pollution, I wiped it off my windowsills.” Or consider the testimony of a city medical examiner: “The person who spent his life in the Adirondacks has nice pink lungs. The city dweller’s are black as coal.” You’ve likely heard of Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River catching fire, but here’s how New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller described the Hudson south of Albany: “one great septic tank that has been rendered nearly useless for water supply, for swimming, or to support the rich fish life that once abounded there.” Everything that people say about the air and water in China and India right now was said of America’s cities then.
It’s no wonder that people mobilized: 20 million Americans took to the streets for the first Earth Day in 1970 — 10 percent of America’s population at the time, perhaps the single greatest day of political protest in the country’s history. And it worked. Worked politically because Congress quickly passed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and scientifically because those laws had the desired effect. In essence, they stuck enough filters on smokestacks, car exhausts, and factory effluent pipes that, before long, the air and water were unmistakably cleaner. The nascent Environmental Protection Agency commissioned a series of photos that showed just how filthy things were. Even for those of us who were alive then, it’s hard to imagine that we tolerated this.
But we should believe it, because now we face even greater challenges that we’re doing next to nothing about. And one reason is you can’t see them.
Lambert / Getty Images
The carbon dioxide molecule is invisible; at today’s levels you can’t see it or smell it, and it doesn’t do anything to you. Carbon with one oxygen molecule? That’s what kills you in a closed garage if you leave the car running. But two oxygen molecules? All that does is trap heat in the atmosphere. Melt ice caps. Raise seas. Change weather patterns. But slowly enough that most of the time, we don’t quite see it.
And it’s a more complex moment for another reason. You can filter carbon monoxide easily. It’s a trace gas, a tiny percentage of what comes from a power plant. But carbon dioxide is the exact opposite. It’s most of what comes pouring out when you burn coal or gas or oil. There’s no catalytic converter for CO2, which means you have to take down the fossil fuel industry.
That in turn means you have to take on not just the oil companies but also the banks, asset managers, and insurance companies that invest in them (and may even own them, in the wake of the current economic crash). You have to take on, that is, the heart of global capital.
And so we are. Stop the Money Pipeline, a coalition of environmental and climate justice groups running from the small and specialized to the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, formed last fall to try to tackle the biggest money on earth. Banks like Chase — the planet’s largest by market capitalization — which has funneled a quarter-trillion dollars to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Agreement of 2015. Insurers like Liberty Mutual, still insuring tar sands projects even as pipeline builders endanger Native communities by trying to build the Keystone XL during a pandemic.
This campaign sounds quixotic, but it seemed to be getting traction until the coronavirus pandemic hit. In January, BlackRock announced that it was going to put climate at the heart of its investment analyses. Liberty Mutual, under similar pressure from activists, began to edge away from coal. And Chase — well, Earth Day would have seen activists engaging in civil disobedience in several thousand bank lobbies across America, sort of like the protest in January that helped launch the campaign (and sent me, among others, off in handcuffs). But we called that off; there’s no way we were going to risk carrying the microbe into jails, where the people already locked inside have little chance of social distancing.
Still, the pandemic may be causing as much trouble for the fossil fuel industry as our campaign hoped to. With the demand for oil cratering, it’s clear that these companies have no future. The divestment campaign that, over a decade, has enlisted $14 trillion in endowments and portfolios in the climate fight has a new head of steam.
Our job — a more complex one than faced our Earth Day predecessors 50 years ago — is to force the spring. We need to speed the transition to the solar panels and wind turbines that engineers have worked so mightily to improve and are now the cheapest way to generate power. The only thing standing in the way is the political power of the fossil fuel companies, on clear display as President Trump does everything in his power to preserve their dominance. That’s hard to overcome. Hard but simple. Just as in 1970, it demands unrelenting pressure from citizens. That pressure is coming. Indigenous nations, frontline communities, faith groups, climate scientists, and savvy investors are joining together, and their voices are getting louder. Seven million of us were in the streets last September. That’s not 20 million, but it’s on the way.
We can’t be on the streets right now. So we’ll do what we can on the boulevards of the Internet. Join us for Earth Day Live, three days of digital activism beginning April 22. We’re in a race, and we’re gaining fast.
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now’s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-04-22--Environmental and Labor Groups Team Up to Demand COVID-19 Relief

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the U.S. economy , national environmental organizations are stepping up to support labor unions and frontline workers across the country in their push for personal protective equipment , sick and hazard pay , safe working conditions , and other forms of relief as the crisis intensifies .
The Labor Network for Sustainability ( LNS ) , which partners labor and environmental groups , is facilitating a loose coalition of more than 100 unions and environmental organizations working to pressure the Trump administration to do more to protect frontline workers .
The groups are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Earth Day to May Day to demonstrate the interconnection of climate justice and worker justice .
The coalition sent a letter this month to the White House to demand that the Trump administration immediately provide protective gear not just to hospital workers but also to other kinds of laborers who have proven essential , such as grocery workers and manufacturers who can not work from home .
“ The desperate need for [ personal protective equipment ] goes far beyond healthcare workers , ” the groups wrote .
“ Janitors are deep cleaning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meals to children at home , warehouse and manufacturing workers are making and distributing essential goods , home care providers are caring for the most vulnerable , public service workers are maintaining essential services , bus operators are taking essential workers to their jobs.
” The groups also demanded that the administration deploy the Defense Production Act , which forces companies to manufacture needed supplies , more broadly and aggressively “ to speed immediate production of new protective equipment and ensure it is routed to states for distribution.
” The Pentagon announced on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using its powers under the Defense Production Act to spend $ 133 million on boosting N-95 mask production .
Still , labor leaders argue Trump is not using the law to the extent necessary given the severe lack of protective equipment and ventilators necessary to battle COVID-19 .
The letter was signed by the Service Employees International Union ( SEIU ) , the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA , the American Federation of Teachers , the Amalgamated Transit Union International and UNITE HERE , as well as the Sierra Club , Rainforest Action Network @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Diversity , Sunrise Movement and Fire Drill Fridays , among other labor unions and environmental organizations .
“ We ’ ve worked for a while on really building bridges between the environmental movement and the labor movement , and anyone who is involved in either piece of that knows that there are some challenges there , ” says LNS Organizing Director Lauren Burke .
“ But when the COVID-19 crisis struck , we realized that there was a real opportunity here to focus where it really mattered in building solidarity and fighting for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Labor unions and environmental organizations in the U.S. and around the world began working together more closely in the run-up to last year ’ s series of international , youth-led climate strikes on September 20 , and those ties have only deepened amid the COVID-19 pandemic as environmental organizations have thrown themselves into organizing efforts to support frontline workers , taking direction from union leadership .
Many of the groups held an emotional video conference together in late March in which leaders from major environmental organizations listened to union leaders , including Association @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SEIU 1199 Secretary-Treasurer Maria Castaneda , United Food and Commercial Workers President Faye Guenther and National Nurses United Midwest Director Marti Smith .
Labor leaders detailed their workers ’ needs , and how some are even dying on the front lines of the crisis .
Smith explained the dire situation nurses face as protective equipment continues to dwindle , telling environmental leaders that they could help amplify the particular risks posed to fence-line communities who face higher rates of respiratory illnesses .
Nelson explained how aviation industry unions were able to win direct @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefits in the CARES Act , and how labor originally pushed environmental measures in an initial draft of the relief bill before the measures were stripped out .
“ I think we were poised before this crisis came , to take kind of [ our ] work together to the next level , and in particular , looking at a lot of the financing … particularly around green bonds and stuff like that , ” UNITE HERE Secretary-Treasurer Gwen Mills told environmental leaders , referring to previous campaigns to call out companies ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So that ’ s something we really look forward to working on together , but where we are at the moment [ with COVID-19 ] obviously has sidetracked us.
” The meeting yielded several smaller working groups focused on supporting specific trade union efforts in response to the pandemic as well as uplifting primarily labor demands but also potentially Green New Deal-type policies for the next major legislative relief package .
The conversations around green proposals , however , are still just getting off the ground , says LNS ’ s Burke .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ together in other ways .
More than 830 organizations , including environmental and labor groups , sent a letter to Congress last week calling for the next stimulus package to include a moratorium on electricity , water and broadband utility shutoffs .
The letter also calls for stimulus funds for distributed solar , percentage-of-income water affordability programs and improved broadband connectivity .
The Sierra Club also sent a letter to Congress last week emphasizing the specific policy recommendations that its union allies have called for in the next stimulus package to bridge the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also calling for election reform measures , including mail-in voting .
Meanwhile , the BlueGreen Alliance , another organization focused on bridging the labor and environmental movements , is likewise calling for a set of stimulus packages to put millions of people back to work building a cleaner , more equitable economy based on a robust set of policy priorities , including protecting vulnerable workers , rebuilding the public sector , and investing in infrastructure and domestic manufacturing .
Green groups and labor groups are likewise working together to support today ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Earth Day Live , a three-day livestream hosting training sessions , performances , and appearances by activists , celebrities , politicians and scientists .
Environmental and labor organizers are also hosting educational forums , passing resolutions online and mobilizing across social media today and throughout the eight days leading up to the international day of labor on May 1 .
Another way labor and environmentalists are mobilizing from Earth Day to May Day is by asking union members to conduct climate surveys among their membership , form climate and environmental justice committees within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support unions ’ youth worker committees .
The actions build momentum toward a massive general strike planned for May Day .
LNS Youth Organizer Joshua Dedmond , through his work with the social and economic justice organization Cooperation Jackson , helped to release the first call to action for the May 1 general strike , and told Truthout organizers are working to build a set of demands for the strike that will prove palatable to the broader labor movement , as well as actions such as sickouts or call-ins that essential workers can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being called of labor and environmental groups in this moment is not for uniformity but unity without uniformity — the development of a united front , ” Dedmond says .
“ With all of the demands that are being circulated around a general strike , it ’ s very key that we focus not on necessarily having the same list of demands , but leaning-in to collective action around the various demands that we have.
” Dedmond told Truthout that LNS organizers are also working to establish a Just Transition Listening Project to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the masses of workers who have been laid off amid the COVID-19 crisis , as well as for those who are or will be displaced from the fossil fuel industry amid a dramatic plunge in the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June that fell into deep negative territory this week .
Many oil and gas companies were already nearly bankrupt as the fracking industry continues a historic collapse .
Dedmond says he hopes to take current labor and environmental demands that have come out of recent strikes and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and incorporate those ideas into the project ’ s framework , and hopefully , into a broader emergency Green New Deal proposal .
“ We ’ re covering a wide variety and the full landscape of labor , of labor unions , and we ’ re even interested in investing some time critically with workers ’ centers so we have the fullest analysis of the working class and how to connect all components of labor to the struggle for climate justice , ” Dedmond told Truthout .
President Trump pledged direct financial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after oil futures fell below zero for the first time in history .
The Energy Department has drafted a plan to buy up companies ’ untapped crude reserves as part of an emergency stockpile until prices potentially stabilize — allowing producers to leave these reserves in the ground .
Meanwhile , a Friends of the Earth analysis released last week warns that fossil fuel giants including ExxonMobil , Chevron and Conoco stand to “ reap yet another billion dollar bailout ” if the Federal Reserve moves forward with plans to buy up to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ These moves come as major banks are preparing to take over fossil fuel assets with CARES Act bailout funding .
Such moves , among others , have sparked renewed calls for a “ People ’ s Bailout , ” including an emergency Green New Deal jobs guarantee that echoes the historic New Deal programs that put millions of unemployed workers to work after the Great Depression .
As frontline workers and unions battle the COVID-19 crisis , they are already laying the groundwork for such a measure .
Frontline workers are already calling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beyond the traditional limits of collective bargaining , including mandatory paid sick leave and hazard pay ; debt forgiveness ; suspensions of evictions , rent and mortgage payments ; uncompromised access to food and utilities ; greater child care flexibility on the job ; and emergency funding for schools and hospitals .
Such efforts set the stage for the jobs guarantee program to fund local governments and nonprofits to put those laid off as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic back to work on strengthening the public health sector , supporting online education @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and sick .
Such a program could be expanded and made permanent as part of the broader Green New Deal plan to address the climate crisis .
In fact , such proposals are already gaining momentum .
The People ’ s Bailout has laid out an initial vision for a “ just recovery ” and emergency green stimulus among its five principles to be included in a new stimulus package .
The green stimulus includes “ public investments to rebuild our infrastructure , replace lead pipes , expand wind and solar power , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weatherize our buildings , build and repair public housing , manufacture more clean energy goods , restore our wetlands and forests , expand public services that support climate resilience , and support regenerative agriculture led by family farmers.
” This stimulus would , according to the People ’ s Bailout , “ create millions of good , family-sustaining jobs with high-road labor standards ; counter systemic inequities by directing investments to the working families , communities of color , and Indigenous communities who face the most economic insecurity ; and tackle the climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economy and health.
” A group of climate experts , economists and professors released a letter to Congress in late March detailing what such a green stimulus would actually entail .
The letter calls for a $ 2 trillion stimulus at 4 percent of the gross domestic product that would be renewed annually and contains more than 100 policy recommendations divided into eight categories across housing , transportation , labor , energy systems , food systems , green infrastructure , regulations and foreign policy .
While , the conversation between labor unions and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the next stimulus package is still in its beginning stages , the deep ties of solidarity being forged now will prove crucial in order to move toward proposals like an emergency green stimulus for millions of laid-off workers in the future .
“ The COVID crisis has really shown us that when we ’ re thinking about the transformation we need to have a climate-safe economy in the long run , these are the same things we ’ re talking about , and so it ’ s all just pieces of the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says .
Youth Organizer Dedmond agrees , and says the current crisis is providing important lessons to both the labor and environmental movements regarding the inherent contradictions of capitalism , as well as a moment for both causes to become more cohesive .
“ These groups are using this moment as a lesson and a sign of things to come for how we must move in a more synchronized space and utilize and lean on each other , ” Dedmond told Truthout .
“ It has given a healthy challenge to both labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to build a more sustainable future with the knowledge of the challenges that climate change will bring for us.
” This story is a part of Covering Climate Now ’ s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions , to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day .
Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story .

Nine days of action planned for Earth Day to May Day will highlight the intersections of climate and worker justice.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the U.S. economy, national environmental organizations are stepping up to support labor unions and frontline workers across the country in their push for personal protective equipment, sick and hazard pay, safe working conditions, and other forms of relief as the crisis intensifies.
The Labor Network for Sustainability (LNS), which partners labor and environmental groups, is facilitating a loose coalition of more than 100 unions and environmental organizations working to pressure the Trump administration to do more to protect frontline workers. The groups are also supporting nine days of action from Earth Day to May Day to demonstrate the interconnection of climate justice and worker justice.
The coalition sent a letter this month to the White House to demand that the Trump administration immediately provide protective gear not just to hospital workers but also to other kinds of laborers who have proven essential, such as grocery workers and manufacturers who cannot work from home.
“The desperate need for [personal protective equipment] goes far beyond healthcare workers,” the groups wrote. “Janitors are deep cleaning buildings, teachers’ aides are delivering meals to children at home, warehouse and manufacturing workers are making and distributing essential goods, home care providers are caring for the most vulnerable, public service workers are maintaining essential services, bus operators are taking essential workers to their jobs.”
The groups also demanded that the administration deploy the Defense Production Act, which forces companies to manufacture needed supplies, more broadly and aggressively “to speed immediate production of new protective equipment and ensure it is routed to states for distribution.”
The Pentagon announced on April 11 that the U.S. military is using its powers under the Defense Production Act to spend $133 million on boosting N-95 mask production. Still, labor leaders argue Trump is not using the law to the extent necessary given the severe lack of protective equipment and ventilators necessary to battle COVID-19.
The letter was signed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the American Federation of Teachers, the Amalgamated Transit Union International and UNITE HERE, as well as the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, 350.org, the Center for Biological Diversity, Sunrise Movement and Fire Drill Fridays, among other labor unions and environmental organizations.
“When the COVID-19 crisis struck, we realized that there was a real opportunity here to focus where it really mattered in building solidarity.”
“We’ve worked for a while on really building bridges between the environmental movement and the labor movement, and anyone who is involved in either piece of that knows that there are some challenges there,” says LNS Organizing Director Lauren Burke. “But when the COVID-19 crisis struck, we realized that there was a real opportunity here to focus where it really mattered in building solidarity and fighting for real solutions to the COVID crisis.”
Labor unions and environmental organizations in the U.S. and around the world began working together more closely in the run-up to last year’s series of international, youth-led climate strikes on September 20, and those ties have only deepened amid the COVID-19 pandemic as environmental organizations have thrown themselves into organizing efforts to support frontline workers, taking direction from union leadership.
Many of the groups held an emotional video conference together in late March in which leaders from major environmental organizations listened to union leaders, including Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson, SEIU 1199 Secretary-Treasurer Maria Castaneda, United Food and Commercial Workers President Faye Guenther and National Nurses United Midwest Director Marti Smith.
Labor leaders detailed their workers’ needs, and how some are even dying on the front lines of the crisis. Smith explained the dire situation nurses face as protective equipment continues to dwindle, telling environmental leaders that they could help amplify the particular risks posed to fence-line communities who face higher rates of respiratory illnesses. Nelson explained how aviation industry unions were able to win direct grants to fund airline industry salaries and benefits in the CARES Act, and how labor originally pushed environmental measures in an initial draft of the relief bill before the measures were stripped out.
“I think we were poised before this crisis came, to take kind of [our] work together to the next level, and in particular, looking at a lot of the financing … particularly around green bonds and stuff like that,” UNITE HERE Secretary-Treasurer Gwen Mills told environmental leaders, referring to previous campaigns to call out companies’ corporate financing and greenwashing efforts. “So that’s something we really look forward to working on together, but where we are at the moment [with COVID-19] obviously has sidetracked us.”
The meeting yielded several smaller working groups focused on supporting specific trade union efforts in response to the pandemic as well as uplifting primarily labor demands but also potentially Green New Deal-type policies for the next major legislative relief package. The conversations around green proposals, however, are still just getting off the ground, says LNS’s Burke.
Labor and environmental advocates are also working together in other ways. More than 830 organizations, including environmental and labor groups, sent a letter to Congress last week calling for the next stimulus package to include a moratorium on electricity, water and broadband utility shutoffs. The letter also calls for stimulus funds for distributed solar, percentage-of-income water affordability programs and improved broadband connectivity.
“What is being called of labor and environmental groups in this moment is not for uniformity but unity without uniformity — the development of a united front.”
The Sierra Club also sent a letter to Congress last week emphasizing the specific policy recommendations that its union allies have called for in the next stimulus package to bridge the gaps in health and economic protections while also calling for election reform measures, including mail-in voting.
Meanwhile, the BlueGreen Alliance, another organization focused on bridging the labor and environmental movements, is likewise calling for a set of stimulus packages to put millions of people back to work building a cleaner, more equitable economy based on a robust set of policy priorities, including protecting vulnerable workers, rebuilding the public sector, and investing in infrastructure and domestic manufacturing.
Green groups and labor groups are likewise working together to support this week’s virtual Earth Day youth climate strike, Earth Day Live, a three-day livestream hosting training sessions, performances, and appearances by activists, celebrities, politicians and scientists. Environmental and labor organizers are also hosting educational forums, passing resolutions online and mobilizing across social media this week and throughout the eight days leading up to the international day of labor on May 1.
Another way labor and environmentalists are mobilizing from Earth Day to May Day is by asking union members to conduct climate surveys among their membership, form climate and environmental justice committees within their unions and labor councils, and support unions’ youth worker committees.
The actions build momentum toward a massive general strike planned for May Day. LNS Youth Organizer Joshua Dedmond, through his work with the social and economic justice organization Cooperation Jackson, helped to release the first call to action for the May 1 general strike, and told Truthout organizers are working to build a set of demands for the strike that will prove palatable to the broader labor movement, as well as actions such as sickouts or call-ins that essential workers can also participate in.
“What is being called of labor and environmental groups in this moment is not for uniformity but unity without uniformity — the development of a united front,” Dedmond says. “With all of the demands that are being circulated around a general strike, it’s very key that we focus not on necessarily having the same list of demands, but leaning-in to collective action around the various demands that we have.”
Dedmond told Truthout that LNS organizers are also working to establish a Just Transition Listening Project to establish a framework for a just transition for the masses of workers who have been laid off amid the COVID-19 crisis, as well as for those who are or will be displaced from the fossil fuel industry amid a dramatic plunge in the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June that fell into deep negative territory this week. Many oil and gas companies were already nearly bankrupt as the fracking industry continues a historic collapse.
“It’s very key that we focus not on necessarily having the same list of demands, but leaning-in to collective action around the various demands that we have.”
Dedmond says he hopes to take current labor and environmental demands that have come out of recent strikes and movements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and incorporate those ideas into the project’s framework, and hopefully, into a broader emergency Green New Deal proposal.
“We’re covering a wide variety and the full landscape of labor, of labor unions, and we’re even interested in investing some time critically with workers’ centers so we have the fullest analysis of the working class and how to connect all components of labor to the struggle for climate justice,” Dedmond told Truthout.
President Trump pledged direct financial aid to the oil industry this week after oil futures fell below zero for the first time in history. The Energy Department has drafted a plan to buy up companies’ untapped crude reserves as part of an emergency stockpile until prices potentially stabilize — allowing producers to leave these reserves in the ground.
Meanwhile, a Friends of the Earth analysis released last week warns that fossil fuel giants including ExxonMobil, Chevron and Conoco stand to “reap yet another billion dollar bailout” if the Federal Reserve moves forward with plans to buy up to $750 billion in corporate debt. These moves come as major banks are preparing to take over fossil fuel assets with CARES Act bailout funding.
Such moves, among others, have sparked renewed calls for a “People’s Bailout,” including an emergency Green New Deal jobs guarantee that echoes the historic New Deal programs that put millions of unemployed workers to work after the Great Depression.
As frontline workers and unions battle the COVID-19 crisis, they are already laying the groundwork for such a measure. Frontline workers are already calling for programs and policies that stretch far beyond the traditional limits of collective bargaining, including mandatory paid sick leave and hazard pay; debt forgiveness; suspensions of evictions, rent and mortgage payments; uncompromised access to food and utilities; greater child care flexibility on the job; and emergency funding for schools and hospitals.
Such efforts set the stage for the jobs guarantee program to fund local governments and nonprofits to put those laid off as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic back to work on strengthening the public health sector, supporting online education and providing essential services to the elderly and sick. Such a program could be expanded and made permanent as part of the broader Green New Deal plan to address the climate crisis.
In fact, such proposals are already gaining momentum. The People’s Bailout has laid out an initial vision for a “just recovery” and emergency green stimulus among its five principles to be included in a new stimulus package.
“[COVID-19] has given a healthy challenge to both labor and environmental groups of how we are going to build a more sustainable future with the knowledge of the challenges that climate change will bring for us.”
The green stimulus includes “public investments to rebuild our infrastructure, replace lead pipes, expand wind and solar power, build clean and affordable public transit, weatherize our buildings, build and repair public housing, manufacture more clean energy goods, restore our wetlands and forests, expand public services that support climate resilience, and support regenerative agriculture led by family farmers.”
This stimulus would, according to the People’s Bailout, “create millions of good, family-sustaining jobs with high-road labor standards; counter systemic inequities by directing investments to the working families, communities of color, and Indigenous communities who face the most economic insecurity; and tackle the climate crisis that is compounding threats to our economy and health.”
A group of climate experts, economists and professors released a letter to Congress in late March detailing what such a green stimulus would actually entail. The letter calls for a $2 trillion stimulus at 4 percent of the gross domestic product that would be renewed annually and contains more than 100 policy recommendations divided into eight categories across housing, transportation, labor, energy systems, food systems, green infrastructure, regulations and foreign policy.
While, the conversation between labor unions and environmental groups around pushing green proposals in the next stimulus package is still in its beginning stages, the deep ties of solidarity being forged now will prove crucial in order to move toward proposals like an emergency green stimulus for millions of laid-off workers in the future.
“The COVID crisis has really shown us that when we’re thinking about the transformation we need to have a climate-safe economy in the long run, these are the same things we’re talking about, and so it’s all just pieces of the same conversation,” LNS’s Burke says.
Youth Organizer Dedmond agrees, and says the current crisis is providing important lessons to both the labor and environmental movements regarding the inherent contradictions of capitalism, as well as a moment for both causes to become more cohesive.
“These groups are using this moment as a lesson and a sign of things to come for how we must move in a more synchronized space and utilize and lean on each other,” Dedmond told Truthout. “It has given a healthy challenge to both labor and environmental groups of how we are going to build a more sustainable future with the knowledge of the challenges that climate change will bring for us.”
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now’s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-04-23--Elizabeth Warren Loses Brother to COVID-19 Amid Trump’s Push to Reopen Country

Former presidential candidate and current Sen. Elizabeth Warren ( D-Massachusetts ) announced on Thursday morning that her oldest brother , Donald Reed Herring , had died , apparently due to complications relating to COVID-19 .
Prior to Warren ’ s announcement on Twitter , it was not yet publicly announced that her brother had contracted the disease .
His initial diagnosis reportedly came three weeks ago .
“ My oldest brother , Don Reed , died from coronavirus on Tuesday evening , ” Warren wrote in her Twitter post .
“ He joined the Air Force at 19 and spent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam .
He was charming and funny , a natural leader.
” In subsequent tweets , Warren also explained how her feelings of sadness and loss were compounded by the fact that she was not able to be near Herring at the time of his passing .
“ I ’ m grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him , ” Warren said , “ but it ’ s hard to know that there was no family to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I love you ’ one more time — and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close .
I ’ ll miss you dearly my brother.
” Warren has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump ’ s response to the pandemic .
Hours before announcing the death of her brother , Warren had called for an inquiry into the actions taken by the president and his administration .
“ He ’ s misled the public from the start .
He ’ s allocating resources based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His family and their cronies are making policy decisions in backroom deals , ” Warren wrote .
“ Enough is enough .
We need an investigation into Trump ’ s pandemic response.
” More than 843,000 cases of coronavirus have been identified in the United States so far , with 46,859 deaths reported , according to tracking from Johns Hopkins University .
Massachusetts , the state that Warren represents in the Senate , has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic .
As of Thursday morning , it had the third-highest number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of deaths in the country , with 2,182 being identified .
In deaths per capita , Massachusetts ranked fifth-highest overall , with 32 individuals out of every 100,000 reportedly dying from the disease in the state .
While some areas of the country have “ flattened ” their curves of infection , the nation as a whole hasn ’ t seen the same trend happen yet .
And as the president makes plans to end social distancing measures , in what he ’ s been calling an effort to “ reopen ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans overall are wary of doing so .
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released this week found that 58 percent of Americans are more worried about the potential to end social distancing rules too soon versus having concerns that the economy might be hurt by those measures .
On the opposite side of things , only 32 percent of Americans worry that the economy might “ reopen ” too slowly .

Former presidential candidate and current Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) announced on Thursday morning that her oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, had died, apparently due to complications relating to COVID-19.
Prior to Warren’s announcement on Twitter, it was not yet publicly announced that her brother had contracted the disease. His initial diagnosis reportedly came three weeks ago.
Herring was 86 years old.
“My oldest brother, Don Reed, died from coronavirus on Tuesday evening,” Warren wrote in her Twitter post. “He joined the Air Force at 19 and spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam. He was charming and funny, a natural leader.”
In subsequent tweets, Warren also explained how her feelings of sadness and loss were compounded by the fact that she was not able to be near Herring at the time of his passing.
“I’m grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him,” Warren said, “but it’s hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say ‘I love you’ one more time — and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close. I’ll miss you dearly my brother.”
Warren has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic. Hours before announcing the death of her brother, Warren had called for an inquiry into the actions taken by the president and his administration.
“He’s misled the public from the start. He’s allocating resources based on which governors he likes best. His family and their cronies are making policy decisions in backroom deals,” Warren wrote. “Enough is enough. We need an investigation into Trump’s pandemic response.”
More than 843,000 cases of coronavirus have been identified in the United States so far, with 46,859 deaths reported, according to tracking from Johns Hopkins University.
Massachusetts, the state that Warren represents in the Senate, has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. As of Thursday morning, it had the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases reported, and the fourth-highest number of deaths in the country, with 2,182 being identified.
In deaths per capita, Massachusetts ranked fifth-highest overall, with 32 individuals out of every 100,000 reportedly dying from the disease in the state.
While some areas of the country have “flattened” their curves of infection, the nation as a whole hasn’t seen the same trend happen yet. And as the president makes plans to end social distancing measures, in what he’s been calling an effort to “reopen” the nation’s economy, most Americans overall are wary of doing so.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released this week found that 58 percent of Americans are more worried about the potential to end social distancing rules too soon versus having concerns that the economy might be hurt by those measures. On the opposite side of things, only 32 percent of Americans worry that the economy might “reopen” too slowly.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-04-23--Take Care of Yourself and Your Family. Do Not Listen to the President.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told The Wall Street Journal the U.S. “ needs to spend what it takes to win the war ” against COVID-19 , after the Republican-led Senate passed a $ 484 billion relief bill that includes no aid money for state governments , because Mitch McConnell believes financially struggling states should declare bankruptcy rather than get federal aid .
Federal aid to the states at this juncture , you see , is not ideologically sound .
New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo , whose daily COVID-19 briefings have been the yin to Donald Trump ’ s obstreperous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bankruptcy idea “ one of the saddest , really dumb comments of all time.
” Cuomo went on to say , “ OK , let ’ s have all the states declare bankruptcy — that ’ s the way to bring the national economy back.
” The deadpan sarcasm in his voice bubbled out of my television screen and pooled on the floor like the slick that killed Lieutenant Yar on Star Trek TNG .
His shabby ableist language aside , it ’ s hard to disagree with Gov .
Cuomo here .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , people need help , and here is McConnell telling overburdened states they are on their own in the middle of the beginning of a pandemic .
Why ?
Because he thinks Ronald Reagan ( and Grover Norquist ) would approve .
Because federal aid could make government look good to the people , and we can ’ t have that .
I sit here in my little corner of New Hampshire and wonder what life would be like if communities like mine ran their affairs in the fashion of Donald and Mitch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daughter ’ s public grammar school have been laboring mightily to provide a robust remote learning platform that not only educates the kids , but gives parents like me a framework around which to build a coherent daily schedule .
It is a godsend , and more to the point , it works .
I have watched her reading skills advance exponentially by the day and the week .
She is crazy about math , because she can do it on an app .
I detested my analog math experience at her age @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daughter is exactly old enough to know this situation is serious but exactly young enough to not know the meaning and import of the word “ dire.
” My wife and I have done our best to shield her from the worst of it , because we don ’ t want this thing to take her childhood the way it has taken so much else .
Nevertheless , a hole has been blasted through my daughter ’ s generation .
The mark of this time will be on her for the term of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matter have been burning through like meteors entering her mental high atmosphere .
When school was canceled for the remainder of the year — actual go-to-school-on-the-bus school — she said , “ Daddy , I ’ m in second grade now.
” The sorrow in her eyes was scalding .
Imagine if some school district administrator barred my daughter ’ s teachers from sharing the incredible work they ’ ve done to build a remote-learning infrastructure for their students , because doing so would make public schools look good , and making public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s weird and selfish to sit here and say “ This is hard.
” Nobody is shooting at us , our town isn ’ t burning down like Paradise , California , everyone in the household remains healthy , and we live in an area that has been nicked but not yet subsumed by the voracious intent of COVID-19 .
That may change soon , because anti-quarantine protests have begun popping up here , too .
“ Live Free or Die of COVID ” is the New Hampshire motto for these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them at the grocery store in their red hats , aggressively defying the strictures of social distancing while not wearing masks , because Donald Trump told them they were righteous patriots .
They are not in the majority by many nautical miles , but they are virus vectors , and that really sucks for all of us .
I moved my family from Boston to the high woods seven years ago because the ocean is coming , but I never expected that decision to pay dividends in a pandemic .
I am not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or L.A. , or Detroit .
I am not in South Dakota , where it has gotten bad because the governor followed Trump ’ s lead .
I am not in Georgia , where it is about to get very bad because the governor follows Trump ’ s lead .
Even here , in this comparatively unscathed perch , I am exhausted .
I write and edit from 4:00 am to 11:00 am every day , and then doff the writer ’ s cap for the teacher ’ s chalk and spend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through the lessons blessedly provided by her public school .
But many , of course , are doing this in big cities with a lot of kids in a small apartment .
Millions are doing this without the internet .
This is a staggering challenge with no true end in sight , yet .
Going outside when the weather is right is like being born again .
Our neighbors walk by at a distance , masked but smiling because they are glad to encounter other people , and everyone who drives by waves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time you see them .
Rainy days are the gong of doom .
A number of my friends have been infected , one dear friend just lost his father , and another brotherfriend lost his wife to non-coronavirus causes .
She died alone in the hospital because of the quarantine requirements .
The agonies are stacking like cordwood , and again , this is only the middle of the beginning .
“ Not ideologically sound ” is going to get a lot of people killed .
We must love one another or die @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to be different when this is done .
Please do what you can to be here for that .
Take care of yourself and your family , and do not listen to the president when he tells you all is well .
All is not well , yet this too shall pass , and I ’ ll meet you on the high ground .

Things are going to be different when this is done. Please do what you can to be here for that.
Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told The Wall Street Journal the U.S. “needs to spend what it takes to win the war” against COVID-19, after the Republican-led Senate passed a $484 billion relief bill that includes no aid money for state governments, because Mitch McConnell believes financially struggling states should declare bankruptcy rather than get federal aid. Federal aid to the states at this juncture, you see, is not ideologically sound.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose daily COVID-19 briefings have been the yin to Donald Trump’s obstreperous yang, called McConnell’s state bankruptcy idea “one of the saddest, really dumb comments of all time.” Cuomo went on to say, “OK, let’s have all the states declare bankruptcy — that’s the way to bring the national economy back.” The deadpan sarcasm in his voice bubbled out of my television screen and pooled on the floor like the slick that killed Lieutenant Yar on Star Trek TNG.
His shabby ableist language aside, it’s hard to disagree with Gov. Cuomo here. People are dying, people are frightened, people need help, and here is McConnell telling overburdened states they are on their own in the middle of the beginning of a pandemic. Why? Because he thinks Ronald Reagan (and Grover Norquist) would approve. Because federal aid could make government look good to the people, and we can’t have that.
I sit here in my little corner of New Hampshire and wonder what life would be like if communities like mine ran their affairs in the fashion of Donald and Mitch.
The teachers and administrators at my daughter’s public grammar school have been laboring mightily to provide a robust remote learning platform that not only educates the kids, but gives parents like me a framework around which to build a coherent daily schedule. It is a godsend, and more to the point, it works. I have watched her reading skills advance exponentially by the day and the week. She is crazy about math, because she can do it on an app. I detested my analog math experience at her age, and envy her enthusiasm.
My daughter is exactly old enough to know this situation is serious but exactly young enough to not know the meaning and import of the word “dire.” My wife and I have done our best to shield her from the worst of it, because we don’t want this thing to take her childhood the way it has taken so much else. Nevertheless, a hole has been blasted through my daughter’s generation. The mark of this time will be on her for the term of her life.
The facts of the matter have been burning through like meteors entering her mental high atmosphere. When school was canceled for the remainder of the year — actual go-to-school-on-the-bus school — she said, “Daddy, I’m in second grade now.” The sorrow in her eyes was scalding.
Imagine if some school district administrator barred my daughter’s teachers from sharing the incredible work they’ve done to build a remote-learning infrastructure for their students, because doing so would make public schools look good, and making public schools look good is ideologically unsound.
It’s weird and selfish to sit here and say “This is hard.” Nobody is shooting at us, our town isn’t burning down like Paradise, California, everyone in the household remains healthy, and we live in an area that has been nicked but not yet subsumed by the voracious intent of COVID-19.
That may change soon, because anti-quarantine protests have begun popping up here, too. “Live Free or Die of COVID” is the New Hampshire motto for these blivets, apparently. I have seen them at the grocery store in their red hats, aggressively defying the strictures of social distancing while not wearing masks, because Donald Trump told them they were righteous patriots. They are not in the majority by many nautical miles, but they are virus vectors, and that really sucks for all of us.
“Not ideologically sound” is going to get a lot of people killed who do not have to die.
I moved my family from Boston to the high woods seven years ago because the ocean is coming, but I never expected that decision to pay dividends in a pandemic. I am not in New York City, or Boston, or L.A., or Detroit. I am not in South Dakota, where it has gotten bad because the governor followed Trump’s lead. I am not in Georgia, where it is about to get very bad because the governor follows Trump’s lead.
Even here, in this comparatively unscathed perch, I am exhausted. I write and edit from 4:00 am to 11:00 am every day, and then doff the writer’s cap for the teacher’s chalk and spend the remaining long hours working my daughter through the lessons blessedly provided by her public school.
But many, of course, are doing this in big cities with a lot of kids in a small apartment. Millions are doing this without the internet. This is a staggering challenge with no true end in sight, yet.
Going outside when the weather is right is like being born again. Our neighbors walk by at a distance, masked but smiling because they are glad to encounter other people, and everyone who drives by waves frantically like it may be the last time you see them. Rainy days are the gong of doom.
A number of my friends have been infected, one dear friend just lost his father, and another brotherfriend lost his wife to non-coronavirus causes. She died alone in the hospital because of the quarantine requirements. The agonies are stacking like cordwood, and again, this is only the middle of the beginning. “Not ideologically sound” is going to get a lot of people killed.
We must love one another or die, said the poet.
Things are going to be different when this is done.
Please do what you can to be here for that. Take care of yourself and your family, and do not listen to the president when he tells you all is well. All is not well, yet this too shall pass, and I’ll meet you on the high ground.
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Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.