Jason Momoaa concluded his UN speech making a hand sign indicating his support for the protests against the Thirty Meter Telescopee planned for Hawaii's sacred mountain Mauna Kea.
When Jason Momoa isn't portraying heroic figures in films, he is an environmental activist and advocate for the preservation of his Hawaiian heritage.
He made no bones about his island roots in an impassioned speech he delivered to the United Nations last Friday.
“The oceans are in a state of emergency,” he warned. “Entire marine ecosystems are vanishing with the warming of the seas, and as the waste of our world empties into our waters, we face the devastating crisis of plastic pollution.
The star of Aquaman and the soon-to-be released dystopian See for Apple TV was addressing a meeting concerning Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – which include the Bahamas, Barbados, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Haiti – at UN headquarters in New York.
“Island nations contribute the least to this disaster, but are made to suffer the weight of its consequences,” said the Game of Thrones star.
The meeting which Momoa addressed was held five years after the adoption of the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA Pathway) by UN member states.
The agreement outlined that the countries would acknowledge the “need to support and invest in these nations so they can achieve sustainable development.”
“We, the island nations and all coastal communities, are the frontlines in this environmental crisis,” he said. “Entire islands are drowning into the sea due to the enormous volume of emissions generated by first world countries.”
After he delivered his speech, Momoa tweeted:
“That was a life changing moment, a true honor to represent island nations at the UN,” Momoa wrote on Instagram. “It takes an amazing team and support system to pull off something like this. I am deeply grateful to my wife and children, my mother @lonelywhale@duneives @realdealmada @paakai97@maluhiakinimaka @UnitedNations@UN_PGA #kukiaimauna #SAMOAPathway #SIDSSummit. Aloha j #purpsonpurpslookgood#wegotsomethingtosay #nomorehalf-assing #3kanakasandaMADA.”
Varshini Prakash is shown at a Sunrise Movement sit-in in Nancy Pelosi's office on Dec. 10, 2017. She is one of the young environmental activists changing the perception of the lack of involvement in the AAPI communities.
This past week demonstrations around the world demanded action to reverse climate change to prevent sea level rise, ecosystems collapsing and the decimation of species. Climate change knows no boundaries. It affects us all regardless of race or political affiliation. AAPI are learning to join their voices, -- and in some cases, lead the charge -- in this worldwide challenge. Nevertheless, the general perception of mainstream media is that climate change is not a high priority to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders even though that is not true. As we fight climate change, we also need to fight this invisibility and help redefine what it an American looks like.
For Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to become more visible in the environmental space, we need to challenge assumptions about what it means to be American and build a movement strengthened by solidarity. This article by one of the most visible AAPI members of the environmental movement was originally published for the Natural Resources Defense Council blog during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month last May.
By Rhea Suh Former President, Natural Resources Defense Council
I’ve spent a lot of my career thinking about how to build a better, stronger, more unified environmental movement. To consider this issue during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, however, is a tricky matter, because Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been largely invisible in this space—a void where a reflection should be.
RHEA SUH
This invisibility problem is one that we need to correct—and quickly. The proportion of Asian Americans in the United States grew by 72 percent between 2000 and 2015, making them the fastest-growing population in the United States. And not only does the group tend to hold strong opinions and values on the environment, but it is also growing as a voting bloc.
Further, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders suffer environmental injustices similar to those disproportionately borne by other people of color, despite the myth of the “model minority.” Studies show that Asian communities are being exposed to more harmful substances in the air (such as nickel, nitrate, and vanadium) than white people are. Other research illustrates that neighborhoods with high proportions of Chinese, Korean, and South Asian people have significantly higher cancer risk than do white populations. And the Laotian community in North Richmond, California, must deal with the dangers and health effects of living near a toxic oil refinery.
There are examples of Pacific Islander communities, too, being subjected to environmental injustice, including documentedinstances of sludge dumping on the Waianae Coast of Oahu and the failure of authorities to limit pesticide exposure in native Hawaiian communities.
More to the point, the general lack of research into these subjects—especially on the health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—speaks volumes about the degree to which they are invisible.
The first step in addressing this issue is to recognize that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders do not constitute one monolithic entity—that there are not only people with East Asian heritage, but also South Asians, Southeast Asians, and those with indigenous ancestors from Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific. When we can make room for more definitions of what it means to be an American, more diverse stories, nuances, and voices can surface.
It’s heartening that recently I’ve seen more faces in the youthclimate movement that are rising up from this group, and I’ve witnessed brave acts of resistance. But it’s not nearly enough for a fair representation. We need more people—more of everyone, especially Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of all stripes—in the fight for environmental and climate justice.
At the same time, we also need them to be seen and heard. The responsibility for achieving this falls to those with the power and the privilege—be it organizations like NRDC or other communities within this diverse racial group—to lift up those in the margins and to bring more attention to their stories.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders contain multitudes—quite literally—and will begin to become more visible when we redefine what it means to be American, build strength in numbers, and link arms in solidarity. These changes will also help create a crucial, more unified front, one that’s necessary to face the toughest challenge of our time—addressing the related crises of climate change and biodiversity extinction. We can create the transformative change we need only if everyone can see themselves strongly reflected in the movement.
CORRECTION: Byline credit for the oped has been changed to indicate that Rhea Suh left her position as NRDC president in June, 2019.
From left: Litokne Kabua, David Ackley III, Carlos Manuel and Ranton Anjain
Four Pacific Island teenagers joined Swedish 16-year old activist Greta Thunberg and 12 other youth who have filed a complaint on the climate crisis to the United Nations. Their unprecedented petition, to the U.N Committee on the Rights of the Child (C.R.C) is attempting to hold Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey accountable for their climate crisis inaction.
It is the first time children have filed a formal complaint under the U.N.C.R.C. The petitioners are between ages eight and 18. The youngest is Ellen-Anne from Sweden.
Carlos Manuel from Palau, and Marshallese Litokne Kabua, David Ackley II and Ranton Anjain have joined children from ten other countries in this landmark case. Their two nations are among the countries already being impacted by climate change. Strong Pacific typhoons have caused some islands to be abandoned by its residents. Rising sea levels caused by melting polar caps are causing island beaches to disappear.
The other children named in the petition are Chiara Sacchi (Argentina); Catarina Lorenzo (Brazil); Iris Duquesne (France); Raina Ivanova (Germany); Ridhima Pandey (India); Deborah Adegbile (Nigeria); Ayakha Melithafa (South Africa); Greta Thunberg and Ellen-Anne (Sweden); Raslen Jbeili (Tunisia); and Carl Smith and Alexandria Villaseñor (USA).
The petition was part of a week-long series of global actions by young people to exert pressure on the world leaders to act against climate change, which the vast majority of the world's scientists have concluded is hastened and exacerbated by manmade pollutants. The week was launched with worldwide demonstrations attracting 4-million protesters in 150 countries.
CHILDREN VS. CLIMATE CHANGE
Carlos Manuel of Palau introduces himself at a press conference at the United Nations.
“I want bigger countries to know that our small island nations are the most vulnerable countries to be affected by climate change," said Manuel, who immigrated to Palau from the Philippines.
“Our homes are slowly being swallowed up by the ocean – the places where memories were made, where trust and respect are gained, the places where we used to have fun and enjoy, those places are slowly disappearing,” said the 17-year old.
Dramatically increasing temperatures in the Marshall Islands have brought frequent dengue fever outbreaks, and the government has declared a state of emergency twice in the last two years.
Marshall Islander Kabua is 16, and his home ijust two minutes away from the ocean is under threat from sea level rise.
“[Climate change] is the first thing you see when you go outside. It is happening a lot more, a lot more … you cannot ignore it," said the teenager.
“We are on the front lines of the climate crisis and I am here to stop that.”
The five countries named in the 101 page petition -- Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey -- are accused of violating the children’s right to life, health, and the rights of indigenous children’s right to culture.
They allege each of the accused countries is knowingly causing and perpetuating the climate crisis, and that they have known about it for decades. Every country except the United States has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Of those countries, 45 agreed to an additional protocol that allows children to petition the UN directly about treaty violations.
“Despite their decades-long knowledge, each respondent has breached its human rights duties by causing and perpetuating the climate crisis and undermining international cooperation,” the petition states.
The complaint goes to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The group is made up of 18 independent child rights experts. The Committee will determine if the complaint is admissible and, if so, will gather responses from the countries named in the complaint. The Committee will then make recommendations to those nations.
While the recommendations are not legally binding, these nations have committed to follow the recommendations. The obligations spelled out under the Convention on the Rights of the Child are binding.
Thunberg addressed the UN General Assembly last Monday (Sept. 23) in an emotional speech blasting the adults representing the UN's member countries.
"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!" said Thurberg.
"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you," she said.
“We are here as victims of the pollution that has been carelessly dumped into our lands, air and sea for generations, and as children whose rights are being violated. Today, we are fighting back.” said 14-year old Alexandria Villaseñor, co-founder of U.S Youth Climate Strike and founder of Earth Uprising.
In just five years, 16-year-old Ackley III has seen his home town Uliga in Majuro change dramatically. He said he and his family talk about climate change all the time, and he worries about being forced to move away.
“I feel lost. I like to keep my mind off [it] because it scares me, but it still pops up a couple of times a day.”
Dramatically increasing temperatures in the Marshall Islands have brought frequent dengue fever outbreaks, and the government has declared a state of emergency twice in the last two years.
As a kid who grew up swimming and fishing in the ocean, 17-year-old Mr. Anjain said he is worried for the next generation of Marshallese, and what experiences they will have.
“I don’t want to be underwater,” said 17-year-old Anjain.
“I want future generations to experience what I experience, I want them to experience living on Ebeye. It still saddens me – I want them to experience the same things I did.” Another round of protests is planned for Friday (Sept. 27).
Boston resident Varshini Prakash led the US demonstrations urging leaders to act against climate change.
Millions of students -- from grade school to college -- skipped school Friday to join older environmental activists to demand the world's leaders to do something to stop climate change.
Students and activists marched through the streets of hundreds of cities, from Berlin to Mumbai, India, from Melbourne, Australia to New York City.
"It's amazing," Varshini Prakash told Al Jazeera of Friday's attendance in New York where 250,000 marched. "This tremendous amount exceeded expectations. I woke up this morning to see my Twitter feed flooded with images [from] around the world."
"Young people in more than 140 countries are taking to the streets to demand that our political leaders treat the climate crisis like the emergency that it is. Fossil fuel CEOs will stop at nothing to squeeze every last drop of money from the Earth—but our generation is mobilizing by the thousands and will strike again and again until we win," said Prakash, co-founder and executive director of Sunrise Movement in the United States.
The protests on Friday come ahead of a Youth Climate Summit on Saturday (Sept. 21) and a United Nations Climate Action Summit on Monday. Another strike is planned for Sept. 27.
Prakash is the Executive Director and co-founder of Sunrise, a movement of young people working to stop climate change, take back democracy from Big Oil, and elect leaders who will fight for the health and well-being of the protesters' generation. Under Prakash's leadership, Sunrise was one of the organizers of the demonstrations in the US.
Sunrise is part of a new generation of youth-led climate change movements that emerged out of the failure of the global political system to address the climate crisis. They’re the ones who made the Green New Deal a household term.
"The momentum from today shows that any candidate for the American presidency who wants to win our generation's votes must commit to making the Green New Deal the number-one priority of their administration," said Prakash, 26, who helped organize the strike in the United States.
SUNRISE MOVEMENT
She said "a new movement is emerging as political institutions fail," adding that leaders needed to "wake up and grow up, and take this seriously." Other young people who took part in the demonstration reinforced Parkash's message. “We’re not going to be the apathetic generation that watches as our world collapses,” said 15-year-old Helen Deng of San Jose, Calif., a Youth Climate Strike organizer who spoke at Friday’s rally at San Jose's City Hall.
Supriya Patel, partnerships coordinator of Earth Uprising in the United States told Common Dreams: "I strike for my family in India who are forced to breathe toxic air every day. I strike against the systems that cause them to be hit first and worst by the climate crisis. I strike because though the climate crisis will hit marginalized communities the most, corporate greed is universal."
In 2004, India was devastated with floods. That environmental disaster made an impressioin on Prakash.
“In a cultural and personal way, I began to feel the climate crisis a few years ago when there was this tremendous series of floods that absolutely devastated Chennai—my father’s home town—and Pondicherry," said Prakash. "I was deeply affected, seeing the terrible levels of inundation that sank streets familiar to me from visits to Chennai—especially the images of mothers and children having to walk miles to find safety. Everything they were saying would not come about for another 10, 20, or 30 years was occurring right before our eyes in South India and in the United States as well.”
“My dad would tell me stories about his great-uncle who protested against the British and got scolded by his parents. Those are my roots,” said the Boston-bornPrakash.
As an undergrad at the University of Massachusetts, she took on the fossil fuel industry by pushing her university to stop investing in coal, oil, and gas.
Varshini has been a leading voice for young Americans, including last fall when she helped lead a mass demonstration for the Green New Deal that went viral and put climate change on the map for Congress.
“Our message is clear: our movement is growing, and young people in the U.S. are coming together by the hundreds of thousands — millions — to make clear that if politicians want our generation’s support, they need to treat this crisis like the emergency that it is and fight for a Green New Deal.”
What San Francisco's waterfront could look like if no action is taken against climate change.
THERE'S NO way of parsing words to say this diplomatically: Donald Trump announced today (May 31) to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate agreement may be his stupidest action yet.
Front page of the Daily News
Stupider (is that a word?) than hiring Michael Flynn at national security chief even though the FBI and a then-cooperative President Obama warned Trump not to do it? Stupider than hiring Steve Bannon, a white supremacist, as senior advisor? Stupider than firing James Comey, who was in the middle of the investigation of the extent of Russia's role in messing around the U.S. presidential elections? Stupider than putting Betsy Devos, a woman who doesn't like public schools - never attended a public school, never sent any of her children to public school, - in charge of the Department of Education? Stupider than - in a show of playground braggadocio - than revealing classified information to the Russians? Yes. That's a lot of stupid, (and I can go on and on) but pulling out of the Paris climate accord hammered out after years of negotiations and signed on by every country on the planet (except Nicaragua, which actually wanted stronger sanctions, and Syria) tops them all.
"This is a reckless and foolish mistake, and our kids will pay the price.," said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resource Defense Council. "The Paris climate accord is a triumph of American leadership. It’s about doing what’s best for our people at home—spurring clean energy innovation and creating millions of good-paying jobs, while protecting our children and communities from pollution. And we got the whole world to join us. “This is not putting America first: It’s putting fossil fuel profits ahead of the national interest," said Suh, one of the most prominent Asian/American figures in the environmental movement.'
"The world is a very complicated place these days for a lot of reasons, but climate change is the one thing the world agrees on. North Korea signed the Paris accord. Everybody agrees on this," said Suh.
An excellent article by Skeptical Science on the so-called debate over scientific evidence of man's influence on climate shows that it is really no debate at all.
This so-called debate, a fore-runner of the "fake news" strategy being employed to discredit any news artucke critical of the present administration, called for another study for a consensus on the numerous studies being used to argue for or against climate change.
What was concluded by the study by climate scientists - EXPERTS, mind you, not people off the street in disagreement - is that the so-called studies being cited by climate deniers like Trump and EPA Secretary Soctt Pruitt, are from non-experts, as opposed by the studies by the EXPERTS, which say man is a huge factor in the warming of our planet.
"Pulling out of the Paris Agreement is an irrational decision that is a disastrous step backward, threatens the future viability of our planet for future generations, and abdicates our role of leadership," said California Sen. Kamala Harris.
We all have a stake in stemming the warming temperatures of our planet. Outside of the obvious - that we have nowhere else to go - Earth temperatures are rising faster than normal and will have disastrous impacts around the world. Among the earliest victims of climate change are the island nations such as the Philippines, Samoa, Fiji and the Maldives.
In a paper presented to a scientific gathering in Manila last month, Dr. Josefino "Joey" C. Comiso, a prominent and well-respected Filipino/American senior research scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States concluded:
"At the current rate of decline, the perennial ice in the Arctic, which has persisted in summer for at least 1,450 years, is likely to melt completely within this century and cause drastic changes in the ecology of the region and alterations in the thermohaline global ocean circulation.
"The rate of sea level rise has increased from 2 mm/year to 3 mm/year but the main concern is the vulnerability of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets which could cause a few meters increase in sea level causing big disruptions in coastal cities around the globe.
"Warmer sea surface temperature is also expected to cause a higher frequency of heat waves and of extreme events like super-typhoons and flooding. A warmer climate will lead to increases in areas affected by drought and fire and the loss of crop yields and biodiversity. Resiliency to catastrophic events and strategies for adaptation to our changing climate will be discussed."
Current data show an increase in sea surface heights. Scientists say this is due to the melting of ice sheets in northern portions of the globe like Antarctica and Greenland. Sea level rise by 4 to 6 meters can submerge low-lying communities like Tacloban City which stands only 3 meters above sea level.
The creation of tropical cyclones is already being recorded in areas where the phenomenon had never been observed. On Nov 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), said to be the strongest storm in recorded history, devastated cities in the Visayas region.
NASA
Island nations will be the first to feel the impact of global warming.
If that sounds frightening, the impact on the smaller island nations will be even more disastrous. Kiribati, with a population of 11,000 in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, bought 20 square miles of land on Vanua Levu, one of the Fiji islands, about 2,000 km away as a possible refuge when their country goes underwater.
Other countries or islands in the Maldives, Polynesia and the Philippines will have to deal with mass migrations of people as they abandon their homes to the ocean. This drastic action will set off a chain reaction around the world dealing with climate refugees.
The United States will also suffer. Its coastal communities such as San Francisco and New York City, will have to mitigate the rise in their waterfronts, huge swaths of Florida and Louisiana will go under water including the cities of Miami and New Orleans.
The economic argument used by Trump and his supporters also ring hollow. His own economic advisors, including former Exxon chief and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and corporate leaders like Tesla's Elon Musk and Disney's Bob Iger have argued to stay with the climate accord. Hours after Trump made his announcement, Musk and Iger resigned from Trump's council of economic advisors.
The job growth in the alternative energy industries are mushrooming and dwarfs any employment lost in coal mining jobs.
"You look at (it) economically — I talked about fuel economy standards. Tesla was just valued as the highest-valued motor company in the U.S.," said Suh. "That means renewable energy and the clean-tech economy is really present. It’s not just some far-flung thing, both within the context of electric vehicles and within the context of wind and solar. Beyond our electricity grid, we are creating millions of new jobs in the clean and efficient energy sector. Do we need the domestic leadership out of our president and the White House and Congress to take advantage of that and grow that more, or are we going to cede that economic advantage to countries like China and India? I think that’s the larger question."
But he's turned a deaf ear to the overwhelming evidence and advice in favor of short-sighted demagoguery and the quick and fleeting "win," with his base supporters. The anti-science and anti-intelligence attitudes that have been hallmarks of his campaign and presidency thus far, preferring to tweet those positions as "leftist elitism." Trump's announcement will undoubtedly please his base by turning the argument away from the science of climate change to the art of the deal. He claims the U.S. is being economically screwed by the agreement, ignoring the fact that the U.S. is one of the biggest polluters in the world but has profited most from dirtying the air that contributes to the changing climate. Trump did some bashing of China and India to justify leaving the accord saying these two Asian countries are not doing their share of cleaning up their own industries neglecting to mention that according to the Paris agreement, each country could set their own goals. He could easily have lowered the U.S. goals. (Incidently, blaming those two Asian countries also satisfies the xenophobes who are afraid of anything foreign.) The U.S. GDP dwarfs every other nation's, therefore it is only logical to have the country with the greatest ability to contribute, and the country that creates the much of the world's pollution do more and pay more to stem global warming. Trump tried to appear open to renegotiations but that rings hollow because Trump knows that the other industrial countries would not agree to that. If the world had to start from scratch to reach an agreement, it could be up to the next president to finish the negotiations.
Millions of people around the world took part in the Climate Change march held last April 29.
While Trump gives his supporters what they want, the showman may just be giving them a show. Under the terms of the Paris accord, the U.S. must wait until November 2019 to formally submit his intention to withdraw. At that point, the U.S. enters a one-year waiting period before it’s formally removed. The decision could be reversed by the next president -- or even Trump himself. As a result, the issue will certainly be used against the GOP in the 2018 midterms and in the 2020 presidential election campaign.
"Whatever is agreed within the United States today, with China (the two largest sources of CO2emissions), it will not have a bearing on our future, because already, it's too late for us ... And so we are the canary. But hopefully, that experience will send a very strong message that we might be on the frontline today, but others will be on the frontline next," said Kiribati President Enote Tong in an interview on CNN.
Trump's decision is just plain ... STUPID! But hey, the U.S. is not completely alone. Thank goodness for Syria and Nicaragua to keep Trump company.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, observations, rants and raves from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd
If a rally for science held in Boston in Feb. is an example, we can expect a plethora of creative of the signs during the March for Science next Saturday.
ON THE FIRST DAY of Donald Trump's presidency, the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Science and Technology Policy's website no longer lists “science” in the paragraph describing what it does. With all the ballyhoo about the numbers who attended the inauguration and the historic Women's March the next day, it ALMOST went unnoticed. Scientists and environmentalists saw it. In fact, it set off alarm bells. That's what inspired the organizing of the March For Science. Earth Day, this Saturday (April 22) has taken a new - more urgent - meaning this year beyond cleaning up beaches and parks. Science-friendly individuals will gather on the National Mall, and in hundreds of satellite marches across the U.S. and around the globe. The Earth Day Network — the nonprofit that organizes Earth Day events every year — has taken the lead on programming for the march.
COURTESY OF AMADO GULOY
Amado Guloy, organizing the San Francisco Bay Area's March for Science, gave a TED talk.
"On some level, [science] is already politicized with certain acts done by Congress, like increased oversight over what kinds of science we should be able to practice and pursue [using federal funds]," said Amado Guloy, a materials and inorganic chemist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Guloy, a Filipino/American is spending all his spare time organizing the March for Science in San Francisco. His tech startup Rex uses technology to help veterinarians keep digital records as they provide clinical care at farms.
The March for Science will celebrate the scientific method and advocate for evidence-based decision-making in all levels of government. Though the event’s website doesn’t explicitly mention Trump, it’s a protest of his administration’s policies, including his proposal to cut billions in funding for scientific research.
The March for Science shouldn't be confused with the People's Climate March, which will be held the following weekend and whose emphasis will be on ... well, climate change.
IT'S TOO LATE TO KEEP SCIENCE APOLITICAL
Organizers have tried to steer away from the appearance of being anti-Trump. Its website cites: "Anti-science agendas and policies have been advanced by politicians on both sides of the aisle, and they harm everyone — without exception."
"What we’re trying to do (with the March for Science) is say, OK, the narrative of science has been politicized and nitpicked. Let’s go back to ..., ‘This is what the scientific method is and this is why it should not be nitpicked,’ so if you are going to make a narrative with data, it’s done in a scientific manner,'" said Guloy in an interview in The Scientist Magazine. At any rate, like it or not, science has already been politicized. The Trump administration and the Republican majority in Congress are defunding research, politicizing grant making diminishing science’s role in the agency rule making process, and flat out refusing to accept conclusions they don’t like.
Since Donald Trump became president, numerous climate change deniers have been confirmed to lead key scientific cabinets. What's more, the administration has cracked down on federal agencies' use of social media and access to reporters, demanded that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submit research for political vetting before publishing, and deleted or hidden what were once public records from government websites.
Trump's administration is planning a 17 percent cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency tasked with monitoring oceans, preparing for potentially dangerous storms and assessing the dangers of climate change, according to a leaked memo obtained by the Washington Post.
Of all the government agencies set for cuts, the EPA would be the most severely gashed. If Congress were to enact Trump's budget proposal for the fiscal year 2017-2018, the EPA would lose $2.6 billion out of its current $8.1 billion in funding — a 32.1 percent slash to the agency that would pay for 5 percent of the boost to the Department of Defense. Trump has yet to name a top White House science adviser, and it’s unclear if he ever will. A man who doesn't believe in climate change, Scott Pruitt, has been named head of the EPA, an agency that he's sued nine times as the former Attorney General of Oklahoma. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist at the University of Washington, told the Washington Post that science has always been influenced by politics.
She cited the example of Albert Einstein, who, in addition to illuminating the fundamental laws of physics, advocated for civil rights, socialism, and nuclear arms control. His politics made him a target of the FBI, which tracked his phone calls and went through his trash until his death in 1955.
“Those are the same scientists we are taught to look up to as science students,” she said of Einstein and other physicists who advocated for arms control. “They very much understood that physics had a role to play in the unfolding of highly polarized political events.”
The fact that she is only the 63rd African/American woman in American history to get a PhD in physics — a degree that has been awarded to tens of thousands of researchers. That's no accident, she said.
STRUGGLING WITH DIVERSITY
Her statement brings up one of the key issues that developed during the planning of this march was the issue of diversity. It got so muddled the organizers issued four different statements that still didn't satisfy everyone. The lack of women and people of color in the research labs is something that needs to be discussed further. "We cannot ignore issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, or any other form of discrimination in the discussion and implementation of science," says the website. "Nor can we ignore the ways in which science has been misused to harm marginalized communities. The lack of inclusivity and diversity in STEM thwarts scientific advancements not only by limiting who conducts the research, but also by influencing what topics are studied, who participates in the research, and who will benefit from or be harmed by it." The march is open to everyone who believes in facts, the value of research. scientific vetting and the value of facts ... and against the policies that seek to belittle those tenets. Guloy, the San Francisco scientist and entrepreneur, said that he hopes the march is not a one-and-done event. The issues raised by the march will continue to be worked on in the months and years ahead. Theorems are basic to science but there comes a time when practical matters can supersede theory. The days when scientists and researchers stay hunkered down in their labs separate from the rest of society are over. Politics has punctured that wall. From the vaccines that protect billions of lives to the ubiquitous smart phone, there can be no doubt that society has benefited from science. But science, too, can benefit from joining the public square with the rest of us. That's why scientists need to march. That's why we need to join them.
FOOTNOTE: During a Rally for Science held in Boston last Feb. participants made some creatively appropriate signs, some of which are shown below.. Organizers are encouraging participants to do the same in the March for Science.
The Trump Administration's position towards climate change.
DID YOU MISS the Tax Day March last weekend when tens of thousands of people marched in the nation's cities, suburbs and small towns demanding that Donald Trump make his tax returns public? There are more marches ahead. Join them! With Donald Trump's first 100 days occupying the White House fast approaching, the American people are not giving in to his proposed policies. In response to the Trump administration’s latest executive order that begins to repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP) and environmental protections, the Peoples Climate Movement (PCM) is planned on April 29 on the 100th day since he took office.
Rhea Suh
(A few days later, International Workers' Day on May 1, demonstrations, rallies and marches will draws hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world protesting the Trump policies that harm workers and benefit the people at the top who are already rich.)
“The Clean Power Plan is the strongest measure we’ve taken to protect future generations from the growing dangers of climate change," explained Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It would cut the climate-disrupting fossil fuel pollution from the power plants that account for 40 percent of the nation’s carbon footprint. By promoting efficiency, the plan would save our families money on their power bills. "It would spur job growth," says Suh. "And it would help prepare our workers for success in the global clean energy boom projected to draw more than $7 trillion in investment over the coming 25 years. "If (Trump is) serious about creating more good-paying middle-class jobs, why would Trump want to kill that plan?” Scott Pruitt, Trump's Secretary of the EPA said he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.
"I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see," he told CNBC.
In contradiction to the EPA website and most climate scientists (not weather prognosticators) and NASA, Pruitt said, "... we don't know that yet. ... We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis."
The Peoples' Climate March is a broad-based ground-breaking coalition of hundreds of faith-based, labor unions, indigenous, civil rights and environmental justice groups based around the country working together to build bold solutions that tackle climate change, rooted in economic and racial justice. Invalidating the Clean Power Plan will undo hard-won protections that allow the EPA to meet its legal requirements to regulate pollutants, including carbon dioxide and more. “This action, by an administration that favors corporate profits over clean air and water, puts our country, our communities and our people at great risk. It also sends a dangerous message to the world that the United States does not care about climate change or protecting frontline communities,” said Paul Getsos, National Coordinator, PCM. This move, along with past comments and actions illustrates the Trump administration’s continued commitment to undermining any progress in addressing environmental and economic justice. The CPP is a critical component in curbing climate change and an important step in transitioning to a clean energy economy that creates family sustaining jobs in a variety of growing industries. To combat these continued attacks on climate action and protecting front-line communities, the PCM is gearing up for a mass mobilization to March for Climate, Jobs and Justice, on April 29. Tens of thousands of people have already signed up to converge in Washington, DC to push the Trump administration and Congress to do their jobs – protect our planet.
Some Pacific island nations will be severely affected by the rising waters caused by climate change.
Other marches are being planned throughout the country. Contrary to the perception that AAPI are not involved in the environmental movement, Suh's prominence in the NRDC and the environmental movement belies the perception that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders don't care about the environment. More and more AAPI are stepping forward: Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson Co-Founder/ Co-Director and Climate Justice Alliance Member, said: “This is nothing short of a declaration of war against humanity and all complex life. The question is what are we going to do about it? How do we strengthen the climate justice movement in this era, under these circumstances?” Luisa Blue, a Filipina/American and Executive Vice President, Service Employees International Union, said: “Working people from coast-to-coast are already feeling the devastating health impacts of toxic air and water caused by corporate polluters who for too long have gone unchecked. By undoing the Clean Power Plan, President Trump is reverting our communities to unhealthy and unsafe living conditions to benefit corporations over our communities. We can have a vibrant economy and vibrant communities with clean air and water.” Vien Truong, National Director, Green For All, said: “We fought long and hard to make the Clean Power Plan a reality. By cutting carbon pollution from power plants, it aims to spark innovation, drive investment and energy efficiency to create jobs and save families money. Most importantly, it has the potential to address power plant pollution in the communities most vulnerable to asthma and other health impacts,” Vien Truong, director of Green For All. “It’s clear that Trump is determined to protect the fossil fuel industry, no matter the cost. Green For All will continue to stand with frontlines families and our most vulnerable to enact policies that create jobs and cut carbon pollution to protect the health of our kids.”
