Thread by @CAProgAlliance

"California's Green New Deal" - a thread by CPA interim steering committee member @adrielhampton:

As a 40-year-old California native, I grew up on this state’s dream. 1/

But environmental predators have pillaged this land while feckless politicians have offered band-aids and lip service. As experts warned that preparations for climate change must begin, oil companies, developers, and complicit government leaders continued driving us to ruin. 2/

During the last two terms of greenwashing Gov. Jerry Brown, the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources approved more than 20,000 new oil wells. The Center for Biological Diversity found that more than three quarters of these toxic wells were sited in poorer communities. 3/

In the SF Bay Area alone, developers have committed more than $20 billion to new projects in the low-lying bay lands (@SFPublicPress). And these massive, high-rent commercial and residential waterfront projects do not include sea-level rise mitigation funding! 4/

Did you know that unlike in Congressional races, corporations can donate directly to California political candidates?

The toxic currents of corporate greed and political malpractice are washing away the California dream. So what are we to do? 5/

California history and popular culture are filled with the stories of individual heroism and accomplishment. We’re wired for these stories - and the corporate media is happy to give them to us (Netflix is now featuring two documentaries about social media “influencers”!). 6/

The California Progressive Alliance believes that the only way out of our present crisis is through radical solidarity. 7/

We need you and all concerned Californians to come together, to ally in the struggle for the environmental and economic transformation of our state. As a dedicated and focused statewide alliance of organizers, we can take back our legislature from corporate interests. 8/

The coming years are critical - I know that together we can use crisis to forge a new future: a dream that ends the grip of dirty energy producers on our state, that creates 10000s of new jobs solarizing communities, sweeping in new public banks & municipal utility ownership. 9/

I’m asking you to mark March 30-31 on your calendar. I’m asking you to sign up NOW for the CPA’s founding convention, where we will develop our 2019 platform, elect officers, ratify bylaws, and plan organizing efforts for a California Green New Deal. californiaprogressivealliance.org/2019-founding-… 10/

This isn’t about individual heroes - it’s going to take all of us. 11/

We know developers, big corporations, & their political lackeys will resist the Marshall Plan-style preparations called for by climate experts. It is up to us to have a stronger vision. Whether you’ve been in this fight for decades or are just getting started, please join us. #