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i'll admit - i missed half of pelosi's acceptance speech, having to do so much, but i did dvr it, and finally watched. what i did not realize, one of her 3 guests was mickey hart from the grateful dead. i knew several of them were there for her when she first became speaker 1/
as she is a huge dead fan ... going way back. i bring this up for a specific point ... going back to the early 70s the dead were staunch environmental activists - partnering with democrats, (some repubs - who really believed in the cause) and environmental groups, 2/
lik e Rainforset Action Network, Greenpeace & the Sierra club, among others to course correct the damage we are doing to the planet. they promoted the first earth day and would later work with other staunch environmentalists including al franken & tom davis of snl fame, 3/
to promote non-destructive farming to save rainforests being clear-cut, in brazil. dems forced timber companies in the u.s. to plant new trees as they clearcut. the grateful dead were not known for promoting politics, but supported the clintons and gores 4/
- because of their environmental stances. they also supported obama, partly because of his push to ward off global warming. leahy, blumenthal, pelosi, feinstein, franken, barbara lee, dean ... all environmentalists going way back. 5/
while dems in ny had many beefs with pataki as governor - the one consensus that was rock solid, cleaning up ny's pollution problem ... air & water quality. in nj, while whitman toe'd the party line on most issues, where she broke ranks with her republican colleagues 6/
and sided with dems - environmental initiatives, across the state including protecting miles of wetlands. the side of your spray can say no cfc - for a reason ... democrats fighting to eliminate that ozone layer depleting substance from thousands of products. 7/
mandatory recycling programs at state and federal gov't facilities across the country became a thing - because of grassroots organizers working with democrats. the closing of dumps producing massive amounts of methane - democrats working with environmental scientists 8/
and grassroots orgs.. the pollutive smog that enveloped nyc and los angeles for decades, that made ppl's eyes burn and cause serious respiratory and dermatological problems for kids and seniors, is mostly a thing of the past because of strong regulations put in place 9/
by democrats and some republicans who cared. those repubs are mostly gone, now - replaced with greedy repubs paid to deny climate science. because of ppl like al gore we talk about and do to reduce our carbon footprints . 10/
now major corps around the globe even track their net carbon pollution to identify the measures they need to take to bring it to 0. the kyoto and paris accords - spearheaded by democrats and environmentalist politicians around the globe, in conjunction with 11/
thousands of respected scientists and grassroots organizations, were major achievements. obama never actually closed coal mines. he mandated new filtration systems to significantly reduce pollution from the plants. owners closed coal plants rather than comply. 12/
since trump has been in office, several more have closed, because the side effect of the plants spiting obama - power companies began transitioning faster away from coal usage. under the reinvestment and recovery act - 13/
obama/dems invested nearly 100 billion dollars into green energy technology, grants,. loan assistance programs, etc ... to speed up electric car production and create the fastest growing industries for jobs in wind and solar. the debates over the investments 14/
became a part of the 2012 campaign. of course, by then .. republicans took back the house and fought tooth and nail against any new initiatives, to combat global warming. that is when the climate committee was shelved. 15/
because repubs on the hill refused to act, democrats and some republicans (on the state level) tried to fill in the voids. under clinton and obama, working with democratic and a few repub governors and state legislators protected millions of additional acres of national 16/
forest and wetlands ... and regulations against downstream pollution went into effect. dems across the country have long fought against environmental bigotry, that causes billions in health problems in mostly communities of color. 17/
national emission standards that were derived from california's program became a thing under obama. there were mandates on new car development that a large percentage must be biofuel or electric. give credit where credit is due - bloomberg in ny mandated all new taxis 18/
either use flex fuel or be completely electric, by 2020. city and local commuter bus-lines across the country were given grants to go green. school campuses across the country used grants to put up solar panels to make their primary schools colleges and universities 19/
as green as possible. that's the work of grassroots organizations working alongside concerned politicians, most democrats. the attempts for carbon taxes in ny and washington state failed, but should not have. we can't tax the rich out of of a problem we all cause. 20/
remember- most of the polluting those companies do is on our behalf. we are all in this regardless of income level. we have to make major changes in our own lifestyles to reduce our own carbon footprints. if you are serious, be serious. slogans and downing allies 21/
is not being serious, nor is gaslighting, strawman arguments or trying to discredit others because you don't like realism. you are not reinventing the wheel. so-called progressives like sarandon, moore and nader helped an oil baron take the white house in 2000, 22/
instead of the guy who's #1 focus is combating global warming. he was not pure enough. hillary had a very comprehensive plan to combat global warming. bernie had slogans and a wagging finger. unrealistic goals is not good policy. 23/
republicans obstructed democrats at every turn. leftist progressives sat out in 2010, 2014 and went 3rd party in 2016... each time reversing major gains in combating global warming. we know about the threat, not because some group that became a thing 6 months ago24/
introduced a wish list they call policy, because democrats alongside top climatologists, oceanographers and geologists, environmental groups around the globe have been sounding the alarm, for decades. 25/
unrealistic deadlines for goals is not good policy. instead of rushing a plan, that has not been well thought out, because you want to make a name for yourselves, is why we are here. not because democrats have been absent on the issue - dems have been in the middle 26/
going back to the early days of the environmental movement. we were taking it serious when we voted for gore, obama and hillary. you can get off your high horses and work with democrats to bring something cogent, realistic and well thought out, that can pass congress, 27/
get signed into law ... and survive court challenges ... or keep acting like you're the boss and those with actual experience are in the cheap seats. then, in 2020. when repubs retake the house and control congress ... we will all see how fast we hit failsafe 28/
where nothing we do can reverse the hell to come. time to grow up, stop acting like your voice is the only one that matters, cut loose ppl who are more about control than getting things done and work alongside dems. OR keep working against us, 29/
and really become an island of your own. your constituents would prefer you do the former. 30/30
