On possible closing of Indian Point nuclear power plant, the African American Environmentalist Assoc. asked: ”How many African American children should suffer from asthma in order to marginally improve the level of fish egg mortality in the Hudson River?” nrc.gov/docs/ML1430/ML…
As predicted: ”most of the electricity produced by the nuclear plant, known as Indian Point, has been replaced by power generated by plants that burn natural gas and emit more pollution.” nytimes.com/2021/04/12/nyr…
How it started: ”The two reactors produced about 2.1 gigawatts of power for nearly 45 years—enough to meet a quarter of demand from NYC, without emitting greenhouse gas.”
Cuomo signed law to eliminate carbon emissions from grid by 2040. How big is this setback? ”Pro-nuclear group Nuclear NY calculated each of Indian Point’s reactors had been producing more power than all wind turbines & solar panels in the state combined.” nytimes.com/2021/04/12/nyr…
Transfer of power. Nuclear goes down. Natural gas goes up. And it’ll only get worse when millions of ACs get turned on this summer.
While body cams might have no effect on policing on average, it’s hard to imagine images like this of Adam Toledo with his hands up before being shot won’t move public opinion in similar ways to how DNA evidence changed attitudes about the death penalty. buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer…
Body cams are not systemic change but they can powerfully disrupt official narratives. In this case ”prosecutors initially said as the boy turned toward the officer, he had a gun in his right hand.” Only with the video’s release has that story changed. buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer…
In 1960s, civil rights activists often strategically drew media attention to injustice of segregation by subjecting themselves to state violence. Similarly, body cams will, at times, produce footage that focuses media’s attention on current state violence. cnn.com/2021/04/11/us/…
”Krasnik’s mayor said he worried that unless his town’s “free of L.G.B.T.” status is rescinded, he has little chance of securing foreign funds to finance electric buses and youth programs, which he said are important because young people keep leaving.” nytimes.com/2021/04/10/wor…
”Among those who left their childhood religion, women are twice as likely as men to say negative religious teachings about or treatment of gay and lesbian individuals was a major reason they chose to leave their religion (40% vs. 20%, respectively).” prri.org/research/prri-…
”Reasons Americans identified as motivations in leaving childhood religion are: stopped believing in religion’s teachings (60%), family was never that religious when growing up (32%), experience of negative religious teachings about or treatment of gay and lesbian people (29%).”
New study finds “in cities where bike infrastructure was added, cycling had increased up to 48 percent more than in cities that did not add bike lanes.” nytimes.com/2021/04/01/cli…
“‘It almost seems like a natural law that the more bike infrastructure you have, the more cycling you will have,’ said Sebastian Kraus, the study’s lead author.” nytimes.com/2021/04/01/cli…
“Investments in infrastructure for cycling and walking increase our physical activity, reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. They more than paid for themselves once the health benefits were taken into account.” nytimes.com/2021/04/01/cli…
“We showed strength and courage and power and commitment,” Ms. Cone said, “that we the shut-ins, or the shut-outs, we the hidden, supposedly the frail and the weak, that we can wage a struggle at the highest level of government and win.” nytimes.com/2021/03/26/obi…
She helped mobilize ”a coalition of supporters among other activist groups, including the Black Panthers, who supplied hot meals to the protesters, and machinist union workers, who rented trucks to transport them when they took the fight to Washington” nytimes.com/2021/03/26/obi…
“Kitty Cone believed in the depth of her soul that the broader you build something, the better chance you have of success.” That vision & activism ultimately led to the Americans with Disabilities Act. For more, see the superb, Oscar-nominated doc CripCamp netflix.com/title/81001496
“Prior to 1990, virtually no Americans identified in public opinion surveys as non-religious. By the time we get to the year 2000, you’re talking about 14% to 15% of the population. That is a huge change.” religionnews.com/2021/03/12/all…
“30 years ago, about 1 in 20 Americans had no religious affiliation. Now, it’s roughly 1 in 4.” religionnews.com/2021/03/12/all…
In experiments, subjects read ”news stories about mixing religion with politics.” There were no effects for Republicans but ”Democrats showed a clear aversion. When surveyed the second time, their rate of religious affiliation had dropped by 13 points.” religionnews.com/2021/03/12/all…