Open thread for night owls: Loomis—'Towards a working-class environmentalism'

Erik Loomis at The New Republic writes—Towards a Working-Class Environmentalism:

Environmentalism’s reputation as a rich white social movement will have enormous negative consequences. A few years ago, I was in Cleveland to talk to environmental justice activists who were trying to organize mostly African Americans in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. As many scientists, historians, and environmental justice scholars have noted, climate change will disproportionally affect the poor, which in the United States means predominantly people of color. Working class Americans who lack air conditioning die in heat waves; higher temperatures in cities lead to cockroach infestations, which lead to high asthma rates; and scorching inner city heat islands lead to heat strokes. Despite these facts, the people in Cleveland who saw these presentations responded that climate change reminded them of polar bears drowning. Until environmentalists can effectively address the concerns and anxieties of working-class Americans, it will remain on the political sidelines.

How can environmentalists move forward in the age of Trump? First, they must emphasize job creation in a green economy. Environmentalists must fight alongside unions for full employment in a green economy that uses union labor. American steel produced by United Steelworkers members must be used to make wind turbines erected by Laborers members. Unfortunately, most green energy capitalists hold anti-union positions, but environmentalists have to demand a change.

Green groups must also throw money and energy into fights like the poisoning of the water supply in Flint, Michigan. Not only should it be lobbying and publicizing this criminal action by Michigan Republicans, it should build on it to support a new clean water bill that, in turn, demands union jobs to promote clean water for all. Environmental justice campaigns have to be waged at the grassroots level, in statehouses, and at the federal level. Centering these struggles on the plight of the working class and people of color will go far to bring the movement back to its democratic roots. The large green organizations do some of this work now, but it remains a minor part of the larger environmental agenda, much to its own detriment.

If the history of the environmental movement demonstrates anything, it is that the movement gains political support when everyday people see how it affects their own lives. Until it effectively battles the belief that environmental protection is a privilege the nation’s working classes cannot afford, the environmental movement will fail politically in its crucial goal of mitigating climate change and ensuring an ecologically sound future for humans in the United States and around the world.

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At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—Bountiful Justice:

Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments in yet another case concerning the right of men held at Guantánamo prison to appeal for their freedom. The Military Commissions Act, rushed through last year by the Republican Congress, was drafted so as to deny them the right. The Court has earlier ruled, in Rasul and again in Hamdan, that the prisoners had to be given the right to challenge their detention, which the Bush administration has sought to frustrate by various devices.

The MCA is only the latest such stunt. It denies the prisoners’ habeas corpus rights by stripping courts of jurisdiction to hear their appeals, and substituting a new ad hoc military court system. In these Military Commissions the accused has very limited rights and cannot appeal for his freedom even if the prosecution fails to win its case.

The appeal before SCOTUS today, backed by a broad coalition of liberal, conservative, and libertarian groups as well as many distinguished lawyers, represents a last attempt to force the Bush administration to permit the prisoners to seek justice.

On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Cheers for the #NoDAPL activists! Greg Dworkin reminds us jobs talk was key, plus points us to a powerful new video. Trump might not bother with a budget. Comet Pizza insanity and GOP bare knuckles crazy should have us thinking nuclear Senate strategy. 

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