On Thursday, January 5, at 3 pm Eastern, the Climate Reality Check team* held the latest in their series of national conference calls to help strengthen community organizing on climate, entitled:
"Day Against Denial" day of actions, and Resisting Trump’s Corporate Cabinet
[Recording: https://www.freeconferencecallhd.com/playback_rudd/?n=O3J5d/uBSpX ]
Donald Trump is putting together a cabinet of greedy corporate shills and climate deniers.
[Beyond Nuclear has focused on the nomination of former Texas governor Rick Perry, due to his blatant conflict of interest involving the Waste Control Specialists, LLC radioactive waste dump in Andrews County, TX. See Beyond Nuclear's article, Radioactive Waste is Good for You, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Rick Perry as Energy Secretary.]
In fact, Trump’s cabinet, if confirmed, will be unparalleled in its ties to Big Polluters and massive corporations.
But it is not a done deal.
A broad coalition of allies are joining the campaign to stop these dangerous picks from being confirmed.
They were joined by Everette Thompson of 350.org and Ben Schreiber of Friends of the Earth who led the discussion on the mobilization to block Trump’s dangerous cabinet. The discussion included:
More about the presenters:
Ben Schreiber is the climate and energy program director at Friends of the Earth. Before heading the climate and energy team, Ben previously served as the climate and energy tax analyst at Friends of the Earth. Prior to joining Friends of the Earth, he was a staff attorney at Environment America where he focused on energy issues. Ben received a B.A. in sociology from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis
Everette R.H. Thompson has over 15 years of experience in community organizing, organizational development and movement building. He is Southerner by birth and choice and has dedicated his career to strengthening organizational infrastructure in the South. Everette has served as the National Field Director for the Rights Working Group a national coalition of over 300 community-based groups and policy organizations dedicated to ending racial and bias profiling across the country. He also served as the Regional Director of Amnesty International USA’s Southern Regional Office, which was based in Atlanta, GA and covered a region comprised of eleven states in the Southeastern U.S. As Regional Director, Everette provided the overall strategic vision to meet AIUSA’s campaign goals in the South, traveled extensively throughout the South building strategic partnerships and coalitions and served as the lead spokesperson for AIUSA South. Everette currently serves as the National Equity & Justice Coordinator for 350.org.
*The CRC team is Allison Fisher, Public Citizen, Nancy LaPlaca, NC WARN, Jean Su, the Center for Biological Diversity and Ted Glick, Beyond Extreme Energy and movement builder.
Have an idea or speaker for a call? Email Allison at afisher@citizen.org
Dear Friends, It is urgent that we RESIST Donald Trump and his dangerous agenda to rollback and blunt our climate and progressive protections. Join the Network: Sign-up to join the Resist Trump Network https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1P89R9uN9rUoFmsBRCSpyKpZ1EovYiwHrxBu9qyX1HVY/edit?ts=586fccea Who we are: We are climate activists who are committed to standing together to RESIST Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuel, anti-climate policies. Those of us concerned about climate change also recognize that we cannot RESIST Donald Trump alone. We need to stand together in support of racial, social, environmental, and economic justice for all. If the Progressive community is allowed to fracture, then all of our causes will be lost. What we are: The RESIST TRUMP Network is a rapid response network of grassroots and grasstops climate activists primed to take local and national action to combat key actions under the Trump Administration that gravely threaten our climate and environment as well as issues undermining the greater Progressive community. How we will do it: We will hold weekly 30-minute calls on Monday’s at 3 pm ET/12 pm PT to inform you of the pressing federal matters of the week. The first call will be held Monday, January 9. We will discuss and ask that you deploy rapid response efforts on the ground to combat these actions--including LTEs, calling your Congressmen, setting up in-district meetings with your Congressmen, and organizing actions. We note that there may also be the possibility of emergency calls that warrant immediate response to sudden actions. Join our first kick-off call: Sign-up today to join our first call on Monday, January 9 at 3 pm ET/noon PT https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1P89R9uN9rUoFmsBRCSpyKpZ1EovYiwHrxBu9qyX1HVY/edit?ts=586fccea These weekly rapid response calls will be organized by Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, and the Center for Biological Diversity. However, we will draw from the actions, toolkits, and work of our allies in both the climate and other progressive movements. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to any of us. Thanks, Allison, Ben, and Jean Allison Fisher (afisher@citizen.org) Ben Schreiber (bschreiber@foe.org Jean Su (jsu@biologicaldiversity.org)
See this reference provided by Food & Water Watch: Corporate States of America: Industry Ties to Trump's Cabinet Nominations, Food & Water Watch, January 6, 2017.