HOT FLASH

What Can You Do to Support Climate Recovery?

Here’s One Strategy:
 
Avoiding Meat & Dairy Is the Single Biggest Way You Can Stop Contributing to Climate Change
 
A major new report reveals that more than 80% of farmland is used for livestock while producing just 18% of our food calories and 37% of our protein. It’s an inefficient way to feed ourselves — and a huge pollutant. For every 100 grams of beef we raise, we generate 105 kilos of greenhouse gases. Our planet’s annual beef production is now 330 million metric tons. You do the math.
 
Does this mean we all have to go vegan overnight? No. And of course, living in Seville, the idea of giving up our beloved jamón seems pretty radical. But we can easily reduce our meat consumption. How to start?
 
Meatless Mondays
 
Five years ago, an Israeli newscaster introduced the idea of Meatless Mondays — also called Happy Mondays — to improve the health of individuals and the planet. Today her idea has spread around the globe. What’s for dinner on Happy Mondays? Here are meatless recipes that carnivores love and one for Autumn Vegetable Paella. ¡Buen provecho!
 
For more on being part of the solution, visit ClimateRecovery.org, a project launched by American Resistance Sevilla and other community groups and individuals here in Seville.
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STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! by Kathy Sherretts

Hot Flash
Climate change is not a partisan issue, but it IS a political one. The National Climate Assessment was released November 23, assessing climate change and its impacts across the United States. As reported in the Guardian and NBC News, the impacts of climate change are intensifying everywhere, threatening Americans’ physical, social, and economic well-being, and the current governmental response is insufficient to stave off its worst effects.
The timing of the report, and the GOP's response to it, demonstrate that we need to stay engaged with our congressional representatives in both parties to keep climate change in at the top of the legislature's priorities.
—Kathy Sherretts

Article:
Grist: How did the environment do on the 2018 ballot? by Eve Andrews
Many unhappy returns.

Article:
Washington Post: Democrats prepare to grill Trump officials on environmental issues in new Congress by Dino Grandoni and Juliet Eilperin
Newly elected Democrats have outlined an expansive agenda to spotlight the Trump administration’s rollback of climate protections, and to investigate alleged misconduct at the Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department and the Housing and Urban Development Department.

Some good news:
HuffPost: After Decades Of Global Action, The Ozone Layer Is On The Road To Recovery by Dominique Mosbergen
A 1987 agreement to phase out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting chemicals was signed by 197 nations. It has been described as the most successful environmental global action in history. 
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The cover image from the Fourth National Climate Assessment captures the August 2018 Howe Ridge Fire in Montana's Glacier National Park (Glacier NPS)

Ready to do more?
 
Read the just-released Indivisible Guide, a new strategy for a new congress.
 
Check out the weekly action plan from Progressive Action, Global Exchange (PAGE) which mobilizes progressive Americans living overseas.
 
Sign up for the Americans of Conscience Checklist, a weekly action list that also provides encouragement and good news.
 
Learn more at ClimateRecovery.org, a new group organized by members of American Resistance Sevilla and other community activists. Have questions or want to volunteer? Contact ClimateRecoverySevilla@gmail.com.
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