NITTY GRITTY

If you have a party with lots of people, ask guests to write their name on the cup they are using. If the cups are sturdy, go ahead and wash them for another occasion!

What Can We Do to Support Climate Recovery?

Reduce Our Reliance on Throw-Away Plastics

In 2016, we produced 335 million metric tons of plastic worldwide, half of which was created with the intention to be used for as little as a few minutes, or even a few SECONDS (looking at you, plastic coffee stirrers). What are the worst culprits?

1. Packaging makes up over half of the plastic we throw away.
2. Water bottles are purchased at a rate of 1 million every minute; 91% aren’t recycled.
3. Shopping and grocery bags are used at a rate of 4 trillion annually worldwide; 99% aren’t recycled.
4. Plastic straws are thrown away at a rate of half a million a day worldwide.
5.  Plastic cups are used and tossed at a rate of 500 billion a year worldwide.

Plastic doesn’t disappear. It leeches chemicals, interferes with natural systems and wildlife, and eventually breaks down small enough to end up in the food we eat and the water we drink.

What can we do?

• Carry a water bottle or ask for un vaso de agua del grifo (glass of tap water).
• Order drinks en una taza/un vaso para tomar aqui (for here, in a mug or glass) and sin pajita (without a straw).
• Bring your own grocery bags AND produce bags (I use mesh laundry bags); say “no necesito una bolsa” (I don’t need a bag).
• Avoid coffee pods.
• Carry a set of utensils.
• Buy whole foods and local products that come package-free.
• If you must order from Amazon, follow up with a request to reduce packaging.
• Check out Loop, an innovative new Zero Waste delivery system for groceries and household products. It's about to be launched in the USA and France; if it’s successful it may become available in Spain as well. (Yes, we will certainly let you know!)​​

​TED Talk: What happens to the plastic you throw away?/A Plastic Ocean (Netflix/Amazon Prime)
​
Article by Natalie Snow Purinton

STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! by Kathy Sherretts

Nitty gritty
While our collective attention has been engaged by the Super Bowl, governors in blackface, MAGA-hat kids, federal worker food banks, Democratic presidential announcements, etc, the wheels of the legislature have been turning in the background (or spinning, as the case may be). What have our elected representatives been doing? 
In bite-size chunks, you can read an overview of individual bills before the House and the Senate at Countable and see citizens’ comments arguing for and against their passage.
If you really want to get into the weeds, read the Congressional Record. Wow. Even the pdf looks like a 19th century broadsheet. One of these is published every day for each of the houses of the legislature, and contains a transcript of everything discussed on the chamber floor.
Here’s a sample, the Senate proceedings for last Thursday the 31st of January. I dislike Mitch McConnell even more now than I did from listening to him in out-of-context news clips. Man, is that guy snarky. He’s next up for re-election in 2020 and I plan now to contribute to any campaign to vote him out and retire his obstructionist ass.
--Kathy Sherretts

Black History Month:
Washington Post/Retropolis: How the founder of Black History Month rebutted white racism in a forgotten manuscript by DeNeen L. Brown
Carter G. Woodson advocated for scholarly research, study and publication of works about the African American experience. In 1926, Woodson created Negro History Week to celebrate the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, both in February. The week later evolved into Black History Month.

Article:
The Nation: An Actual American War Criminal May Become Our Second-Ranking Diplomat by Eric Alterman
Elliott Abrams spent the Reagan years abetting genocide—now, he has been appointed special envoy to Venzuela during that country’s political crisis, and may be floated as Trump’s deputy secretary of state.

Lead linings:
Think Progress: After inspiring climate denial playbook, Big Tobacco now sees dollar signs from climate change by Kyla Mandel
“Doubt is our product … It is also the means of establishing a controversy,” reads a tobacco industry memo from 1969. The same tactic has been used by the fossil fuel industry to deny climate science. The two industries also shared scientists and public relations firms to help promote their misleading narratives. 

Advice:
Washington Post: When you’re burning out by Carolyn Hax
A reader struggles to stay engaged.
​

Stacey Abrams will give the Democratic response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. Joy Reid and her panel discuss what the president might say, and how Nancy Pelosi might react.

Ready to do more?
 
Read the Indivisible Guide 2.0, 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 [email protected].