PROSPERITY & PROSPECTS

What Can You Do to Support Climate Recovery?
Here’s One Strategy:
 
Vanquish Vampire Power

Many electronic devices and appliances draw power even when turned off or in standby mode — a phenomena known as “phantom load” or “vampire power.”  A recent US study showed the average home has 65 devices and appliances on standby power, costing the nation approximately $19 billion a year — about $165 per household— and 50 large (500-megawatt) power plants’ worth of electricity. With Spanish electricity bills among the highest in the EU, cutting down on electricity waste makes good sense for the budget as well as our carbon footprint.

One easy way to lighten the phantom load is to change the energy management setting on your computer so it sleeps after 5 or 10 minutes of inactivity rather than staying on all the time. (Here’s how to do this.) Unplug devices when you’re done with them or use a power strip to cut off your computer or entertainment system after it's powered down. Can’t remember to unplug or switch off your electronics? Next time you buy a power strip, get the “smart” version with a timer.
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For more on solutions to climate change, visit ClimateRecovery.org.

STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! by Kathy Sherretts

Prosperity and prospects
I’m planning a trip back to visit the folks in Pennsylvania in the New Year. It’s exhausting to think about. (…now, doesn’t the word “layover” sound as if it should be restful?) Like many other places in the US, the area where I grew up was a farming and industrial economy two generations ago, with fewer economic prospects for the folks who live there now. 
I looked up my community in the Opportunity Atlas, a map showing average outcomes in adulthood for people who grew up in different areas of the country. The map is a project of Opportunity Insights, a collaboration of the Census Bureau, Harvard University, and Brown University. It's searchable for outcomes such as projected income, number of children, incarceration rates... as the FAQ section points out, based on where you are from, not on where you live. I can run, but I can't hide.
--Kathy Sherretts

Podcast:
WNYC: George Packer, Adam Davidson, and Jill Lepore on Short-Term Thinking in America (14 min)
Our democracy isn’t well built for long-term climate planning: elected officials with limited terms have no incentive to ask citizens to make sacrifices.

Article:
Vox: “Witch hunts” explained, from Salem to Donald Trump by Dylan Scott and Tara Isabella Burton 
There is something distasteful about men in power using a term that harks back to an era in history in which a patriarchal society wrongfully persecuted (mostly) women.

Article:
The Guardian: US Hispanics descended from Sephardic Jews seek Spanish citizenship by Sam Jones
A growing number of US Hispanic people are looking to their family past as a possible means of safeguarding their future. “I want to stay here and fight against this cabrón. But if things go bad, I’ll be able to go to Spain.”

Article:
Slate: Spain Is Moving On From Coal. Can the U.S. Do the Same? by Arthur Neslen
Spain is attempting to achieve a just transition away from fossil fuels, trying to ensure both environmental and social protection.“ If you don’t negotiate with working people, if plans are not transparent and communities don’t have trust in their futures, then resistance to climate action is absolutely a risk.”
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​ZIP code isn’t destiny, but it can affect opportunity. The Opportunity Atlas traces the roots of today's affluence and poverty back to the neighborhoods where people grew up.

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].
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