GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL UPDATE . . . The nation’s leading anti-poverty advocate Cheri Honkala to be Green Party VP candidate! Wednesday, July 11, 2012, Jill Stein introduced Cheri Honkala as her vice-presidential running mate at a National Press Club press conference in Washington D.C. The room was filled with journalists from around the nation and around the world. Two short videos are here.
For 25 years, Cheri Honkala has been fighting to help keep families in their homes, and demanding fairness for America’s poor. There is a reason she is often called “the original occupy” activist. Read a New York Times article covering the event by Susan Saulny here. Stein and Honkala appeared in their first live joint interview on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman Friday. Stein’s victory statement on qualifying for federal matching funds is here.
To help secure ballot status in Nebraska, e-mail mjberry [at] inebraska [dot] com. Notarized petitions for a NGP ballot line must be submitted to the Nebraska Secretary of State by July 31st.
GPUS 2012 CONVENTION . . . The Green Party National Convention continues through Sunday, July 15, at the University of Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland. Congratulations to Nebraska State Council Representative Charles Ostdiek, newly elected GPUS Steering Committee Co-chair.
FARMERS MARKETS . . . There are more than 90 local Farmers Markets in Nebraska this year. For a partial schedule of current Buy Fresh Buy Local Markets, click here.
Lincoln area: Congressional District 1
OCCUPY EDUCATION . . . Free school Sundays are from 7:00pm – 8:00pm, at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 South Street, in Lincoln. Sunday a different member of the Lincoln community will host a short class on the topic of their choosing. July 15, 2012, Clare LaFrance will present “Replies to the Anti-Homosexual Agenda.”
VIGIL AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY . . . Every Monday, noon to 1:00pm, Nebraskans for abolition of the death penalty meet in front of the governor’s mansion when weather is good, 1425 H Street, Lincoln. When weather is bad, the vigil is inside the capitol, near the Information Desk. The lunch-hour presence reminds the governor of a constituency that does not want state killings. Weekly vigils have taken place year-round since July, 1991. All abolitionists are welcome to participate for a few minutes, or the hour. For more information about NADP, click here. “It’s barbaric. It’s outlawed in all but a few extremely repressive countries like Iran, China, and not many others. It’s shameful that it continues to be performed. It’s well established that mistakes are made–yet half of our states practice pre-meditated state-sponsored murder. It’s also known that it’s not effective. So why is it done? Revenge & retribution? That’s not what our justice system is supposed to be about. It’s not an effective deterrent.” –Jill Stein, GP Presidential Nominee.
OCCUPY THE FOOD SUPPLY . . . This Occupy Education series is devoted to resisting the industrialization of agriculture and food production, reinstituting the use of plants as medicine, as well as reclaiming the means to produce healthy, chemical-free food, with special focus on sustainability and truly organic practices. Learn the basics of gardening, composting, seed saving, and harvesting, as well as connect and work with others who share the same passions, every Monday through August 6, 2012, 7:00 – 8:00pm, Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street, Lincoln.
LINCOLN PEACE VIGILS . . . Lincoln peace vigils continue at the Federal Building, 15th and O streets, every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. Contact Mark at 402.499.6672 or e-mail mark [at] weddleton [dot] com for more information.
SATURDAY FARMERS MARKET . . . The Haymarket Farmers Market, on 8th Street in Lincoln’s Historic Haymarket District, is now open every Saturday, 8:00am to noon, through October 13, 2012. More than 100 vendors bring farm-fresh produce, flowers, baked goods and handmade items to the local gathering place that also features a “Performance Showcase” for Nebraska folk, jazz, blues, classical, and dance talent, plus educational demonstrations and informational booths. Buy Fresh. Shop Local.
SUNDAY FARMERS MARKET . . . The Old Cheney Road Farmers Market offers local produce, baked goods and natural meats every Sunday, 10:00am to 2:00pm, at 55th Street and Old Cheney Road.
OCCUPY EDUCATION . . . Free school Sunday on July 22, 2012, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm, will be “Living Off the Abundance of the Land for Health and Harmony,” with Dustin Rymph. **This teach-in will meet at 9th and Park Streets; walk-about at Standing Bear Grounds to follow.**
OCCUPY LINCOLN . . . There is a calendar of Occupy Lincoln events here. The Facebook page is here. The Twitter feed is @OccupyLincoln. For more information, e-mail occupylincoln [at] gmail [dot] com or phone 402.585.5865. Corporate Greed is Revolution’s Seed!
MOVE TO AMEND/END CORPORATE PERSONHOOD . . . Nebraska Move to Amend is gathering signatures on a petition to End Corporate Personhood by a Resolution to be presented to the Lincoln City Council. To get involved with the local campaign, e-mail Carol Smith, smithcarol [dot] 49 [at] gmail [dot] com 2004 Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb will be starting a Move to Amend tour of the Midwest with Nebraska appearances in Lincoln and Omaha on Sunday, August 12th. Watch for details in future Green Notes.
SAVE THE DATE . . . The annual Alternatives to the Military potluck supper will be held at Christ United Methodist Church, 46th and A Streets, in Lincoln, on Thursday, July 26, 2012, starting at 5:30pm. The 2012 “Peacemaker of the Year” honoree will be Marilyn McNabb, longtime Lincoln activist for peace, justice and the environment. Everyone is welcome. It is always a simple but fun event. Bring your friends, a place-setting, and some food to share. Or just show up. There is always plenty. Feel free to help spread the word.
LAST CALL AT THE OASIS . . . The Ross Media Arts Center, 313 North 13th Street, Lincoln, will show Last Call at the Oasis, a new documentary dealing with the global water crisis, Friday, July 27 through Thursday, August 2, 2012. The film, featuring activist Erin Brockovich and distinguished experts, shatters myths behind our most precious resource, and presents a powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century.
Omaha area: Congressional District 2
NRC MEETING WITH THE PUBLIC . . . The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is scheduled to meet with OPPD officials Tuesday, July 17, 2012, 6:00 to 9:00pm, at the Doubletree Hotel, 1616 Dodge Street. It will be the NRC’s first public meeting since the Sierra Club of Iowa filed a formal request asking that the Fort Calhoun Nuclear plant be closed permanently. Click here to read “Omaha’s Troubled Nuke Plant to Get Another Look,” published June 29th.
OMAHA PEACE VIGILS . . . Omaha peacemakers vigil every Wednesday, 4:30-5:30pm, at StratCom/UN-O, 6801 Pine Street, east of the Scott Technology Center on the UN-O campus. Free parking is available at the NE Corner of 67th Street and Pine in a student lot. For more information, phone Jerry Ebner, 402.502.5887. Every Saturday, 1:00-2:00pm, there is a Peace Vigil at 72nd and Dodge Streets. Park next to 72nd Street, in the pet store parking lot. Contact Steve Horn at 402.426.9068 for more information about Saturday vigils.
OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. Wednesday, July 18, 2012, the film will be Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams.” Watch a 5:24 minute Colbert Report interview with Herzog speaking about the film here. A 2:16 minute trailer is here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.
ORIGIN OF LIFE . . . Jim Rogers, PhD, Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, will speak on “The Mathematical Basis of the Origin of Life” at the Saturday meeting of REASON (Rationalists, Empiricists And Skeptics Of Nebraska), 2:00pm, July 21, 2012, at the W. Dale Clark Library, 215 South 15th Street, Omaha. The meeting is free and open to the public. Discussion will follow the presentation. For more information, phone Jim Bechtel, 402.556.8312.
OMAHA FARMERS MARKETS . . . Click here for an Omaha Market schedule.
OCCUPY OMAHA . . . The official Occupy Omaha website is here. The FaceBook page is here. The Twitter feed is #occupyomaha
ENGAGE OMAHA . . . One of the nation’s first city-wide, virtual town hall websites, EngageOmaha, is now online. Omaha residents may weigh in on issues for the city to consider. Pick a topic, and join the mix here.
Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3
NEBRASKA ENERGY FAIR . . . Saturday, July 21st, the 2012 Nebraska Energy Fair Solar Experience is an all-day opportuity to learn from a knowledgeable, experienced solar consultant and explore solar installations featuring a range of production capabilities, mounting systems, panel types, and configurations. The Fair begins at 8:30am, in Lyons, Nebraska, at Nebraska Green Fuels, 300 Main Street. A “Solar Basis” presentation by Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems’ Robert Byrnes will start the day. Pre-register here.
KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . On Wednesday, July 25, 2012, groups across the country are holding solidarity events to mark the 2-year anniversary of the toxic tar sands spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo river. Bold Nebraska has a “Keep Our Water Blue” blog post asking for photos taken by a water crossing or favorite body of water at-risk: a small creek or stream, an aquifer-fed pond, or of the sources of water listed county-by-county at the blog. Photos should have individuals or groups holding handmade signs (the yard signs that say “Keep Our Water Blue” will work great for this) calling attention to the pipeline’s threat. Groups will then hold a press conference (location TBD) on July 25th using these photos, information from the Stansbury report documenting that the pipeline could have 91 leaks and spills over the lifetime of the pipe, and findings from a government report on the Kalamazoo spill, making the case that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and this route are too risky for our water. Please send photos to info [at] boldnebraska [dot] org by July 20th. For more information, or to ask questions, phone Ben at 402.705.8679.
The Compassionate Earth Walk is a physical walk along the Keystone XL route through the heart of North America–a moving spiritual community dedicating energy to nourishing the earth, and an invitation to all humans to wake up, end the destruction, and return to our home in the community of life. The Walk will happen next summer, but this August Shodo Spring will do a preparatory trip along the expected route to become familiar with the geography, to meet the people, and to participate in two indigenous environmental actions: August 4, the Third Annual Healing Walk at the tar sands, and August 7-11, Unis’tot’en Camp, British Columbia. Then Shodo will travel down along the pipeline route all the way to Steele City, Nebraska.
Shodo is asking for support from people in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Meet her, house her, introduce her to your community, and/or join the walk for any part of the trip. E-mail shodo [dot] spring [at] gmail [dot] com or phone Shodo at 612.562.0614.
“KEYSTONE XL: Compromise route around Nebraska Sand Hills still crosses sandy hills,” by Elana Schor, E&E Greenwire, was published on July 10, 2012: “Pipeline critics who pushed to move its route out of the Sandhills now lament that TransCanada’s compromise path, based on an EPA-developed map, still runs crude through sandy soils and high water tables.”
“Opposed to new route,” by Kathy Burnham, a July 14th letter to the editor of Lincoln Journal Star, also addresses the bottom line: It’s Still the Sand Hills and the Aquifer. “…The proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline still threatens the Ogallala Aquifer. It also threatens the Niobrara River. These sources of water are crucial for agriculture and the citizens of this state. Clean water is the key to Nebraska’s economy, not the Keystone XL. For that reason, this conservative is opposed to the construction of the Keystone XL along the new route.” Click here to read the entire letter.
A July 15th letter to LJS, “Their wealth, our health,” by Cleve Trimble, begins “We already know that bitumen is the most toxic, least efficient, most expensive and dirtiest form of energy. We know the earth is blown up to extract it. We know that getting this poisonous goop from Canada to Texas requires a huge pipe that is heated and pressurized and certain to leak at some points in time. …This is not a partisan issue. It’s not about jobs or energy. It’s not about payoffs to cross our lands. It’s not about the route. These are diversions that have us arguing with each other. The only real issue is whether TransCanada’s wealth trumps Nebraska’s health. The sole issue is whether this pipeline should cross our border in the first place.” The letter is continued here.
Rachel Maddow did a segment on the Enbridge tar sands spill in the Kalamazoo River, but did not mention the pending decisions on Keystone XL. Please send a note to a senior producer, cory [dot] gnazzo [at] msnbc [dot] com encouraging her to do more on tar sands and KXL.
“Building pipelines is an invitation for more oil spills,” by Paul Hanley, July 10, 2012, in The Star Phoenix, discusses the likelihood of devastating oil spills if dirty tar sands pipeline projects like Keystone XL or the Northern Gateway pipeline are approved. “All technologies fail sooner or later. If the Northern Gateway pipeline and supertanker port or the Keystone pipeline are built, there will be spills, including disastrous spills. …Contrast this with renewable energy: When there is a huge solar energy spill, it’s just called a sunny day.”
“Enbridge spills it out” is a new 1:39 minute animated spoof on the Northern Gateway pipeline and oil spills in general.
Thanks to Shannon at New Partners for these Quotes of the Week: “While the oil sands industry has made progress in reducing GHG emissions intensity, overall emissions are growing and this is inconsistent with our national GHG reduction commitment.” –Quote from a memo from Canadian Prime Minister Harper’s administration, the premise for a push by Canadian officials to counter the U.S. battle against climate change on behalf of the tar sands industry.
“Delegating too much authority to the regulated is tantamount to letting the fox guard the hen house.” –Deborah Hersman, Chair of the NTSB.
“Learning about Enbridge’s poor handling of the rupture, you can’t help but think of the Keystone Kops,” referring to the incompetent policemen in silent films. “Why didn’t they recognize what was happening? What took so long?” –Deborah Hersman, Chair of the NTSB.
Tell the Obama Administration: Reject Keystone XL. Again. The following message accompanies a new petition from Credo Action: In the same week that record June heat blanketed the southeast, Minnesota tried to recover from record flooding, and the biggest fire in Colorado’s history continued to burn out of control — President Obama doubled down in his support for the energy that is causing this deepening climate change spiral approving the first portion of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, giving away 720 million tons of publicly owned coal to a coal company for virtually nothing, and promising to lease more arctic offshore areas for oil drilling. Now, the Canada to Oklahoma portion of the Keystone XL pipeline – which would turn up the spigot on deadly, “game over for the climate” tar sands production – is back before the State Department after being rejected by President Obama earlier this year when Republicans tried to force his decision.
Without the pressures of the election, President Obama could conceivably cave when a decision is made in 2013 – if he is re-elected. This public comment period is our opportunity to go on the record, before the election, with our fierce opposition. Please urge President Obama to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline.
If you have a Twitter account, click here to automatically tweet: Tell @StateDept and @BarackObama: The weather is bad enough already. Don’t “XL” climate change – reject #Keystone XL!
Sign a Natural Resources Defense Council Action Alert telling Congress to reject all attempts to force approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by attaching it to any unrelated legislation. The Keystone XL will deliver billions in profits to Big Oil while the people get stuck with poisoned water, contaminated land and an overheated planet.
“The Keystone pipeline will spew a massive amount of carbon pollution into our fragile atmosphere. It should be stopped. ” –Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party Presidential Nominee.
STOP FRACKING NOW . . . At the First-Ever National Mobilization Against Fracking on July 28th, celebrities, community groups, and more than 100 organizations will join forces for “Stop the Frack Attack” in Washington, DC, where they will make three demands of Congress: 1. Stop dangerous fracking; 2. Close 7 legal loopholes that exempt the oil and gas industry from parts of the Safe Drinking Water, Clean Air, and Clean Water Acts; and 3. Implement a pathway towards 100% clean renewable energy. Learn more about the event here. Petition Congress: “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act this year. It’s time to hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.”
PETITION THE EPA . . . Tell the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately prohibit the use of clothianidin and conduct a full scientific review to determine its impact on honey bee populations. Learn more about clothianidin and sign the petition here.
BUY FRESH. BUY LOCAL . . . . Farmers, gardeners, and craftspeople meet through The Nebraska Food Cooperative, an on-line, year-round farmers’ market and local food distribution service offering the best in local freshness. For ordering and pickup schedules, refer to the calendar here. Click here for products and prices from North Star Neighbors, a Cooperative member that doesn’t therapeutically medicate or unduly confine animals. Click here for Tomato Tomäto, Omaha’s year-round indoor Farmer’s Market at 156th & West Center. Shop for fresh foods grown in or very near your own community at Open Harvest, Lincoln’s member-owned natural foods retail cooperative at 1618 South Street. Buying local grows family farming, grows the local economy, and is thousands of miles fresher.
HELP NEBRASKA GREENS WITH GOODSEARCH . . . Each time you search the Internet (or shop online at a participating store), a donation can be made to Nebraska Green Party at no cost to you! To help NGP in this way, enter Nebraska Green Party where it asks you to name your cause here. Bookmark the GoodSearch Homepage, or make it your own Home Page. Enter the url you want in the GoodSearch search box. Each time you do, one penny will be donated to Nebraska Greens. THANK YOU for your support!
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Substitute Hemp for oil.“