Tag Archives: Decentralization

Upcoming events: Solar XL, soil regeneration, bees

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From Bold Nebraska: Solar XL Install #3

  • WHEN: Friday, July 13, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • WHERE: Allpress Ranch near Naper (directions with RSVP)
  • WHAT: The Solar XL installations will help power the homes, farms, and Indigenous spirit camps of communities resisting the pipeline. This clean and renewable energy project stands in contrast to the threat posed by Keystone XL to land and water, Indigenous rights, and the climate.
  • RSVP: Let us know you’re coming, and we’ll e-mail you the directions.

From The Ross: Dreaming of a Vetter World

  • WHEN: Sunday, July 15, 3 p.m.
  • WHERE: The Ross, Lincoln
  • WHAT: Dreaming of a Vetter World comes at a time when interest in regenerating soil has exploded worldwide. Others are realizing what the Vetters have known for decades: Soil is key to our very survival. Check out this special showing, Q&A with Director Bonnie Hawthorne, David Vetter et al, plus free reception and hors d’oeuvres.
  • Read more.

From the Nebraska League of Conservation Voters: Presentation on Pollinators

  • WHEN: July 22, 7 p.m.
  • WHERE: Unitarian Church in Lincoln, 6300 A Street
  • WHAT: Celebrate our planet’s busy (and vitally important) bees! Judy Wu-Smart will present on pollinators: how they help us, how the environment impacts their health, and how we can help them thrive.

Student-led discussion: What’s Next on Guns?

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Consider joining this student-led discussion on the practical steps we can all take to decrease gun violence in our society:

  • Monday, June 18, 7 to 9 p.m.
  • Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A St., Lincoln

Panelists will include Isabel Boussan, Lincoln East High School; Jadyn Keller, Northeast High School; Jack Buchanan, Lincoln High Sschool; Bouthaina Ebrahim, Northeast High School; Maia Ramsey, Lincoln High School graduate.

The discussion will be bipartisan. Several panelists from among the Lincoln high school students who demonstrated after the Parkland massacre will discuss what they hope to do next to reduce gun violence in our society. They will be discussing, with Nebraskans of all viewpoints, how we can solve an issue that has plagued our state for decades. We all have come in contact with some sort of gun violence, not only in schools, but also concerts, movies, hate crimes and gang shootings. Not an anti-gun rally, this is an open discussion that should lead to our making actual changes quickly and by all means possible.

Gun violence is no idle concern. The massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, goes down as one of the deadliest in U. S. history. It is not isolated. Gun Violence Archive says that about 150 U. S. mass shootings occurred between 1967 and 2017, about eight people killed per incident. Indeed, mass killings are becoming more frequent. Now about 6,000 people in the U.S. die each year from gun violence. To show concern, after the Parkland massacre, high school students throughout the country, including the students from Lincoln, Omaha and several Nebraska towns, demonstrated on March 14 to say, “Never again.” Now we wish to explore how to say it effectively.

In this discussion, people with different perspectives will be encouraged to share their viewpoints, so we can arrive at constructive action steps and move forward. We are urging the community to join us as we continue to strive for positive change. The panelists will each discuss for about 10 to 15 minutes. A person in government active in the gun discussion will follow and examine the student suggestions. Open discussion follows. Coffee and snacks served.

Sponsored by the Lincoln Chapter of Nebraskans for Peace, The Friends Meeting House, Antelope Park Church of the Brethren, The Unitarian Church of Lincoln, Nebraskans Against Gun Violence, National Association of Social Workers, and Nebraskans for Peace.

Green Drinks in Omaha Wednesday, May 23

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This is a friendly reminder that Omaha Green Drinks will be taking place at The Whole Foods Market in Omaha, Wednesday, May 23! We are teaming up with the Green Omaha Coalition to renew acquaintances, meet new faces, and celebrate all those who embody a shared mission of promoting a greener Omaha:

  • Wednesday, May 23, 2018
  • 5:30 to 8 p.m.
  • Whole Foods Market (10020 Regency Circle, Omaha)

Carpool, cycle, walk, or ride the bus! This is a great way to network, inspire, share ideas, and catch up with other “Green” people! Please RSVP on Facebook.

Looking forward to seeing you!

March for Our Lives: Saturday in Omaha, Lincoln, Hastings, and Kearney

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Nebraskans for Peace, Greens, and many others will be joining with students across the country to march against gun violence. Here in Nebraska:

Lincoln: 1 p.m. at the State Capitol.  Check out the Facebook Event.

Omaha: 12 p.m. at Lewis and Clark Landing. Check out the Facebook Event.

Hastings: 12 p.m. at 14th & Saunders. RSVP at March for Our Lives.

Kearney: 12 p.m. at UNK’s Warner Hall. RSVP at March for Our Lives.

Cutting NU budget would send wrong message, damage Nebraska

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds asked state senators to think about the future.

“If we want this to be a place where our children and grandchildren will live and work and raise a family, we have to invest in one of the primary economic drivers our state has,” he told members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. “That is the University of Nebraska, and frankly all of higher education.”

Casting the state’s financial support for the university as a moral issue, Bounds, now in his third year as NU’s president, then asked senators to consider the consequences of a plan put forward by Gov. Pete Ricketts earlier this year.

Read the full story.

Omaha Green Drinks Jan. 24

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Here is a friendly reminder that Omaha Green Drinks will be taking place at Whole Foods this month! We are teaming up with the Green Omaha Coalition to renew acquaintances, meet new faces, and celebrate all those who embody a shared mission of promoting a greener Omaha:

  • Wednesday, January 24
  • 5:30 to 8 p.m.
  • Whole Foods in Omaha (10020 Regency Circle)

Carpool, cycle, walk, or ride the bus! This is a great way to network, inspire, share ideas, and catch up with other “Green” people!

Please RSVP on Facebook.

Nebraska can protect net neutrality

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From the Lincoln Journal Star editorial board:

The Federal Communications Commission has let Americans down by scrapping its net neutrality rules.

Now, states have rightfully taken it upon themselves to protect the idea of a free and open internet once guaranteed by the regulatory agency. In that arena, Nebraska has the chance to emerge as one of the early leaders.

Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld has introduced the Internet Neutrality Act, LB856, aimed at reinstituting the federal regulations – treating all traffic the same and barring providers from blocking, slowing or charging access to particular content – that are phasing out and enshrining them in state code.

Opposition to the FCC’s decision transcends party affiliation or seemingly any other division. The Journal Star editorial board remains firmly in support of net neutrality and supports efforts such as this to restore it.

Read the full editorial.

KXL: Economics that destroy

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From Truthout:

As the plagued Keystone Pipeline spilled 200,000 gallons of oil near the Sisseton Dakota reservation, on November 20, the Nebraska Public Service Commission issued a convoluted permit approval, allowing TransCanada to route the line through part of the state. In the meantime, the Dakota, Lakota and their allies stand strong.

That same day hundreds gathered for the Gathering to Protect the Sacred — a reaffirmation of the international agreement among sovereign indigenous nations to protect the environment from tar-sands projects. The Treaty to Protect the Sacred, first signed in 2013, was signed again. “Nothing has changed at all in our defense of land, air and water of the Oceti Sakowin,” Faith Spotted Eagle told the crowd. “If anything, it has become more focused, stronger and more adamant after Standing Rock.”

The assembly — sponsored by the Braveheart Society of Women, Wiconi Un Tipi, Ihanktonwan Treaty Committee and Dakota Rural Action — brought together 200 water protectors. Oyate Win Brushbreaker, a 97-year-old elder reminded those present, “Reaffirm the boundaries of that treaty. Keep out that black snake you have been talking about.”

Read the full story.

Take action on Net Neutrality

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From Fight for the Future and Demand Progress:

Pai’s plan scraps the legal requirements underpinning Title II regulations and opens the door to internet slow lanes and monopolies over broadband networks.

That’s why today, we’re announcing a massive day of protests at Verizon storefronts across the country to hit Big Cable and Pai where it hurts.

Pai has said that he believes that Big Cable should regulate itself when it comes to the free and open internet. But even with net neutrality rules in place, companies such as Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast have broken the regulations over and over and over. In just two years, the FCC has received more than 40,000 net neutrality complaints from consumers.

If Title II protections are allowed to be overturned, we will go back to the days when Big Cable throttled websites based on what internet companies paid, blocked traffic to sites that competed with their own services, and redirected sites without user permission—all with impunity.

On December 7, we’re staging protests at Verizon locations around the country. Verizon—Pai’s former employer—will be at the peak of its holiday sales, and we’re going to disrupt its business just like it plans to disrupt net neutrality. We’re going to send a strong message to Congress: We will not rest until net neutrality is secured as the law of the land.

Thanks for standing with us.

Read more, contact Congress, and join the Battle for the Net.

Letter: This pipeline can’t be built

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From Promise to Protect:

Dear Friends,

Today brings renewed resolve. We have walked this path together before.

State authorities in Nebraska just approved a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline – but along a different path than the original route TransCanada wanted. We’re still determining exactly what this re-route means, but we know one thing for sure: this pipeline can’t be built.

Our allies in Nebraska will challenge this decision, and they’re confident the pipeline will never get built. But the rest of us are out of agencies or governments to appeal to–instead, we’ve got to rely on each other. Together we’ve stopped them for many years, and we are going to keep stopping them. But we need everyone’s help. We need you to take a stand no matter what land you live or work on. The struggle to save Mother Earth begins with you.

Read the full letter and join the Promise to Protect.