Sol y Viento
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LISTENING: to my endless stream of anxious thoughts
FEELING: paranoid because ants season has returned!!
SEEING: where I can spot ants to stomp on them!!
The day has been pretty rainy and gray, but I know it won't be long until New York enters that sublime time of year. You know what I'm talking about — when trees fill out and the sun playfully peeks out from behind the clouds. The day is breezy but warm. Perfect for a bike ride or park picnic.
It's nearly Gemini season, which is my favorite time of year because, yes, I am a Gemini. But the city just comes to life, man. I need all the dopamine boosts these days. And vitamin D is the best rush.
I spent the afternoon at Stuyvesant Cove Park earlier this week, where I saw dudes running shirtless and people rollerblading along the East River. I could hear the echoes of summertime with every group of giggling teens and barking pups.
I was there to shoot a video in Spanish for El Tiempo Latino about New York and its relationship to water. (I grew up speaking Spanish, but I am embarrassed to report that my Spanish needs a lot of work. I will be hiding under a rock for the foreseeable future.)
During my reporting on this topic, I've been learning about how Donald Trump's assault on federal grants — particularly the erosion of the Inflation Reduction Act — has hit some New York-based organizations hard.
Before I hit up the park, I spent the morning with Elizabeth Yeampierre, the executive director of UPROSE. I've interviewed her many times over the year (see: here, here, and here). She's also the co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance, which has yet to receive funds for a grant it won. Yeampierre had secured her community access to be a part of the state's ambitious efforts to develop an offshore wind project. The manufacturing hub would be concentrated in Brooklyn, where Black and Brown immigrant communities need good-paying work.
Equinor, the Norwegian company behind the project, had already broken ground on construction. It's since been forced to stop. Last month, the Trump administration ordered a halt. The company is considering whether to sue the administration or kill the project entirely. Seventeen states are already suing.
The project isn't dead yet, but the president has made his stance clear: He sees no place for renewables. Well, I have bad news, Mr. Trump: You don't get to decide. The people do.
That's why activists have organized what they're calling Sun Day, a day of action on Sept. 21 to support clean energy and underscore the pivotal role wind and solar, and geothermal play in today's energy landscape. Renewable energy technologies — from battery storage to EVs — have boomed over the last decade.
The fossil fuel machine is scared to become a relic of the past, but the people are here to remind the oil and gas polluters that created this mess that they don't get to decide our futures. We do.
Sun Day will kick off New York Climate Week this year. I know, it feels like forever from now. Well, don't wait until then to activate. Do what you can now. That way, you'll be a pro by the time September comes. 🌀
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Rest in Power
While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more frequent and/or stronger disasters like these.
Wildfires have been raging in Chile since the weekend. A heat wave is coinciding, too. The events have killed at least 22 people.
Summer isn't even here yet, and the U.S. is feeling its own heat casualties. One hiker in Arizona died due to heat exposure Sunday.
Currently Reading
I have a new story out in The Verge. It's all about Indigenous data sovereignty. Please give it a read.
I love a good climate story with rich history. Ian James writes for The Los Angeles Times about California's San Jacinto Tunnel.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson writes for Literary Hub: "Bears never find themselves unemployed or in need of career counseling. Moose don’t take over beavers’ means of production. Robins don’t hire other birds to get worms for them in the morning. Cardinals don’t have nannies looking after their young and cleaning their nests so that their lives are more comfortable. Caribou don’t have armies guarding their territory. Salmon don’t stockpile food in the riverbed."
Boston-area climate activists say FBI agents went to their homes, Barbara Moran reports for the local NPR station.
My journalism crush, Hasan Piker — whom I was just fan-girling over a few editions ago — was questioned after returning from an international flight despite having Global Entry. Ugh. Jacobin writer Branko Marcetic has an important take on his detainment.
Russian scientist Kseniia Petrova writes for the New York Times about her detention by ICE. A must-read: "I haven’t been in my lab or worked with my microscope since February, when I was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as I was returning to Boston from a vacation in France."
404 Media's Becky Ferreira writes about the ancient poetry on the Yangtze finless porpoise, which is nearly extinct.
Collage
Forward this to a woman with heart.
- Yessenia xx
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