Pages tagged "Green Party"

Reflection on the 2020 Election by PA Green Party Candidate Michael Bagdes-Canning

Posted on Green Voices & Press by · December 15, 2020 7:01 PM
  
Green Party of Pennsylvania
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 11, 2020
 
CONTACT
Chris Robinson, Communication Team
267-977-0570 and [email protected]
 
Reflection on the 2020 Election by PA Green Party Candidate Michael Bagdes-Canning
 
Michael Bagdes-Canning ran as the Green Party candidate for election to PA House District 64. Bagdes-Canning was already an elected member of the Cherry Valley Borough Council in Butler County. Chris Robinson, co-leader of the Green Party of PA (GPPA, www.gpofpa.org) communication team, interviewed Bagdes-Canning to discover what he learned about being a candidate for the GPPA.
 
GPPA: Michael, We would like to hear your thoughts about your campaign for PA District 64. I see that you did really well, pulling 5,584 votes. Good Job!

Bagdes-Canning: Thank you, Chris. It has been little more than a month since Election Day. I am still processing what happened. One thing is obvious, I did not get elected. In a highly charged election cycle, I received 20% of the vote. 
This can be looked at in a few ways. We could say that my vote total soared from the 2% I got in 2016 to the 20% I got this year: AMAZING! Or we could say that I significantly underperformed because Joe Biden got around 31% of the vote in PA District 64, but I only got 20%: BUMMER!
I think the truth lies somewhere in between. One thing is certain, I knew on Election Day morning that we were in for a rough ride: there were record-breaking lines at polling places and lots of talk about only voting for Republicans.

GPPA: Were there lessons, Michael, that you learned from running for Cherry Valley Borough Council, which helped you this year?
Bagdes-Canning: This race, Chris, was a learning experience for me. I have been on the Cherry Valley Borough Council since 1989. Twice before, I have run for higher profile offices (Butler County Commissioner in 2015 and this same seat, PA House District 64, in 2016). This race was nothing like running for Cherry Valley Borough Council. I know my neighbors, and they know me. 
 
GPPA: Can you tell if your name recognition as a member of the Borough Council helped pull votes for you?
Bagdes-Canning: I am fairly well known in Butler County. I have a high profile because I have been “in the news” for the last 40 years. My campaigns, my seat on Cherry Valley Borough’s Council, my letters to the editor of the local paper, and my “activism” around fracking, anti-discrimination ordinances, and several direct action campaigns I have organized, have given me a fairly high profile.

However, because of the way the district is drawn, my part of Butler County is a small appendage of PA District 64, but it is a very Republican stronghold. Most of the district is in Venango County, well outside my wheelhouse. Even in Butler County, even in Cherry Valley, this election was different. Voters were focused on the Presidential race, and many people voted only for Republicans. In the past, for my two higher profile races, I won Cherry Valley and did relatively well in other Butler County precincts. This time, it was a dead heat in Cherry Valley. In Butler County, I got a lower percentage of the vote than I did in Venango County (but better than my last runs).
GPPA: Please give us an idea of what went into your campaign?

Bagdes-Canning: Well, Chris, we were able to raise a significant amount of money, seven times what the incumbent raised in the cycle and more than all of his previous challengers combined. We ran a spirited campaign, had a robust web presence, and a surprisingly good ground game and phone banking operation.
When I talked to people, our message resonated. I’m not suggesting that it resonated with a majority of voters, but it did resonate with many of the voters, even people who did not vote for me. I think that is significant because I did not specifically seek out like-minded voters. These were voters that I bumped into on the street, voters I met at their doors when we were distributing literature, voters I met standing in line on Election Day.
         
First, my platform was unlike ANYTHING that a Democrat or a Republican has run on in this area. We ran on a Green New Deal, Medicare For All, government you can trust, a living wage, protected and expanded civil liberties, water you can drink, and education that is educational. We ran on these things because these are issues that resonate with folks in this region. We’ve been hemorrhaging jobs and young people for the last 40 years, we are dealing with the toxic legacy of the oil industry and fracking, our schools and colleges are underfunded, and we work harder for less and are more impoverished than much of the state. Specifically, our messages around anti-corruption and jobs seemed to touch people.

Second, we reached new people. We developed a productive relationship with a couple groups of young people, students from local high schools and twenty-somethings organized into the Oil Region DSA. The former were a huge part of our local ground game. The latter were part of a direct action we pulled off at my opponent’s local office.
Third, we built some bridges toward some of the mainstream movement groups: Indivisible We Rise, Our Revolution, Food and Water Action, Sunrise, and other groups. Those bridges were not enough to energize many of them to become volunteers, but they were aware of our campaign. We were also able to forge a good working relationship with the two county Democratic Party Committees. They did not endorse us, but they did help us (particularly the Venango County Democrats). 
GPPA: Did you have volunteers at some or all of the polls in District 64 on 11/3?
Bagdes-Canning: On Election Day, we had people working the larger polling places in Venango County. We were the ONLY campaign to have anyone at polling places (according to a reporter and a Venango County Sheriff). We did not have enough volunteers to cover all of the polling places.
 
GPPA: Do you plan to run again, Michael, in 2022?
Bagdes-Canning: Given all that has happened, I think it will be important to have someone run in 2022. We built the infrastructure, and we have a better understanding of the political topography of the district. I am not sure that I am the person to carry the flag forward. I will be 69 in 2022. I am committed to helping, and I am not walking away from my homeplace. We need change. I have already committed to carrying on a conversation about the issues raised by the campaign and, I hope, in the next year we will find a candidate willing to champion those issues.
 
GPPA: Assuming that mail-in voting remains popular, Michael, how will that affect any future campaigns?
Bagdes-Canning: Voting by mail impacted our race, Chris. We spent most of July petitioning and most of August building the campaign infrastructure. By the time we rolled out our campaign in earnest, many people were already voting. I remember dropping door hangers off in Oil City and having a voter say that he had already voted, that he wished he had known that I was running. We got a late start and were constantly trying to catch up. We did much in a short time, built a strong foundation for the future, and made some good connections.
 
GPPA: What advice do you offer to those who plan to run in 2022?

Bagdes-Canning: No matter what, I would recommend starting right now. Start reaching out to the people you need to staff your campaign. Start raising awareness. Build your network. Build enthusiasm. Identify important people. Do not wait.
I did not decide to run until I heard that the incumbent was running unopposed. That was in April. We did not leave ourselves enough time to make ourselves known. Even during the last week of the campaign, I would still run into people who had no idea I was running.
Do not assume that you are going to be able to generate buzz simply by announcing you are in the race. The pandemic limited our opportunities to engage in “normal”� campaign activities. Therefore, we had a tough time getting nominating petitions signed, meeting voters at events (they were all cancelled), or even knocking on doors. Many voters had already voted by the time that we were rolling out our campaign.
GPPA: I think you did a great job, Michael, were you satisfied?
Bagdes-Canning: My campaign, Chris, was as strong as it was because of the people around me. I have always referred to the campaign as “we”� because I was merely the face of the campaign. Obviously, you need a face, but if you do not have a team behind that face then 2% of the vote will be a realistic goal. Without the campaign team, I would not have been capable of running the robust operation that we rolled out. For instance, we aggressively used social media with some really sophisticated video. This old dog tripled his Twitter following and opened an Instagram account.
So, my take-aways: Start early; build your local literacy and become conversant on local issues; build a team; build local infrastructure; and engage young people. Don’t waste too much time on endorsements that will not provide tangible support; figure out a strategy that is not dependent on local media; and make your own media.
The thing I am most excited about, moving forward, is connecting our Green Values to the other movements in my district. What we are for is what many people are craving.
The Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) is an independent political party that stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please visit www.gpofpa.org. Please follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/gpofpa/,  and Twitter, https://twitter.com/GreenPartyofPA. 
Photos of Michael Bagdes-Canning are available here, https://www.mikeforpa64.com/media. 
     END ITEM      ***      END ITEM      ***      END ITEM

 

PA Should Follow Oregon and Decriminalize Drug Use

Posted on News by · December 09, 2020 6:44 PM

PHILADELPHIA – Fifteen states have now legalized the adult use of cannabis (aka marijuana, ganja, reefer, weed, etc.). While you were occupied with the November 3 election, four states, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota legalized cannabis, joining the other eleven states and two U.S. territories where it was already legal.

Voters in Oregon State, where cannabis was legalized in 2015, went a step further and decriminalized heroin, cocaine, and "all drugs," a sentiment clearly stated in the Green Party platform. For many years the Green Party has called to "implement a step-by-step program to decriminalize all drugs in the United States."

Green Party of Pennsylvania
www.gpofpa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 9, 2020

CONTACT:
Tre Schumacher, [email protected]
Chris Robinson, Communication Team, [email protected]

"Drug legalization exhibits respect for the individual, fiscal responsibility on the part of the government, and progressive criminal justice reform," explained Tre Schumacher (Philadelphia), member of the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) steering committee. "Legalizing drugs means less crowded jails and more free citizens contributing to society. It means fewer tax dollars spent on police raids, legal expenses, incarceration expenses, and other expenses associated with enforcing drug criminalization. Legalization means more investments, consumer spending, and tax revenue." Schumacher continued, "Although drug legalization is not police reform, it is policing reform. Drug legalization advances the way we define, think and treat law, crime, and the 'criminal mind.'"

"If drug use is a free choice, the state should have no right to encroach on individual liberty. If drug use results in addiction or destructive behavior, it should then be addressed by medical professionals, not by the state in the form of incarceration," said Tina Olson (Hellertown), organizer for the Lehigh Valley Green Party. "From the perspective of mental health professionals, the question of whether addiction is a moral debate or medical issue has been resolved. As addiction is now listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), we have to look at it as an ongoing health condition. Jailing addicts and addicts-in-recovery is akin to imprisoning someone with schizophrenia. As we know from the history of mental institutions, that method is cruel and inhumane."

Chris Robinson (Philadelphia), co-leader of GPPA's communication team, said, "The voting public overwhelmingly agrees with the Green Party. A supermajority of U.S. voters (68 percent) said they supported legalization of cannabis in a Gallup poll in October 2020. A Harper Poll in May 2020, showed that 62 percent of PA voters supported legalization of cannabis, with majorities from conservatives, centrists and liberals. It is time for the PA General Assembly to act."

The Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) is an independent political party that stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party's Four Pillars: ecological wisdom, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please visit www.gpofpa.org. Please follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

For more information, please see:

Platform, Green Party of the U.S., II. Social Justice, H. Criminal Justice, Green Solutions, End the War on Drugs,
https://www.gp.org/social_justice/#sjCriminalJustice;

"National Poll Finds Overwhelming Support for Legalization" by Marie Edinger, December 1, 2020,
https://www.wikileaf.com/thestash/national-poll-finds-overwhelming-support-for-legalization/;

"Pennsylvania: Poll Shows Broad Support for Legalization," August 25, 2020,
https://www.mpp.org/states/pennsylvania/; 

"PA Cannabis Coalition Calls for Principle-Based Approach to Adult-Use Marojuana," June 14, 2020,
https://www.pcanna.org/recentnews.

January 2020 Green Star

Posted on Green Star News by · January 01, 2020 10:22 PM

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January 2020

Working toward a future where people and planet are valued, and our government represents all of us.

Planet Over Money in 2020... and Beyond
  by GPPA Co-chair Alan Smith

As Australia and New Zealand celebrate a new year before the rest of the world, one begs the question, are they living in the future? No, they are just on a different part of the planet. Time is something we have constructed to represent the movement of this planet on its axis and its movement around the sun. This construct, this tool, however has been used to subjugate, exploit and destroy people and planet.

From obsessions with deadlines to obsessions with efficiency, our species has reeked havoc on itself and the planet as a whole. Yet, the idea of having reverence for this planet is timeless. As we celebrate a new year, a new decade, I encourage us to think about engaging in timeless activities, and living timeless lives. The new year will be full of deadlines, and all sorts of other ways in which this construct of time will used to rule our lives. Yet, I encourage us to be more focused on LIFElines, to help each other, and rescue this planet from our destructive ways. It is also important to cherish each moment. I know this all too well as this time last year I was mourning the passing of my mother.

sankofa.jpgThe past and the future live in our minds as constructs. How we chose to think about the past and future greatly effects what we do in the present. Shared here is a drawing of mine inspired by a West African symbol called the "Sankofa bird." It is a bird with its feet pointed toward the future, but with its neck craned back. It represents taking what is good from the past and bringing it into the future, learning from the past.

The future can look bleak or bright. When I look at this past decade I am encouraged. One of highlights of these past 10 years was born out of the bleakest moments. The Occupy Movement of 2011 a response to the financial crash of 2008-9. It ushered in an awakening worldwide that the planet was more important than profit, that glacier ice sheets were more important than financial spreadsheets. Since then there's been a increase in worldwide attention to and activism against the economic, social, and environmental injustices wrought by capitalism, militarism, and other -isms.

As an educator, I know that changes can take years or they can take only seconds. There's no simple formula for having the light bulb going off in students' heads. Our constructs of time have no bearing on the changes we seek. Change is not bound by time. The 4 pillars and 10 Key Values that we hold dear as Greens are timeless and my commitment to them is likewise. My new year message: Planet over money in 2020....and beyond.

 

GPPA News Highlights   

  edited by Chris Robinson 

PA Greens support formation of Federal Renewable Energy Commission (FREC)

On December 1, the Steering Committee of the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) endorsed the formation of a Federal Renewable Energy Commission (FREC). This newly created national agency would have the mission of organizing the Green New Deal and creating a sustainable energy structure for the U.S. (show all)

 

 

Jill Stein Sues to Reopen PA Election Security Case

PHILADELPHIA - Jill Stein and the 2016 recount team filed a motion [on 11/26] in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of PA to enforce the settlement agreement in Stein v. Cortés by ordering the PA Department of State to immediately decertify the ES&S ExpressVote XL voting machine. Leading election integrity experts including Dr. J. Alex Halderman agree that the deeply flawed ExpressVote XL violates the 2018 settlement of the Stein recount lawsuit guaranteeing all PA voters the right to voter-verifiable, auditable paper ballots by the 2020 election. “After the ExpressVote XL’s disastrous debut on election night, when it was observed reporting incorrect vote totals in Northampton County, we offered the state one last chance to do right by voters by voluntarily decertifying the machine,” said Stein. “It’s even more troubling to consider that these flawed machines could swing elections to the wrong winners in less obvious ways that observers might not even notice.” The ExpressVote XL was used in Philadelphia and Northampton counties on November 5 and has been selected by Cumberland County. Please read more here, (show all)

 

GPOAC Forms 3 Working Groups

Members of the Green Party of Allegheny County (GPOAC) formed three working groups at their November general assembly: the Clean Energy/Anti-Nuclear Working Group; the Anti-Fracking and Anti-Petrochemical Working Group; and the Anti-War Working Group. Volunteers for each working group will meet outside of the general assembly to determine a plan of action for GPOAC in 2020. Working groups can decide the best way to work together, which may be in-person meetings, phone conferences, or other methods convenient for its members. If you’re interested in joining any working group, please contact the GPOAC executive committee at [email protected] (show all)

 

Greens Table at Lancaster Pride

Photo shows (left to right) Tim Runkle, Nick Prete and Alex Noyle.

 

 

 

 

 

Campaign Updates   

  edited by Sheri Miller  

Green Party of PA candidates for State Treasurer, Auditor General, and/or Attorney General will be selected at the GPPA January Webconference.  Come join us and share in the excitement as we kick off of a great campaigning year - 2020!  

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National Green News   

  edited by Gayle Morrow

The Green New Deal

“The Green New Deal will convert the old, gray economy into a new, sustainable economy that is environmentally sound, economically viable and socially responsible. It seeks to solve the climate crisis by combining quick action to get to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% renewable energy by 2030 along with an ‘Economic Bill of Rights’ – the right to single-payer healthcare, a guaranteed job at a living wage, affordable housing and free college education.” (show all)

 

HYDROPOWER PROJECT NOT GREEN

Big Green Project!! Or is it? Bonus: Discussion of RCV Green Party calls for authorities to kill $1 billion hydropower project.(show all)

 

GREENS ARE ONE

In light of the recent propensity in the U.S. to divide ourselves on one side or another, creating a contentious us vs them atmosphere that appears to permeate every facet of our lives, I have set out this month to highlight how Greens are truly of one mind all over the world. We need to remind ourselves of this occasionally to stay grounded.

One young Green candidate, encouraging others. 

Even though he is Canadian, he has an inspiring story of what to expect and how to grow, while remaining persistent, good advice to any U.S. Green candidate. (show all)

 

Why older people everywhere should vote Green.

(show all)

Sound familiar?

Greens will write-off student debt. (show all)

 

Global Green News   

  edited by Gayle Morrow

KNOWING OUR HISTORY

Sometimes it is good to go back to your roots to be informed of your history and to get grounded. For example, did you know that the first Green Parties were established in 1972 in Tasmania and New Zealand? Thought it was the U.S., didn’t you? Read more about the organizational history of the Global Greens. (show all)

 

UK FEDERAL ELECTIONS

Green Party Climate & Energy “Platform” The UK had another election December 12, called by Boris Johnson. The parties published their manifestos [platform] before the day of the election. Here are the UK Green Party climate and energy policies, which speak of funding the changes needed, somewhat different from the U.S. GP that seems to set goals but leaves the mention of funding to individual candidates. (show all)

 

Green Party Election Results

Green Party [UK] piled on more votes than any other party in climate election with a 60% surge. (show all)

 

Familiar name…

Seems the U.S. isn’t the only place the Family Sanders puts forth a candidate. Larry Sanders, UK Greens spokesperson for health & social care, and the brother of U.S. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, attended a pre-election event on the Isle of Wight. (show all)

 

GPPA Coming Events   

  edited by Chris Robinson

Green Party events are in GREEN. Other Movement events are in RED.

 

January 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 at 11:30 pm
Climate Crisis Awareness Rally
Lincoln Square in Gettysburg (York Street crossing)
Hosted by Adams County Green Party in solidarity with Greta Thunburg's worldwide climate awareness movement.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2206600726129147/

 

January 3, 11:00 am
 Stop Banking the Bomb
PNC Tower, 300 5th Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
Endorsed by the Green Party of Allegheny County: [email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/events/715856215568533/

 

January 6, 7:00 pm
 Green Party of Chester County Virtual Meeting
Interested parties should contact [email protected]

 

January 6, 7:30 pm
 Tara Yaney Swearing-in Ceremony
Edgewood Borough Office, 2 Race Street, Swissvale, PA
More information from [email protected]

 

January 7, 6:00 pm
 Green Party of Allegheny County General Assembly
Panera Bread, 3401 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh, PA
More information from [email protected]

 

January 12, noon
 GPPA Delegates Virtual Meeting
Delegates will elect GPPA officers for 2020. All interested members of the public may attend to learn more about the Green Party.
Please register in advance at: https://www.gpofpa.org/2020_01_conf

 

January 13, 6:00 pm
 Meet Councilperson Tara Yaney
The Loft, 1118 South Braddock Avenue, Pittsburgh. Meet newly elected Tara and share ideas.
Sponsored by the Green Party of Allegheny County: [email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/events/2521938821387018/

 

January 18, 11:00 am
 Stop Banking the Bomb
PNC, 236 Shiloh Street, Pittsburgh, PA.
Endorsed by the Green Party of Allegheny County:
[email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/events/2820693631287817/

 

January 20
 Martin Luther King Day of Action
  8:00 am, Philadelphia, Unitarian Society of Germantown, 6511 Lincoln Drive.
 12:00 Noon, King of Prussia, Brandywine Peace Nonviolent Action, Lockheed Martin, 230 Mall Boulevard.

 

January 20, 7:00 pm
 Green Party of Montgomery County Meeting
More information from [email protected]

 

January 25, 9:00 am
 Green Party of Lancaster County Meeting
Folklore Coffee Company, One North Market Street, Elizabethtown.
More information from [email protected]
Please RSVP at https://www.gpofpa.org/2019_jan_lancaster

 

January 28, 7:00 pm
 Green Party of Philadelphia Membership Meeting
For the location, please contact [email protected]

 

February 3, 7:00 pm
 Green Party of Chester County Meeting
Interested parties should contact [email protected]

 

February 4, 6:00 pm
 Green Party of Allegheny County General Assembly
Panera Bread, 3401 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh, PA
More information from [email protected]

 

February 17, 7:00 pm
 Green Party of Montgomery County Meeting
501 South Easton Road, Wyncote, PA.
More information from [email protected]

 

February 25, 7:00 pm
 Green Party of Philadelphia Membership Meeting
For the location, please contact [email protected]

 


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GPPA Meeting Dates for 2020:

  • January Webconference (online, officer elections, 2020 state candidate selection) - Sunday January 12, 12:00 noon - 4:00 pm
  • Spring Conference and Presidential Forum (in-person two-day conference), March 21-22  - Harrisburg, PA
  • Summer Webconference (online) - Sunday June 7
  • Fall Conference & Retreat (in-person) - Saturday/Sunday September 12/13
  • Year-End Webconference, Post-Election Day (online) - Sunday November 15

Web Conferences are online - RSVP to get connection information.&nbsp. Visit the GPPA events calendar to RSVP. The locations for in-person conferences are to be determined.  In-person conferences can be hosted by counties, county groups or regions. These events are fundraisers.  When hosted locally, the host group receives back half of the revenue after expenses.  To apply for hosting, submit your info to our Application for Local Hosting of GPPA State Meetings or GPPA-Sponsored Events.  We strive for geographic diversity in reviewing applications, however, all submissions are considered.


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Green Party of Pennsylvania Communications Team & Media Committee 

Issue Credits:

EDITORS: Chris Robinson, Gayle Morrow, & Sheri Miller   
CONTRIBUTORS: Alan Smith
LAYOUT: Sheri Miller & Dannee Schoepfer 
GRAPHIC ARTS: Kevin Richardson 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Alan Smith 


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Everything we do is based on our Four Pillars and Ten Key Values. If you find that you share these ideals, come and join the movement.

You can support the Green Party in many ways; however, a monthly sustaining donation helps to fund a solid infrastructure to help local chapters coordinate candidates and provide resources to make their campaigns successful.  As little as $3 per month can have a significant impact! 

                     Sustaining Donation           Single Donation          Purchase Green Merchandise

Join us and help bring about a future where people and planet are valued over profits. We have a new, tiered membership structure that allows you to determine your level of commitment and support. And if you want to get more directly involved, consider joining an action team.  Work with other committed progressives and activists in activities such as planning events, developing media content, or helping with campaigns. Let's join together to make 2020 the year of progressives!

 

The Green Star is an official publication of the Green Party of Pennsylvania Communications Team * 2020 
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The Real Green New Deal and Our National Well-Being

Posted on Green Voices & Press by · April 02, 2019 7:55 PM
 
 
Green Party of Pennsylvania
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 2, 2019
 
Contact:
Neal Gale, 267-825-4190 and [email protected]
Chris Robinson, 215-843-4256 and [email protected]
 
The Real Green New Deal and Our National Well-Being

-- By Neal Gale.
As we approach Earth Day, April 22, 2019, we might want to update ourselves on the progress we have made in addressing the ongoing climate crisis, the number one existential threat to our children, their children and everyone else who will be challenged by it for the next several millennia. In a few words – there’s so much to do and so little time to do it!
 
At the local and state levels, citizen activist organizations have taken the lead, followed in some cases by local and state governments, which have seen their way clear to joining with those groups fighting against the impending impact of the climatic changes that are already overtaking infrastructure in their communities. Those struggles are sometimes well rewarded, as communities and a few states have determined to set goals for transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2035 to 2050.
 
Whether or not these goals are achieved locally, statewide or even on a national basis, the earth will continue on. We observe Earth Day as if we are the presumed keepers of planetary balance and well-being. Some scientists have even designated a new geological era, the Anthropocene, as an indication that we humans now possess the awesome power to sway the rest of nature. And of course we do, to some extent -- our impact over the past 250 years has been unrelenting and disastrous.
 
But the Earth doesn’t care. She will get through it all, no matter how bad things become, and for however long it takes to re-balance herself, which she will do, with or without us humans helping out. Earth Day is just another twenty-four hours to the Great Mother.
 
This may all seem somewhat dour, and perhaps it is. But in spite of the pessimistic picture I have sketched, I am overall optimistic. I see promise in the Green Party’s Real Green New Deal (Real GND)1, and I imagine it being adopted as a standard, below which we will not allow ourselves to fall. Because of the urgency I feel regarding the potential good the Green Party’s Real GND can do, I am compelled to warn us off the GND Resolution (HR 109) introduced by the Democrats this year. It does not point to the same results, and we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be fooled.
 
The Green Party has been developing the Real GND since the early two thousands, beginning with the European Green Party and continuing with the Green Party of the US, as a vision to change the course of this crisis -- while recognizing that it is not just about the environment. The dramatic and geologically recent alteration of the global climate has occurred as a result of the emergence of industrial capitalism, beginning at the outset of the eighteenth century, and our increasing reliance on the use of extracted, fossil fuels, ever since.
 
Additionally, that economic transition has effected all aspects of our society, transforming our way of life, in terms of the abuse of our natural resources, the structural imbalance of our economic model and the institutionalized social injustices required to support these interlocking systems. In this manner, those in power have maintained their hegemony at the cost of our planet’s stability and the well-being of the vast majority of people around the globe. These are the concerns addressed by the Green Party as expressed in its vision of the Real GND.
 
This vision includes an encompassing reformation of our economic model, in line with the understandings of forward-thinking economists2 who have been espousing modern monetary theory for decades, explaining how sovereign governments actually spend money. The Real GND programs outlined, including the enactment of a Full-Employment Program, will be paid for in the same way all federal programs are funded; the government passes a spending bill and then keystrokes “money” into the bank accounts of the appropriate recipients. The government does not (nor has it ever) required tax “revenues” to support spending. There are no actual, fiscal restraints on its spending. It has always been a question of political will. Who and what will the current federal spending bill favor?
 
This is one of the fundamental distinctions between the Green Party’s Real GND and the Democrats’. The Democrats, as one of the two political parties making up the corporate-sponsored duopoly, are not looking to take the necessary steps to alter Congress’ political will. They are part of that agenda, regardless of their GND trappings. Built into the words of their HR 109 are back doors3, allowing for the continued extraction, sales and consumption of carbon based fuels, and of course, no mention of the nuclear power industry. There’s just too much money and power driving the existing political process to allow for significant change. As noted above, without an actual, far-reaching structural change in our economic model -- with its abuse of planetary resources, inevitable economic imbalance and social injustices -- those things will all remain intact. Not to mention the climate crisis.
 
In light of this, perhaps we can observe on Earth Day 2019 our connection to, and reliance on the planetary systems that sustain all life; a day set aside to reflect on how we fit into the natural order, and how effectively we have disrupted it. My hope is that this Earth Day will mark the beginning of a unified call for real action on the part of all of our friends, relations, sisters and brothers: a call to transition our economic, social and environmental institutions along the lines of the Green Party’s Real Green New Deal. This must be nothing short of a re-visioning of the purpose of those institutions, aligning them with the evolution of our collective thinking. This moment calls for nothing less. The stakes are far too high.
 
Neal Gale is chair of the Green Party of Montgomery County, PA, and he ran as a Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate from PA in 2018. The Green Party is an independent political party that stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party four pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please visit www.gpofpa.org. Follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, Green Party of Pennsylvania and Twitter, @GreenPartyofPA.
 
Footnotes:
1 Green Party’s Green New Deal: https://www.gp.org/green_new_deal
 
2See L. Randall Wray, Warren Mosler, Stephanie Kelton and others, regarding modern monetary theory (MMT).
 
3From the proposed House Resolution 109, introduced by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on February 7, 2019:
  1. (H) overhauling transportation systems in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in—
  2. (F) spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible, including by expanding renewable energy manufacturing and investing in existing manufacturing and industry;
  3. (G) working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible, including—
  4. (i) by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible;
  5. (iv) by ensuring that any infrastructure bill considered by Congress addresses climate change;
(Bold italics added)
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GPPA welcomes Pope Francis to Pennsylvania

Posted on News by · September 27, 2015 9:54 PM
September 27, 2015
Contact: David Ochmanowicz
2156035951

 For Immediate Release

September 25, 2015

 

Contacts:

Jay Sweeney [email protected]

570-587-3603

 

David F. Ochmanowicz Jr.  [email protected]



GPPA welcomes Pope Francis to Pennsylvania

 

The Green Party of Pennsylvania welcomes His Holiness Pope Francis to our beloved Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His much-anticipated visit to Philadelphia is a joy to so many.

 

In Pope Francis’s recent encyclical about climate change and the environment, Laudato Si’ (Praise Be to You), he has shown his passion to live up to his adopted papal name Francis, after the Christian patron saint of animals and the environment.  

 

“Pope Francis shares many of the The Green Party of Pennsylvania’s values.” said GPPA Chair Jay Sweeney.   “He is outspoken on social justice, environmental and economic issues that our party has been equally outraged over”, Sweeney concluded.

 

“Pope Francis’s encouraging words and efforts to address climate change, his implicit opposition to fracking, his care and respect for people of all nations and his criticism of the ‘cheerful recklessness’ of pure unregulated capitalism show that we share mutual goals in these important areas”, said GPPA Steering Committee member David Ochmanowicz Jr.

 

The Green Party of Pennsylvania is an independent political party that stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. The Green Party of Pennsylvania stands for grassroots democracy, social justice, non-violence and ecological wisdom.

Green Party of Pennsylvania

P.O. Box 59524, Philadelphia, PA 19102

office phone: (717) 839-2395

general email: [email protected]

media inquiries: [email protected]

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