Part of the human condition and experience is about solidifying our existence through art, symbolism, and imagery.

Right now, more than 2 million Californians are living and breathing the toxic health impacts of oil and gas drilling sites in their neighborhoods. An end to chronic asthma and cancer in our neighborhoods is in sight. Just last month, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a draft regulation to stop new drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, hospitals, schools, and other sensitive receptors. Now, a 60 day comment period allows the public to raise our voices to: 1) SUPPORT the 3,200-foot setback for new wells 2) DEMAND that the setback rule applies to existing wells, not just new wells 3) URGE the Governor's administration and CalGEM to take emergency action to ban all new permits within the setback until the final rule is in effect.

It is a human right for disabled/ impaired people to have proper access to buildings, doorways with buttons to push for opening doors for wheelchairs and walkers, elevators between floors, and walkways with ramps. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) mentions the right to an adequate standard of living. This includes accessibility for disabled/ impaired individuals, as per the Americans With Disabilities Act. The Infrastructure bill was just signed into law by President Biden. It's needed!

There is a vocal minority speaking out against opting-in. We believe the majority of Dobbs Ferry's 11,000 residents and business owners support opting-in or don't have much of an opinion either way. It's critical that we make our voices heard loud and strong by Mayor Rossillo and the rest of the trustees leading up to the public hearing on Tuesday, December 13th.

Gunstock Ski Areas is a vital part of Belknap County. It is a major employer and contributes to the local economy far beyond it's borders. The Gunstock Area Commission was created to get the politics out of the every day running of the recreation area and yet it has become very political. It is vitally important that we do not open ourselves up to the possibility of the area being taken out of the hands of the people of Belknap County and leased to corporate entities who may not have our best interests in mind without absolute transparency and public input. We are asking all residents of Belknap County to please join us in our fight to save Gunstock Ski Area.

Yesterday, 11/8, on the PBS Evening Newshour, we saw in Kabul's main children's hospital, 2½-year-old Guldana sitting up in her bed, too exhausted to even open her eyes. Her tiny body wrapped in a blanket, only her emaciated face showing. She is, probably was by the time you read this, just one of many infants in Afghanistan's hospitals, laying, two to four to a bed, starving to death, while helpless mothers watch them die. T he United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has warned that 22.8 million Afghans - that is more than half the country's population - now face hunger – including starvation. On Yesterday's NewsHour the WFP's Executive Director, David Beasley, reported that such suffering is occurring not just because Afghanistan has suffered severe drought for the last four years, but because “more than $9 million of the country's foreign assets have been frozen by the U.S. Government to prevent the Taliban from accessing them.... This is morally wrong, he said. “Don't politicize food....All I am ...saying, is please you must understand that people are dying. More people are going to die. If you don't unfreeze those funds — unfreeze them in such a way they go directly to the people through organizations like us. The Taliban have told us: We will stay out of your way. We will support anything you need to reach the people you need to reach.” PBS NewsHour, 11/8/21 Please sign the petition . And of course, you may go to the WFP and Doctors Without Borders' websites to support their incredible work to alleviate human suffering. …

I would ask everyone in Florida and around the nation to join me in sending a message to the Governor of Florida that the people of Florida deserve a qualified, level-headed surgeon general that will be an advocate for the health and well-being of all Floridians.

Background: Trains transporting LNG have been approved to travel through Philadelphia neighborhoods in the coming months. The Trump Administration granted a Special Permit for this hazardous, flammable, and potentially explosive cargo to travel approximately 200 miles from Wyalusing, PA through communities to Gibbstown NJ. Up until now, transporting LNG by rail car was banned to protect public safety. The rail tank cars are substandard and have never been used to transport LNG. A release of LNG from a derailment or other incident in Philadelphia would impact all of the city with the most intense and inescapable harm in black and brown and low income communities bordering the tracks. This injustice cannot be tolerated. New Fortress Energy and Delaware River Partners want to expand a deepwater port terminal on the Delaware River to export the LNG overseas for sale. Shale gas would be extracted from fracking wells in PA and piped to a liquefaction plant being built in Bradford County, then carried by rail and tank trucks (up to two 100-car trains daily) through populated areas to Gibbstown, just 3 miles downriver from Philadelphia. From there, huge shipping vessels would transport it down the river, passing Delaware and NJ and through the Bay to ports proposed by New Fortress in Ireland, Puerto Rico, and beyond. There has been no environmental impact study of the LNG export project or the rail route. If there were to be a release of LNG, catastrophic impacts could include a fire that cannot be extinguished, a frigid vapor cloud that can kill instantly, and bomb-like explosions that destroy everything in its path. If such a disaster were to happen it is unlikely that New Fortress Energy would be held fully accountable for damages to life and property, risking them walking away with just a slap on the wrist. LNG is liquefied methane, which is a greenhouse gas 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in heating the atmosphere on a 20-year time scale and 104 times more powerful over a 10-year period, the periods of time when scientists say we must reduce GHG emissions to address the climate crisis. Over the past decade, oil and gas infrastructure has been the primary source of methane releases. To produce LNG, more gas wells would be fracked, polluting Pennsylvania communities, and methane will be leaked or vented at every stage, exacerbating climate change. PHMSA issued a federal rule on July 24, 2020, after the Special Permit for the Wyalusing to Gibbstown rail transport. The federal rule authorized the bulk transportation of LNG by rail tank car for carriers nationwide. In June 2021, the Biden Administration listed two rulemaking actions in its upcoming regulatory agenda – one would suspend the Trump Administration’s federal rulemaking for the transport of LNG by rail and the other would propose a new rule addressing LNG by rail. We urge the Biden Administration to pull back the federal rule and reinstate the ban on LNG transport by rail tank car to protect public safety. The federal rule endangers the nation, just as the Special Permit endangers our communities. We call for your Administration to rescind the Special Permit and the federal rule authorizing LNG to be transported by rail. All our communities must be protected!

No matter what your opinions are of homelessness, we are pleading you remember those who are unhoused are human as you are. They have the right to be treated in a fair, just, and humane way. We understand it is the job of the peace officer to ensure the enforcement of the bill and safety for the communities impacted by it. We are not arguing with that, we are simply asking there be regulations and proper trainings on how to engage with such a vulnerable population.

While the Biden administration has promised to take bold steps to reduce the United States’ carbon footprint and invest in clean energy, there’s one BIG piece of the puzzle that’s always missing from the conversation — the Pentagon. Here’s the thing: the Pentagon is one of the world’s BIGGEST polluters, churning out more greenhouse gas emissions than 140 countries combined. It’s only gotten worse since the start of the “War on Terror” — military activities in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria alone weigh in at over 400 MILLION metric tons of CO2. If we truly want to combat climate change we’ve got to shrink the U.S. war machine. But while infrastructure funding and a Build Back Better agenda that would invest in clean energy sit on the chopping block, a few powerful Senators are ready to ram through an astronomical $778 BILLION budget to fund *more* weapons and war. We need your help to make sure ALL our Senators hear our call: Focus on Build Back Better, not spending more on the Pentagon!

Sign this petition today. Tell Common Council President Darius Pridgen and the Buffalo Common Council to stop this project. Runaway slaves found refuge and escaped to freedom here. Harlem Renaissance musicians, poets, authors and civil rights leaders like Marcus Garvey and Frederick Douglass were inspired to come here. Rev. Nash helped bring the Urban League and the NAACP here. Right here along the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor history was and continues to be made. We do not want a liquor store in this sacred space.

There exists unreasonably high luxury taxes on menstrual products. Luxury taxes are taxes placed on items that are considered non-essential. People who menstruate do not have control over their periods, and therefore pads, tampons, panty-liners, and diva cups are absolutely essential. They are not luxuries. The price increase in these products has created a phenomenon of menstrual inequity among homeless and low-income women, we call this “period poverty”. In California, women pay $20 million in taxes on menstrual products annually. USA Today estimates that women have to spend anywhere between $150 to $300 annually on period products.This is a detrimental price for low income and homeless women, who often have to choose between essentials like food and clothes, or having menstrual products. Period poverty is especially relevant to Los Angeles, where 20,671 women are currently experiencing homeless, a disproportionate amount being women of color. To put this into perspective, a box of tampons cost $7 at a common retailer; this often means homeless menstruators are forced to choose between their next meal or these products. Additionally, many homeless shelters in Los Angeles are constantly in need of sufficient menstrual products to distribute to the people there. This is due to the stigma around periods that makes people potentially uncomfortable when donating these products, which just proves the need for greater financial accessibility to period products.