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2017: That’s a Wrap!

With the final days of 2017 among us, this year will go down as an unprecedented year of devastating climate impacts and assaults from the fossil fuel elite Trump administration...

It will also go down as a year of unprecedented uprising. I’d like to take some time to recognize the victories and resistance in spite of dangerous regression from the US federal government:  

Millions uniting the day after inauguration for Womens’ Marches. 

The strength and resolve of all of us coming together to fight back Trump’s outrageous fossil-fueled cabinet appointees.

The 200,000 people strong Peoples’ Climate March, where we surrounded the White House showing we won’t back down in the face of the administration’s regression.

5,000 New Yorkers coming together to call for real climate leadership from elected officials at all levels of government.

New York Governor Cuomo and NYC Comptroller Stringer responding to our campaign their

These are just some highlights. These wins are proof that, even in the face of a corporate greedy takeover of the US federal government, people power wins.

Now, on the heels of a New Year, there is no doubt that 2018 must be the year.

The year of unity -- friends, family, neighbors, across our differences.

The year of ending fossil fuels.

The year of a fast and just transition to 100% renewable energy for all.

The year we popularize the inevitability of a fossil free world that works for all of us

All of this, and more, is possible, but only if we come together to demand it.

So much has changed since my first blog post in the days after the 2014 Peoples’ Climate March, but one thing remains true: building the world that puts people and planet ahead of profit and greed IS POSSIBLE. 

We have so much work ahead of us. It will be hard. It will feel impossible at times. There will be moments of despair. But it is possible if we strive to recognize glimpses of hope at each moment.

As the brilliant Rebecca Solnit says in her novel Hope In The Dark, “Hope is an ax you break down doors with in an emergency.”

2018 here we come...

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sandy5.org

Sitting in a cafe on a beautiful NYC fall day, typing frantically to spread word about tomorrow's #Sandy5 march. 

I can't help but think about where I was 5 years ago: a student at Lehigh; my sister, my puppy Lola & my grandparents living in my childhood home outside NYC. At the last minute, our administration warned students that campus housing was being evacuated, and for those who could, students should go home. As I packed my bags, I learned my home lost power. Eventually a tree would knock down power lines trapping my family in our home for over a week. And I was lucky. I was able to find a friend whose NJ home was safe, having a relatively relaxing weekend with no classes to attend. But far too many people have not been so lucky. 

#SuperstormSandy awoke something in me; something that changed the course of my life; an event that marked my commitment to wield my privilege to fight for justice, recognizing that while climate change impacts us all it is poor and communities of color who bear the brunt of this crisis they did the least to create. 

So tomorrow, I march. And then nap. And then celebrate & continue to fight! When we all come together in our collective power, there is immense reason for hope. 

sandy5.org

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I am a large aquarium.

Below is a powerful metaphor that was shared with me:

I am a large aquarium. One of those aquariums where at the top the light hits and glimmers, but is so tall that by the time it reaches the floor the light is rare, filtered and darkened.

I am the small, darting fishes who move swiftly and surely, happy and grand.  I am the tops of the coral and the bigger fishes in the middle, moving with a slower weight but with a solidity.  I am the parts of the coral rising from the ashes and corpses of the ground. And I am the dark recesses at the bottom, the bottom feeding fish with heavy thoughts and burdened by gravity and grief.

I am all of those things. So when you ask me how I am, I get to choose what part I share. But I still know it's just a part. When I share the depth of sorrow I am not sucked in; I can just as easily choose to be the swiftly darting fishes at the top. I am still whole.

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With broken hearts, we celebrate.

11 years ago, tomorrow, my mom turned 45. 

At that time, she had been in the hospital for at least two months, sedated for at least two weeks - probably more. So I found it a very welcome sign when my family friends called my sister and I in the middle of that cold March night telling us they were coming to pick us up to drive to the hospital.

I was rather giddy. No one had given 13-year-old Lindsay any insight into her mom’s condition, so as we sat on steps at the front door I thought to myself, “She must be awake! Since it’s her birthday they must be surprising us! She must be awake!” When the green minivan door slid open and my sister and I climbed in, my mood immediately shifted. 

I can’t remember if anything was said, but I recall telling my sister we should call our dad, who we hadn’t spoken to in over a year, and let him know. He didn’t know the state of my mom’s condition, nonetheless that she was in hospital at all. 

The drive into New York City, lights flashing bright on the highway, feels like a total blur. I’ve always said there have been three phases of my life, and that night was the start of the second one. 

But that night was a false alarm. It wasn’t until two weeks later that my mom eventually passed away from respiratory failure. 

Tomorrow would have been my mom’s 56th birthday. What a heartbreakingly lovely coincidence that today is International Women’s Day. On this day, I celebrate my mom who radiated light and strength, but left my life before I became a full person. I celebrate my sister who has taken care of our family with love and passion, even when she was unsure how to take care of herself. I celebrate my grandma, who is unstable, yet loves so deeply and needs to be celebrated. I celebrate my amazing friends, and all the powerful women I work with at 350.org and across movements for justice for their resolve to fight for a brighter world.

When our hearts break, it makes space for more love to fill it in, leaving room to recall and feel our losses. We must take care of one another as the storm gets stronger. And you can count on women to make sure you feel held. 

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An optimistic commute.

Sitting under the stars,

staring into space.

Watching bodies race by, illusions of a familiar face.

Of course my mind wanders to you.

Wondering where you are,

what’d you’d think,

and what you’d do.

So often this world feels 

darks and isolating

The thought of happy times,

both past and future, turns life

illuminating.

Notice every detail, see every thing,

but don’t let it distract you from the moment

-- scream out and sing!

“I am always where I need to be,”

let it be heard.

Flying as free as a Grand Central bird.

Break from the rush, stop and stare

because everyone is you and we are

everywhere. Be mindful, fruitful and 

compassionate without fail.

Only you can break your mind free from its jail.

Express, love, bask but don’t dwell.

Take a step back and think of 

a time you fell.

Get up, get going, it only

gets better from here.

Life may be rough, but 

happy times are always near.

--

January 28, 2015

Written four months after the 2014 People’s Climate March, under Obama.

Posted two months prior to the 2017 People’s Climate March, under Trump.

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New Yorkers to Big Oil: We Will Hold You Accountable

This morning, I joined a broad spectrum of New Yorkers outside of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s downtown office to demonstrate support for his investigation into all that #ExxonKnew. Below are the remarks I made at the event.

Good morning. My name is Lindsay Meiman. I’m a 24-year-old native New Yorker working with 350.org to build a global climate movement.

As world leaders gathered in Rio in June 1992 for the first global climate talks, I was still in my mother’s womb. At that time, ExxonMobil was already at the forefront of climate science. As far back as the 1970s, Exxon’s own scientists warned company executives about the dangers of fossil fuel use, but instead Exxon’s execs turned to the PR department, embarking on a decades-long & ongoing campaign to sow doubt among the public, bankroll politicians and climate-denial front-groups & block climate action at every level.

Exxon’s climate cover-up is the reason I was born from a planet dangerously warmer than that which my parents were born from. Exxon’s climate cover-up is the reason we have been plagued by a phony debate about climate change for decades.

In the face of this deception, we must rise up. We may not have the money of Exxon and its fossil fuel ilk, but we have something it will never have: people power. And we have proved time and time again that people power works.

I’d of course like to give a massive thank you to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has proven himself to be a true leader. As climate impacts intensify, there is no room left for neutrality.

I want to share a few words that Bill McKibben sent since he couldn’t be here himself:

"Attorney General Schneiderman has emerged as one of the most stalwart, brave and useful foes of Trumpism in these past few weeks. In particular, his ongoing effort to make sure that Exxon is not allowed to get away with its decades of climate denial is a great service to history, to the idea that facts still matter, and to the ongoing effort to protect the planet's atmosphere. Would that we had more public servants who were willing to use all the powers of their office in the public interest!"

Today we stand here amidst an unusually warm February week. We’re reminded that this is some of what climate change looks like. It looks like Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy - massive flooding of New York’s subway system, over 8 million people without electricity, costing New Yorkers $65 billion in damages. It looks like each month and year marking the hottest on record.

I don’t need to tell you all what climate change looks like -- New Yorkers are already living it. But it’s low-income communities, communities of color and workers who bear the brunt of this crisis they did the least to contribute to. Vulnerable communities bear the costs as Exxon prioritizes profit at the expense of people and planet.

During the Paris climate talks, we held a trial of “The People vs. ExxonMobil,” gathering scientists, lawyers and frontline community members -- from the Gulf South to the Niger Delta to the Indigenous Sami tribe in the Arctic -- to share just how Exxon’s climate crimes have devastated the lives and livelihoods of their communities.

This caught the attention of many, including Texas Representative Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Science Committee. Smith went on to subpoena 350.org, 8 other NGOs and the AGs of NY & MA for our work to hold Exxon accountable. We support the AGs investigations, and despite Rep Smith’s best attempts, we won’t be distracted or intimidated.

The fossil fuel industry has long held a stranglehold over our democracy and our economy. The only difference now, under the Trump administration, is that it actually is our government. With Exxon’s Rex Tillerson now our Secretary of State and Rep. Smith unleashing subpoenas - his favorite climate denial tool - we will continue to shine a brighter spotlight on all that #ExxonKnew.  

Together, we will hold Exxon and Rex Tillerson accountable, resist the systems that attempt to divide us, and fight to build the brighter future we know is possible. Thank you.

For more on all that #ExxonKnew, and the campaign to hold the corporation accountable, visit: exxonknew.org

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Welcome to the United States of ExxonRosneft

In the months to come, get ready for some truth-telling on how this election and the Trump regime is all one big oil deal for Putin, Trump & Tillerson to bring in those ruble$. I know it can be easier turn a blind eye, but this moment requires all of us to come together. 

https://350.org/press-release/senate-confirmation-exxon-tillerson-secretaryofstate/

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For New York, climate change is an immediate existential threat.

Despite the immediate risks of climate change, decision-makers with the New York State Comptrollers office remain on the wrong side of history.

Last Friday, October 28, I attended a lively fossil fuel divestment roundtable at Baruch College co-sponsored by New York State Senators Liz Krueger, Brad Hoylman, and Assemblyman Felix Ortiz. 

Of the ten or so panelists, the majority regarded the truth that end of the fossil fuel era was already among us, and expressed their fervent favor of divestment from the fossil fuel companies that continue to perpetuate the climate crisis. 

With urgency, speakers called on the other two panelists, Vicki Fuller and Pete Gannis of the New York State Comptroller’s office, that as decision-makers concerning the $175 billion that the State’s pension funds represent, they have an opportunity and massive responsibility to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in a sustainable economy for New Yorkers.

While it was apparent that Vicki Fuller was listening intently to other panelists, including the poignant Elizabeth Yeampierre of UPROSE and Tom Sanzillo of the IEEFA, Pete Gannis of the NYS Comptrollers office ignorantly shook off the strategy of divestment. Instead, Gannis focused on the impact of individuals and consumer behavior on climate change, pointing to the antiquated “you just gotta change your lightbulbs” argument. 

While I recognize the nature of his position, it truly boiled my blood. That argument represents the direct result of an intentional campaign of deception that fossil fuel executives at companies like Exxon orchestrated for the last half to sow doubt about climate change. Shaking off the accountability of coal, oil, and gas companies of their driving role in causing the climate crisis, and onto our communities that bear the brunt of the industry’s lies, is exactly what Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, and more, would want us to believe. We’ve known for a long time that, while individuals should certainly consider their impact, it is fossil fuel companies that are accountable for the climate impacts we are experiencing today.  

Unfortunately, at last Friday’s roundtable, there was no time for a Q&A. So I wrote up this reflection of what I would’ve like to communicate to the panelists, particularly Pete Gannis and Vicki Fuller:

Good morning, my name is Lindsay Meiman. I am a born-and-bred New Yorker, and disclaimer: I work for 350.org, the organization that has played a role in establishing the fossil fuel divestment movement, which is now a global movement calling for the end of our institutions propping up the rogue fossil fuel industry that continues to perpetuate the climate crisis. To the panelists, thank you all so much for your work and for being here today, and particularly to the Senators for organizing this powerful event.

I'd like first to address that tomorrow will be the fourth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, which was the second costliest storm in US history, just behind Hurricane Katrina. It is investments in fossil fuel companies that fund climate impacts like Sandy. 

The case of Exxon is particularly egregious, my own organization is currently under fire for our role in holding the corporation accountable for its climate crimes. We have even been subpoenaed by Rep. Lamar Smith, a bought-and-paid-for Congressional ally of the fossil fuel industry. New York's own attorney general is investigating what could be the worst case of corporate fraud in history, and yet New York’s pension funds are still investing in fossil fuel companies to the tune of more than $12 billion. Exxon is also now the world’s biggest fracker, a practice that New York banned in June 2015 after nearly a decade of community organizing around health and climate impacts. There is a glaring hypocrisy of New York investing in the likes of Exxon.

I'd like to primarily touch on what you claimed, Mr. Grannis, that it is up to the public and consumers can take on climate change on an individual level. Well, that is what we are doing through divestment. As you heard other speakers explain, this is a systemic issue, one of our reliance on the extractive fossil fuel economy that prioritizes profit at the expense of people and planet. Let’s be clear: climate change is not something to “believe in.” It is scientific fact. The only reason there has been a phony debate about climate change for an entire generation’s worth of time, for my entire life, is because companies like Exxon have poured resources into sowing doubt and blocking climate action, making the public believe that there is no alternative, when in fact there is. We have the solutions, today, to transition away from fossil fuels and toward a just economy that works for all of us. 

Moving away from the morality of it -- of the existence of a livable planet -- New York State’s Common Retirement Fund lost more than $5.3 billion in 3 years from its holdings in fossil fuel companies. Just this morning Exxon announced it will cut its reserves by nearly one fifth, essentially admitted that the company is overvalued. So, as you can see, this decline is happening. 

I commend the resolution you brought to Exxon’s annual general meeting last spring, and I too was glad to see that 38% of shareholders supported it. But unfortunately, when it comes down to it, Exxon’s board unanimously recommended rejection of your non-binding resolution that called for basic climate impact reporting. It's clear that this company will never change from its deceptive ways, and while we know the just transition won't happen overnight, how many Sandy-like storms and rejected climate resolutions must New Yorkers endure until we stop propping up this industry?

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It’s (past) time to get angry.

It’s time to get angry. Past time.

It’s time to be be afraid. Past time.

For much of the last decade, l have carried myself through the world with shriveling amounts of anger and a deep fear wrenched in my gut. I was angry at those closest to me: for leaving me out of important life decisions, for abandoning me before I could lift my own head, for keeping me out of the loop about the regressing health and eventual death of my mom.

This core of anger and fear often resulted in me pushing away those closest to me. But it also forced me to push myself at a level that could be considered borderline unhealthy, and in a direction that has led me into the necessary fight for climate justice.

I was born in 1992, the same year that world leaders met in Rio, Brasil to discuss how our nations could tackle global climate change and act from a place of collective stake to protect our shared home. 

This Conference of Parties (COP) in Rio came at least two decades after Exxon’s own scientists warned the company’s executives about the grave effects of extracting and burning fossil fuels on our climate and our communities. Today, we know that #ExxonKnew.

As far back at 1946, the executives of the fossil fuel industry embarked on their quest of climate deception. In 1980, Exxon’s scientists warned the company’s executives that there is no doubt that their inherent business model of extracting and burning fossil fuels would cause devastating and irreversible effects.

Instead of warning the rest of us, the company’s executives chose to bury the science and sow deep doubt and deception among the public and governments. Exxon knew, and Exxon lied -- all in the name of profit. Make no mistake, it is not just Exxon that knew. This is an industry problem.

All of this as low-income communities and communities of color here in the US and around the world, those who have done the least to contribute to the climate crisis, continue to bear the brunt of the impacts and injustice.

Since that first COP in Rio, a majority of politicians (not counting my own country’s disgraceful Republican Party), and much of civil society, have recognized humankind’s contribution to our altered climate. Today, nearly 200 world governments have signed onto the Paris climate treaty. While both significant and historic, this is a non-binding document, and we know that it is not enough. 

My entire 23 years on this planet have been considered a tipping point. 

When we look back on history, if our world still allows it, my generation will be recognized as the “climate change generation.” Not because we caused the crisis, but because we were the first to come from a world with a climate inherently different from the one that our parents were born from. 

The potential for the planet we come from to support the existence of humankind, the animals we know and love, and the world we once knew, is no longer an absolute.

It is on this premise that I now channel my anger and fear. A reality where individuals knew all there was to know about the deadly shift our climate, and instead made the conscious choice to hide the truth so that a wealthy few could get even more disgustingly wealthy. It is on this premise that I fight for climate justice.

As I return from a life-altering gathering with my fellow 350.org staff, I am elated, inspired, mystified, and baffled at the circumstances under which my co-workers and friends not only operate and exist, but fight to secure a better now for their communities. We spent much of our time together discussing a shared strategy on how we can secure global climate justice once we disperse back to our respective nations. But this meeting also provided the crucial space for us to collectively grieve and care for one another. 

This inherent sense of global community is the only thing that can save us.

There is a global movement fighting for climate justice. From the 400,000 in the streets of New York City for the People’s Climate March, to those in communities who have been fighting for justice their entire lives, and the tens of thousands of people around the world escalating the fight to break free from fossil fuels, keep coal, oil, and gas in the ground, and secure a just transition toward a clean energy economy. 

We know who is responsible for these climate injustices, and we won’t be intimidated. We’re not backing down.

My deep anger and fear have been a driving force in pushing me into the fight I am now committed to, and leave me even more resolved to channel my fear and anger into the fight for climate justice. I share all of this in hopes that it ignites an anger, fear, and rage within you to join me in this fight to save our communities, our planet, our home. Please join me to strive for a better now.

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Take a look at the chart on the left, and it’s easy to be cynical. Frightened. Submit to the dystopia of a world that seems to be post-apocalyptic. 

Should we even go into the climate denial of the GOP? Probably not. Well, actually, they’ve made it pretty easy for us. In efforts to not waste my time or yours, here’s a quick jab at each:

- Cruz: “It is in fact a fact that the polar ice caps are bigger today than they were before.”

- Trump: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” Someone *please* make this guy stop tweeting.

- Rubio: climate change “doesn’t matter.” Meanwhile... Florida is sinking.

Ok, I don’t have time for the rest of them. Sorry Jeb!.

Now, let’s take a look at the chart on the right. Hillary Clinton, one of the most experienced and entangled politicians in history, could hardly keep her .3% lead above Bernie Sanders during last night’s Iowa caucus. 

Sanders is a 74 year old Senator from Vermont with a bold and quirky presence with something huge behind him. And no, it’s not millions of dollars in industry-funded super PACs and donations -- it is a movement. Bernie Sanders has illustrated one of the most progressive climate policies of all time, nonetheless to mention under the spotlight of a presidential election.

As the election ramps up, the movement behind Bernie Sanders is tailgating Clinton like an 18-wheeler blasting it’s horn behind the person going 30 in a 65.

Repeatedly, Clinton has claimed that “environmental justice can’t just be a slogan -- it has to be a goal.” Quite the ironic campaign slogan. She has touted her renewable energy and job creating climate platform, which was only revealed last July, more than half way through the hottest year in recorded history. It wasn’t until days after world governments returned home from signing the Paris climate deal that Clinton told a 350 Action volunteer in Iowa that to her knowledge she had never received any donations from the fossil fuel industry.

But let’s turn back the clock for a moment, to a time before (well, between) Clinton running a presidential campaign. Appointed Secretary of State by President Barack Obama (let’s not completely let him off the hook here), Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled the world promoting fracking, by far the most extreme extraction practice that humankind has ever created.

Today, the leaking well at Porter Ranch, California continues to spew millions of cars worth of methane into the air just outside of Los Angeles each day. The leak was discovered in October and won’t be fixed by at least March. It was officially ordered shut down by California regulators only last week. This worst environmental disaster since the BP oil spill in 2010 has shined a harsh spotlight on the larger issues of fracking across the board.

Clinton has tip-toed around even the mention of fracking. That is until she was probed about the harm of this environmental disaster. Just last month, she told a 350 Action volunteer that “unless spills can be prevented it could not go forward.” Wow. Bold words from the woman who even today has supportive super PACs peddling her fracking record.

Fracking is the tainted legacy of Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State. If she hopes to gain the support of people in this country who are concerned about climate change (at least 70% of the American population), Clinton must take a hard stance against the fossil fuel industry.

As she has been pushed by the (zero-emissions) 18-wheeler of the Bernie Sanders campaign, those adamant birddoggers with 350 Action, and concerned folks across the country, Clinton has proved that she can move on climate.

Iowa is just the beginning. Sanders’ plans for this country are bold -- idealistic within the constraints of a realistic world. The world is moving away from fossil fuels, though time is not quite on our side. If Clinton truly wants to “make the U.S. a renewable energy superpower,” she must respond to the massive movements urging her to lay out a progressive climate policy, and she needs to do it now.

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2016: The Year I’m Free To Be Me

Well, here we are: 2016. 2016 has been a beacon of light over the last few years. A year of actual independence comprised of even the slightest sign of freedom in choosing how to fill my days, quiet my thoughts, be kind to myself and to others. Of course I have the usual responsibilities: an incredibly awesome and demanding job, a wildly energetic puppy -- all certainly age appropriate. 

Seven days in and this is already the best year ever. Even as my shoulders uninvitedly creep up towards my ears and I ritualistically return to mountain pose, I am free of the weight of the mid-life responsibilities I was plagued with only a few months ago. My childhood home sold, my grandparents settled in and thriving at their assisted living facility (actually running the place, my grandpa was elected President of the community), my move to the Big Apple totally complete with an-almost-furnished-apartment.

I am incredibly goal-oriented, but sometimes referring to something as a “goal” or “resolution” or “aspiration” is intimidating and frames it as unattainable. Instead, here are some desires describing *The Person I Am.* I’ve tried to avoid telling myself to “stop this,” or “do this better/more/less/not at all,” and actually word these as simple and solutions-oriented. 

 ~ Detach from narrating my life, qualities, experiences, etc, in my head like I am explaining them to someone else.

~ Spend more time with friends -- you have so many! and they are so kind! You are not isolated.

~ Resist explaining things to others, especially when they are speaking about their own experiences.

~ Physically strengthen my body. Nothing is more important than health.

~ Learn not to say “yes” to everything, particularly at work. What do I have the capacity do? Is that even my job? What do I actually want to do? Go with my gut without feeling like I need to explain myself. When an explanation is necessary, keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Avoid say “like,” “I think,” “it seems,” etc. Simply state my thoughts.

~ Become a stronger writer. Blog at least once a week. ~haaay~

~ Read more Emerson. Nature changed, and continues to shape, my daily life.

~ Spend more time with nature, out of the city. Yes, I am a “treehugger,” but it’s not just because of the health of our planet. As Emerson explains, there is a “low degree of the sublime” one can feel. I’ve felt it, and it gives me the energy to keep fighting everyday. There is so much to fight for.

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Christiana Figueres on the importance of fossil fuel divestment

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Let's evolve. #FossilFree

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#GDD2015

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Alberta tar sands... before & after

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