July, 29 2024, 02:55pm EDT
“Vance Profits, We Pay the Price:” 150 young people occupy JD Vance’s office
8 arrested as Vance staff close the door on working class young people sharing their stories
This morning, 150 young people occupied the hallway outside J.D. Vance’s Washington D.C. office to share their stories about how the broken economy and climate change are impacting them and their families. The protest highlighted Vance's change of tune on climate following donation of nearly $300,000 from oil and gas-linked PACs and donors during his 2022 campaign, suddenly calling it a hoax.
They held banners saying, “Vance Profits, We Pay The Price,” “Billionaires Own JD Vance” and “Vance Stop Killing Green Jobs”. Young people denounced JD Vance’s plans to kill green jobs by dismantling policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided $500 million to upgrade a steel plant in Vance’s hometown. That grant created jobs and helped keep the plant open. This was the first protest at J.D. Vance’s office since he became the Vice Presidential nominee.
“I was willing to get arrested today because my future and our country shouldn’t be for sale,” said Takeira Bell, 21. “JD Vance is willing to sell our futures to the highest bidder. He will kill green jobs, give tax breaks to billionaires, and deny that there is a climate crisis just to keep the campaign contributions flowing. Today, we showed up to tell him, ‘We won’t let you sell out our families to the highest bidder.”
As recently as 2020, Vance spoke about climate change as a serious threat, even saying natural gas “isn’t exactly the sort of thing that’s gonna take us to a clean energy future.” Since running for Senate and receiving nearly $300,000 during his 2022 campaign from oil and gas-linked PACs and donors, he’s made a 180 on his climate positions.
“JD Vance says he is a champion of the working class. In practice, he’s a champion of whoever wrote him the biggest check.” said Sunrise Executive Director Aru Shiney-Ajay. “He used to talk about how we were facing a climate crisis. Then oil and gas donors and Donald Trump offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars and a chance to be Vice President, and he totally changed his tune. Who knows what JD Vance will support the next time a billionaire comes knocking.”
“As a young person who grew up in Montana, I am deeply passionate about pursuing a career in wildland firefighting so I can actively serve my community and ecosystems. To hear that JD Vance wants to cut green jobs like these that are already underfunded is a direct attack on working class front line workers and an insult to my generation” said Carly Bryant, 18.
This protest comes as Sunrise members prepare to go to the DNC Headquarters in DC later in the day to urge VP Harris to put forward a plan to fight for young, working class people that can confront the false promises from right-wing politicians like Vance.
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
LATEST NEWS
DOJ Urged to Provide Update on Probe of Shireen Abu Akleh's Killing
DAWN's leader slammed the department's "apparent failure to make progress on this investigation, which has fueled Israeli impunity, leading to the systematic and widespread killings of Palestinian journalists."
Jul 29, 2024
An advocacy group founded by an assassinated journalist demanded answers from the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday regarding its investigation of Israeli troops killing American Palestinian reporter Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, 2022.
"Perhaps the DOJ thinks we will forget about the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh as well as the investigation it promised the American people two years ago, but we have not," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), in a statement.
"The DOJ should take responsibility for its apparent failure to make progress on this investigation, which has fueled Israeli impunity, leading to the systematic and widespread killings of Palestinian journalists, at least 108 since Abu-Akleh's 2022 killing."
"Without an interim update on the investigation or a concluding report, it is hard to take seriously U.S. claims that it will vigorously investigate and hold accountable extrajudicial killings of American citizens."
Abu Akleh was fatally shot in the head by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while covering a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the illegally occupied West Bank, according to firsthand accounts and various investigations that have been made public. The 51-year-old Al Jazeera journalist was wearing a blue press vest and helmet.
"A beloved and prominent figure in the region, Abu Akleh's killing not only led to prolonged unrest in the West Bank but also became emblematic of Israel's use of lethal force to intimidate and kill journalists," DAWN leaders wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray.
As the letter—signed by Whitson and Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, DAWN's director of research for Israel-Palestine—detailed:
Since the launch of the DOJ investigation, you have not made any information available regarding the nature, scope, and timeline of the probe into the killing of an American citizen by a foreign army, despite prior comments by then State Department spokesperson Ned Price that "those responsible for Shireen's killing should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Regrettably, more recent statements coming from U.S. authorities imply that the administration has pushed the investigation to the wayside. At a news briefing on World Press Freedom Day, a State Department spokesperson insisted that Shireen's murder was "unintentional" despite credible reports to the contrary and noted that the U.S. had no further updates on the case.
Some critics have connected Abu Akleh's killing to what the Committee to Protect Journalists last year called a "deadly, decadeslong pattern" by the IDF—which, has slaughtered over 100 journalists and tens of thousands of other Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Israeli forces' ongoing retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on Israel last October.
"The impunity that Israel has enjoyed for its attacks on the press, including for the murder of Abu Akleh, has made Israeli officials confident that they can kill as many Palestinian journalists as they want with no accountability," DAWN leadership wrote to the DOJ. "Israel's failure to identify the perpetrators, open a criminal investigation, and to cooperate with external investigations further compounds Israel's impunity in targeting journalists in the region."
The letter calls for the DOJ to provide a "timely response" to a series of questions about the department's investigatory steps, Israeli cooperation or lack thereof, and which specific U.S. criminal laws are being considered for the probe.
Schaeffer Omer-Man said that "without an interim update on the investigation or a concluding report, it is hard to take seriously U.S. claims that it will vigorously investigate and hold accountable extrajudicial killings of American citizens."
"The lack of communicable progress also adds to the grief felt by the Abu Akleh family, who filed a formal complaint with the ICC in May 2022 about Abu Akleh's killing by IDF forces," he added, referring to the International Criminal Court.
DAWN was founded by the late Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and U.S. resident who—according to multiple investigations—was murdered at his home country's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, 2018. As Common Dreamsreported on the fifth anniversary of his assassination last year, human rights advocates continue to condemn the failure of international officials to hold accountable the people responsible for his death.
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Working-Class Climate Protesters Arrested at JD Vance's Senate Office
"JD Vance says he is a champion of the working class. In practice, he's a champion of whoever wrote him the biggest check," said the Sunrise Movement's executive director.
Jul 29, 2024
Eight of about 150 climate campaigners with the youth-led Sunrise Movement were arrested at a Monday protest at the U.S. Capitol office of Sen. JD Vance, the Ohio Republican chosen as former President Donald Trump's running mate.
"I was willing to get arrested today because my future and our country shouldn't be for sale. JD Vance is willing to sell our futures to the highest bidder," said 21-year-old Takeira Bell in a statement. "He will kill green jobs, give tax breaks to billionaires, and deny that there is a climate crisis just to keep the campaign contributions flowing. Today, we showed up to tell him, 'We won't let you sell out our families to the highest bidder.'"
Carly Bryant, an 18-year-old protester, said that "as a young person who grew up in Montana, I am deeply passionate about pursuing a career in wildland firefighting so I can actively serve my community and ecosystems. To hear that JD Vance wants to cut green jobs like these that are already underfunded is a direct attack on working-class frontline workers and an insult to my generation."
Our homes are burning. Our schools are flooding. Climate change is here. But politicians like @JDVance care more about oil money than our lives and livelihoods.
Today, young people went to his office to say, enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/NE4b1PsYUj
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) July 29, 2024
The Hillreported that "Capitol Police spokesperson Brianna Burch said the eight arrests were for violating laws against demonstrating inside Congressional office buildings."
Vance is a former venture capitalist who authored the memoir-turned-movie Hillbilly Elegy before entering politics in 2022. The first-term senator postures as a working-class ally, but many critics aren't buying it—including the young people who risked arrest on Monday.
Sunrise has been sounding the alarm about Vance since he was announced as Trump's vice presidential candidate at the recent Republican National Convention, where Trump highlighted the energy plans included in the Republican Party's latest platform: "Drill, baby, drill."
Young people were arrested at @JDVance's office this morning because our generation wants a future with good jobs, clean air and water, and safe communities.
JD Vance is bought by billionaires. He'll do whatever you want as long as you offer him more than the other guy. pic.twitter.com/5BGfNmZdlQ
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) July 29, 2024
"JD Vance says he is a champion of the working class. In practice, he's a champion of whoever wrote him the biggest check," said Sunrise executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay, whose group has highlighted that during Vance's 2022 Senate campaign, he took nearly $300,000 from oil and gas-linked political action committees and donors.
"He used to talk about how we were facing a climate crisis," Shiney-Ajay noted. "Then oil and gas donors and Donald Trump offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars and a chance to be vice president, and he totally changed his tune. Who knows what JD Vance will support the next time a billionaire comes knocking."
The protesters in Washington, D.C. held signs declaring that Vance is owned by Big Oil and Billionaires. Some said, "Vance: Stop Killing Green Jobs," a reference to his plans to dismantle policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, a federal law signed by President Joe Biden that provided $500 million to upgrade a steel plant in Middleton, Ohio, Vance's hometown.
We are dealing with extreme heat and the climate crisis every day, but JD Vance doesn’t seem to care.
He let industry lobbyists water down his own rail safety bill, which he claimed was a response to the train derailment in East Palestine, OH.
We won’t let JD’s greed destroy… pic.twitter.com/sMl54uybKw
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) July 29, 2024
The protest at Vance's Capitol Hill office wasn't Sunrise's only D.C. demonstration of the day; members of the group also rallied outside of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters to urge Vice President Kamala Harris, the party's presumptive nominee, "to put forward a comprehensive plan on the economy and climate."
While some climate groups have already expressed their support for Harris since Biden dropped out and endorsed her earlier this month, Sunrise has targeted both top Democrats throughout the year, urging them to embrace more ambitious climate policies.
"VP Harris has the opportunity to put forward a bold climate plan that mobilizes young voters and faces the scale of the climate crisis," Sunrise communications director Stevie O'Hanlon said Monday. "Polls show that climate is where voters trust Harris most over Trump. Making climate core to her campaign is not only the right thing to do for the planet, but it's a good political strategy."
At the DNC rally, demonstrators carried banners that said, "15 years left to stop the climate crisis," "It's too damn hot," and "Harris: Fight for young people," echoing the takeaway from a letter than Sunrise and three other youth-led groups sent to the vice president last week.
"I'm from Oregon, where every summer now, wildfires fill our air with smoke and burn down peoples' homes. Every year I see it getting worse. I want a future in the place I love and call home," said Adah Crandall. "I'm here because young people need politicians to boldly confront the climate crisis."
"If Kamala Harris wants to be taken seriously by Gen Z, she needs to show us she's serious about protecting our futures," the 18-year-old added. "That means campaigning on investing in green schools and housing, protecting our air and water from polluters, and rapidly building an affordable and renewable energy system."
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'Where Have All the Butterflies Gone?' Low Count Portends Sad Future for Biodiversity
"The lack of butterflies this year is a warning sign to us all," the director of a U.K. wildlife charity said. "Nature is sounding the alarm and we must listen."
Jul 29, 2024
A U.K. conservation charity sounded the alarm on Monday after a yearly butterfly count turned up a record low number of butterflies so far.
Participants in the count, which runs through August 4, are reporting a little more than half the number of butterflies as they did by this time in 2023, Butterfly Conservation said.
"The lack of butterflies this year is a warning sign to us all," the charity's director of conservation Dan Hoare said in a blog post. "Nature is sounding the alarm, and we must listen. Butterflies are a key indicator species. When they are in trouble we know the wider environment is in trouble too."
"So far this summer, I have not seen a single butterfly alight on the flowers. Desperate times."
The low numbers are one example of how the climate crisis exacerbates biodiversity loss. Butterfly numbers have plummeted by 80% in the U.K. since the 1970s, a decline driven by the climate emergency as well as habitat destruction and pesticide use. This year, the country experienced an abnormally wet, windy spring and a cooler than average summer.
"Butterflies need some warm and dry conditions to be able to fly around and mate," Hoare explained. "If the weather doesn't allow for this there will be fewer opportunities to breed, and the lack of butterflies now is likely the knock-on effect of our very dreary spring and early summer."
The climate emergency increases rainfall because warmer air holds more moisture. Spring 2024 was the U.K.'s sixth wettest on record and the wettest overall since 1986, according toThe Guardian. March, April, and May saw almost a third more rainfall than usual for those months.
The heavy rain also followed a drought in 2022 that put a different kind of pressure on butterfly populations by decreasing the number of plants that caterpillars need to eat. The green-veined white and the ringlet species were especially hard hit and have yet to recover.
"Never known a year like it," author and climate scientist Bill McGuire wrote of 2024. "We have two huge buddleia 'butterfly bushes' that are normally swarming with at least half a dozen species. So far this summer, I have not seen a single butterfly alight on the flowers. Desperate times."
Since the count began on July 11, the number of butterflies reported in the U.K. is the lowest in the count's 14-year history, but there is still a chance that warmer, drier weather could turn things around. However, even if it doesn't, Hoare called for more citizen scientists to participate in the count by spending 15 minutes noting any butterflies and moths they see in a specific area and recording their totals on the website or via app.
"People are telling us that they aren't seeing butterflies, but simply telling us is not enough; we need everyone to record what they are or aren't seeing by doing a Big Butterfly Count as this will give us the evidence we need to take vital action to conserve our butterfly species," Hoare said.
The U.K.'s butterfly decline is not the only recent example of climate extremes harming wildlife. Extreme wildfires in Australia in 2019 and 2020 killed at least 1 billion animals, while a heatwave in Mexico this spring prompted howler monkeys to drop dead out of trees. In 2023 and 2024, the world's coral reefs suffered their fourth mass bleaching event.
The news of the butterflies' decline also follows a week that saw the four hottest days on record globally. 2023 was the hottest year in the past 125,000, and 2024 is expected by many scientists to surpass it. Every month since June 2023 has been the hottest of its kind on record and has seen average temperatures at or above 1.5°C higher than preindustrial levels, the more ambitious temperature goal enshrined in the Paris agreement.
"The extreme events that we are now experiencing are indications of the weakening resilience of these systems," Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, toldThe Washington Post on Saturday. "We cannot risk pushing this any further."
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