Single payer

Dear Mark,

Despite the Supreme Court leaving most of President Obama's health care law intact, the prognosis is still grim for America's broken health care system.

Republican governors and conservative state legislators are already planning to reject the Medicaid expansion envisioned in the health care law.

This will leave millions of low-income Americans without any kind of health care coverage, in addition to the tens of millions we already knew the law wouldn't cover. ¹

And Republicans in Congress are determined to repeal the law — and they might gain the power to do so in the next election.

We need to solve America's health care crisis, and we know it may take awhile. So with health care reform back in the public debate, we need to start advocating now for the real solution: single-payer health care.

Tell Democrats: Support Medicare for All. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

...

"Matt Lockshin, CREDO Action" <act@credoaction.com>


Dear Ms. Sloane: 

I write to complain about the service provided to me by Con Edison. 

On July 1, 2012, Con Edison locked out 8,500 skilled workers and has since replaced them with management employees. I am concerned that my service will be interrupted because of the lockout. I am also concerned that the replacement workers lack the current training, skills and experience necessary to provide safe and reliable electricity, gas and steam. In addition, it is simply impossible to take 8,500 workers off the job and maintain comparable service. 

My concerns are not unfounded - service interruptions and reductions have been reported in various media outlets each day since the lockout began. More serious are the multiple reports of injuries to replacement workers. 

I respectfully request that the New York State Department of Public Service take action to ensure that the Con Edison lockout does not jeopardize safe, secure, and reliable access to electric, gas, and steam for consumers. I also request that the New York State Department of Public Service conduct an investigation to determine whether any links exist between Con Edison’s lockout and the recent injuries, interruptions and reductions. 


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http://nysaflcio.org/pscletter/

Mark,

We can't wait any longer to address the climate crisis! Tell Congress to act now!

Are you feeling the heat? We’re sweating here in the nation’s capital. And not just because of the triple-digit temperatures, but also because these severe weather patterns we’re seeing across the country are a harsh reminder of the serious consequences if we don’t find solutions to the climate crisis soon.

The rash of extreme storms, heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods we’ve been seeing this past month unfortunately reflects the trends that climate scientists have been predicting would result from global warming. And it’s time that our leaders take bold steps to do something about it -- NOW.

Will you educate your members of Congress about climate change and ask them to take bold action today?

Dirty energy interests and their allies have spent billions trying to distract and mislead people from the reality that their polluting practices are causing real problems for our planet. But you can’t distract people when there are trees crashing through their front windows, fires burning through their neighborhoods, water flooding under their doorsteps, and blackouts putting their homes and businesses out of commission.

This week, AP science writer Seth Borenstein published an article bringing together facts and quotes from leading climate scientists to attest that “what we're seeing really is a window into what global warming really looks like.” It highlights that since January “the United States has set more than 40,000 hot temperature records” and explains how “the 100-degree heat, drought, early snowpack melt and beetles waking from hibernation early to strip trees all combined to set the stage for the current unusual spread of wildfires in the West.”

....

"Vanessa Kritzer, League of Conservation Voters" <feedback@lcv.org


Energy Independence: How Renewables Could Produce 80% of Our Electricity by 2050
In honor of the Independence Day celebrations taking place today in the U.S., we're pleased to report that energy independence via renewables is very much a possibility within the next 40 years.

A report released last weekby the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that using renewables to provide the lion’s share of our electricity by 2050, without requiring any technological breakthroughs, is a reasonable proposition. Now that's a cause for celebration! 

Not to be outdone, Denmark released its energy strategy this week which calls for reaching 100% renewables within the same timeframe. Windmills anyone?
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Triple Pundit <contact@triplepundit.com>

Dear Mark RegroMontiero,

My heart goes out to all those suffering through the country's summer heat-wave and wildfire season.  Here in the DC area, our 100-degree heat-wave and related storms have left 2.5 million people without power.  This is what the leading edge of the climate crisis looks like. 

Still there is good news: A huge thank-you to all Green Americans who submitted their comments to the EPA in support of stronger carbon regulations on new coal-fired power plants.  Because an appeals court unanimously ruled the EPA has the right to addresscarbon as a pollutant, the EPA remains free to move ahead with implementing your recommendations, which set a record (more than 2 million comments!) for the most public engagement on any EPA regulation ever.  

What's more, you can take action where you live tosupport clean energy in your own community, starting with your own home.  This month's Faces of the Green Pages interview introduces you to Brian Higgins, owner of Green Home LLC in Hyattsville, MD, a specialist in green building, energy efficiency, and renewable energy at home. 

And check out the latest from Sungevity, a solar-leasing company with a great $0-down solar offer for select states across the country.  Our links to articles from ourGreen American magazine will point you toward even more solar-leasing companies, and energy-efficiency resources.

Finally, later this month, Green America is proud take part in actions to oppose hydraulic fracturing, another form of dirty energy.  We're supportingStopTheFrackAttack, four days of activism in Washington, DC culminating in a July 28 rally on Capitol Hill.  See below for how you can join us at the rally, if you're able to be in DC.

"Green America" <coopamericanews@coopamerica.org>