Putting Out the Planetary Fire

200 climate activists rallied at the Capitol on Tuesday December 10 to get Governor Hochul to sign the climate superfund Act. In part one, we hear from rally organizer Michael Richardson of Third Act and Blair Horner of NYPIRG. By Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

The three day occupation at the Capitol which began on Dec. 10 to urge Governor Hochul to sign the Climate Superfund Act ended by joining a press conference outside the Assembly chambers on Dec. 12 in support of the Renewable Heat Now campaign, one of a dozen regional events across the state. The campaign includes support for the Renewable Capitol Act and the NY HEAT Act. The NY HEAT Act will cap...

Climate Can’t Wait, a collaborative of dozens of climate groups, has given Governor Hochul a D minus on a climate report card, including implementation of the state's climate law (CLCPA) passed five years ago. The report graded the Governor on 13 policy implementation and legislative proposals. Ruth Foster talks to Mark Dunlea for the Hudson Mohawk Magazine You can listen to an interview with Mark...

Public Power NY says that the draft plan by the New York Power Authority to build renewable energy falls short of the state's climate goals. Alex Patterson of Public Power NY discusses the plan with Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine. (Press release 

On October 11 and 12, Siena College hosted a two- day symposium on sustainability, integral ecology and climate justice. We hear about climate justice from the keynote speaker, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. By Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine

Siena College hosted a two- day symposium on climate justice on October 10-11. We hear from two of the panelists who responded to the opening remarks by the UN Secretary General. We hear the concluding remarks from Medha Palnati a Siena graduate and current medical student. We then hear from Rev. Kathryn Beilke of Beyond Plastics. By Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine

On Tuesday October 22, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced a plan to develop a new policy to exclude prospective private markets investments in downstream and midstream fossil fuel infrastructure for the portfolios of three of the City’s public pension systems, expanding upon prior divestment actions. This would make the NYC funds the first pension systems in the country known to do so...

A new report shows how scaled-up demand management can accelerate the phasing out of New York City’s harmful fossil fuel power plants—which disproportionately impact the most vulnerable New Yorkers—while ensuring a reliable and resilient energy grid. The report shows how governments can avoid costly investments in fossil fuel infrastructure, reduce energy burdens for ratepayers, and meet the state...

While New York State's Climate Superfund Act is still awaiting a decision by Governor Hochul as to whether or not to sign in, Cong. Nadler has introduced an even more robust version of the federal level. Blair Horner of NYPIRG discusses why large greenhouse gas emitters should pay to fix the damages they have caused rather than taxpayers. With more Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

Fridays for Future, the movement started by Greta Thunburg, has called for a Global Climate Strike on September 20, 2024. RPI Sunrise Movement and Fridays for Future Capital District NY are leading a rally in Albany at 2 PM on the 20th in front of the Governor's Mansion on Eagle Street Key demands include having the Governor sign the Climate Superfund Act and speeding up state action to ensure...

Climate groups have intervened in National Grid's upstate rate hike request to prevent billions of dollars from being invested in expanding fossil fuel infrastructure and to keep utility bills affordable. There will be an in person public hearing by the PSC (Public Service Commission) for the case on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 6 PM at the Albany Public Library (Washington Ave), with a virtual hearin...

Journalism professor Karl Grossman recently wrote an article for Long Island newspapers titled Has Hochul Been 'Hoodwinked In The Hothouse'. Gov. Hochul recently began publicly promoting new nuclear power plants as part of her climate strategy. Grossman talks to Mark Dunlea of Hudson Mohawk Magazine about the problems with seeing nuclear as a climate solution. Link to article: https://www....

Fridays for Future, the movement started by teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, held a global climate strike on Friday Sept. 20. In Albany, about 100 climate activists gathered at the Governor’s Mansion to demand stronger climate action from Governor Hochul, especially in light of recent reports that the state is failing to meet its 2030 goals for emission reductions and renewable energy. The...

New York is not on track to meet its Climate Act energy mandates, and state agencies are failing in their most basic duties. NY Lawyers for the Public Interest and NY Renews released a report, "Flouting the Law: Major State Agencies Are Ignoring New York’s Climate Mandates" finding that four of the biggest agencies — Department of Transportation, Empire State Development, Education Depar...

On Thursday September 5, Governor Hochul will convene an energy summit in Syracuse, supposedly to discuss strategies to accelerate renewable energy development. The state recently announced that it is likely to miss its 2030 goal to have 70% of its electricity come from renewable energy. Climate advocates worry that the Governor will continue to retreat from the climate goals. They are also concer...

While Governor Hochul opened up her energy summit in Syracuse on September 5 with a strong statement in support of the need for climate action, much of the focus on the event was her promotion of new nuclear power. We start off by hearing from Tim Judson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Services about why nuclear is not a climate solution. We then went across the street where several groups...

Governor Hochul on September 5 convened an energy summit in Syracuse to supposedly get the state back on track to meeting its climate goals. However, much of the summit focused on the idea on building new nuclear power plants, which sparked a letter of protest from more than 150 groups. At a press conference held outside the summit, we hear from Laura Shindell of Food and Water Watch; Joe Heath, r...

On September 9, the NYS Energy Planning Board held a meeting in Albany to kick off an update to the state energy master plan, which by law must be "informed" by the climate scoping document adopted by the Climate Action Council. With the Energy Planning Board totally dominated by the Governor, climate groups worry that Hochul will back away from the goals set out in the CLCPA climate law...

Governor Hochul recently announced that she expects NY to fail to meet its climate goals for 2030 and argues that the CLCPA needs to be revisited – namely, weakened – since the “science” has changed since the law was adopted 5 years ago. Climate activists argue that what has changed is that global warming and extreme weather is accelerating faster than anticipated. Laure Shindell reviews the Gover...

On August 15, climate advocates gathered outside the offices of the Public Service Commission on the Empire State Plaza to protest National Grid’s unjust rate hikes and the buildout of fossil fuel infrastructure in the face of transitioning to a renewable energy future. We hear from Alycia Bacon and Bob Cohen of Citizen Action; Kim Fraczek of the Sane Energy Project; Candice Fortin of 350.org; and...

On July 19, Governor Hochul announced that she was allocating $100 million to begin the process of decarbonizing the State Capitol complex by installing 4 electric chillers in the Plaza. While the chillers are something that SHARE (Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy) has been pushing for years, the group is concerned about the proposed 15 years plus timeline to eliminate emissions. Alba...

On Monday, July 22 2024, the Climate Clock (climateclock.world) ticked down below five years for the first time. Climate emergency actions took place in cities across the globe, demanding an end to fossil fuels, and pushing leaders to  #ActInTime  to accelerate real climate solutions. Andrew Boyd and Gan Golan, co-founders of Climate Clock, talk to Mark Dunlea of Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

While the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) have taken considerable steps in planning for NYS’s transition to renewable energy, they must take stronger action to meet the state’s clean energy goals, according to an audit by the NYS Comptroller. The audit found inadequate planning, monitoring and assessment of risks and challe...

While some believe that we can combat climate change by replacing fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy, the degrowth movement aims to enhance human well-being and environmental sustainability by intentionally scaling down economic activities to align with the Earth's ecological boundaries and finite resources. Some socialists believe that the class struggle needs to take precedence over d...

On Monday July 10, the EcoAction committee of the Green Party of the United States held a webinar as to why carbon capture is a false climate solution – one however that is receiving tens of billions of dollars in grants and subsidies from United States taxpayers. The idea is to remove carbon from pollution before it goes into the atmosphere – thus allowing fossil fuels to continue to be burnt. We...