Climate Chaos: An Existential Crisis — With Ted Franklin (talking about the challenges facing the climate crisis movement), Eugene Coyle (talking about the question of de-growth), and (probably) Steve Ongerth (talking about the efforts to join the struggle within the labor movement).

Co-sponsored by the Oakland Greens.  A hybrid event, at the Starry Plough and on Zoom, via:  https://bit.ly/ClimateChaos-230506

Goldman Sachs bank research this past week published a report that 300,000,000 jobs worldwide will be impacted by the now accelerating introduction of Artificial Intelligence software (machines) that will either eliminate or sharply reduce the hours of work for workers involved in simple decision-making tasks like customer service reps, paralegals, receptionists, retail services, human resources reps, copywriters, basic software coders, and countless other occupations. Its report updates that of five years ago by McKinsey Consultants that estimated 5 million jobs impacted.

Academics hail the news that it will mean a sharp increase in productivity (and therefore profits which they don’t say). But this comes at the expense of destroying jobs and lowering wages. Jobs that might be created by AI will be mostly highly skilled software jobs, many of which the multinational tech and other corporations will import from their foreign subsidiaries via H1-B and L-1 visas from the US government.

Few jobs and greater productivity also mean more intensive exploitation from those workers who will still have work. AI is the latest restructuring of capitalist labor markets in the past five decades that witnessed greater exploitation of labor as a result of the expansion of ‘precarious’ work (involuntary part time and temp jobs) and gig work. AI represents the ‘third wave’ of intensification of the exploitation of labor.

The topic for discussion: what is AI, how it works, and what are the consequences of its adoption for the working class.

Our speaker is Dr. Jack Rasmus, Ph.D Political Economy, teaches economics at St. Mary’s College in California. He is the author of The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Economic Policy From Reagan to Bush, Clarity Press, October 2019; Alexander Hamilton & The Origins of the Fed, Lexington books, March 2019; Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression, Clarity Press, August 2018; Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges, Clarity Press, Sept. 2016; Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy, Clarity Press, January 2016; ‘Obama’s Economy: Recovery for the Few‘, Pluto Press, 2012, ‘Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression‘, Pluto Press, 2010, and ‘The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush‘, Kyklosproductions, 2006.

Jack is the host of the weekly radio show, Alternative Visions, on the Progressive Radio Network, and a journalist writing on economic, political and labor issues for various magazines, including European Financial Review, World Financial Review, World Review of Political Economy, ‘Z‘ magazine, and others. Before his current roles as author, journalist and radio host, Jack was an economist and market analyst for several global companies for 18 years and, for more than a decade, a local union president, vice-president, contract negotiator, and organizer for several labor unions, including the UAW, CWA, SEIU, and HERE. Jack’s website is www.jackrasmus.com

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The climate crisis is a global emergency. Government action is beginning to turn things around, and yet the pace is still much too slow. Tonight Dr. Bernadette Rodgers will talk about the current state of the climate crisis, and what we can do. She’ll tell us about her own path to activism, the many ways to engage, what activists call the “Ladder of Engagement”, the rise of Scientist Rebellion (among others), and the surprising personal rewards of direct action. We are living in an “all hands on deck” moment, so please join us on May 14th.

Bernadette Rodgers is a PhD Astronomer who spent 12 years working at an International observatory in Chile before moving to Portland, Oregon and changing career paths to commit more time to climate activism. She currently teaches astronomy and natural science at Willamette University and Portland Community College, and volunteers with Scientist Rebellion and the Portland chapters of 350, Extinction Rebellion and Climate Reality, and serves on the board of the national youth organization SustainUS.

On Zoom: Zoom Link

East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee is holding a joint social with San Francisco DSA’s Labor Working Group. Meet rank and filers in local unions, workers organizing their workplace, and other labor activists from the City, the Town, and beyond. Learn about the exciting work our members are doing in both chapters and build solidarity across the bay. Bring your union swag and come with any announcements and events you’d like to share with committee members and comrades!

Online. Register here

Extreme heat is the deadliest—and fastest-growing—climate-related health hazard, especially for the most vulnerable patients, workers, and lower-income and frontline communities.

Physicians for Social Responsibility SF Bay Chapter is hosting a discussion on ways we can advocate for achievable protections against the health threats of extreme heat,  including “equitable access to medical care, health info, and warning systems during extreme heat events; affordable cooling such as heat-cooling pumps; affordable and protected access to electricity; community cooling centers; labor laws to protect workers; and the phase out of fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy production to mitigate climate change.”

Panelists will discuss

* how we can act locally following the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s recent  vote to phase out gas furnaces and ensure an equitable and just transition to heat-cooling pumps and protected electricity access

* what we can all do on the state-level to advocate for policies and regulations that ensure equal access to cooling and health protections, and a just transition to renewable energy and electrification.

SPEAKERS:

Rupa Basu, PhD, MPH,  Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California Environmental Protection Agency

Robin Cooper, MD,  San Francisco psychiatrist, voluntary faculty associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, co-founder and current president of Climate Psychiatry Alliance.

Jessica Guadalupe Tovar,  energy democracy organizer with the East Bay Clean Power Alliance and the Local Clean Energy Alliance.

Michael Rincon leads PSR-LA’s water work, organizing, educating, and advocating with Southeast Los Angeles communities and community groups on local drinking water issues.

Moderator:

Edgar Barraza leads PSR-LA’s statewide equitable building decarbonization policy efforts and supports building decarbonization policy efforts in the City of Los Angeles. He is also the lead point of contact for equitable building decarbonization at CEJA’s Energy Equity Committee and actively engages in the newly formed grassroots-led Healthy Homes and Resilient Communities Committee.

READINGS AND RESOURCES:

• HEAT WAVE Factsheets and Toolkits for staying safe and healthy during extreme heat weather events
• JAMA: Treatment and Prevention of Heat-Related Illness
• Local Clean Energy Alliance Resources
• PSR—Los Angeles: Clean Water and Air & Climate Justice Programs
• An In-depth Guide for Window Heat Pumps
• VOX Video: Learn how heat/cooling pumps work and why they are the future in 5 minutes
• Emerald Cities Collaborative Resources: a national nonprofit working on a just transition to a green economy
• Greenlining: Equitable Building Electrification: A Framework for Powering Resilient Communities
• FIND MORE health and building electrification resources here!

For anyone interested in how @DarwinBondGraha conducted our research & pulled together 2 decades of reporting for our history of the Oakland Police, we’ll be speaking at the 81st Avenue branch of the Public Library this Saturday, May 20, at 11 AM https://t.co/GG7sV8Etz7

— Ali Winston (@awinston) May 18, 2023

Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the online invite.

For our March, April and May meetings we are reading Debt: The First 5000 Years  by David Graeber (Warwick, Amazon).

For  our March meeting we’ll be reading the first five chapters.
For  the  April  meeting  we  are  reading  chapters  6 through  9.
For our May meeting will are reading the remainder of the book.

Before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors—which lives on in full force to this day.

So says anthropologist David Graeber in a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Renaissance Italy to Imperial China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong.

We are still fighting these battles today.

Strike Debt Bay Area hosts this non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included Doughnut Economics, Limits, Banking on the People, Capital and Its Discontents, How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century, The Deficit Myth,  Revenge Capitalism, the Edge of Chaos blog symposium , Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, The Optimist’s Telescope, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, Exploring Degrowth, The Origin of Wealth, Mine!, The Dawn of Everything  A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Beyond Money, Less is More, and Cannibal Capitalism.

Hey there, folks. Are you ready for a night of fun, education, and controversy? We’ve got just the event for you: the No Ethics in Big Tech and NSA Comedy Night!

Featuring some of the most insightful comedians around, Will Durst, Mean Dave, Chloe McGovern, and Alicia Dattner will be sure to get you laughing and thinking about the intersection of surveillance, technology, and society. Accompanied by talented musician Mike Rufo, this evening promises to be a great mix of entertainment and education.

The stars of the evening are the speakers from No Ethics in Big Tech, Austin Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as the Media Alliance, Veterans for Peace, Common Dreams, Google, and Electronic Frontier Foundation. These experts will discuss the ethical implications of technology, the latest developments in the tech world, and the importance of a free and independent press in the age of algorithmic news feeds.

But don’t worry, this event won’t be all serious talk. We’re bringing humor and irreverence to this important topic. So come join us for a night of laughs and deep thoughts.

Mark your calendars, folks. This event is going to be a night to remember. We’ll see you there!

When my activism was in the streets, breathing tear gas, getting arrested, legal observing, and beaten/shot at by police we all knew there were people (cis men) that were there for the fanny. Which they used their direct action was a pick up line, rather than conviction which hurts the movement. It was rarely talked about in the open but does this mean that all alternative relationship paradigms are not at the core anti-capitalist?

Within my mad hatters tea party the guests practicing alternative relationship paradigms do not cross the ideas of people’s rights & freedoms over to how they interact with a corrupt capitalist system. Does non-monogamy blend with capitalism or is by definition & design is non-monogamy anti-capitalist?

Join the Oakland Greens thru the looking glass on our May topic. Saturday May 20 2023, virtual doors open at 6 PM with the best pre-show music diversity, with discussion starting 6:30 PM PST on ZOOM. Go to oaklandgreens.org/events, Eventbrite Oakland Greens, or Facebook Oakland Greens. For any questions email contact@oaklandgreens.org or oaklandgreenparty@gmail.com

Once a year we come together to discuss and debate priorities, and set the trajectory for our chapter! Join us as we plan how to build powerful working class organization in the year to come. More details coming soon.

We encourage everyone to attend in person!

RSVP

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Join the Sunflower Alliance May webinar featuring a presentation by longtime energy expert Greg Karras on the six proposed hydrogen projects in Contra Costa County, their current status, and the reality behind the clean energy hype.

These new H2 projects are joining the four already operating in the county.  None of them uses sun or wind for producing the hydrogen, and each of them poses its own dangers to the community and the climate.

The communities of Richmond, Rodeo, Martinez and Pittsburg are all directly impacted.

• Two of these “renewable” energy projects, proposed by the Phillips 66 and Marathon refineries, call for using fossil gas to produce the vast amounts of hydrogen needed for refining biofuels (via a process called steam reforming), which produces significant quantities of greenhouse gases and local pollution, and creates safety hazards.

• The Chevron refinery is also proposing a project that uses steam reforming to produce hydrogen for fuel cells for vehicles.

• In addition, it’s partnering with Raven SR in another project to produce hydrogen from municipal waste—a process that creates a different set of hazards.

• Chevron also wants to build a fueling station that would use compressed fossil gas and hydrogen to produce fuel cells for vehicles, directly competing with progress in converting to battery electric vehicles, which use energy much more efficiently.

• Pittsburg is currently considering a landfill gas-to-hydrogen project.  Sounds beautifully circular, but what are the downsides?

Learn more about these projects—the devil is in the details, after all—and participate in a discussion about community response.  Please join us in this important and timely conversation!

On Zoom.   Register here.

In spite of our climate-friendly reputation, California is still a major oil and gas producer. This Climate Center webinar will explore opportunities for developing an equitable, statewide plan to phase out oil and gas extraction, imports, refining, end-use, and exports in a managed decline.  Managed decline means that facilities closest to sensitive receptors (like schools and homes) are the first to shut down, and ensures a truly just transition that benefits workers, families, and communities who depend on the oil and gas industry for their livelihoods.  Presenters will include labor representatives, fossil fuel workers, frontline communities, state regulators, and state lawmakers.

Speakers

Virginia Parks, PhD

Professor at the University of California, Irvine

Virginia Parks, PhD, is a geographer and urban planner specializing in the study of urban inequality. Her research and teaching interests include labor and employment, urban politics and policy, and local economic development. Professor Parks has published research on the racial wage gap, immigrant employment patterns, public sector employment, workplace diversity, job training, and the politics of urban development. Throughout this work Professor Parks is motivated by how urban space, politics, and regulatory environments influence inequality outcomes. Her current research analyzes the economic effects of the clean energy transition on workers and regional economies.

Robert Zardeneta

Green Workforce Senior Manager for the Office of Sustainability, Los Angeles

Robert Zardeneta serves as the Green Workforce Senior Manager in the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Robert has more than a decade of experience developing Green Career pathways for underrepresented communities on both a local and national level. He currently is a member of the planning team managing the L.A. City-County Just Transition Task Force for workers and frontline communities impacted by the phase-out of oil drilling.

Electrification of buildings and transportation is necessary to addressing the climate crisis, but lithium used in the batteries needed to store that energy comes at a huge cost for communities living near sites of lithium mining.

Local Clean Energy Alliance presents “Lithium Mining Behind the Curtain: What is Equity in an Extractive Energy Transition?”

Speakers will describe the devastating effects of lithium extraction; struggles of people in the US (including California), Chile, and Argentina against the harm done by lithium extraction in their communities; and strategies for reducing the harm—public transportation, efficiency, and recycling.

Speakers:

Johanna Bozuwa, Climate and Community Project
Leslie Quintanilla, Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice
Mariela Loera, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Online. Register here

If you're keen on degrowing the economic empire of the United States, consider attending the degrowUS virtual general assembly on May 24, 8pm Eastern, where we will be getting organized to do just that.

Register: https://t.co/ENcVQGnary pic.twitter.com/vdPOegBsEn

— Sam Bliss (@ii_sambliss) May 8, 2023

Want to learn techniques for documenting cops? Want a refresher on your rights when interacting with police? Have other questions for Berkeley Copwatchers? Join us in person at the Grassroots House4!

Accessibility: In person, ramp access via the front of the house. The training is in the back room.
Request a training for your group

Rick will speak about his recent trip to Russia and especially Crimea.
In 2014, following the coup in the Ukrainian capital, Crimea had a referendum and decisively decided to secede from Ukraine and “re-unify” with Russia.  In many ways, the situation in Crimea is emblematic of the Ukraine conflict.  Rick will describe what he saw and learned on this trip.
Rick Sterling is a Bay Area journalist, active with Mt Diablo Peace and Justice Center, Task Force on the Americas, and Veterans For Peace, East Bay Chapter.

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