I was wandering groggily through the Cairo airport on the way to the UN climate talks when my phone started lighting up with news of the American election–and for the next few days, with a growing sense of wonder, I read the dispatches from across the country of people beginning to wake up to the threats against democracy. In race after race, the work that you and many others did bore real fruit; even in a tough economy with a president facing low approval ratings, Americans understood that there were things worth standing up for. Like the right to vote. And protecting the climate.
When control of the Senate came down to the vote in Nevada, I was particularly interested. Our friends at Third Act Nevada, supported by Bob Fulkerson, had brought Third Actors from around the country there to canvass and knock on doors, many of whom had never contacted voters before. It was a wonderful weekend, and according to CNN they played a huge role. The network’s coverage focused on two groups: the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas, and Third Act in Reno, describing the event that Rebecca Solnit and I spoke at which “inspired scores to show up the next day to walk door-to-door for pro-democracy candidates.”
If we can do this in our first year, think what we can do in the years ahead!
And now that elections are over for a little while, we’re also poised to take on other crucial targets. I’m incredibly excited about the March 2023 Day of Action–all kinds of players, including America’s biggest environmental group the Sierra Club, have pledged to join in. We need to make it big, but also dramatic–we’re going to need your help to capture America’s attention, and help people understand that the banks are the next big front in the climate fight.
Egypt, by the way, was a hard couple of weeks–there were (count ’em) 636 fossil fuel lobbyists on hand, doing all that they could to gum up the works. But Kafia and I saw many colleagues from around the world–they’re all buoyed up by the work you’re doing, and indeed taking the idea for Third Act back to many other places. Don’t doubt for a minute that you’re making a difference–together, we’ve figured out a way to really get stuff done!
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