Milk Jug Winter Sowing Workshops

Greetings!  This season’s Milk Jug Winter Sowing workshops are scheduled for early January, in all three Hamden Library branches:

* Brundage Library, 91 Circular Avenue, Wednesday, January 3, 6–7:45 p.m.
* Miller Library, 2901 Dixwell Avenue, Saturday, January 6, 2–4 p.m.
* Whitneyville Library, 125 Carleton Street, Thursday, January 11, 6–7:45 p.m.

These lively sessions will include an overview of planting for pollinators, and then we will each put together a mini greenhouse that will spend the winter outdoors, a practical method for starting the seeds of a wide range of native perennial plants.

As in years past, we will make these seeds available during the three workshops, and also by request through a website form.

We are cleaning and sorting our collection of native and pollinator seeds to make them available to you. Our updated list of native seeds will be on the website close to the end of the year. Each year we have been fortunate to have more and more seeds from local residents, as well as several types of ecotype 59 varieties.

24th Annual Women’s & Gender Studies Conference seeking proposals

The SCSU Women’s & Gender Studies Department is looking for proposals for our 24th Annual WGS Conference: Continuities, Ruptures, Resurgences: Still in Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens. Proposals can be on a wide variety of topics and in a wide range of mediums. We are happy to announce that the deadline for submissions has been extended until January 18, 2024!

Five decades after publication, Alice Walker’s womanist essays In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens … continue to be a vision for those of us engaged in feminist studies and intersectional justice work: “Guided by my heritage of a love of beauty and a respect for strength – in search of my mother’s garden, I found my own.”… Fifty-plus years later, we are still in search of our mothers’ gardens, sites and sources of our nourishment. Urged by Walker’s search and guided by Haudenosaunee and other Black, Indigenous, Latinx, women of color, and queer feminist visionaries (“for the next seven generations”), we ask ourselves questions for our collective futures:

  • Why are we still in search of our mothers’ gardens?
  • How do we recognize/embrace our feminist legacy/ legacies while staying vigilant/attentive to/around old and new challenges? What are some collective strategies?
  • How do we continue to create/innovate despite the legal/social setbacks we have recently experienced?
  • How and when does a body become a subject in the eyes of the law, the public, communities, institutions, corporations, nation states?
  • What can we do to support communities struggling to align with the feminist agendas of peace, justice, and unity while honoring differences?
  • How is the feminist body involved in community, conflict and the pursuit of peace and justice?
  • How does feminism contribute to the pursuit of equity and equality?
  • How has feminist storytelling narrated these struggles and contributed to/reshaped intellectual discourse?

WGS Graduate Assistant Team, Women’s & Gender Studies Department, SCSU. Office Email: wgs@southernct.edu; Web: www.southernct.edu/wgs; Phone: 203-392-6133; Fax: 203-392-6723. Call for Proposals: inside.southernct.edu/womens-and-gender-studies/wgs-2024/call-for-papers

Connecticut Using More Fracked Methane Gas to Power the State

by Sierra Club Connecticut 

Connecticut has been actively expanding the use and transport of methane or “natural” gas in the state for over ten years, and the results are not good. We pay the highest price for electricity of anybody in the continental U.S., we have the worst air pollution in New England, and the state continues to release greenhouse gas emissions at unsustainably high levels. While emissions from transportation constitute a large percentage of the air pollution released in our state, approximately 40 percent, pollution from energy generation is the next largest source at about 39 percent.

At the same time as the state invested public funds to construct corporate-owned methane infrastructure, it also passed laws and regulations that put up barriers to solar development. Although more solar energy on the grid is associated with improved reliability and fewer greenhouse gas emissions, state agencies and legislators have actively blocked the solar industry. There is only one benefit of reducing people’s ability to access clean energy: it ensures larger profits for Connecticut’s gas and electric monopolies Eversource and UI/Avangrid.

Sierra Club Connecticut is leading the fight to stop fossil gas expansion and to demand that the state convert to a renewable energy-powered economy. There are multiple gas expansion projects we are opposing: the Enbridge gas pipeline expansion from New York to Massachusetts that will cut across the entire state of Connecticut; the Milford and Brookfield gas compressor station expansions that will bring additional methane to NYC, which recently passed a law to phase methane out of new construction; and a brand new Eversource pipeline in Wilton to connect houses to fracked gas rather than to clean, efficient and affordable renewable thermal technology. For more information, see our website: connecticut.sierraclub.org. To get involved, contact Nick at nick.katkevich@sierraclub.org or Martha at puckyshouse@gmail.com.

Southern CT Gas Proposed Rate Increase

The Southern Connecticut Gas Company wants to raise its rates. The average monthly residential bill will be approximately $10 to $13.50 more per month.

Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) has scheduled Public Comment Hearings for this application (Docket 23-11-02) on Wednesday, January 17, at the West Haven Library, 300 Elm St., West Haven, at 5:30 p.m. Testify in person about what this rate hike will mean to you! You can also write to PURA at 10 Franklin Square, New Britain, CT 06051, or send an email to PURA.ExecutiveSecretary@ct.gov.

There will also be a Zoom hearing on Friday, Feb. 16 at noon. The schedule for the docket is available on PURA’s website portal.ct.gov/pura. For additional public hearings on the proposed rate hike, call 800-382-4586 or email pura.information@ct.gov.

For questions about the proposed rates, the public hearing, or how to submit comments on the application, contact PURA at 800-382-4586 or pura.information@ct.gov.

Students Call for Yale Corp to Divest from Weapons Manufacturers

by Nora Wyrtzen, Endowment Justice Coalition

On Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, 175+ Yale students and allies shut down and occupied the College St./Grove St. intersection, a central traffic hub on Yale University’s campus, for nearly two hours.

Organizers of the action are demanding that Yale Corporation immediately divest Yale’s endowment from war and weapons manufacturing in light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza….

Illustration 1: Ben Raab photo

Friday’s demonstration was part of an extensive student mobilization on campus in response to the Corporation’s closed-door conversations.

Following are excerpts from Yale Daily News article by Ben Raab, Dec. 1, 2023

More than 20 demonstrators gathered outside Woodbridge Hall early Friday morning to tape a 60-foot banner to the building’s front door and call for the Yale Corporation — the University’s principal governing body — to divest Yale’s endowment from weapons manufacturers.

The banner read “Yale Corp Divest From Weapons” and was rolled out over the steps and onto the building’s walkway. It displayed the names of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.

Demonstrators stood in front of the building with signs reading “Divest Now!” and “Yale Divest.” One banner read “It’s Your Yale. They’re Your Bombs….”

The demonstration also comes on the morning of the Yale Corporation’s scheduled visit to campus for meetings that will last through the weekend….

On Nov. 2, University President Peter Salovey told the News that the University is “revisiting” its policy on weapons manufacturing under the University’s ethical investment framework. In 2018, Yale divested from assault weapons retailers, citing violence in communities across America. …
Since Thursday night, community members have sent over 600 letters to the Corporation calling for divestment from all weapons manufacturing via an online campaign sponsored by the Endowment Justice Coalition. …

[For links and the full YDN article: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/12/01/students-call-for-yale-corp-to-divest-from-weapons-manufacturers-in-front-of-woodbridge-hall]

People’s World Amistad Awards Honor Connecticut Fighters for Justice and Solidarity

by C. D. Carlson and Jahmal Henderson

December 14, 2023 NEW HAVEN, Conn.—Solidarity and joy filled the air, along with a determination to continue the struggle for justice, at the 2023 People’s World Amistad Awards held in New Haven on Dec. 10. Under the theme, “It’s an ‘Enough is Enough’ Moment—Time to Organize,” a diverse crowd of union and community leaders, grassroots activists, elected officials, and youth from across Connecticut came together at the annual event, which also marks the anniversary of the Communist Party’s founding….

Barbara Vereen and Ken Suzuki, leaders of Local 34, announced the 40th anniversary celebration of their union. Paul Seltzer, a leader of Local 33, announced to a standing ovation that the 3,000-member graduate workers union just signed a tentative agreement with the university for its first contract after a 30-year organizing effort.

[For an article on Local 33 and the new agreement: yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/12/08/local-33-and-yale-reach-historic-tentative-agreement]

The Amistad Awards bear the symbolic name of the 50 men of the Amistad … who broke their chains, fought their captors, and seized their freedom … and affirmed their freedom in a legal battle that reached the Supreme Court, a result of the Black and white unity forged in their defense.

In this spirit, the awardees are chosen because they embody solidarity against the politics of hate, bigotry, and division while embracing bold solutions to transform our country and put people, peace, and planet before profits.

The three working-class champions honored this year for their achievements and hard-fought struggles for dignity, unity, and solidarity were State Sen. Gary Winfield, Stacie Harris-Byrdsong, President of AFSCME Council 4, and Luis Luna, coalition manager of Husky 4 Immigrants….

Renowned jazz drummer and reggae percussionist Pheeroan akLaff and his band kept the energy upbeat during the event with lyrics calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and no war….

Following the awards presentation, event attendees stood in solidarity with members of the Blake Street Tenants Union, who revealed the fantastic results of their organizing, which has forced mega-landlord Ocean Management in New Haven to stop eviction proceedings, recognize the union, and negotiate a contract, now being finalized, that governs rent increases and protections. The Connecticut Tenant Union said they are organizing renters across the state….

Each awardee provided warnings from their organizations that the working class is confronting a period of fascist danger….

The event opened and closed with a call for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israeli war on Palestine, with those in attendance signing postcards to Congress demanding a ceasefire.

[Read the full article here: peoplesworld.org/article/peoples-world-amistad-awards-honor-connecticut-fighters-for-justice-and-solidarity/]

[For a video of the full event: www.facebook.com/CTPeoplesWorld/videos/338322185614918.]

PACE Green Energy News

News and events for advocates of clean energy, energy efficiency and climate action at the state and local levels, focusing on Connecticut. Brought to you by People’s Action for Clean Energy (PACE), www.pacecleanergy.org.

Connecticut’s failure to act on climate hurts in more ways than one. CT Mirror. “In my conversations with other young activists, it has long been abundantly clear that we know and care — acutely, often painfully — about these issues, and that we’re actively seeking ways to change them. Yet despite all of our action and concern, we’re often unsure if elected officials, in their inaction, care nearly as much. It’s for this reason…that I’ve witnessed the greatest shifts towards hopelessness in my few years as a young advocate. It comes from feeling like despite our megaphones, we’re speaking to a brick wall; it comes when we watch climate legislation like the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) used as take-it-or-leave-it bargaining chips or punted by leaders at the drop of a hat when the political stars no longer align, rather than built upon and improved as the critical climate measures we need. Plainly, it comes when young people exhaust their capacity to yell.”

Study: Business lobbying a major barrier to clean energy legislation in Connecticut  Energy News Network. “Brown University researchers found that utility and business interests outspend environmental organizations on lobbying 8-to-1, though an industry group says the study overstates its spending and influence on energy…’Environmental groups and ordinary citizens will never have the money or resources to match what Ever-source and the CBIA spend to influence lawmakers. But broad majorities of Americans see climate change as a serious problem and are demanding action from their elected leaders. So the real power is at the polls.’ ”

New England’s power system is at ‘heightened risk’ heading into winter.  Hartford Courant. “If the risks materialize and threaten the reliability of New England’s power system, the ISO said it will turn to several operating procedures to manage the grid, “up to and including controlled power outages.” Outages are a “last resort,” the ISO said. It wants to “educate the public that if this step were required, it would be used to protect the region’s power grid from an overall collapse.”…the ISO will urge conservation, asking customers to “turn down the thermostat, use appliances less frequently and minimize cooking.”

300+ Walk Out of Harvard-Yale Football Game to Demand Ceasefire in Gaza

by Yale Harvard for Palestine, Nov. 18, 2023

At least three arrests have been reported by witnesses in the stadium … multiple student activists holding posters were detained and escorted from the premises. As part of a disruptive action for the “Free Palestine” movement, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and demanding Yale and Harvard divest from weapons manufacturers arming the Israeli Defense Force, 100+ Yale and Harvard students and alumni engaged in a mass protest in the midst of the Yale-Harvard football game.

These demonstrators waved flags, held up banners, and led nonstop chanting for an estimated 1.5 hours before they called upon attendees at the game to “Walk out for Pales-tine.” An estimated 300+ joined the demonstrators in walking out of the game in protest, before gathering outside the gate and participating in further chants calling to attendees as they exited the game. A 50-minute march followed with this crowd of 300+ supporters, leading all the way from the Yale Bowl down to the heart of Yale’s campus.

An unprecedented volume of police presence was ordered for this game, anticipating such disruptive action. Yale Police, Harvard Police, Yale Security, New Haven Police Department, State Troopers, and a private security force hired by Yale were all assigned target locations within the stadium. Students reported racial profiling, as a surplus of officers … came to swarm and stand with predominantly Black and brown presenting students, seemingly anticipating disruptive action based on these radicalized identities. At the start of the game, and at regular intervals throughout, the game announcer broadcasted a message, and displayed it on the scoreboard, warning students (paraphrased) not to interfere with the game or to risk removal and immediate arrest. Such a message has never been broadcast in the documented history of the Harvard-Yale Game, the most famous and highly anticipated sports contest of the year for both universities. Students raised concerns of targeted censorship from universities and rising suppression of freedom of speech for student activists for Palestine across the nation. Multiple student demonstrators reported physical and verbal assault from attendees in the stands, “mostly older alumni,” one student reported, as they exited the premises. Demonstrators did not engage.

This action was not affiliated with any registered undergraduate student groups at either university. For updates and social media coverage, see @yaleharvardforpalestine on Instagram. CONTACT: Yale and Harvard Students and Alumni, email: yaleharvardforpalestine@proton.me.

Phone:
202-905-2577 – Yale Alum
508-603-8159 – Yale Student
617-902-0499 – Harvard Student
908-864-7971 – Harvard Med Student]

Ceasefire Now

by Joan Cavanagh, NH Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice

November 26, 2023: The actions of the terrorist organization HAMAS on Oct. 7, 2023, were an atrocity, a war crime against innocent civilians, with a death toll of 1,200 people, accompanied by rape and other forms of torture, as well as the taking of hostages. We condemn these actions with horror and without equivocation.

The actions of the Netanyahu government in response, murdering more than 14,000 people, reducing Gaza to rubble, destroying any means by which survivors can treat their wounded and sick, and cutting off their food, water, and access to the outside world, have only amplified that villainy.

Whatever you know, believe, or have been told about the current U.S. funded and supplied Israeli government war on Gaza, or indeed about the history of Israel and Palestine, please recognize that there is no moral, political, ethical, or legal justification for genocide—the deliberate elimination of an entire group of people.

Shamefully, most of our elected officials from the executive branch on down refuse to call this siege what it is and are doing nothing to end it. Indeed, they are voting to continue it by sending money and armaments to further fuel it, even while asking for brief “humanitarian pauses” out of the other sides of their mouths. And, as usual, the arms merchants are making a handsome profit each day the war continues. They are the only beneficiaries of this all-out assault on a population with nowhere to go to escape. This war must end, and it must end now.

The good news is that from all the corners of Earth, there comes a concerted human outcry against this inhumanity. Resistance actions, led by Jewish Voice for Peace and other organizations, are happening all over this country and throughout the world. There have been nonviolent shut-downs, blockades, and takeovers of congressional office buildings, headquarters of war-profiteering companies (including Colt, in Hartford), the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations, and many more, involving in total millions of people.

Please find a way to join that outcry. Speak out, write, march, demand accountability from our own government. Here in Connecticut, contact directly—and repeatedly—all of your federal representatives to demand that they act to stop this war. Ignore their perfunctory form letter replies. Keep up the demand, no matter what justifications or evasions that they give. RESIST THIS ENDLESS WAR

Amistad Awards: An Enough Is Enough Moment! Time to Organize!

by Connecticut People’s World Committee

In the midst of a national strike wave with thousands of workers standing up against income inequality and march-ing for housing rights, peace, and climate justice, the People’s World Amistad Awards will hold its annual awards rally on the theme, “It’s An Enough Is Enough Moment! Time to Organize!”

The awards ceremony will be held Saturday, December 9, 2023, at 4 p.m. at the historic First and Summerfield United Methodist Church, 425 College St., in New Haven, with a keepsake greeting book. The church is the home to union organizing, including Unite Here Local 34, celebrating its 40th anniversary. A donation of $10 is requested.

In a letter, the committee announced, “People’s World is honored to present the Amistad Award to three wonderful allies and working class champions. Together they represent the kind of unity, solidarity and vision needed to build the movement that can transform our country to put people, peace and planet before profits.”

The three awardees:

Sen. Gary Winfield, a fearless defender of racial, economic and social justice, is always in the forefront with groundbreaking legislation toward equity and a better life for his constituents and all working class people in our state and nation.

Stacie Harris-Byrdsong is the groundbreaking president of AFSCME Council 4 whose courage and leadership is so inspiring as a passionate representative of educators and the needs of children, for equity and economic justice.

Luis Luna is the Husky 4 Immigrants coalition manager whose leadership and dedication for the rights of immigrants as well as an organizer and communicator in many venues, inspires ordinary people to take collective action on their own behalf.

Performance by an Afro-reggae band led by Aklaff Pheeroan, world-renowned artist and outstanding contributor to African-American musical innovations and creative composition, will highlight the program, which is a family event.

The event will stand “IN SOLIDARITY” with the Recovery for All coalition and the Blake St. Tenants Union taking on corporate greed and shifting power to people’s needs and dreams.

This annual event is hosted on the occasion of the 104th anniversary of the Communist Party USA, in the spirit of building unity against racism, red-baiting and all forms of bigotry, and standing for workers rights, equality, peace, democracy, and a better world.

For more information, email ct-pww@pobox.com or visit actionnetwork.org/ticketed_events/2023-peoples-world-amistad-awards?clear_id=true.

Greater New Haven Green Fund Now Accepting Grant Applications

by Lynne Bonnett, Greater New Haven Green Fund

Have an idea to help your communities become more sustainable, reduce environmental pollution, engage your neighbors in positive projects that make our communities better places to live?

Let us know what your interests are. We are here to help you.

Check out our application process on our website: www.gnhgreenfund.org. Have questions? Email us at info@gnhgreenfund.org.

The application is online. You can learn all about it on our website; click on the APPLY button on our home page: www.gnhgreenfund.org.

Best of luck to everyone. You can also view the past projects we funded under the grants section in the
navigation bar—especially our nice story map.

The application period is open until Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, so you have plenty of time, but don’t wait until the last moment to apply. We’re here to help.

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