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A Day of Action on Earth Day Lobby Day
2000
© 2000 The Gobbler: Winter Thaw
by Eric Daillie
Editor's Note:
The Green's are a group dedicated to ecology, grassroots
democracy, social and economic justice and nonviolence.
The New York State Greens are now a political party.
Mark Dunlea (dunlearmark@aol.com)
submitted this article by Eric Daillie to the Gobbler
in the form of an e-mail. It addresses an Earth Day
Lobby Day scheduled for Monday April 10th in the state
capitol in Albany. The lobby day is sponsored by various
environmental groups, who are negotiating issues to
endorse. Eric Dallie is pushing for some kind of direct
action in addition to a conventional lobbying effort.
His position is controversial both within the Green
party and among other environmental groups. We do
not editorially endorse his position, mainly because
of the potential for violence in any protest which
is not well organized by those strongly committed
to nonviolence. However, we feel that Eric made some
excellent points in the following article.
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Environmentalists in New York State start this
new year frustrated and disillusioned. Despite intense lobbying
during the 1999 legislative session, of the 107 bills memoed
by Environmental Advocates, just four,"two good and two bad",
passed both houses of the legislature and only one was signed
into law by Governor Pataki: a bill to slow traffic in some
NYC neighborhoods. Not exactly what we have in mind when we
urge our state government to "Save the Planet".
Expectations are again low for the current
session, despite the plethora of critical threats we face. According
to the State of the World 2000 report just released by Worldwatch
Institute, "the expanding global economy is outgrowing Earth's
ecosystems "Failure to reverse environmental trends will
lead to reversals in economic progress. The scale and urgency
of the challenges facing us in this century are unprecedented",
concludes Lester Brown, a co-author of the report. We need to
find a way to convey this sense of urgency to our elected officials.
IT IS TIME TO ACT!
The new millennium is a symbolic milestone
important to environmentalists. Earth Day 2000 is a unique opportunity
to elevate the debate and raise awareness of local and global
issues threatening the very survival of the earth: global warming,
resource depletion, biodiversity crisis, genetic engineering,
nuclear power, hazardous chemicals, over-consumption;"It's
the Ecology, Stupid!"could be the rallying cry for enviros
in 2000. This election year offers a unique chance to step up
our demands and get results.
Earth Day 2000 comes right on the heels of
the Battle of Seattle. "The environment is now on the
international trade agenda," says Hillary French, co-author
of the Worldwatch Institute Report, concluding that "some progress
was made in Seattle when 50,000 demonstrators challenged the
World Trade Organization's preoccupation with economics at the
expense of the environment". We must keep the momentum going.
Let's make Earth Day Lobby Day 2000 the citizens' event of the
year in the Capital District.
A WINNING STRATEGY
Let's organize a day of protest, in conjunction
with the traditional Lobby Day, rallying not only the usual
participants but a wide coalition of environmentalists, trade
unionists, students, people of color, farmers, economic and
social justice activists, fair trade campaigners, faith-based
organizations, gays and lesbians, peace activists, solidarity
groups and anti-sweatshops coalitions. This broader-than-usual
coalition will tangibly magnify our presence and impact.
While protesters will be shouting and banging
on drums on the steps of the Legislative Office Building, elected
officials will be more attentive to the lobbyists' demands,
preferring to deal with polite enviros rather than an angry
crowd. We will thus be able to negotiate from a position of
strength, and broaden the agenda to include more bills than
the standard four or five. This coupling of direct action with
lobbying has the potential to make a real difference in an election
year.
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