On #NoDAPL: the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline

“What the Trump victory means for Standing Rock.” (Jenni Monet for Common Dreams)

Now that Trump has won the election and has said he would steer energy policy toward more oil production rather than less, [Energy Transfer Partner’s] plans to ignore the Obama administration and advance the pipeline so swiftly doesn’t seem so brazen at after all. Just prescient.

According to his Public Financial Disclosure Report, Trump disclosed between $500,000 and $1 million in investments in ETP. He also disclosed $50,000 to $100,000 in investments in Phillips 66, which would own one-quarter of the Dakota Access pipeline once complete.”

On rising sea levels in West Africa

“West Africa is being swallowed by the sea: Encroaching waters off the coast of Togo, Ghana, Mauritania, and others are destroying homes, schools, fish, and a way of life.” (Matteo Fagotto for Foreign Policy)

Fuvemeh is one of thousands of communities along the western coast of sub-Saharan Africa, stretching more than 4,000 miles from Mauritania to Cameroon, at risk of being washed away. Spurred by global warming, rising sea levels are causing massive erosion — in some places eating away more than 100 feet of land in a single year. Sea levels around the world are expected to rise by more than two-and-a-half feet by the end of the century, but they are expected to rise faster than the global average in West Africa, according to the West African Economic and Monetary Union. In a region where 31 percent of population lives along the coastline, generating 56 percent of total GDP, according to the World Bank, this is a potentially catastrophic problem.

“In West Africa, infrastructure and economic activities are centered along the coastal region, so as sea levels continue to rise, it threatens our very existence and source of income,” says Kwasi Appeaning Addo, a professor in the University of Ghana’s department of marine and fisheries sciences. “We are sitting on a time bomb.”

Ways for marginalized people to self-secure ahead of January

“Concrete Suggestions in Preparation for January 2017’s change in American government (by demographic issue, but for any interested readers).” (Kara Hurvitz/crowd-sourced) Hat tip: Leslie H. Foster

Hurvitz is compiling a series of resources and action items for people concerned about how a new federal administration will handle healthcare access and fragile social rights. Even if you don’t need any of these recommendations for yourself, consider passing the link onto others who might.