Good Thursday morning.
If you pay even a modest amount of attention to the environmental movement, you probably have heard about Greenpeace International. The group has a reputation as one of the more militant and radical organizations in its space.
For the uninitiated, “radical” or “militant” environmentalism” embraces the idea of direct action – as opposed to a more passive, peaceful protest and civil disobedience of the type Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. espoused – reasoning that it is necessary to save the planet, which, as we all know, is in fairly bad shape.
These kinds of actions might include, but not be limited to, “ecotage” (sabotage for ecological purposes) and “monkeywrenching” (nonviolent sabotage – of machinery, for example – against those viewed as ecological exploiters).
Basically, those who deploy these types of tactics believe that legal channels are falling short and not effective at making a big impact in a timely fashion, thus resorting to what amounts to criminal action in hopes of getting something done.
Ecoterrorism is officially defined by the FBI as “he use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally-oriented group… often of a symbolic nature.”
While these efforts do gain attention, which is, of course, the main goal, they’re also fairly controversial and often quite destructive.
Today is Greenpeace Day, which marks day on which the organization was founded in 1971 in British Columbia to oppose U.S. nuclear testing at Amchitka Island in Alaska. It has since grown to be present in more than 56 countries worldwide, and professes to focus on “defending the natural world from destruction.”
Greenpeace claims it doesn’t receive funding from corporations or governments. Instead, it relies on donations from foundations and individuals. They also don’t have a political action committee (PAC), which means they don’t seek to influence the electoral process through campaign contributions.
One of Greenpeace’s primary efforts is a campaign to protect endangered whales and seals, which often involves steering smaller boats between the animals and the ships that are hunting them.
In 2019, for example, Greenpeace activists blockaded South Korean industrial fishing ships and displayed a 25-meter-long arrow reading “Looters of the Oceans” to protest the destructive industrial fishing in the Argentine Sea. More recently, they have been pushing to expose the “unreliable traceability” of canned tuna and the exploitative practices of the seafood supply chain.
Regional members have also been working on a wide range of other issues – from how air pollution disproportionately impacts vulnerable groups of people to alarmingly rapid rate of deforestation in the Amazon.
To be clear, I am not endorsing the tactics employed by Greenpeace.
But love them or hate them, you’ve got to admit: They’re awfully good at branding and marketing. I’m fairly certain that if you approached anyone on the street and asked if they had heard of the organization, the answer would be “yes” – and how many environmental groups can the average person name off the top of their head?
This would actually be a good research project…next time I’m standing in line somewhere, I might try it out and report back.
In the meantime, it’s going to be another lovely late fall day – a bit cooler, with temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s – and clear, sunny skies.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden test drove an all-electric Cadillac SUV and slid into the front seat of a new Corvette as part of a mid-day tour of Detroit’s resurrected auto show ahead of an afternoon speech on the auto industry’s transition to electric vehicles.
Biden’s main reason for the visit was to tout his administration’s leadership of the country’s EV transformation. Key to that transformation is money earmarked for EV charger spending.
Biden announced the approval of the first $900 million to build EV chargers across 53,000 miles of the National Highway System, across 35 states.
Biden’s popularity improved substantially from his lowest point this summer, but concerns about his handling of the economy persist, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The Biden administration is considering sanctions targeting entities linked to Iran for encouraging attacks on Salman Rushdie, people familiar with the matter say, after the acclaimed novelist was stabbed last month at a New York event.
Amtrak said it would suspend all long-distance train services today to avoid disruptions from a potential strike by freight rail workers, as negotiations between railroads and labor unions approach a deadline tomorrow.
Union bosses and rail chiefs, called to Washington by the Biden administration, bargained deep into yesterday evening to avert a national freight railroad strike for one simple reason – the consequences of a prolonged shutdown would be disastrous.
Members of a small rail union, whose leaders had reached a tentative deal with freight companies, voted down the agreement, signaling more difficulty in negotiations to come.
Biden believes unions built the middle class. He also knows a rail worker strike could damage the economy ahead of midterm elections. That left him in the awkward position of espousing the virtues of unionization in Detroit amid DC talks to avert a strike.
As talks around new labor contracts for railway workers reach a crucial juncture, concerns are mounting over the potential upward pressure on prices if a strike snarls supply chains and hurts economic activity, according to economists and business groups.
If freight trains stop rolling, the result could be chaos for business, shortages for consumers, and fresh momentum for rising prices.
Rail carriers estimate that a work stoppage could cost the U.S. economy more than $2 billion a day — and do so just weeks before voters are slated to head to the polls to render a judgment on how Biden and Democrats in Congress are performing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was involved in a car accident early this morning in Kyiv but suffered “no serious injuries,” his press secretary said.
Russia is expected to oppose a proposal for Zelensky to address the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly via a pre-recorded video, Reuters reported.
About 50 migrants unexpectedly arrived by plane on Martha’s Vineyard, local officials said, escalating a tactic in which GOP-led states have shipped busloads of migrants to liberal bastions to protest the significant rise in illegal immigration under Biden.
The passengers were taken to Martha’s Vineyard Community Services before being relocated to the cafeteria at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, where they were given water bottles and fruit cups. Children were playing with chalk on the sidewalk outside.
The migrants from Venezuela didn’t speak English but, with the help of a Spanish translator, community services staff learned the group was from Venezuela and had been put on a plane with nothing but a brochure from the island’s service center.
The world has never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a news briefing in Geneva.
More than two years after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, a group of renowned experts are calling out international leaders over how they failed to prevent world’s deadliest outbreak.
Older adults have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s within a year of a COVID-19 diagnosis, a recent study shows. The risk is about 50-80% higher, the study said, adding that women who are 85 years or older are at the highest risk.
New York’s top hospital executives and doctors received millions of dollars in salaries, bonuses and other perks as federal pandemic relief funds flowed to their hospitals that faced plunging patient revenues during the initial COVID-19 waves in 2020.
New York State has launched a $200 million seed-funding grant for early-stage businesses impacted by COVID-19.
Although Lea Michele’s much-anticipated return to Broadway was upended by COVID-19 after only four performances of “Funny Girl”, first week numbers for people clamoring to see her broke box office records for the production.
While the country as a whole has recently regained all of the jobs it lost early in the health crisis, New York City is still missing 176,000, representing the slowest recovery of any major metropolitan area, according to the latest employment data.
Advocates are spending big to back a state plan to borrow $4.2 billion to help brace New York’s aging infrastructure against the effects of climate change.
A coalition seeking to pass a pro-environment constitutional amendment in November is launching a seven-figure ad campaign on Wednesday focused on how its passage would benefit New York’s drinking water infrastructure.
A former aide to ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed suit against him and former top administration officials, alleging he tried to groom her for sex and aggressively retaliated when she spoke up about it.
Bennett’s lawsuit also named as defendants three former top staff members in Cuomo’s administration: Melissa DeRosa, who was secretary to the governor; Jill DeRosiers, who had been his chief of staff; and Judith Mogul, a special counsel.
Andrew Stein, a former Democratic New York City Council president and state Assembly member, explained why he’s backing GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin over Gov. Kathy Hochul in November.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is pushing the White House to expedite $3.1 billion in recent federal funding to small farms, saying Wednesday she is concerned for New York farmers as they grapple with an unusual dry spell and inflation woes.
New York State is the first state in the nation to put people with past marijuana-related criminal convictions first in line for legal retail licenses — but those applicants say they’re finding the application, due by Sept. 26, dauntingly complex.
The Supreme Court said that it would let stand for now a ruling that Yeshiva University must recognize an L.G.B.T. student group.
The vote was 5 to 4, with the majority saying that the university, a Modern Orthodox Jewish institution in Manhattan, must first pursue challenges to the ruling in state court.
New York public school students will continue to be allowed to graduate with lower test scores this school year thanks to a recent decision by state education officials.
Mayor Eric Adams said New York City’s shelter system is “nearing its breaking point” and that the city needs to reassess how it accommodates those seeking emergency shelter.
Adams, citing a “new and unforeseen reality” that “no city official, advocate or court ever could have contemplated” in which 11,000 migrants have entered the shelter system since May, said that the system was “nearing its breaking point.”
A massive influx of Latin American migrants has driven the city’s shelter system so close to collapse that Adams suggested it’s warranted to reassess local homeless policies, including a long-standing law that assures the right to shelter for the neediest.
“As a result, the city’s prior practices, which never contemplated the bussing of thousands of people into New York City, must be reassessed,” Adams said.
Adams and members of the City Council have begun to aggressively pressure the federal government to process asylum seekers’ work papers more quickly, as the Texas busing program stretches New York’s social safety net to its limit.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer are backing Adams’ urgent request to get asylum seekers working — and say they’ll press Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Gillibrand to get it done.
Adams poked fun at his predecessor, Bill de Blasio’s, way of speaking Spanish, claiming he “butchers” the Latin language whenever he tries to use it.
Kanye West watched Adams eat sea bass.
Cardi B walked into her former middle school auditorium in the Bronx and revealed she would be donating $100,000 for school programming.
The cost to ride a New York City yellow taxi would go up by roughly 23% under a new proposal put forth by the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
A man held in a Rikers Island jail hung himself in a bathroom reserved for Correction Department staff early yesterday, sources said.
Ricardo Cruciani killed himself in jail last month after what victims said was years of sexual abuse and rape, crimes for which he was convicted in July. Yesterday, six of those victims pleaded with a judge in a Manhattan courtroom not to erase his conviction.
The mother of three children who drowned this week in Brooklyn was arrested and charged with murder in their deaths, one of the most horrific crimes against children in the city’s recent memory.
City child welfare monitors botched their handling of the troubled Brooklyn woman accused of drowning her three children off Coney Island beach, according to a source familiar with the case.
The Rensselaer County elections commissioner arrested on federal fraud charges in connection with his handling of absentee ballots in 2021 returned to work yesterday as his case is pending in U.S. District Court.
Albany International Airport will receive $60 million for a $100 million project to expand its terminal and provide more space for its security checkpoint and concessions — the largest state grant the airport has received.
Limousine company operator Nauman Hussain will go on trial May 1 on charges that accuse him of renting out a dangerously damaged stretch limousine that crashed Oct. 6, 2018 in Schoharie, killing 20 people.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan has appointed former City Court Judge Gary Stiglmeier as the city’s new public safety commissioner.
Sheehan said Stiglmeier will be charged with overseeing police disciplinary appeals as well as implementing more of the reforms that came out of the city’s Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative.
The Aldi in Schenectady is officially closed, but the supermarket chain known for low prices has relocated to 3075 Broadway in Rotterdam with a new design.
Albany County Legislator Sam Fein recently had the inside of his South End Albany home ransacked by hungry raccoons. They’ve entered through windows, doors and a cat door.
Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was convicted on three child pornography charges involving videotapes of him sexually abusing teenagers at his federal trial in Chicago.
California sued Amazon, the state attorney general said, alleging the online retail giant’s contracts with third-party sellers and wholesalers inflate prices, stifle competition and violate the state’s antitrust and unfair competition laws.
George B. Irish, who led Hearst Newspapers Group for a decade before guiding two of the Hearst family’s philanthropic foundations, died of a heart attack Tuesday at his home in New Jersey. He was 78.
