United States

Voting and Election Resources: An Index

So much is at stake in the next election (climate, democracy, Rule of Law, voting rights, women’s personhood, health and reproductive rights, etc.). Please double-check to make sure you’re registered to vote (and your registration information is accurate and up to date), then vote (early—in person or by mail, if those are options where you are), and encourage and help others you know to vote—and to make sure they have the required type of ID—especially young or first-time voters or people who have moved. (If you vote by mail, read all instructions very carefully, sign where indicated, and make sure your signature is representative of your official signature so it should closely match the signature they have on file and is not likely to be rejected. Drop it off at an official drop-off location, or mail it in well before the deadline so it will arrive in time. Make sure you use adequate postage, if postage is required. Then check for verification that it was received and counted.)

Here is a listing of our most recent posts related to voting, elections, and democracy (in the United States):

Key voting resources/websites:

On Twitter, please follow these lists of key groups and experts:

and our lists that are specific to:

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October 17, 2022
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Law Groups and Legal Frameworks for the Common Good

This is a listing of some legal organizations that I recommend following, learning more about, and potentially supporting. They all use the law to try to serve and support the common good in various ways: to protect humans and human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties; to protect animals and the rights of non-human species; and/or to protect nature, our shared environment, and the livability of our planet.

Many human/societal/commercial/industrial activities and practices that are considered “business as usual” are not only unjust, but are truly ecocidal, genocidal, and collectively suicidal, and really ought to be legally deemed (and prosecuted as) Crimes Against Humanity and the planet. Currently, only some of these existential wrongs can be addressed and enforced through legal avenues. While the law has typically focused on the rights of humans (and human entities, such as companies or organizations), efforts have been ramping up to also establish/enact and secure the Rights of Nature (including rivers, etc.) as well as Non-Human Rights for other species.

In recent years, some countries have amended their constitutions, enacted laws, or issued court decisions recognizing the legal rights of nature. Those countries include: Ecuador, New Zealand, Bolivia, Panama, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Bangladesh. And recently, the UN formally declared that access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a universal human right. However, this is a non-binding resolution; the hope is that it will help spur countries to improve their environmental laws and the implementation and enforcement of those laws.

Environmental law/rights

Animal rights

Also see: our Twitter list on Animal rights and protection; and our related post: Animal Protection, Rescue, and Advocacy Organizations

Human/civil/constitutional rights
(including voting rights, bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, etc.)

For additional organizations and legal experts, see our Twitter lists on:

 

Related posts: Posts related to Democracy, Elections, Voting, and Social Change

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August 2, 2022
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Voting and Elections: Links, Groups, and a Personal Plea

photo by M. LandmanFor the love of all that is good; for the sake of a habitable planet with a survivable climate, for the sake of democracy and voting rights, for the sake of our personhood, bodily autonomy, self-determination, and fundamental rights and civil liberties, for the sake of reducing the threat of gun violence, for the sake of children and the future of humanity; to protect Social Security and Medicare for elders and people with disabilities; to protect LGBTQ people and immigrants/refugees and every marginalized and dehumanized group; and for so SO many other reasons I shouldn’t have to list here: PLEASE (yes, I’m begging), please vote, and also do something to help Get Out the Vote and get people you know to vote (Blue) in the upcoming elections and in all elections—especially young people or others who may not have voted before (or who have moved and need to re-register) and people who live in swing/”purple” or “red” states or districts. Help them get registered; they might just need a little nudge or a link or a form. Then take them with you to vote or to drop off your signed mail-in ballots.

Too often, many Democrats and young people sit out elections as if they don’t matter (especially when the presidency isn’t on the ballot), and as a result, progress gets significantly rolled back or obstructed (which has very real effects on people’s everyday lives, livelihoods, and their future), locally and nationally. If we don’t expand the Dem’s razor-thin Senate majority, secure the House majority, add more Dems to many state legislatures, and get more Dem Secretaries of State, Attorneys General, and Governors elected or re-elected in swing states (where Republicans are actively working to elect SOS’s and AG’s who will refuse to certify any voting result that doesn’t go their way), it is not an exaggeration to say that we are likely to lose our democracy and so many things we hold dear (or take for granted), including many of our basic rights and liberties.

Here are some groups I recommend joining or supporting (and amplifying); click on a few, and pick one or two!

 

Focused on state and local campaigns/races:
Other Dem/progressive groups:
Voting rights/info and voter protection groups:
Environmental/climate voter groups:

On Twitter, please follow these lists:

Voting / Elections

State and Local Dem Groups

and our lists that are specific to:

We might add other state lists later this year, and we add more accounts (“members”) to our existing lists as we discover them.

 

Related blog posts with more information:

 

Please share a few of the links above with your friends and/or on social media, now and before October/November. Thank you!

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July 8, 2022
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On Current, Converging Crises

Over the past 10-15 years, it’s felt like new, large-scale crises emerge almost every day. It’s hard to focus on or prioritize any one issue, as so many issues are of dire importance.

I wish we could live in a world without any traumatic crises or catastrophes. But given that that isn’t a realistic option: I wish we could focus almost all of our attention and efforts on climate action and environmental protection right now, since climate breakdown (and biodiversity loss) is an urgent and worsening crisis (with new climate-related disasters occurring around the world every week) and it requires a bold and immediate response. But this crisis keeps getting overshadowed and crowded out by other real crises and interconnected, existential threats: from the ongoing and ever-morphing COVID-19 pandemic (and other threats to public health), to the ongoing struggle between democracy/human rights vs. authoritarianism, extremism, and political violence (abroad and at home), to increasing attacks on women’s rights, civil rights, and voting rights in the United States, to war and violence—and all of its attendant issues, including senseless death, destruction, brutality, trauma, misery, and suffering; war crimes, humanitarian crises, mass migration of refugees, nuclear security/safety risks (from threats of nuclear strikes to potentially catastrophic damage to active and inactive nuclear reactors/radioactive waste), environmental contamination (crimes against humanity and nature) and animal suffering, oil and gas supply/dependence, food supply risks, and the resulting economic effects. And this, of course, is only a partial list of significant current issues, the vast majority of which are human-caused.

None of us gets to choose which era we’re born into or what types of historical events and cataclysms we have to live through. But we should all try to rise to the moment we’re in and push for shifts in a more positive direction.

We all have so many personal responsibilities and daily struggles and stressors of our own that it can be very hard to take in what’s going on in other people’s lives and in other parts of the world. Many people turn away because they are already overwhelmed and are in survival mode, and simply can’t cope with or absorb any more sad or scary news or more problems that seem intractable; we all go through certain periods of our lives, or parts of our days, when our own problems (or our families’) are all (or more than) we can handle. Taking on the weight of the world can be crushing. Almost none of us are unscathed or truly OK these days, as most of us are facing numerous challenges at societal and individual levels. It’s important to “put your own oxygen mask on first, before helping others with theirs” because you can’t help others unless you are alive, relatively sane and healthy, and able to function. But whenever we do have the capacity, we should strive to be compassionate, stay aware of what is going on outside of our immediate lives and circumstances, and try to make a difference whenever and wherever we can, however small our efforts may seem, on whatever specific issue(s) we feel we can make an impact on. Helping others (and humanity at large) also gives our own lives a greater sense of meaning and purpose.

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” – Edward Everett Hale

These are some of The Green Spotlight’s blog posts that are related to current issues:

Posts Related to Democracy and Social Change 

Climate and Energy-Related Solutions, Tips, and Resources

COVID and Long COVID: Important Facts and New Findings [NEW]

COVID (and Economic Crisis) Response and Relief

Tips for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response

Wildfire Prevention and Risk Reduction

Resilience: Disaster-Resistant and Adaptive Design and Planning

Animal Protection, Rescue, and Advocacy

Wisdom from Hope in the Dark

Great Quotations on Action, Activism, and Change

There are countless organizations doing important and noble work to address many of the issues mentioned above. It’s hard for me to narrow down a list of only a few to highlight. But I will try. Below are just a few groups that address big, cross-cutting issues. Because so many of humanity’s issues and crises intersect and spring from the same or similar causes or contributors, it’s helpful to use systems thinking to see the big picture, connect the dots, and synthesize messages and actions; doing so can enable us to address multiple problems at once (to “multi-solve”). While the following are national and international organizations that have a broad scope, more local/regional, decentralized, grassroots groups and efforts are also extremely important and necessary, and big groups should partner up with small and local groups. There are just way too many grassroots groups in every area of the world to attempt to list them here.

As for Russia’s war on Ukraine (and the many terrible consequences of it), here are a few things you can do to help or to show solidarity with Ukraine (as well as greater Europe, other countries facing conflicts, and our entire, interconnected world):

  1. Support Global Giving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, other humanitarian aid and disaster response groups, refugee assistance groups, the Clean Futures Fund, or other organizations in the region.
  2. Reduce your use of oil and gas, e.g. by flying less (or not at all), driving less, getting an electric or non-gas-guzzling car (or electric bicycle), supporting renewable energy (via your utility, city, and state), using solar power, switching from gas to electric furnaces and electric/induction stoves (and electric leaf blowers and mowers), getting a heat pump, not heating or cooling your home as much, etc.
  3. Lobby/educate against the use (and development) of nuclear power and nuclear weapons, locally, nationally, and globally. Support: the immediate decommissioning of existing nuclear plants and neutralization of nuclear materials, no-first-use nuke policies, nuclear disarmament and arms reduction policies, uranium mining bans, etc.
  4. Support and amplify pro-democracy, anti-authoritarian groups and efforts, as well as pro-peace, anti-war groups and efforts.
  5. Reduce your consumption of wheat/grain-based products, and never waste food. (Ukraine is an agricultural “bread basket” of the world, and its ability to grow grains and other foods has been severely impacted by the war, affecting the food supply and food prices everywhere.) If you have a little space and a little time, grow some food plants on your land/yard or windowsills—ideally enough that you can share some with others. Support local organic farmers and small farms, as well food banks/pantries, gleaning groups, and food security and hunger organizations, locally and globally.
  6. Plant some sunflowers (organic seeds) this spring or summer.
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March 31, 2022
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Recent Films, 2016 – 2021

These are just a few of the many films—with environmental themes—that have come out in the last few years (between 2016 and 2021). The listing also includes a few TV programs. These films and shows (mostly documentaries) touch on all sorts of topics, e.g., food, soil, agriculture/farming, indigenous people, climate change, social and environmental movements, animals, trees and forests, energy, and inspiring leaders and scientists. We’ll continue to add more films to this listing throughout 2021, as we learn of others. We have also posted listings of earlier films (from before 2016); scroll to the bottom of this post to find links to those.

Click on each of the links below (or go to IMDB.com) to see previews/trailers, reviews, and descriptions of each film. Also, educators should note that many of these films are available for free to teachers, and their websites often have educational resources for teachers/students to use.

Dark Waters   (feature movie, based on a true story re. PFAS and DuPont)

Percy vs Goliath (feature movie, based on a true story re. a farmer and Monsanto)

The Condor & the Eagle

Kiss the Ground

Gather

The Biggest Little Farm

The Serengeti Rules

Climate Solutions 101 (Project Drawdown’s 6-part video series)

Before the Flood

Living in the Future’s Past

Being the Change: A New Kind of Climate Documentary

Inside the Megafire

The Story of Plastic

A Plastic Ocean

RiverBlue

Power Struggle

Life Off Grid

Spaceship Earth

Hard Nox (from the Dirty Money TV series)

The Beekeeper (short film)

You’ve Been Trumped Too

Animals:

Love and Bananas: An Elephant Story

My Octopus Teacher

Artifishal: The Fight to Save Wild Salmon

Trees and Plants:

Intelligent Trees

Fantastic Fungi

The Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees

The Secret World of Trees (TV series)

Inspiring People:

End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock

I Am Greta: A Force of Nature

Jane Goodall: The Hope

Rachel Carson

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

For other media on inspiring environmental leaders, check out the short videos about Goldman Prize winners.

 

Also check out Ecoflix [NEW] and WaterBear: new streaming platforms dedicated to environmental films and media. And take a look at The Years Project videos and shows, as well as PBS shows such as Our Planet, Nature, Earth: A New Wild, and NOVA, and BBC shows such as A Perfect Planet and Planet Earth.

Are there other relevant, recent (or forthcoming) films or TV programs that you’ve seen and would recommend to others?  If so, please mention those in the Comments section below.

 

Green Film Festivals

These are a few of the annual film fests that I’m aware of; this is not an exhaustive list. Please let everyone know about other green film festivals by contributing a Comment. Many of the festivals’ websites feature video clips and a some even stream entire films (short and full-length films), and they list many additional, new, independent films, beyond what I’ve listed above, including some brand new ones that haven’t been screened widely yet.

See the Green Film Network to find film festivals in many countries.

 

Our previous film posts:

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March 12, 2021
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Municipalities, States, and Countries that are Achieving, Approaching, or Committed to 100% Renewable Energy: 2021 Update

Cities, towns, counties, states, regions, and countries all over the world are making large strides towards shifting to renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass, and wave/tidal energy). In early 2018 we published our original post on this topic. This new post provides an update on where things stand three years later, in early 2021:

Within the U.S., the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 program reports that (to date, as of early 2021), more than 170 cities, more than 10 counties, 8 states, and 2 territories have adopted the ambitious goal of 100% clean energy (for at least electricity). Note: This is quite a bit more than just three years ago, when the stats were 50 cities, 7 counties, and only 1 state (Hawaii).  As of this year (so far), the 8 states and 2 territories that have committed to this goal are: California, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Virginia, Washington, as well as Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico!  The counties that have made this commitment are located in California, Colorado, Idaho, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington state.

Whereas three years ago, only five towns in the U.S. had achieved this impressive goal (generating 100% of their electricity from non-polluting, renewable sources), now five counties (unincorporated county areas) in California, as well as 47 cities and towns across the U.S. have achieved this goal. Most of those cities and towns are in California. The non-California towns are: Aspen, CO; Greensburg, KS; Rock Port, MO; Kodiak Island, AK; and Georgetown, TX. You can use the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 map to see if your city/town/county or other municipalities in your state have committed to or achieved these renewable energy goals.

Worldwide, many other cities and countries are also approaching and even reaching 100% renewable electricity goals. The Global 100 RE Strategy Group says that “To date, 11 countries have reached or exceeded 100% renewable electricity; 12 countries have passed laws to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2030; 49 countries have passed laws to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2050; 14 U.S. states and territories have passed laws or executive orders to reach up to 100% renewable electricity by between 2030 and 2050 [Note: That is more than the 10 identified by the Sierra Club above]; over 300 cities worldwide have passed laws to reach 100% renewable electricity by no later than 2050; and over 280 international businesses have committed to 100% renewables across their global operations.”

Countries that are powered or almost entirely powered on renewable energy (>90%) include: Costa Rica, Iceland, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Norway. Other countries with very high percentages of renewables include Portugal, Germany, Scotland, New Zealand, and Austria. Islands that now have >90% renewable electricity include: Eigg and Orkney (Scotland), Tasmania (Australia), Tokelau (New Zealand), Tau (American Samoa), and Samso (Denmark).

Note: Some of these countries, cities, and islands use primarily hydropower; large dams are controversial, as they are environmentally destructive to ecosystems and habitats. Some biomass (and landfill gas) sources can also be controversial. It definitely does not make any sense or pencil out (climate-wise/carbon-wise or otherwise) to cut down trees en masse (let alone ship their wood or wood pellets across the world) in order to make energy.

Some programs that help cities, regions, countries, and other entities move towards 100% include:

Also see these other resources on 100% renewable energy efforts:

We should all ask the leaders of our cities, towns, counties, states, and countries (mayors, city council members, county supervisors, governors, state legislators, congressional representatives, Senators, and President) to commit to a 100% (or at least 90%) renewable energy goal (as well as carbon-neutral and net-negative emission goals), and to enact forward-thinking policies right away to move rapidly towards those goals. You can share these program links with them, so they will be aware of networks they can join and resources they can use in setting their policies and meeting their renewable energy goals.

One way to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy sources at a local level is to create a county-wide, city-wide or regional Community Choice Energy (AKA Community Choice Aggregation, CCA) program. Per The Climate Center, “Community Choice agencies are local, not-for-profit, public agencies that provide electricity services to residents and businesses. Community Choice introduces competitions and consumer choices into the electricity sector with a focus on local, renewable energy to stimulate rapid innovations in clean energy systems.” According to Local Power, Community Choice energy programs now serve more than 30 million Americans, in more than 1,500 municipalities across the country. As of early 2021, there are 23 Community Choice energy programs established in California alone, serving more than 11 million people, providing more than 3,800 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity, and avoiding 940,000+ metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year! In addition to California, eight other states have also authorized Community Choice programs (so far): Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Virginia.

The Climate Center is also running the Climate-Safe California campaign, to try to push the state to set and achieve the goal of net-negative emissions by 2030 in California. You can read and endorse the platform via that link.

Energy efficiency is also critical. It is as important as shifting to renewable energy sources, because the less energy we need/use/waste (i.e. the lower the demand), the less we have to produce (supply) from any source. Simply adding renewable energy sources to the existing non-renewable sources will not help reduce pollution or slow climate change; renewable sources need to start to replace the existing fossil-fuel-based (oil, coal, and gas) sources. (All types of energy production, even non-polluting renewables, require material inputs and have some impacts.) The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) published a 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, which concluded that “For the first time in four years, California took first place nationwide, edging out Massachusetts, the leader in the Northeast…. Rounding out this year’s top 10, are…Vermont (#3), Rhode Island (#4), New York (#5), Maryland (#6), Connecticut (#7), Washington, DC (#8), and Minnesota and Oregon (tied for #9). …Other regional leaders include Colorado in the Southwest, and Virginia in the South.”

 

This was our previous post on this topic:
Cities and Towns Achieving (or Approaching) 100 Percent Renewable Energy (2018)

Other related posts:

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February 23, 2021
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Make It Count: How to Protect Your Vote and Everyone Else’s

The survival of our democracy—and the survival of a habitable environment and climate—depends on having free and fair elections. This post includes some tips and recommendations of specific ways to help preserve the integrity and security of the election: to make sure that your vote and other people’s votes are counted. (Scroll down to see all of our tips, especially item #4 re. mail-in voting vs. voting in person.)

To get started, I hereby offer up the following resources and tools for getting clear, accurate, official information on the voting options and rules in your state/county (beware of disinformation that’s being spread, particularly on social media, and be aware that each state and county has somewhat different voting rules and options). Further down, I have also listed groups that are involved in helping to counter voter suppression (and disinformation and intimidation) tactics and protect the election (from election fraud, tampering, cyber hacking, manipulation, foreign “interference,” or errors; individual voter fraud is almost non-existent and is readily detected, so it is not a major threat).

Please review, use, and share some of these resources and tools:

The Best Way to Vote in Every State: A comprehensive guide to making sure your ballot gets counted, no matter where in America you live (Slate)

Plan Your Vote. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting (state by state) (NBC)

State/County Voting Requirements and Information directory (U.S. Vote Foundation)

State by State Voting Information Links (The Green Spotlight)

How to Prevent Your Mail Ballot from Being Rejected (Washington Post)

State Laws on Early Voting (National Conference of State Legislatures)
[Note: 41 states have some form of Early Voting in place.  Only 9 states—Alabama, Connecticut, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina—do not offer pre-Election Day, in-person Early voting options.]

Tips to Mitigate Threats to Our Votes and Voter Registrations Before November (Jennifer Cohn, Protect Our Votes)

Four Ways to Safely Cast Your Ballot Without USPS (Democracy Docket)

 

Orgs/websites for voting information:

and/or contact your county’s Elections office/department/board/registrar (or your Secretary of State’s elections division) for official, local, up-to-date voting and ballot information.

Orgs/websites re. election protection/integrity/security (including legal action) efforts and safeguards (please click on/follow/share a few, and pick one or two to support/volunteer/join!):

Also follow and share our: 
list of Voting / Elections accounts on Twitter and our Twitter posts

 

TIPS & RECOMMENDATIONS:

  1. Register early (don’t put it off until your state’s deadline), and re-check your registration periodically, including just over than a month before each election to make sure your name hasn’t been purged and to give you enough time to fix any problems. Make sure your registration has your current address and all of the other information is also correct and has not been altered (name, party preference, etc.). Save a screen shot of your registration and bring that or your registration confirmation card/postcard with you as proof (just in case they say you’re not listed on the voting rolls), if you’re voting in-person.If you move more than a month before the election, re-register to vote right away with your new address. If you have to move within the month before the election, find out if your state allows last-minute or Same-Day Registration during Early Voting or on Election Day; or if you’re moving near-by, ask your County elections office if you are still allowed to vote at the poll location for your old address or what your other options are.
  2. Make sure you have the required ID (if any is required in your state). Go to VoteRiders.org or go to your Secretary of State’s elections website or your County’s elections/voter registrar site to find out whether/what ID is required to vote. If you need help obtaining or paying for the correct ID before the election, contact VoteRiders or Spread the Vote for assistance ASAP.
  3. Ask your County elections office/Registrar of Voters whether your County provides Hand-Marked Paper Ballots on Election Day as well as during Early Voting (preferably as the default option, instead of touchscreen/computer voting machines or ballot-marking devices, but at least as an option that you can request instead of the machines), as well as paper pollbooks (lists of voters) as a backup in case their electronic pollbooks malfunction/fail (e.g., Internet connection or power goes out) or are hacked into and tampered with. Ask/demand that your County and State provide: Hand Marked Paper Ballots, paper pollbooks (at least as backup), and no modem/Internet (i.e. hackable) connections for voting machines or ballot scanners; also tell them they must save all ballots and digital ballot images to allow for audits or recounts. Ask them if they will have plenty of local polling places open throughout your County/State so people won’t have to travel far from their neighborhood to vote. Not everyone has a car. (Providing large, centralized voting “centers” is not a good replacement for having many, neighborhood-based polling places. Also, county-wide voting centers will not have paper pollbooks on hand, which can cause serious problems if the e-pollbooks fail.) For more info on these issues, follow @jennycohn1 on Twitter or see ProtectOurVotes.com.
  4. IF your County provides Hand-Marked Paper Ballots (as regular ballots, not just “provisional,” and they are also provided during Early Voting): I’d generally recommend voting in person (preferably during the Early Voting period to avoid lines and any unexpected issues on Election Day), particularly IF you are young and healthy and you feel confident that your daily schedule will allow you to go vote in person. (Also see #8, 9, and 10 below for more on voting in person.) On the other hand…
    IF your County/precinct (only) uses computerized voting machines (e.g. hackable BMDs or DREs), or IF you are elderly or at high risk if you get COVID, or IF you anticipate extremely long lines in your precinct or not having the time to go vote in person for any reason (work, childcare, etc.): it would be better to request a mail-in/absentee ballot if your state allows that [no-excuse absentee voting is currently allowed in two-thirds of the states]. Please follow these steps:
    1) Apply for your absentee ballot as soon as you are allowed to (don’t wait until the deadline); find info on how to do so on your Secretary of State’s elections site;
    2) When you receive the actual ballot, be sure to read and follow the instructions on it very carefully to make sure you fill it out correctly; sign it where requested (which might be on the return envelope) with your typical signature (the same way you signed when registering to vote or on your driver’s license, for potential “signature matching” issues in some states) so they won’t have any cause to reject it (the GOP will be looking for any excuse to challenge/reject mail-in ballots); unfortunately, rejections of mail-in ballots are frighteningly common, especially for inexperienced voters (please contact your County if you have any questions about their instructions, which are sometimes confusing). Note: If you make a mistake on your ballot, contact your county elections office to find out how/where you can bring your “spoiled” ballot in to have it voided and get a new one (or bring the spoiled ballot to your polling place and have them replace it with a clean ballot).
    3) Return your completed ballot as early as possible, ideally dropping it off directly at your County’s elections office or another designated ballot drop-off location/box within your County (since USPS mail service could be significantly delayed and it might not get post-marked or delivered in time). If you mail it, mail it at least two weeks before the election and with as much postage on the envelope as is required. [Note: Some states will not accept ballots that are mailed via non-USPS services such as UPS or FedEx.]
    4) Look up whether your state/county offers a way to track your ballot and confirm that it has been received and accepted/counted. Track its status if you can. If you find out or are notified that it has been rejected, please go in to “cure” (fix) your ballot if you are allowed to (some areas allow this). Be aware that most places will not start counting any mail-in ballots until Election Day, and some ballots will not be received or counted until after Election Day.
    If you don’t receive your mail-in ballot at least two weeks before the election, report that to your County’s elections office (and Secretary of State), and if it doesn’t arrive in time, go vote in person instead, ideally during Early Voting. If it arrives within the last 10-14 days before the election, do not send the completed ballot back by mail, due to postal delays; drop it off at a designated location instead.
  5. Sign up to be a paid poll worker or “election judge” (for Early Voting and/or for Election Day), as there is a shortage of poll workers in many areas due to COVID (in the past many poll workers have been seniors, but they have good reason to sit this one out due to COVID risks). If there aren’t enough poll workers, counties will close poll locations. See WorkElections.com, Power the Polls, or Poll Hero, or contact your County’s elections office directly to find out how to apply. Be sure to wear a face mask and a face shield when working at the polls.
    Or sign up to be a poll monitor/observer/watcher, to help prevent and report any voter suppression or intimidation, correct or report poll workers who may be providing false information, or other problems at the polls; or to observe the counting of absentee ballots. The Republican Party and Trump campaign plan to deploy an “Army” of “poll watchers” (and intimidators, though that is not legal) and they will be looking for any excuse to challenge and reject ballots, so we need to have plenty of poll monitors and count monitors of our own. Contact your state or local Democratic Party, the Biden campaign, or a local candidate/campaign to sign up to be a poll observer.  #WatchTheVote
  6. Alternatively, volunteer with Election Protection / Common Cause’s Protect The Vote program. People with legal experience can contact We the Action for call center and/or field program opportunities.
    Or “consider volunteering with ProtectOurVotes.com to photograph precinct totals (as shown on precinct poll tapes posted outside many polling places when the polls close) and compare them to the county-reported totals for those precincts. If the two don’t match, this suggests that a potentially serious problem occurred with the tabulation and may support an election challenge.” #PhotoFinish
    You could also volunteer with the Scrutineers. To be involved in additional vote protection efforts on election night and beyond (e.g. taking periodic screenshots of election tally results from state or county websites as votes are counted), see item #21 here, and follow @jennycohn1 on Twitter for other suggestions.
  7. Volunteer for or donate to voter outreach/education/registration, and Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts (such as texting voters from your computer), through your state or local Democratic Party, a battleground state’s Dem. Party (e.g., PA, AZ, NC, WI, FL, GA, IA, KS, MI, OH, MT, TX, NV, MN, ME, VA, NH, CO; SC, KY, AL, MS), a specific campaign, or a group such as: Mobilize.US, MoveOn, Swing Left, NextGen America, Indivisible, Democrats Abroad, LastElection.org, Sierra Club, Progressive Turnout Project, When We All Vote, Fair Fight, March for Our Lives, Voto Latino, NALEO, Rock the Vote, Black Voters Matter, More than a Vote, Overseas Vote, Nonprofit Vote, DSCC, DLCC, DCCC, NDRC, or All on the Line, among many others. Also, remind all of your friends to vote!
  8. If voting in person, bring your completed sample ballot with you (which should be sent to you in the mail, or you can download one online) to work off of when filling out your real ballot. Also bring a mask, some water/snacks (maybe some to share too), and perhaps a portable chair/stool if there could be long lines. Offer to drive someone to the polls with you (a senior, young person, neighbor, or someone else who might not have a car). Request a paper ballot that you can mark with a pen. And Jenny Cohn says, “If you must use a touchscreen, compare the human readable text on the paper printout (if any) to your completed sample ballot to ensure the machine didn’t drop or flip your votes. Very few voters will notice such dropping or flipping — especially for down-ballot races — without doing this comparison.” Make sure no races, candidates, or other items are missing.
  9. If you encounter any problems or irregularities (or questions) prior to or during voting, contact the Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683 — save that number in your phone and share it with others; it’s 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA for help in Spanish). If problems are not immediately or adequately resolved, you should also report the issues to your County Elections office, your Secretary of State’s elections division, your state Democratic Party, the DNC, local or national media, on social media; and/or to legal groups such as Democracy Docket, the ACLU, and you can also send/post a note to @jennycohn1 on Twitter. Do not give up on voting without first at least contacting Election Protection for assistance, and do not vote a provisional ballot unless you confirm with Election Protection that that is the only way you will be able to vote. If there are long lines, please stay in line. Anyone who is in line at the time that polls “close” must be allowed to vote.
  10. Keep your ballot receipt/stub (if provided), and look up whether your state/county offers a way to track your ballot and confirm that it has been received and accepted/counted. Track its status if you can. (Some states allow you track your ballots through BallotTrax.) And if it isn’t accepted/counted, report that (see the list of groups in the previous item). In highly populated cities, counties, and states, it could take several weeks for all votes (particularly mail-in and overseas/military ballots, some of which won’t arrive until after Election Day) to be counted. Do not expect final or certified election results immediately after the election. Patience is a virtue. Accuracy is more important than instant gratification. (It is wildly irresponsible for any news media to “call” races prematurely, before almost all votes have actually been counted, including mail-in ballots. Please remind media and others about this on social media.) If the reported results differ significantly from recent polls and exit polls, support recount and audit efforts. We must insist on election transparency, security, integrity, and verifiability, especially at a time when Russian operatives are again actively working to manipulate our election like they did last time.
  11. Avoid sending anything non-crucial (or ordering anything to be shipped) through the US Postal Service (except your mail-in ballot, if you can’t drop it off instead) for the three to four weeks preceding the election, up through the day after the election (from at least Oct. 13 – Nov. 4)—to try to enable the USPS to process all of the ballot mail.

 

For additional info and tips, see our previous voting posts:

Also follow and share our: 
list of Voting / Elections accounts on Twitter and our Twitter posts

I will be adding some more information and links to this post in the coming days and weeks. So please check back again! And please use and share some of this info with friends. We need all hands on deck to protect and save our democracy.

Vote like your life depends on it and everyone’s future depends on it. Vote for democracy, basic decency, health, sanity, justice, facts and rationality, equality, stability, security, fairness, ethics, and a livable environment.

In solidarity. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

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August 31, 2020
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Animal Protection, Rescue, and Advocacy: Organizations and resources

I have noticed that animal protection and animal rights are issues that unite people of many different backgrounds and political stripes (even more so than a love of nature or a desire to protect the environment). Most people recognize that we humans are animals too, and many people understand that all living beings have inherent value and should have the right to live and thrive.

Personally, I believe that other species have as much of a right to exist, live, and thrive as humans do. I do not feel that my life has greater importance or value than the lives of other creatures. I also do not believe that other animals are here for us; they are here with us (and many species were here long before us), and they are not ours to use, abuse, commodify, cage, or exploit. Since they cannot speak for themselves or defend themselves against people (and our various types of weapons and threats), I do think it is our responsibility to try to protect them from other humans who do them harm.

Animals of all kinds—wild and domestic—face a wide variety of threats (to their survival, health, and well-being) from humans, including:

cruelty, abuse, domestic violence, neglect, exploitation and captivity (for human entertainment), factory farming, inhumane slaughter, over-hunting, poaching, trapping, trafficking, poisoning (e.g., rat poison and pesticides/herbicides; water, soil, and air pollution; plastic waste/pollution; intentional poisoning e.g. cyanide poisoning of elephants’ watering holes), widespread habitat destruction (e.g. from deforestation, development, agribusiness e.g. cattle grazing and crop plantations, mining, and road-building), medical research, animal testing (for products e.g. cosmetics), injury or death from vehicles or buildings (e.g., getting hit by cars or planes, birds flying into windows), and the overarching problem that affects all species including our own: climate change (extreme and volatile temperatures, drought; loss of food sources; extreme storms/hurricanes, flooding, fires, etc.)

Between 1970-2012 (in just over 40 years), humans have wiped out about 60% of the earth’s mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians, according to WWF’s Living Planet report of 2018. (As the human population has increased, wildlife populations have decreased, by similar degrees. Over that same time period (1970-2012), the world population of humans almost doubled, growing by approx. 3.5 billion people to more than 7 billion people. In 2020, we’re now approaching 8 billion.) The WWF study also found that freshwater wildlife populations have decreased by 83%, and extreme deforestation in South and Central America has led to a wildlife decline of 89% in that region. During the past 12,000 years of human civilization, humans have killed almost half of the trees on earth; around 15 billion trees are cut down each year (source). When we destroy animals’ habitat, we are destroying living beings and biodiversity. This not only creates a bleaker world in which to live; we are also destroying our own cousins and our shared life support systems.

 

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. …I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

Below is a listing of some of the many organizations that advocate for animals. They include animal rights, welfare/protection, conservation, rescue and rehabilitation, and refuge/sanctuary groups. Some are focused primarily on wildlife (including threatened or endangered species, or biodiversity), while others are focused on domesticated / companion animals (e.g. pets) or farmed animals. And a few do work that addresses all of the above. I have mostly included groups with a national (U.S.) or international scope, but there are many local and regional community-based groups for animals (in particular rescue groups that serve a local area), as well. I encourage you to do an online search to identify and support the ones in your region. Also follow our Twitter list of animal protection groups.

Organizations are listed below under the categories: General/Broad-based; Biodiversity; Farm Animals (and Humane Eating); Wild Animal Sanctuaries; Anti-Poaching and -Trafficking; Species-Specific (elephants, wolves, marine animals, primates, donkeys); Disaster Response/Rescue; Anti- Animal-Testing/Research/Experiments; Petitions; Books, Films, Audio, Videos; and Other Resources. And at the end, you will see More Quotations and Related Posts.

Note: This listing is not comprehensive. Also, I cannot vouch for the effectiveness or integrity of every group listed here (i.e., being listed does not necessarily constitute an endorsement). I will periodically add more links to the listing as I learn about other interesting groups. Please feel free to recommend additional groups in the Comments section.

General / broad-based animal rights and welfare groups

 

Biodiversity groups

These groups focus on broad issues that affect wild animal populations, such as habitat conservation, wildlife and endangered species protection, biodiversity, rewilding, and climate.

Also see the Anti-poaching category below.

And see the land/habitat conservation groups listed in our post Sustainable Land Use and Land Stewardship.

Organizations that work to protect and preserve wilderness (including intact forests and other wild lands) are thereby also preserving habitat for wildlife.

 

Farm animal groups and rescues/sanctuaries

There are many animal rescues and sanctuaries all over the country and the world. The following list is just a small selection of them that provide safe places for farm(ed) animals. Do a search to find the ones in your area, and see if you can go on a tour, or donate / sponsor (“adopt”) an animal:

Humane eating/meat standards:

Some would (maybe rightly) argue that there is no such thing as “humanely” raising or slaughtering (or hunting) animals for meat. I have included vegetarian/vegan resources here, as well as information about the various “humane” standards and certifications for meat producers. While I believe the choice to be vegan or vegetarian is admirable and ideal, the reality is that most humans have been and continue to be carnivores (omnivores), and I don’t think that people can be shamed out of meat-eating. Non-dogmatically-presented information and education can help, and more people are moving towards a low-meat, more humanely-raised-meat, or no-meat (or dairy) diet, but those are choices that each person comes to based on their own personal convictions and experiences.

 

Wild/large animal sanctuaries 

 There are many others. To find others, check out this listing of accredited sanctuaries.

Also see the sanctuaries for specific species, e.g., elephants, wolves, donkeys, etc., listed under “Species-specific groups,” below.

 

Anti-poaching, -trafficking, -wildlife-crime groups

 

Species-specific groups

The following is a small selection of the many groups that focus on particular species:

Elephants:

(Also see the Anti-Poaching groups listed above, which help protect elephants as well as other animals. And see the films Love and Bananas, and Last Days of Ivory.)

Wolves:

Marine animals:

Find other marine animal rescue groups here (a listing). And see the films The Cove and Blackfish.

Primates:

Donkeys:

Big cats:

 

Disaster response/rescue groups

Do an online search to find out if there’s some type of Animal Disaster Response group, such as an Animal Response Team (e.g., “State Animal Response Team” (SART) or “Community/County Animal Response Team” (CART)) established in your state, county, or city/town. If there isn’t one, consider organizing people to start one in your area, to help rescue pets, horses, livestock, and other animals during disasters.

 

Anti- animal testing/research/experiments groups

 

Petitions

Many of the organizations listed in the first section and in other sections of this post create their own petitions or letters that you can sign on to. Sign up for some organizations’ mailing lists, and check their websites’ Action-related sections.

Also see these websites:

And you can also check these other petition sites, which sometimes have animal-related petitions.

 

Books, Films, Audio, Videos, Podcast

Books:

Films:

Audio (natural/animal sounds):

Videos / social media:

Podcast:

 

Other Resources

Find wildlife rescue/rehabilitation centers in your state or county (and here’s another directory) — places that help treat orphaned, sick, or injured wildlife

Find domestic animal rescues/shelters for pet adoption near you

Dog Food Advisor  (including pet food Recall alerts)
Dog Food Analysis

House Rabbit Society

Also see/follow our Twitter list of animal protection groups.

 

A side note: While many (and possibly even most) people support animal rights and protections, most of us do not support or condone the extreme and often counter-productive (alienating or off-putting) approach and tactics of PETA. That group does not represent all or even most animal rights supporters and activists.

 

More Quotations

“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
— Immanuel Kant

“What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from the great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.”
– widely attributed to Chief Seattle (but it actually seems to have been written or adapted by the screenwriter for the 1972 film Home)

“Our task must be to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
— Albert Einstein

“We are forever responsible for that which we have tamed.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 

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July 8, 2020
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COVID (and Economic Crisis) Response and Relief: Ways to help or to get help or information

We’re all going to need to muster up as much resilience, generosity, patience, kindness, empathy, courage, adaptability, resourcefulness, and creativity as we can, to get through the tough times our families, communities, country, and world are facing during this unprecedented crisis. Things may continue to get worse in many places for a while, and it’s going to be a long haul with multiple waves and no known end date. We’re not only facing a pandemic (a global infectious disease and public health crisis), but also an economic crisis of poverty, disability, food insecurity (hunger), eviction, and homelessness (issues made much worse by the United States’ existing health care/insurance crisis, and by economic inequality, exploitative corporate practices, environmental and institutional racism and injustice, greed and corruption), all of which have left many people in desperate need of assistance, in every community. (And tragically, the climate crisis will exacerbate all of these problems, and create disasters on top of disasters.) Our society is entering an extended period of great loss, disruption, hardship, and suffering.

Soon, all of us will know people who have been sick with the COVID-19 coronavirus (and many of us will know people who have died from it or who suffer from chronic Long Covid symptoms or post-COVID organ/brain damage) as well as numerous people who are suffering financially and emotionally from it. Millions of people are struggling to pay their rent (or mortgage) and utilities, exorbitant medical bills, and/or burial costs. Healthcare workers and other essential workers are having to work overly long and extremely stressful hours and risking their lives to do so, and they are short-staffed due to co-workers who are ill. Most people don’t want to ask friends or family for help, even when they desperately need it (and not everyone has family members or close friends who are in a position to help). So reach out to find out what people you know are going through and what they might need. And if you need help, do reach out to others and to groups that can offer assistance (see below). You are not alone, and there will be people who are able and willing to help you, even if your family and friends are not able to.

If you’re not in dire straits (e.g., if you and your family have your health, an adequate income, health insurance, and/or you still have some savings to get you and your family through an emergency or an extended rough patch), please consider using at least some of your “stimulus” payment money (or your tax refund or savings, if any) to help others who are in need, whether they are friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, friends of friends, strangers, or small local businesses that are struggling. Ask whether people need help with paying rent or buying food, etc.

Alternatively, if you have extra time or skills, services, assistance, or resources to offer, offer those—e.g., food, meals, good masks (ideally NIOSH-approved N95), test kits, plants or seeds, housing (e.g., guest units), babysitting, online schooling, tutoring, or homework help, etc.

If you can help people directly, do that. Otherwise or in addition, try to support (donate to or volunteer for) some of the established groups that are actively helping people in need, such as these:

What other national groups would you recommend that people support? Please add them in the Comments. Also see the links to additional resources at the end of this post.

Also support (donate to or volunteer for):

  • local Mutual Aid and disaster/emergency response groups and any local relief funds set up by community orgs/foundations or community banks and credit unions
  • local food banks/pantries
  • your area’s Meals on Wheels
  • Legal Aid groups (and lawyers providing free, pro bono assistance)
  • your region’s United Way
  • your region’s Red Cross
  • domestic violence shelters and groups
  • child abuse and fostering groups
  • homeless and affordable housing groups; shelters
  • refugee, detainee, and undocumented immigrant protection groups
  • small farmers; farmer’s markets and CSAs
  • reproductive rights/care groups and funds
  • mental health advocacy groups
  • senior centers and support orgs, e.g. AARP Advocates
  • prisoners’ rights groups
  • animal shelters (consider fostering an animal if you have the time, health, and resources)
  • small businesses, and people out of work (including independent/freelance/gig workers and undocumented workers, who pay taxes but can’t collect unemployment)
  • independent bookstores (see IndieBound.org to find stores near you; order books from them online when their stores have to be closed); please do not buy from Amazon, which has put many bookstores and small businesses out of business

And here are additional actions you can take to make a difference:

  1. Buy NIOSH-approved N95 masks (or at least KN95 masks) and at-home tests, and give them away (or sell them at cost if need be) to friends, neighbors, healthcare workers, other essential workers (e.g., grocery/delivery workers, domestic workers, etc.), and homeless outreach centers. Find out if your area has a local group that is collecting/donating masks or equipment. (See ProjectN95.org for info on vetted masks and tests.)
  2. Offer to pick up groceries (or prescriptions or other essential supplies) for a near-by senior, someone with health conditions or immune system issues (including people undergoing cancer treatment or who have an auto-immune disorder), or someone who’s sick.
  3. Reach out to at least one friend, neighbor, or relative each day or each week (by phone, email, FaceTime/Duo, or mail) to see how they’re doing.
  4. Join an existing Mutual Aid group in your area (or consider creating one if there isn’t one already).
  5. Think of any skills, services, items, assets, or resources you can offer (or barter/trade/exchange or lend) to others, e.g., surplus food items, meals, or plants/seeds; babysitting, homeschooling/education, petsitting or fostering, professional services; guest units or quarantine spaces (including vacation rentals, trailers, studios, etc.).
  6. If you’re healthy, donate blood. You can do so through Red Cross blood drives. And if you’ve recovered from COVID, you can donate your plasma to help COVID patients.
  7. If you see or hear questionable or potentially dangerous information (misinformation or disinformation) being spread, check fact-checking sites (e.g., Factcheck.org, Politifact.com, Snopes.com; or reputable medical/health/infectious disease sources and experts) and send/post their links or findings, to share facts and to counter disinformation.
  8. Thank essential workers (e.g., healthcare, grocery, restaurant, and delivery workers/drivers, your mail carrier and post office workers, cashiers, etc.), with verbal thanks, thank-you cards, tips or gift cards, or gifts (e.g., masks, tests, soap, hand sanitizer, food, seeds, tea, flowers, etc.). For example, I left a thank-you note, a bottle of hand sanitizer, and a box of tea in our mail box for our mail carrier.
  9. Think about and prepare your official Advance Health Care Directive (AKA Living Will), DNR (if applicable), Power of Attorney and Medical/Health Care Proxy/Surrogate documents, and your last will & testament, as well as burial/funeral preferences or arrangements. Make sure all of your official documents are made legal and official through witness signatures, and notarized when required, and give copies to your loved ones and your doctor (also post a copy on your fridge, and have someone bring a copy to the hospital if you go to the ER or are hospitalized). Organize other important papers and instructions for your next of kin, and let them know where to find them.
  10. Make sure you’re registered to vote at your current address. Fill out your state’s application to get an absentee/mail-in ballot ASAP (if you live in a state where you don’t currently need an “excuse” or if you have one of their valid excuses to vote by mail; more states will soon make absentee voting easier or even the default), or see if your state allows Early Voting (to avoid crowds and lines). Click here for links to your state’s Secretary of State site and other voting resources. Help young or first-time voters get registered (and make sure they know how to fill out the forms and ballots.)
  11. Plant some food (even if you don’t have any garden/yard space and it’s just a couple of pots on a window sill; start where you are; do what you can). If your area doesn’t have a nursery that sells organic plants and seeds, you can order organic seeds online. Or plant a fruit or nut tree, if you can. If you have extra seeds or a surplus harvest, share them with neighbors and friends.
  12. Build a Little Free Pantry/Library (or just put a “Free Stuff” Box) in front of your house or somewhere in your neighborhood, where people can leave or take non-perishable foods, toiletries, books, or other items. Or if there’s already a Little Free Pantry/Library in your neighborhood, you could leave items in it. You can also donate food to local food banks/drives, and donate needed items to homeless shelters.
  13. Buy stamps or other supplies from (or send packages through) the U.S. Postal Service via USPS.com, to help keep them afloat until adequate federal funding comes through. The economic/pandemic shutdown (and employees out sick) aren’t the only reason the USPS is in trouble; this article explains another reason: an absurd law that was passed in 2006 that “requires the Postal Service, which receives no taxpayer subsidies, to pre-fund its retirees’ health benefits up to the year 2056. This is a $5 billion per year cost; it is a requirement that no other entity, private or public, has to make. Without this obligation, the Post Office actually turns a profit.”

Doing these types of useful and helpful things can also help you feel better during this time of stress, worry, uncertainty, and upheaval, which is putting a strain on everyone’s physical, mental, and emotional health. You need to take good care of yourself to be able to take care of and support others. So also try to establish some self-care practices and healthy coping mechanisms to maintain some resilience and sanity. Here are a few suggestions of things you could try to do for a least a few minutes each day:

  • Go outside. Walk, or at least sit in the sun. When possible, go be in nature, and when that isn’t possible, at least go on a walk down your street or to a local park.
  • Stretch and breathe deeply. Or meditate.
  • Garden (e.g., plant things or pull weeds).
  • Make/eat a good meal. Try something new. (Eat nourishing and nutritious things that will give you strength and help keep your immune system strong.)
  • Spend time with animals, when possible.
  • Look for, recognize, create, and share beauty.
  • Watch something comedic, or read something funny.
  • Listen to some music. (You can dance if you want to!)
  • Read helpful advice from wise and calming people (e.g., Pema Chodron).
  • Seek out a therapist for online sessions.
  • Do productive stuff, like cleaning the house or organizing and purging stuff in your house (going through mail piles; organizing your desk, files, closets, drawers/cabinets, garage, shed, etc.). Recycle old papers. Give away items you don’t need or want.
  • Have a cup of tea.
  • And get lots of good, deep sleep. If you aren’t able to get enough sleep at night, take a nap if you’re able to.

Thank you to all of the helpers, of all stripes, everywhere. Let’s all help each other get through this. Be well.

 

Other useful tips, information, and resources:

 

Related posts:

 

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April 27, 2020
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