This article and photo appeared as a Letter to the Editor in Syracuse.com on August 4th, 2021.

Bitcoin has come to the Finger Lakes, and the results are potentially disastrous. Globally, Bitcoin’s yearly energy usage is higher than the country of Colombia’s, a staggering fact given that Bitcoin’s main use is as a speculative investment tool. But the small-scale effects of this industry are no less drastic, and the appearance of mass Bitcoin mining in our state threaten our state’s energy goals, but also local ecosystems and human communities.

Most of us in Onondaga County know the damage that corporations can do in this regard, as demonstrated by Onondaga Lake. For hundreds of years, the lake was a central to the Onondaga Nation, as well as an important place for the entire Six Nations people, because it is where they founded their ancient democracy. After it was wrongfully taken from the Onondaga Nation, it remained a source of water, food, and recreation for the settler population until a parade of corporations (the Solvay Process Company and Allied Chemical, among others) poisoned the water and turned it into one of the most polluted lakes in the U.S. Swimming was banned in 1940, then fishing in 1970. A half-hearted attempt at cleaning it has been made, but far more work needs to be done before it can once again become a cultural touchstone for our county, and, more importantly, for the people of the Onondaga Nation. This century should be about making amends and healing, reparations and cleanup, not new messes.

Bitcoin is supposed to be online and in “the cloud.” So it shouldn’t have real world environmental impacts, right? Wrong! Bitcoins are actually “mined” using huge quantities of electricity going into computers that produce new Bitcoin by completing complicated mathematical processes. In practice, Greenidge Generation, a natural gas operation the shore of Seneca Lake, recently opened up a facility where 8,000 computers are used to mine Bitcoin powered by its natural gas — a dirty energy source that contributes to climate change and reduced air quality. To accomplish this, the facility draws in huge amounts of water from Keuka Outlet, a smaller body of water that flows into Seneca Lake, and then releases that water at much higher temperatures back into the outlet. Although the lake’s overall temperature is unaffected, this process heats the outlet significantly to such a degree that one local kayaker noted that “you feel like you’re in a hot tub.”

Dale Irwin, the capitalist CEO of the facility, has incredulously insisted that the plant boosts Upstate’s economy because it has “about 35 employees.” The insinuation is that 35 jobs will make a significant contribution to filling the gap created when a previous generation of capitalist ghouls moved their factories away from Upstate New York to places where the workers weren’t unionized. Just like the old factories that contaminated Onondaga Lake with their pollution, Greenidge will no doubt cut and run after it ruins Seneca Lake, but with one big difference: Greenidge employs a whole lot fewer workers!

Make no mistake, this conflict does not fit into the easy box of “the economy vs. the environment” with workers on one side and activists on the other. The increased temperature in Keuka Outlet puts it at risk of developing algal blooms, which threatens the drinkability of water in the entirety of Seneca Lake, just as it did recently in Lake George. City water departments throughout New York state are now on constant alert for these algal blooms that threaten our health. In fact, the state’s Department of Conservation just provided tentative approval for the Syracuse Department of Water to chemically treat Skaneateles in the event of just such a bloom.

But this environmental health matter is also about jobs. Seneca Lake Guardian’s Yvonne Taylor points out that Seneca Lake “is a drinking water resource for 100,000 people” and that “this is the heart of Finger Lakes wine country. We are now currently supporting 50,000 jobs ... All that is 100% dependent on our clean water and clean air.” This conflict is not the economy vs. the environment, it’s 50,000 jobs, our water supply, and our environment vs. 35 jobs and the soulless profits of Greenidge Generation.

This is an important moment when things can be fixed or continue to get worse: Greenidge’s air permit is up for re-evaluation in September for the first time since it began mining Bitcoin, so we have less than two months to rid the region of this dual environmental and economic threat. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for everyone in Central New York who cares about health, employment, and the environment. Many communities are mobilizing — in Syracuse, for example, Democratic Socialists of America is reaching out to environmental, labor and community organizations to address this urgent matter. Let’s leave capitalists that pump their waste into New York’s lakes in the last millennium.

-Mac Carden, Syracuse DSA EcoSocialist Committee

This summer the IPCC released another devastating report on the climate crisis driven by fossil fuel capital, as like most of the country, we saw the impacts of climate change right here in NYC with heat waves and record rain. Tonight we’ll talk with Ecosocialist comrades Brittany Allen and Gustavo Gordillo about how DSA is taking the climate fight to one of the most essential yet resource deprived institutions across the country - our schools- with the Green New Deal for Public Schools campaign.

To join the national campaign for a Green New Deal for Public Schools: https://greennewschools.com/join

To join NYC-DSA Ecoscialists:  https://ecosocialists.nyc/join-us/

Follow NYC-DSA EcoSocialist Working Group on  Twitter: @NYCDSA_Ecosoc

Follow NYC-DSA EcoSocialist Working Group on  Twitter: @NYCDSA_Ecosoc

Even with Cuomo out of office, our state still faces a housing crisis. This week, The Supreme Court has issued a temporary injunction against the  "Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act," also known as the New York State's Eviction moratorium. This immediately suspends the eviction protections for tenants included in that law. Up to 40 million Americans could face eviction due to the ending of the eviction moratorium. For some, it's fifteen months worth of back rent- and in more expensive cities like NYC or Portland where rents have skyrocketed after the 2008 mortgage crisis, that can mean up to $31,500 - due immediately.

As the Delta variant surges with 619,000 deaths in the last 30 days and hospitals filled to breaking point from Florida to Texas (including 90,000 hospitalized children in the last week alone), the pandemic is certainly not over. And with only 71% of adults vaccinated and children under 12 ineligible for a vaccine, it won’t be ending any time soon either.

Tonight, we hear from State Senator and NYC-DSA member Jabari Brisport about the plans from the DSA Socialists in Office in New York State's legislature to fight for housing as a human right - and the right for all of us to stay at home during COVID 19.

Here are resources via the Met Council on Housing on what to do if you are facing eviction:

DO NOT SELF-EVICT! DO NOT MOVE OUT! It is extremely important to remember that evictions proceedings are long and there are other anti-eviction laws in place.

How can you protect yourself now?

1)  Apply for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP): If you apply for this program, your landlord cannot move forward with your eviction. This is the strongest protection we have to keep people in their homes.

2) Sign up for the federal CDC moratorium: The federal government has extended its moratorium to October 1st. It is not as strong as the NY State Eviction Moratorium but if you sign the CDC declaration of hardship, it will provide you with a defense in court if your landlord tries to evict you

3) Join your building’s tenant union, or reach out to CASA, Crown Heights Tenant Union or Met Council on Housing for housing help, resources to start your own tenant union or you can also call 311 for available city resources.

We here at RPM stand in solidarity with tenants across the country. 

Senator Julia Salazar of NY-18 was elected in 2018 after winning an insurgent, grassroots campaign powered by NYC-DSA as well as many movement allies. Three years later, she’s serving her second term in Albany as the chair of the Women’s Issues Committee and the chair of the Crime Victims, Crime, and Corrections Committee.

On tonight’s show, we speak with Senator Salazar as well as her Organizing Director and fellow NYC-DSA member, Ramon Pebenito. Dismantling the carceral system requires all of us to exercise our power to slow, stop, or mitigate the harms of police and prisons, or to throw “sand in the gears” of the machine of bureaucratic state violence wherever we are. In this episode, we hear from Senator Salazar on her surprise visits to NY State correctional facilities and from Ramon on over-policing in New York’s district 18. 

You can find Senator Salazar on Twitter @SalazarSenate or visit her official website: 

https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/julia-salazar.

We may be across a “state” line from each other, but organizers in New York and New Jersey know what unites us is much more than what divides us. On tonight’s show, we’re joined live by our comrades from North New Jersey DSA to discuss their chapter’s organizing to abolish ICE and close immigrant detention facilities, conduct mutual aid and harm reduction work with their communities, and elect socialist and union leader Joel Brooks to City Council in Jersey City. 

To learn more about Joel Brooks’ campaign for City Council, visit https://www.joelbrooksforjerseycity.com/ or follow @VoteJoelBrooks.

You can reach out the North New Jersey Mutual Aid Working Group at: nnjmutualaidwg@gmail.com or contribute to their fundraiser for the Ramapough Lunaape Turtle Clan’s Munsee Three Sisters Medicine Farm in Newton, NJ: https://www.gofundme.com/f/RLsolidarity

Click here to learn more about the North New Jersey Immigrant Justice Working Group: https://linktr.ee/ImmigrationNNJ

To learn more about North New Jersey DSA, visit  https://north.dsanj.org/ or follow @NorthNJDSA.

In a recent Jacobin post, SyracusedDSA's Matt Huber argues that "we should seek to orient climate action around the everyday material realities of the working class — the vast majority of society." And that this "could build something the climate movement still lacks: a majoritarian political coalition with the power to confront fossil capital." Read the complete article at Jacobin.

“I'm gonna tell all you fascists, you may be surprised/ People all over this world are getting organized”

Legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote those words in 1944 and here in 2021 they ring truer than ever. The far-right is on the rise globally and socialists, communists, feminists, anarchists, and unionists are joining forces to fight back. Join Revolutions per Minute host Amy Wilson for an hour of antifascist story and song, featuring recordings from the DSA National Antifascist Working Group introductory call on July 11. We’ll hear from DSA members from Long Island, Chicago, Kansas City, Houston, and Portland on what they’ve done to build antifascist response in their community and the lessons they’ve learned. We also hear classic antifascist folk songs recorded specially for Revolutions per Minute. 

To learn more about the DSA National Antifascist Working Group, please visit https://www.dsausa.org/working-groups/anti-fascist-working-group/ or follow @DSAAntifascist on Twitter.

Special credits for this episode go to Rob G for audio production, SAREEN for audio composition, and Dan Wyman of Sing in Solidarity, NYC-DSA’s music working group, for musical performance. We send our thanks as well to comrades who participated in this episode who would prefer to stay anonymous, and all those organizing to oppose the rise of fascism where they are.

Coulee DSA cares about creating a connection amongst our members, where we can form bonds that uplift one another, and our greater community. And there is no better way to build connections than spending time with one another!

Come join Coulee DSA for a late afternoon potluck at Chad Erickson Park, Sunday July 25th at 4 PM! (Facebook event here) It’s been a long year, and we hope that relaxed time together outside and with a good meal will help us connect!

CDSA will be providing the main course (vegetarian options also available) and we’d love for members and friends to bring sides, sweet treats, and drinks to share, as they are able.

If you have questions about the event, or upcoming socials and service activities through Coulee DSA, e-mail couleedsa@gmail.com

The post Coulee DSA Potluck 7/25 first appeared on Coulee DSA.

On June 22, the name India Walton skyrocketed into the mainstream after the DSA-endorsed candidate won the democratic primary for the Mayor of Buffalo. Walton was endorsed by Buffalo DSA and National DSA, as well as the DSA slate in Albany. When elected in November she will be the first socialist Mayor of a large city since 1960, but she joins a number of socialist, like Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee, who are winning elections in the rust belt. Today we'll be joined by Steven Jackson from Buffalo DSA to talk about India Walton’s incredible victory and the rise of socialism in the rust belt.

Follow Buffalo DSA on Twitter at @BuffaloDSA  and on Instagram and Facebook

Visit www.IndiaWalton.com to support India's campaign

Join the Gas Bill Strike against National Grid's North Brooklyn Pipeline at www.nonbkpipeline.org/strike

In the words of civil rights giant Ella Baker, “Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.”

As the summer of 2021 continues to heat up, reactionaries and conservatives are escalating their assault on our struggle for multi-racial working-class liberation -- but socialists are continuing to fight back and rack up gains. On tonight’s show, we’ll speak to members of Suffolk County DSA about the recent election of DSA member Colin Palmer to the Riverhead Central District school board and how school boards are a crucial front for community control and democracy. We’ll also hear from the DSA’s new National Antifascist Working Group which is working to connect anti-fascists and anti-racists across the country.

RSVP for the AFWG introduction call on July 11 here: https://dsausa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uOOnljlAR0mn7UzUHlv83Q. Follow the working group on Twitter at @DSAAntifascist or subscribe to their mailing list: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/national-dsa-antifascist-working-group-mailing-list-registration

Follow along with Suffolk DSA’s efforts to organize for socialism in the suburbs on Twitter @SuffolkDSA or at suffolkdsa.org. Follow Colin Palmer, Riverhead Central School District board Trustee and the first democratic socialist elected in Suffolk County, at @CJTPalmerEsq.