EDA News June 2022

Spring Campaign

EDA’s Spring fundraiser was held May 5 - 19. We’re grateful to everyone who contributed to the campaign, which raised $4400. Your donations will enable us to expand our marketing and outreach this year.

At the kickoff session of this fund drive, Managing Director James Quilligan made a presentation, Placing Our Trust in Earth. It stimulated a lot of conversation about ways of ensuring food production in a time of climate warming.

Here is a link to the presentation. Feel free to share it with friends and the public.

(All donations to EDA are private and not publicly reported or shared.)

Protect Our Aquifer

EDA is currently discussing a partnership agreement with the Memphis organization, Protect our Aquifer, looking at ways to support POA's work with EDA's research, advocacy and educational services.

POA was organized in 2017 as a non-profit community defender of the Memphis Sand Aquifer. They have made great strides in developing awareness and political support to ensure the health of both the aquifer and the citizens who draw their water from it.

POA is considering expanding its reach beyond the Greater Memphis area to include more of the aquifer region. This is where EDA can assist with evidence-based research and advocacy.

We have enjoyed getting to know the people at POA and are looking forward to next steps.

Membership Month

Each year in June, EDA moves into our peak membership renewal season. What makes this month more active?

(Hint: it’s not because the weather is a little warmer this time of year.)

At our Charter Convention in Philadelphia in June 2018, EDA started signing up members on a yearly basis, establishing a cycle for renewals. That’s the reason why many of EDA’s annual memberships are coming due at this time.

If you haven’t renewed your EDA membership yet, please visit the registration page on our website to renew.

And if you’re not already a EDA member, we hope you’ll consider joining us soon.

Management guru Peter Drucker once said, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." This applies to many things, including our natural commons.

In a world of growing population, diminishing non-renewable resources and climate warming, many people are seeking to make our natural commons more resilient through market-based solutions.

But this involves measuring the resilience of food, water and energy through the competitive price system. And that's the very thing that caused the problems to begin with, such as soil degradation through fertilizer, water loss through overpumping, and energy dependence on fossil fuels.

Are there empirical alternatives to the marketplace? How can we measure the natural commons in ways that actually protect or regenerate them without relying on economic growth and its side-effects?

Please join us for this exhilarating conference!

In addition to presentations from our teams, we plan to have several special guests this year, including commons expert David Bollier.

Once again, the conference will be held on Zoom, making it much more convenient and affordable than an in-person event.

Every person must accept the results of a free and fair election. It’s the American way. It’s the path of liberty and justice for all.

This is what makes our democracy sustainable.

But the present turmoil over election procedures in the United States is threatening to overturn our democratic system. When national elections are not transparent, inclusive and accountable, it’s a red flag that dictatorial forces are using the resources of government to undermine the election process.

Take action!

Now is the time to take a stand against electoral fraud and voter suppression. You can make a difference by writing a letter to the editor of your local or state newspaper. Tell them how strongly you feel and that voting procedures must be fair and equitable.

Our democratic system is supposed to ensure a fair count of every voter who is eligible to cast a ballot. Insist on social justice in our voting procedures. Your voice matters.

It’s taken millennia for civilization to develop participatory representative democracy. We must defend this precious way of life.

Let's do all we can to ensure that the process leading up to the elections of 2022 and 2024 is equitable and secure. Credible elections reflect the free expression of the will of the people — not the will of political parties or partisan kingmakers.

Social Media officer

Over the last few months, her work and personal schedule has become increasingly busy and she can no longer devote the time and energy to keep our social media presence going.

Thank you, Stephanie! We wish you well.

Stephanie’s journalism background and knowledge of social media was a welcome addition to our team. We will miss her expertise and knowledge of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and her creativity in getting EDA launched into the world of social media.

We're now looking for another person to take on this position. If you are interested, please contact Janice Bobbie.

We've been busy this past month responding to member queries. We're currently developing a Welcome to EDA presentation that we will post on the website soon. It's a short cogent explanation of EDA.

This will be the first in a series of brief presentations on different aspects of Economic Democracy Advocates. Visitors to the website can watch the presentations to get a better idea of who we are and what we do. These four-to-five-minute explanations will cover the core concepts that EDA builds upon, what our various sections do, and how members can become involved.

Suggestions welcome

State Legislation

EDA’s State Legislation team has completed the first stage of its work for 2022.

Our bill selectors have sifted through most of the legislation for food, water and energy that has been proposed in state legislatures for the year. Go to EDA’s Legislative Trackerto search for bills in your state.

We would like to thank State Legislation Chair Grant Grover and the members of our Food (Green), Water (Blue) and Energy (Gold) Teams. They worked hard to provide you and the public with a fresh look at the bills that have been proposed in 2022 for resource equitability and sustainability.

The legislative season has already ended in many statehouses. The next stage in our process will be to focus on states which are still in session and where bills are still pending.

This is our second year of ‘bill picking’ and there appears to be greater urgency now on issues relating to the social and ecological impact of the climate. We have seen many more bills that call for restoring the soil, sharing water and creating renewable energy on an affordable and equitable basis.

These are positive developments. The downside is that the majority of these bills are not being passed in our legislatures. This may indicate several things: shortfalls in funding, strong political opposition, or a lack of public awareness and support and sometimes all of them.

This is why EDA is working to establish advocacy groups in many of the places where these bills are being introduced.

Together, we can make a difference!