We are all Norma Rae: The first of May marked May Day, the international day of worker solidarity. Demonstrations took place across the U.S. with a big focus on immigrant rights, coming right after the People's Climate March. It wasn't all just protest songs, things turned dangerous in Paris, with protesters flinging bombs at law enforcement. In Jakarta, demonstrators burned signs in protest, and in Istanbul police shot marchers with rubber bullets.Collective fail: The Horn of Africa, which includes Ethiopia and Somalia, is most one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change despite having a practically non-existent carbon footprint. Ethiopia is in the middle of a severe drought that is due to climate change, and 7.7 million people are in need of emergency food aid. Want to be a part of the solution? Here's how you can help.Extreme weather is killing people: At least 14 people died after intense storms ravaged the American South. While it was pushing 90 degrees in DC in April, it was literally snowing in Kansas and a toddler was killed in Tennessee by a goal post blown over by high winds. Extreme weather from climate change is becoming the new normal and that's not ok.Coloring outside the lines: The arts are tragically under-appreciated across the country, as policymakers just aren't able to connect the dots. The latest offense comes from leaders in the Florida House and Senate who want to cut $650,000 in state grant funding to New World School of the Arts. The school boasts alumni, Tarell Alvin McCraney and Alex Lacamoire, who went on to help create the multi-Oscar-winning film "Moonlight," and the multi-Tony Award-winning musical "Hamilton," respectively. If Florida lawmakers get their way, the future will be a lot less colorful.Switch on: Solar energy is crushing the coal industry in jobs production. A report from the Dept. of Energy, published during the Obama administration in 2016, released this year shows that green energy is on the rise. Let's hope the current president's regressive policies towards coal and labor don't take us in back in the other direction.
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