After a long, challenging year, November 3rd, 2020 is election day. But, how do we use our votes most effectively when we get to the polls? In the new Embodied Astrology guest episode, I’m talking with Shilpa Joshi, a community organizer and advocate working specifically around climate justice and policy, about her work in politics, how the current administration has affected environmental policy and why this election is so important on a whole range of issues, plus some forward looking into the rest of this year’s astrology and what’s coming up in 2021.

My favorite quotes and takeaways from Shilpa:
! VOTING WILL NOT LEAD US TO LIBERATION!
! IF YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE, IT’S THE LEAST YOU CAN DO!
! YOUR VOTES FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT (IF NOT MORE) THAN YOUR VOTE FOR PRESIDENT!
! EVEN IF YOU CAN’T VOTE OR CHOOSE NOT TO, YOU CAN STILL BE ACTIVE IN YOUR CIVIC PARTICIPATION!

Beyond November 3, Shilpa hopes you help your community by doing two things:

Join a mutual aid network or an organization that fights for local change (like local chapters of Sunrise Movement or Movement for Black Lives or Universal Healthcare for All, as examples), and Fill out the census (2020census.gov). The census allows for our cities, counties, and states to ask for money for schools, transit, affordable housing, healthcare (and more things) from the federal government. Black, brown, and Indigenous communities are *routinely* undercounted, meaning they don’t receive funding they need and deserve for basic services. The census does not ask about your immigration status or other sensitive information and it only takes two minutes.

Shilpa Joshi (she/her) is the Coalition Director for Renew Oregon. For the last four years, she's organized a broad swath of progressive organizations, labor unions, and Tribes to advocate for comprehensive climate policy in Oregon. Before joining Renew, Shilpa led a statewide coalition to victory on a campaign to ban fracking in Maryland with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. She has worked on local and national environmental justice and climate issues as a youth organizer, field director, coalition manager, and lobbyist for 14 years. She also serves as the Board Chair for the National Queer Asian and Pacific Islander Alliance, the only federal queer Asian advocacy organization in the US. In Portland, she likes to make elaborate meals for friends and family, and organize mutual aid to help neighbors struggling with houselessness, wildfire smoke, Proud Boys, and the police. She earned her Bachelor's degree in International Environmental Policy from American University.

Follow Shilpa and learn more about community organizing, immigration, police brutality, the climate crisis, and queer/trans issues: https://linktr.ee/shilpajoshi

To learn more about key races in the senate this November:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-01/2020-senate-races-to-watch https://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-vs-amy-mcgrath-kentucky-senate-election-2020