A Last Ditch Strategy to Fight for Human Survival
Robert J. Burrowes | counterpunch.org | 2018-08-16
There is almost unanimous agreement among climate scientists and organizations — that is, 97% of over 10,000 climate scientists and the various scientific organizations engaged in climate science research — that human beings have caused a dramatic increase in the amount of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide released into Earth's atmosphere since the pre-industrial…
counterpunch.org/2018/08/16/a-last-ditch-strategy-to-fight-for-human-survival/
Soil Microbes Speed up Global Warming
Staff | truthdig.com | 2018-08-16
They're microscopic, but soil microbes play a massive role in the climate machinery. New research suggests they may be warming the world more than ever. | The post Soil Microbes Speed up Global Warming appeared first on Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists.
truthdig.com/articles/soil-microbes-speed-up-global-warming/
A Rip Van Winkle President Sleeps as Proof of Man's Hand in Climate Change Multiplies and Disasters Strike
Arshad Khan | counterpunch.org | 2018-08-15
To be rational is to know that weather events cannot be causally related to climate change, although exacerbation is another issue. Yet when the news is full of record setting fires in California and Greece and Australia, temperature records tumbling, and typhoons and hurricanes relentless in their intensity, one might be forgiven for wondering. Those…
counterpunch.org/2018/08/15/a-rip-van-winkle-president-sleeps-as-proof-of-mans-hand-in-climate-change-multiplies-and-disasters-strike/
The NSA's Role in a Climate-Changed World: Spying on Nonprofits, Fishing Boats, and the North Pole
Alleen Brown | theintercept.com | 2018-08-15
In the northernmost place in the United States, Point Barrow, Alaska, a National Security Agency collection site has allowed analysts to observe Russia's military buildup 24/7, as melting Arctic ice opens a new conflict zone. The NSA has also monitored a dispute between India and Pakistan over access to the Indus River system, which is fed by glaciers high in the Himalayas, now shrinking. And as fisheries are facing increasing pressure from seas whose currents and temperatures have already been altered significantly by climate change, the NSA has listened in on phone conversations and monitored the movement of fishing boats engaged in potentially illegal practices that threaten dwindling stocks. | Previously unreleased documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show how the agency has gathered intelligence meant to support U.S. interests related to environmental disasters, conflicts, and resources. In…
theintercept.com/2018/08/15/nsa-snowden-documents-climate-change/
As America Burns From Climate Change, Trump Officials Attend Denial Conference to Discuss Why Climate Change Is Fake
Andy Rowell | globalresearch.ca | 2018-08-15
The disconnect could not be greater. As wild-fires raged across the US last week, inflamed by climate change, Trump officials attended the America First Energy Conference, where delegates heard age-old fossil …
globalresearch.ca/as-america-burns-from-climate-change-trump-officials-attend-denial-conference-to-discuss-why-climate-change-is-fake/5650596
Humans now the greatest threat to Earth — so why don't we hear about it?
Shane Quinn | peoplesworld.org | 2018-08-15
The rate of global species extinction is today roughly what it was 66 million years ago, after an asteroid six to nine miles across careened into south-eastern Mexico, quickly wiping out the dinosaurs and much else. The force of the asteroid, which struck the planet at the end of the Cretaceous period, was over…
peoplesworld.org/article/humans-now-the-greatest-threat-to-earth-so-why-dont-we-hear-about-it/
'BlacKkKlansman': Showcasing white women's role in white supremacy
Chauncey K. Robinson | peoplesworld.org | 2018-08-15
Warning: Minor movie spoilers ahead | "We knew that this film was going to have to connect, we did not want it to be a period piece…[given] this crazy guy in the White House." | Those were the words of director Spike Lee on his most recent movie, BlacKkKlansman. It's a film inspired by the true story of a Black police officer who takes the lead on an assignment to infiltrate the United States domestic terrorist organization that is the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1970s. Movie goers shouldn't be fooled by the time setting of the film, because the themes in the movie, as Lee points out, are relevant to today now more than ever. It is a film that touches on issues such as racism, police corruption, and the power of rebranding hate campaigns to mask bigotry as mainstream…
peoplesworld.org/article/blackkklansman-showcasing-white-womens-role-in-white-supremacy/
AP Investigation: Behind the Scenes in Yemen, U.S.-Backed Saudi Coalition Is Working with al-Qaeda
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-14
The U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has repeatedly cut secret deals with al-Qaeda, even paying its fighters to retreat from towns or join the coalition, a bombshell Associated Press investigation has revealed. The AP probe accuses the United States of being aligned with al-Qaeda in the fight against Yemen's Houthi rebels, despite claiming to be fighting the extremist group in the region. One senior tribal leader told the AP, "Al-Qaeda wasn't defeated. It didn't fight in the first place." We speak with Maggie Michael, one of the three reporters for the Associated Press who broke the story, headlined "U.S.
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/14/ap_investigation_behind_the_scenes_in
Climate Change Bites Big Business
Manuel García, Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2018-08-14
"Electoral politics is not the solution to the Earth-threatening problems we face." — Jeffrey St. Clair, 10 August 2018, Counter Punch There is now no non-violent way to reverse climate change. Even with morally unrestrained action, it is probable that there is now no physical possibility of reversing climate change. The time for action was…
counterpunch.org/2018/08/14/climate-change-bites-big-business/
What the 'Sensible Middle' Doesn't Get About Education
Peter Greene | progressive.org | 2018-08-14
There is no middle between facts and the story that the earth is flat.
progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/what-the-sensible-middle-doesnt-get-about-education-180814/
"Hothouse Earth" Co-Author: The Problem Is Neoliberal Economics
Kate Aronoff | theintercept.com | 2018-08-14
"Throw people in jail, fine them, do whatever you need to do. But make sure you get the biophysical outcome. From what I've seen, market mechanisms don't always deliver that." | The post "Hothouse Earth" Co-Author: The Problem Is Neoliberal Economics appeared first on The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2018/08/14/hothouse-earth-climate-change-neoliberal-economics/
The Iraq Protests and Implications for "Political Stability"
Nagapushpa Devendra | globalresearch.ca | 2018-08-14
Earlier this month, bringing in foreign workers by some oil companies in Iraq was seen by the local labour as a grave threat to their livelihood. Despite the high unemployment rates …
globalresearch.ca/the-iraq-protests-and-implications-for-political-stability/5650559
Interior Sec. Zinke Blames "Radical Environmentalists," Not Climate Change, as 100+ Wildfires Rage
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-13
As more than 100 fires rage in the western United States, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wrote an op-ed last week in USA Today about forest management on public lands that blamed "radical environmentalists" for the fires. "Most Americans get it, that climate change is no longer something we can just wish away with this administration," responds Joel Clement, who served as director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the U.S. Interior Department until July of 2017 and worked at the Interior Department for seven years. We also speak with Ben Lefebvre, an energy reporter for Politico who has done a series of stories…
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/13/interior_sec_zinke_blames_radical_environmentalists_not
Meet the Two Protesters Who Confronted Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke over Corruption & Climate Change
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-13
We go to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to speak with Sallie Holmes and Jesse Brucato, who interrupted a speech by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday. Zinke has faced 14 federal misconduct investigations since joining President Trump's cabinet. The protesters asked Zinke about his alleged ethical lapses and questioned why he refuses to acknowledge the role of climate change in the wildfires raging across the western United States. We are also joined by Politico reporter Ben Lefebvre, who broke the stories linking Zinke to a real estate deal with energy giant Halliburton's chairperson David Lesar.
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/13/meet_the_two_protesters_who_confronted
California: Waging War on Wildfire
John Davis | counterpunch.org | 2018-08-13
It was the replacement of a mosaic of Indian lifeways and their managed wildlands with the uniformly materialist, rapacious and ecologically ignorant American monoculture with its factory farming, forestry practices, irrigation, industrialization and urban sprawl along with steel and concrete transport corridors that have created the conditions (yes, exacerbated by global warming) for the California conflagrations.
counterpunch.org/2018/08/13/california-waging-war-on-wildfire/
Rashida Tlaib Is Running for Congress on a Mission to Expand Civil-Rights Protections
John Nichols | thenation.com | 2018-08-09
Rashida Tlaib Is Running for Congress on a Mission to Expand Civil-Rights Protections appeared first on The Nation.
thenation.com/article/rashida-tlaib-running-congress-mission-expand-civil-rights-protections/
Experts: If We Don't Stop Climate Change, CA Fires "Will Seem Mild in Comparison to What's Coming"
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-09
The Mendocino Complex fire in Northern California is now the largest wildfire ever recorded in California's history. It started burning in July–the state's hottest month on record. Of the 20 largest wildfires in California history, 15 have occurred since 2000. This year's fires have already burned nearly three times as many acres as the same time last year. Experts say climate change has increased the length of fire season. In Oakland, California, we speak with Michael Brune, the director of the Sierra Club. We also speak with Michael Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State Univer…
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/9/experts_if_we_don_t_stop
"Earth Will Be Annihilated": On 73rd Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing, a Warning Against Nuclear War
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-06
Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the United States' atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, which killed 140,000 people and seriously injured another 100,000. In remembrance, we turn to the words of a Hiroshima survivor, or hibakusha. Koji Hosokawa was 17 years old when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. His 13-year-old sister Yoko died in the bombing. He gave us a tour of the city when Democracy Now! was in Japan in 2014. He spoke to us near the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, one of the few structures in the city that survived the atomic blast.
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/6/earth_will_be_annihilated_on_73rd
Venezuela's President Maduro Survives Assassination Attack On Live TV
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-08-05
Six arrests have already been made in the dramatic foiled terrorist attack.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13976
Fighting for a Way of Life in the Arctic
Debbie S. Miller | progressive.org | 2018-08-04
The coastal plain, opened for oil drilling by the Trump Administration, is the birthplace and nursery for the Porcupine caribou herd, and land that the Gwich'in call, "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins."
progressive.org/dispatches/fighting-for-a-way-of-life-in-the-arctic-180804/
Body of Olivia Lone Bear Found in N. Dakota as Native Women Face Crisis of Murders, Disappearances
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-08-03
After an agonizing 9-month search, the body of Olivia Lone Bear was found Tuesday in a pickup truck submerged in a lake right by her house on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The mother of five went missing in late October in New Town, North Dakota. Her disappearance has sparked renewed attention to the disproportionately high rates of disappearance, rape and murder of Native American women across the United States. These already-alarming rates are particularly high in areas of oil extraction, like North Dakota's Bakken Shale, which is the origin point for the Dakota Access pipeline. We speak with Olivia Lone Bear'…
www.democracynow.org/2018/8/3/body_of_olivia_lone_bear_found
Venezuela: Maduro Announces Economic Reforms Including Monetary Reconversion, Tax Breaks & Currency Control Changes
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-26
The measures also transfer an entire oilfield from PDVSA to the Central Bank.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13967
Glimmers of Economic Recovery amid Mixed Reports about Venezuelan Oil Production
Cira Pascual Marquina | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-20
Lower levels of oil production have been reportedly offset by rising prices and reduced domestic consumption.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13958
Trump Admin Closes Venezuela Sanctions Loophole in Favour of US Bondholders
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-20
The measure opens the way for seizures of Venezuela's US-based oil assets should the Maduro government default on PDVSA bond payments.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13955
Venezuela's Defunct National Assembly Attempts to Privatise Oil Industry
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2018-07-12
Grassroots movements have frequently denounced de facto back-door privatisation in PDVSA.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/13935