How the Plastics Industry Is Fighting to Keep Polluting the World
Sharon Lerner | theintercept.com | 2019-07-20
The students at Westmeade Elementary School worked hard on their dragon. And it paid off. The plastic bag receptacle that the kids painted green and outfitted with triangular white teeth and a "feed me" sign won the students from the Nashville suburb first place in a recycling box decorating contest. The idea, as Westmeade's proud principal told a local TV news show, was to help the environment. But the real story behind the dragon — as with much of the escalating war over plastic waste — is more complic…
theintercept.com/2019/07/20/plastics-industry-plastic-recycling/

Fukushima: an ongoing disaster
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-07-20
n March–on the eighth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster–Time magazine published an article with the headline: "Want to Stop Climate Change? Then It's Time to Fall Back in Love with Nuclear Energy". | Source…
mronline.org/2019/07/20/fukushima-an-ongoing-disaster/

Climate Smart Farming and Gardening Workshop
Terra Cultura | indybay.org | 2019-07-20
The event will be held on site at Terra Cultura, a nonprofit eco-education farm in Aromas, CA. Our mission is to cultivate resilient communities empowered through education and collaboration in agrecology, sustainable living, and the arts.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/07/17/18824817.php

Some Candidates Have Climate Plans, But Are They Climate Justice Plans?
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-07-20
At Netroots Nation 2019, 350.org's Thanu Yakupitiyage says she's looking for every presidential candidate to release tangible climate plans, bring frontline communities into the room, and take on the fossil fuel industry and its money…
therealnews.com/stories/some-candidates-have-climate-plans-but-are-they-climate-justice-plans

Peace Strike for Climate & Amazon Rainforest in State Capital
Fridays For Future Sacramento | indybay.org | 2019-07-20
California State Capitol Museum, West Steps | 1315 10th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/07/19/18824857.php

Plastic waste from foreign nations dumped in East Java village
wsws.org | 2019-07-20
With China blocking imports of recyclable waste, developed countries have now resorted to illegally smuggling plastic into Indonesia and other parts of South East Asia.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/20/plas-j20.html

That funny smell: 4.5mn-gallon sewage spill shuts Washington beaches
rt.com | 2019-07-20
Power glitches at the two biggest sewage treatment plants in Washington state's King County have resulted in the uncontrollable discharge of millions of gallons of wastewater into the ocean, causing several beaches to close. | …
rt.com/usa/464610-sewage-spill-beaches-closed/

Publico reports Spanish intelligence facilitated 2017 Barcelona terror attack
wsws.org | 2019-07-20
The report is prima facie evidence of criminal behavior by the Spanish state, abetted by other NATO powers, to create the climate to build a fascistic police-state regime.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/20/spai-j20.html

Stranger Things, Stranger Times
Kenn Orphan | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-19
To say we live in extraordinarily strange times is perhaps the ultimate understatement. Strange times indeed, and terrifying as well. Rising global fascism, the continued threat of nuclear war, an imperiled biosphere and a climate that is rapidly heating up. In the US it is even more apparent. There are concentration camps on the southern…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/19/stranger-things-stranger-times/

Chevron's Oil Spill Endangers Kern County
Dan Bacher | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-19
MCKITTRICK, CA A massive oil spill even bigger than the Plains All American Pipeline disaster off Refugio Beach in Santa Barbara County in 2015 has occurred in Kern County, as first reported by Ted Goldberg at KQED. The latest disaster has spilled more than 798,000 gallons of combined oil and wastewater into the surrounding area…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/19/chevrons-oil-spill-endangers-kern-county/

Until Emissions Drop, Nothing Has Been Accomplished: The Climate Resistance Handbook Is Here
Greta Thunberg & Daniel Hunter | commondreams.org | 2019-07-19
"People always tell me and the other millions of school strikers that we should be proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished," writes Greta Thunberg in the introduction to the new Climate Resistance Handbook. "But the only thing that we need to look at is the emission curve." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/climate_resistance_handbook_cover.jpg …
commondreams.org/views/2019/07/19/until-emissions-drop-nothing-has-been-accomplished-climate-resistance-handbook-here?cd-origin=rss

As Trump Tears Up Our Treaties, Can Local Efforts Yield Diplomatic Fruit?
James Carden | thenation.com | 2019-07-19
As Trump Tears Up Our Treaties, Can Local Efforts Yield Diplomatic Fruit?
thenation.com/article/trump-iran-climate-change-treaties/

On Climate, 'Looking at the Structural Barriers to Progress Is Important' – CounterSpin interview with Zoà´ Carpenter on GOP's Oregon power grab
Janine Jackson | fair.org | 2019-07-19
Janine Jackson interviewed Zoà´ Carpenter about the GOP's Oregon power grab for the July 12, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
fair.org/home/on-climate-looking-at-the-structural-barriers-to-progress-is-important/

Did Obama's Trade Legacy Just Hammer the Green New Deal?
Ben Lilliston | commondreams.org | 2019-07-19
"We continue to hear very little about how we must reform trade rules to achieve our climate goals and a just transition for people," the author writes. (Photo: Stephen Melkisethian/flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/trade-climate-lilliston.jpg …
commondreams.org/views/2019/07/19/did-obamas-trade-legacy-just-hammer-green-new-deal?cd-origin=rss

Gaming the Climate
Joseph Natoli | counterpunch.org | 2019-07-19
The greater divisiveness of the various warring factions in Game of Thrones places our own national divisiveness on to small, less frightening screen only because our divisiveness does not include White Walkers and their Army of the Dead. The Thrones is a world of all against all far more confusing than our own U.S. war…
counterpunch.org/2019/07/19/gaming-the-climate/

New library of fossil fuel industry documents provide key ingredient against climate denial and inaction
Yogi Hale Hendlin and Naomi Oreskes | nationofchange.org | 2019-07-19
On every front, academics, journalists and policymakers compare the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry. The two industries share the same playbook: strategies of delay, exculpating blame by making the consumer responsible, denying scientific consensus, publishing industry-funded science and fostering public confusion over the real impacts of their products. A major difference between the …
nationofchange.org/2019/07/19/new-library-of-fossil-fuel-industry-documents-provide-key-ingredient-against-climate-denial-and-inaction/

Rainforest on fire
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-07-19
On the Front Lines of Bolsonaro's War on the Amazon, Brazil's Forest Communities Fight Against Climate Catastrophe | Source…
mronline.org/2019/07/19/rainforest-on-fire/

Tasmanian councils declare climate emergency
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-19
Kingborough Council voted to declare a statewide Climate Biodiversity Emergency on July 8, just three weeks after adjoining Hobart City Council became the first Australian capital city to do the same. | The motion, moved by councillor Amanda Midgley, also commits council to write to Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman and Prime Minister Scott Morrison to urge them to declare a climate emergency at the state and federal levels. | The public gallery at the Kingborough council meeting was packed and included members of the Red Brigade, an affiliate group of Extinction Rebellion (XR) Tasmania, who stood silently dressed i…
greenleft.org.au/content/tasmanian-councils-declare-climate-emergency

WATCH: Australian Singer Releases Music Video She Calls 'Homage to the Youth Climate Movement'
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-07-19
As the school climate strike movement continues in spite of summer vacation, Australian singer and songwriter Montaigne has released a new single and music video inspired by the youth who have taken to the streets around the world to demand that adults take bolder action to battle the global crisis. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/montaigne.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/07/19/watch-australian-singer-releases-music-video-she-calls-homage-youth-climate-movement?cd-origin=rss

United Nations report finds global hunger on the rise for third year in row
wsws.org | 2019-07-19
The rise in hunger and food insecurity around the world is inextricably linked to the rise of social inequality, the outbreak of new wars and the disastrous effects of climate change.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/19/worl-j19.html

With Petition to Congress, 100,000+ People Demand Green New Deal 'That Fixes Our Food System'
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-07-19
A coalition of environmental, farmworker, public health, and food safety advocacy groups on Thursday delivered to Congress a petition signed by more than 100,000 people which calls for a Green New Deal "that fixes our food system" to combat the climate crisis. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/farmers_0.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/07/19/petition-congress-100000-people-demand-green-new-deal-fixes-our-food-system?cd-origin=rss

Thousands protest in central China against proposed waste incinerator
wsws.org | 2019-07-19
The Wuhan protests are an expression of the growing social discontent throughout China, occurring at the same time as the mass demonstrations in Hong Kong.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/19/wuha-j19.html

An extraordinary Twitter exchange with Richard Tol
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-07-18
I had an extraordinary Twitter Exchange with Richard Tol over the last few days. I've written this post to preserve that exchange in case, at a future date, Tol decides to delete his tweets. They provide a superb window into the thinking that lies behind mainstream economic modelling of climate change, and why this has […] | Source…
mronline.org/2019/07/18/an-extraordinary-twitter-exchange-with-richard-tol/

Australia needs a 'Green Fair Go'
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
RMIT University professor Rob Watts believes Australia needs a "Green Fair Go" — akin to the United States proposal of a "Green New Deal" — that would include a commitment to full employment through jobs linked to combating climate change. To make this a reality would require "people power", he said. | Watts was speaking at a Fair Go For Pensioners conference on July 10, where he provided an overview of the neoliberal policies pursued by Labor and Coalition governments during the past four decades. | He spoke of the decline of the union movement, growing inequality, the abandonment of the goal of full…
greenleft.org.au/content/australia-needs-green-fair-go

Challenging capitalism is the ultimate climate mitigation strategy
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
The climate movement both at the international level and within specific countries is quite disparate, meriting a distinction between climate activists per se and climate justice activists. | Representatives of the former include organisations such as the Climate Action Network, Greenpeace, and Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, which emphasise the need for renewables, energy efficiency, and other techno-fixes and attempt to work within the parameters of global capitalism. | Others, such as Friends of the Earth, Climate Justice Action, and various socialist and anarchist groups, are attuned to the enormous social…
greenleft.org.au/content/challenging-capitalism-ultimate-climate-mitigation-strategy

Extinction Rebellion disrupts Brisbane
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-18
Extinction Rebellion activists disrupted numerous intersections in Brisbane's CBD on July 11. | climate justice Jacob AndrewarthaIssue 1229 Australia Extinction Rebellion BrisbanePhoto: J…
greenleft.org.au/content/extinction-rebellion-disrupts-brisbane

The Street-by-Street Battle Against Climate Change
Audrea Lim | thenation.com | 2019-07-17
The Street-by-Street Battle Against Climate Change…
thenation.com/article/climate-change-new-york-uprose/

Why A 20-Year Old Climate Activist is Suing the Federal Government
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-07-17
At Netroots Nation 2019, Vic Barrett, a young defendant in Juliana vs US, talks to Dharna Noor about why he's suing the federal government for its role in the climate crisis…
therealnews.com/stories/why-a-20-year-old-climate-activist-is-suing-the-federal-government

"Fossil Fuel Stooges" Pence & Trump Deny Climate Crisis as Deadly Rains Slam Louisiana & South Asia
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-07-15
Ongoing heavy rain has killed at least 67 people in Nepal, 25 in India and 14 in Bangladesh as flooding from monsoons has displaced 1 million people in South Asia. This year's flooding in the region has been worse than ever before and is likely fueled by rising global temperatures, which have led to more extreme weather. Scientists warn that the risk of deadly floods is not over. In the United States, New Orleans residents managed to avoid the worst of Tropical Storm Barry, but 11 million people continued to be on flash flood warning as the storm slowly made its way through Louisiana over the weekend. President T…
www.democracynow.org/2019/7/15/nepal_india_bangladesh_flooding_climate_crisis