California Legislature Climate Watchdog Committee Has Little Bite
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-07
The California Legislature's Joint Committee on Climate Change Policies was formed in 2016 as a watchdog on state climate policy. But activists say that, so far, it has failed to live up to its potential.
therealnews.com/columns/california-legislature-climate-watchdog-committee-has-little-bite

Jobs, the environment, and a planet in crisis
Aviva Chomsky | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-07
When it comes to heat, extreme weather, wildfires, and melting glaciers, the planet is now in what the media increasingly refers to as "record" territory, as climate change's momentum outpaces predictions. In such a situation, in a country whose president and administration seem hell-bent on doing everything they conceivably can to make matters worse, the Green New Deal …
nationofchange.org/2019/08/07/jobs-the-environment-and-a-planet-in-crisis/

Climate Change Is a Key Issue for a Growing Number of Young Republicans
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-07
Republican strategists know the party will need to shift its climate platform to retain young voters, but federal Republican officials haven't caught up to the new trend, says The New York Times' Lisa Friedman…
therealnews.com/stories/climate-change-is-a-key-issue-for-a-growing-number-of-young-republicans

Where Would We Be Without the Green New Deal?
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-08-07
The proposal still has its detractors, but for the first time we are grappling with the urgency of the climate crisis on a policy level.
truthdig.com/articles/where-would-we-be-without-the-green-new-deal/

Climate Strike: Santa Rosa, Sonoma County
Sonoma County Sunrise Hub | indybay.org | 2019-08-07
Old Courthouse Square @ Medicino Ave & 4th and Santa Rosa Ave & 3rd, Santa Rosa 95401…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/08/06/18825249.php

Jobs, the Environment, and a Planet in Crisis
Aviva Chomsky | commondreams.org | 2019-08-06
Despite challenges from parts of both the labor and the environmental movements, which its sponsors had undoubtedly hoped would be among its strongest supporters, Markey and Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal resolution has gone a remarkably long way toward putting a genuine discussion of what an effective and just climate policy might look like in the public arena for the first time. (Photo: Emelia Gold) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/gnd-press-conf-sunrise_0.jpeg …
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/06/jobs-environment-and-planet-crisis?cd-origin=rss

Here is Exactly Why Congress Won't Act on Gun Violence, Climate Change, Impeaching Trump or Anything Else
Ted Rall | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-06
I'm from Dayton so I'm thinking about this today: Why hasn't Congress done anything to address our national epidemic of mass shootings, namely reviving the assault weapons ban? People–Democrats and not a few Republicans–ask me that all the time. I bet all left-leaning pundits get that question. The answer is simple. But it's not something most people want to…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/06/here-is-exactly-why-congress-wont-act-on-gun-violence-climate-change-impeaching-trump-or-anything-else/

Global Warming and U.S. National Security Diplomacy
Michael Hudson | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-06
Control of oil has long been a key aim of U.S. foreign policy. The Paris climate agreements and any other Green programs to reduce the pace of global warming are viewed as threatening the aim of dominating world energy markets by keeping economies dependent on oil under U.S. control. Also blocking U.S. willingness to help stem global warming is the oil industry's economic and hence political power. Its product is not only energy but also global warming, along with plastic pollution.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/06/global-warming-and-u-s-national-security-diplomacy/

Help African farmers cope with climate change threats, UN food agency urges
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-06
African farmers need help to cope with the threats of climate change, with national policies that protect them and make them resilient, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, has declared, following a major conference on food security in the continent.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1043761

Hiroshima and the New Arms Race—No Winners
Robert Dodge | commondreams.org | 2019-08-06
Nuclear war and climate change are the two existential threats we face today. (Photo: US Department of Defense) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/nuclearweapons.jpeg …
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/06/hiroshima-and-new-arms-race-no-winners?cd-origin=rss

Puerto Rico in Political Crisis: Senate Sues over Appointment of New Governor Pierluisi
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-06
The political crisis in Puerto Rico continues as its Senate has sued against the appointment of Pedro Pierluisi as the new governor following Ricardo Rosselló's resignation last week. Pierluisi was sworn in despite not having been confirmed by the Puerto Rican Senate. But he argues that he is in the line of succession for governor after being nominated as secretary of state by Rosselló last week. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz also sued after his swearing-in. We speak with Democracy Now! co-host Juan González for his analysis of the current political climate.
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/6/juan_gonzalez_puerto_rico_pedro_pierluisi

Pounding Heat Clobbers Greenland
Robert Hunziker | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-06
Greenland is one of the biggest targets for global warming, in part, because it's so big it's hard to miss. And sure enough, only recently crazy halting weather with inordinate hot temperature hit Greenland bull's-eye, dead-on with one helluva meltdown. That's bad news for pretty much everybody on the planet. On the hottest days, the …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/pounding-heat-clobbers-greenland/

Pounding Heat Clobbers Greenland
Robert Hunziker | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-06
Greenland is one of the biggest targets for global warming, in part, because it's so big it's hard to miss. And sure enough, only recently crazy halting weather with inordinate hot temperature hit Greenland bull's-eye, dead-on with one helluva meltdown. That's bad news for pretty much everybody on the planet. On the hottest days, the…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/06/pounding-heat-clobbers-greenland/

Why school climate strikers are demanding a just transition and job creation
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-06
The fight for climate justice is inherently about people: First Nations people, workers, young people, all of us. | We know the climate crisis is disproportionately impacting upon working-class people, which is why it is so vital that all of us work together to forge solutions to this huge challenge. | The economic transformation ahead of us will not be easy, but the costs of inaction are too great not to get going now. | As young people, we seek to work in solidarity with workers and unionists. Our fights are one and the same. | This is why we have updated our national school strike demands to incorporate explic…
greenleft.org.au/content/why-school-climate-strikers-are-demanding-just-transition-and-job-creation

Victorian teachers' union votes to support Climate Strike
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-05
The Australian Education Union's (AEU) Victorian branch has voted to support a student-initiated call for a Climate Strike on September 20. The internationally coordinated strike, which will be held just days before a United Nations Emergency Climate Summit, is seeking to pressure governments to take serious action to address the climate crisis. | The motion, which was passed unanimously at the union's August 2 state council meeting, calls on AEU officials to negotiate with the state government "to ensure students participating in the student strike planned for Sept 2019 and future actions are afforded thei…
greenleft.org.au/content/victorian-teachers-union-votes-support-climate-strike

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Chief of Staff and Communications Director Will Depart Her Office
Akela Lacy | theintercept.com | 2019-08-02
Two of Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez's top staffers are leaving her office. | Saikat Chakrabarti, her chief of staff, and Corbin Trent, her director of communications — who, through their work with Justice Democrats, have been alongside Ocasio-Cortez since her primary run — will leave the lawmaker's office. Chakrabarti will go to New Consensus, a nonprofit focused on climate issues and promoting the Green New Deal. Trent will direct communications on Ocasio-Cortez's 2020 campaign, the same role he played during her first congressional run. | "Saikat has decided to leave the office of Rep. Ocasio-Corte…
theintercept.com/2019/08/02/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-saikat-chakrabarti-corbin-trent/

Can Cap and Invest Programs Bring Environmental Justice? (1/2)
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-02
12 states and Washington, DC are teaming up on the Transportation & Climate Initiative, but critics from Newark and Baltimore say the program excludes frontline voices and depends too much on market forces…
therealnews.com/stories/can-cap-and-invest-programs-bring-environmental-justice-1-2

Climate System "Getting Unhinged" as Massive Heat Wave Causes Record Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-02
The massive heat dome that shattered all-time temperature records across much of Europe last week has settled in over Greenland, driving temperatures across the vast region to as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. In July, Greenland's ice sheet lost 197 billion tons of ice, the equivalent of around 80 million Olympic swimming pools. This comes as the World Meteorological Organization said Thursday that July was the warmest month in recorded human history. It followed the hottest June on record, as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels climbed to a record high of 415 parts per million earlier this year. We sp…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/2/greenland_melting_climate_crisis_jason_box

Friday's Daily Brief: Security Council Ebola response, UNICEF chief on 'devastating week' for children in Middle East and North Africa, climate and migration links
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-02
Our main stories today: Security Council concern over DRC Ebola outbreak, head of UNICEF deplores 'devastating week' for children in MENA region, climate crisis to have 'extensive' effect on human settlement…
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1043661

Can Cap and Invest Programs Bring Environmental Justice? (2/2)
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-02
Critics of the Transportation & Climate Initiative say real transportation justice must include a plan for mass transit, and respect leadership from environmental justice communities…
therealnews.com/stories/can-cap-and-invest-programs-bring-environmental-justice-2-2

2nd Dem Debate Pt 2: Discusses the Climate Crisis, Tackles Endless War and Regime Change (3/4)
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-02
The deep divide between candidates is clear as they clash over issues appearing for the first time in presidential debates. With Jacqueline Luqman, Dharna Noor, and Marc Steiner as host…
therealnews.com/stories/2nd-dem-debate-pt-2-discusses-the-climate-crisis-tackles-endless-war-and-regime-change-3-4

Help build the movement for system change — become a Green Left supporter
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-02
It's understandable to feel enraged watching the news about our climate: record-breaking summer temperatures across Europe, the disappearing Arctic ice sheet, deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. | It's depressing stuff. | I am enraged on a daily basis listening to the business-as-usual, head-in-the-sand responses to climate change from pro-capitalist governments and mining company spin doctors. | Or hearing that US President Donald Trump has allowed the use of bee-killing pesticides and that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has green-lighted illegal land clearing in the Amazon. | Or reading that the Australi…
greenleft.org.au/content/help-build-movement-system-change-become-green-left-supporter

10 reasons to join the September 20 Climate Strike
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-02
School Strike 4 Climate outline just 10 of many reasons why you should join students when they go on strike to save the climate on September 20. | 1. Millions of people will be striking around the world with us. Beat the fear of missing out and make a plan to be there. | 2. Australia's climate pollution has never been higher than it is right now. We're on track to be responsible for almost one-fifth of the world's climate pollution by 2030. | 3. The people who did the least to contribute to this are being hit first and worst by climate impacts. And that is deeply unfair. | 4. This is only the biggest challenge hu…
greenleft.org.au/content/10-reasons-join-september-20-climate-strike-0

What kind of rebellion will it take to save humanity from extinction?
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-02
We live in a dystopian age. Governments have known since at least the mid-'90s about the potentially devastating impact of human-induced climate change. But for the most part they have either disputed and denied this, or pretended to be responding to scientists' findings. | Despite overwhelming evidence that the world has already passed certain tipping points, setting off large and unpredictable changes in the climate, why are governments still refusing to act on the scale and pace required? | Why are some still denying that there is a climate emergency? | Why, despite the sorts of technological advances that m…
greenleft.org.au/content/what-kind-rebellion-will-it-take-save-humanity-extinction

Thursday's Daily Brief: Climate emergency, call to support breastfeeding, rising political heat and new investigation board for Syria
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-01
Today, our main stories include: UN chief's warning on climate and global politics; UNICEF's call to bolster breastfeeding and new Board of Inquiry in Syria…
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1043631

A dangerously hot climate, simmering political tensions: 'This is not the summer of our youth,' UN chief warns
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-01
Global warming and rising political tensions are dangerous and avoidable, Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters on Thursday, previewing the UN's upcoming Climate Action Summit, and spotlighting geopolitical hotspots.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1043591

Candidates, Your Views on the Middle East? You Have 30 Seconds
Alex Emmons | theintercept.com | 2019-08-01
If you blinked, you might have missed it. | Across the five hours of Democratic primary debates split between two nights this week, the presidential hopefuls discussed the future of U.S. foreign policy for no more than 25 minutes. | Other policy areas had it worse. There were no questions either night on Puerto Rico, for example, or LGBT issues, or reproductive rights. But the scant attention to foreign policy was striking precisely because it's the area in which a president has the most power to change things on their own. If the next president wants to rejoin the Paris climate agreement or renegotiate the Iran…
theintercept.com/2019/08/01/candidates-your-views-on-the-middle-east-you-have-30-seconds/

Wednesday's Daily Brief: World Breastfeeding Week kickoff, Second Ebola death on DR Congo's eastern border,‚ÄØUN chief lauds climate activist Thunberg, Afghan bus attack, and outgoing UN agriculture chief hands over reigns
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-31
Our main stories today cover: ‚ÄØWorld Breastfeeding Week kickoff, Ebola on DR Congo side of Rwandan border, 15-year-old Greta Thunberg to said to UN climate summit, UN chief condemns deadly Afghan bus attack and UN agriculture agency chief marks last day.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1043561

Climate change is class war
Jodi Dean | liberationnews.org | 2019-07-31
Our challenge is to build the collective power that can force the changes the capitalist system refuses to make.
liberationnews.org/climate-change-is-class-war/

Migration and the climate crisis: the UN's search for solutions
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-31
Throughout human history, migration and climate have always been connected, but in the modern era, the impacts of the man-made climate crisis are likely to extensively change the patterns of human settlement.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1043551

FROM THE FIELD: Turning waste into a business in the slums of Yaoundé, Cameroon
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-31
The increasing volume and complexity of waste associated with modern economies is posing a serious risk to ecosystems and human health. Every year, an estimated 11.2 billion tons of solid waste are collected worldwide, according to the UN Environment Programme.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1043541

Media Downplay Climate Disruption's Ever-Growing Role in Driving Migration
Joshua Cho | fair.org | 2019-07-30
Washington Post ( 4/16/19) | Journalists routinely dehumanize human beings crossing the southern border by comparing them to natural disasters like a " flood" or " deluge." But while migration has always been a natural…
fair.org/home/media-downplay-climate-disruptions-ever-growing-role-in-driving-migration/