2019-08-16: News Headlines

Eds. (2019-08-16). The Trump administration dismantles endangered species protections as sixth mass extinction crisis looms. mronline.org Today, the Trump administration released a final rule dismantling the role of science in informing protections for endangered and threatened wildlife. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the protections it has afforded to threatened and endangered species have been based on the best available science and commercial data. | Source

Staff (2019-08-16). Trump Endangers the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. therealnews.com The protection of threatened species will now be weighed against the economic benefit their extinction might mean. Meanwhile, states would no longer be able to review the impact of projects on water quality, in accordance with the decades-old the Clean Water Act…

RT (2019-08-16). Modern medicine declares war on loneliness with drugs & bots, threatening introverts with extinction. rt.com With pharmaceutical and even robotic "cures" in the works for loneliness – a condition once considered part of the normal human emotional range but now framed as a health risk – we risk losing the ability to be alone at all.

CounterSpin (2019-08-16). Ernest Coverson on Guns & Human Rights, Carey Gillam Under Attack From Monsanto. fair.org Media…

Rep. Mike Thompson (2019-08-16). Climate Change Town Hall in Rhonert Park, Sonoma Co. indybay.org Sonoma State University, 1801 E Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park 94928…

Staff (2019-08-16). Headlines for August 16, 2019. democracynow.org Israel Bars Reps. Omar & Tlaib from Official Trip to West Bank Due to Their Support for BDS, 11 Die in Kashmir as Pakistani & Indian Troops Exchange Fire, U.S. Puts Pressure on Crew of Iranian Oil Tanker Seized in July, North Korea Test-Fires Two Missiles as It Rejects New Talks with S. Korea, NOAA: July Was Officially the Hottest Month on Record, Australia Accused of Watering Down Pacific Island Climate Agreement, Study: Surge in Methane Gas Emissions Is Linked to Fracking Boom, 270 Die, 1 Million Displaced in India from Heavy Monsoon Rains, Federal Court: Trump Admin Can't Deny Soap & Toothpaste to Migrant Chil…

Tracy Keeling (2019-08-16). Like Arron Banks, a Tory radio show host is now having 'fun' mocking and taunting a teenager. thecanary.co Arch-Brexiteer Arron Banks caused an uproar on 14 August for 'joking' about climate activist Greta Thunberg getting in a "freak yachting accident". Clearly though, Britain's right wing didn't think that was enough offensive trolling for the 16-year-old in one day. Tory radio host Julia Hartley-Brewer stuck it to Thunberg too. | What is it in these knuckleheads that makes them think it's 'fun' to mock this teenager?

The Canary (2019-08-15). Arron Banks slammed for 'joking' about Greta Thunberg getting in a 'freak yachting accident'. thecanary.co Insurance tycoon Arron Banks has come under fire for a tweet about 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg.The Leave.EU founder responded to a post by Green party MP Caroline Lucas about Greta's voyage across the Atlantic on a racing yacht, writing: "Freak yachting accidents do happen in August …"He later tweeted that it was a "joke" after his comment sparked outrage from social media users.Arron Banks said his tweet was a "joke" (PA)Among those to criticise his post was actress Amanda Abbington, who tweeted: "You're wishing a potentially fatal accident onto a sixteen year old girl, why..?"She had ea…

Staff (2019-08-15). Protesters Crash ALEC Conference to Resist Bill Criminalizing Pipeline Activists. truthout.org | | Four protesters with the Austin chapter of Extinction Rebellion were briefly detained and released Thursday after three activists disrupted a private lunch session inside the JW Marriott hotel in downtown Austin, where the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is holding its annual conference this week. Two other activists disrupted the event on the hotel's fourth and second floors. | Inside a private ballroom, the activists chanted and dropped a banner reading "People & Pla…

Tara Lohan (2019-08-15). Report: 'No Evidence that Fracking Can Operate without Threatening Public Health'. globalresearch.ca In 2010 when I first started writing about hydraulic fracturing — the process of blasting a cocktail of water and chemicals into shale to release trapped hydrocarbons — there were more questions than answers about environmental and public-health threats. That …

Staff (2019-08-15). Fracking and Shale Drilling Caused Spike in Climate-Warming Methane Pollution. truthout.org | | Climate-changing pollution reached unprecedented levels in 2018. That's both judged against the last 60 years of modern measurements and against 800,000 years of data culled from ice cores, according to the U.S. government's State of the Climate report, which was published this week with the American Meteorological Societ…

Michael T. Hertz (2019-08-15). The youth of the world call on us to act against climate change. nationofchange.org Since Greta Thunberg began her Friday strikes in front of the Swedish parliament, calling for action against climate change, she has been joined by millions of young people around the world. They call on adults to rise to the challenge of climate change that threatens the future of all. Starting on Friday September 20 there …

Julia Conley, staff writer (2019-08-15). Global Temps Continue to Soar Upward as NOAA Confirms July 2019 Was Hottest Month Since Records Began in 1880. commondreams.org With climate scientists observing hotter and hotter temperatures, a top U.S. weather agency reported on Thursday that July 2019 was the hottest month the planet has ever experienced since the government began recording global temperatures. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-6310920221.jpg

Eds. (2019-08-14). Why Marx matters: capitalism and the Metabolic Rift. mronline.org CO2 was identified as a prime driver of global warming in the 1950s and has been the subject of many international meetings over the past 30 years. Despite increasing calls to reduce carbon emissions, they continue to rise faster and faster. | Source

Janine Jackson (2019-08-14). 'People Are Demanding Accountability for the Fossil Fuel Industry' – CounterSpin interview with Sriram Madhusoodanan about climate justice. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed Sriram Madhusoodanan about climate justice for the August 2, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…

The Canary (2019-08-14). Restricting climate strikes to one day a year 'not acceptable', say pupils. thecanary.co Pupils have hit out at proposals to limit climate change protests to just one day a year.Thousands of children descended on the Scottish Parliament building in March and May as part of a wider movement in which action was planned in more than 100 towns and cities across the UK.Edinburgh City Council's education committee is to discuss the issue on Friday, with more action planned by the Scottish Youth Climate Strike (SYCS) group on September 20 and 27 as part of more global action. | Despite the local authority being one of the first to allow pupils to miss school with parental permission so they could protest, p…

susan_p (2019-08-14). Australia 'tips petrol on the fire' at Pacific Islands Forum. greenleft.org.au Climate change Pip HinmanIssue 1233 Tuvalu 2019 Pacific Islands ForumAustralia's bullying behaviour was in full view again at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Tuvalu, as it ignored pleas to take climate change seriously. It played a dirty role in obstructing…

Staff (2019-08-13). Bayer/Monsanto Silencing Journalists, Activists, and Scientists. therealnews.com Investigative reporter Carey Gillam talks about Bayer/Monsanto's efforts to discredit her work and deflect criticism about cancer-causing glyphosate, a major ingredient in Roundup pesticide…

John Nichols (2019-08-13). The Once Common Republican Environmentalist Is Virtually Extinct. thenation.com The Once Common Republican Environmentalist Is Virtually Extinct…

stuart_m (2019-08-13). Sydney choir take musical stand for ecology. greenleft.org.au music ecology environment Climate change Susan PriceIssue 1233 AustraliaGreen Footprints
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Robert J. Burrowes (2019-08-12). Our Vanishing World: Rainforests. dissidentvoice.org Rainforests are a crucial feature of Earth's biosphere. Apart from being critical to Earth's climate and vital carbon sinks, the major player in Earth's hydrological (water) cycle, a massive producer of oxygen and home to most of the world's species, rainforests are the home of a large Indigenous human population. They are also the source …

Ryan Driskell Tate (2019-08-12). How Climate Activists Can Benefit from Solidarity with Kentucky Coal Miners. progressive.org As fossil-fuel workers lose their jobs today, the urgency of what climate activists call the "just transition" becomes all the more apparent.

United Nations (2019-08-11). FROM THE FIELD: 'Eco-warriors' fight climate change in South Africa. un.org Schools in South Africa have been designating students as "eco-warriors" as part of an initiative supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), to drive environmental and climate change awareness amongst the young and old in their communities.

Staff (2019-08-09). Documents Reveal Monsanto Surveilled Journalists, Activists & Even Musician Neil Young. democracynow.org Explosive new documents reveal the U.S. agribusiness giant Monsanto ran a "fusion center" to surveil and discredit journalists and activists who criticized or wrote damning reports about Monsanto, as well as legendary singer-songwriter Neil Young, who released an album in 2015 called "The Monsanto Years." Monsanto monitored Young's Twitter activity and even analyzed the lyrics of his album. The fusion center also surveilled journalist Carey Gillam, who has done extensive research and writing about Monsanto and its popular pesticide Roundup, which has been linked to cancer. The corporation also targeted the nonpro…

Staff (2019-08-09). Supersizing Climate Change: U.N. Says Meat Production Destroys Land & Diminishes Key Water Sources. democracynow.org The United Nations' top panel of climate scientists warns that humans are consuming land and water resources at an unprecedented rate, with the destructive effects of the climate crisis increasingly threatening the planet's biodiversity and the food security of hundreds of millions of people. In its latest climate change and land special report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that without dramatic action, extreme weather and rising temperatures will turn even more fertile land into desert, shrinking the global food supply, even as the world's population rises to more than 7.5 billion people.

United Nations (2019-08-08). Thursday's Daily Brief: Climate crisis and food risks, fresh violence threat for millions of Syrians, calls for calm in Kashmir. un.org Thursday's top stories: food security risk from climate crisis, fresh violence threat for millions of Syrians, UN chief urges "maximum restraint" in Jammu and Kashmir, calls for investigations into "brutal abduction" of Libyan politician.

Staff (2019-08-08). Headlines for August 8, 2019. democracynow.org U.N. Scientists Warn Rapid Global Warming Threatens Food Supply, 680 Mississippi Poultry Workers Arrested in Massive Immigration Raid, ICE Raids Targeted Company Whose Workers Won Discrimination Lawsuit, Trump Visits Dayton and El Paso, Sites of Weekend Mass Shootings, El Paso Protesters Link Trump's Racist Rhetoric to Gunman's Manifesto, Trump Supporter with Loaded Pistol, Knife Arrested Outside El Paso Immigrant Center, Trump Suggests Antifa Shares Equal Blame for Deadly Violence, Democratic Presidential Candidates Say Trump Enables White Supremacists, SPLC: State Department Employee Secretly Worked as White Na…

CounterSpin (2019-08-02). Sriram Madhusoodanan on Fossil Fuel Investigations, Amin Husain on Decolonizing Museums. fair.org Media…

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