2019-08-20: News Headlines

Naomi Oreskes, Michael Oppenheimer (2019-08-20). Scientists Have Been Underestimating the Pace of Climate Change. commondreams.org Among the factors that appear to contribute to underestimation is the perceived need for consensus, or what we label univocality: the felt need to speak in a single voice. (Photo: Getty) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/ice_6.jpeg

Rizwan Nawaz and Adel Sharif (2019-08-20). Fossil fuel drilling could be contributing to climate change by heating Earth from within. nationofchange.org Underground reserves of oil have existed for far longer than humans have exploited them — we know worryingly little about the consequences of emptying them.

Staff (2019-08-20). Pope Francis Confronts the "Idolatry of Money" — RAI with Matthew Fox (7/8). therealnews.com With his criticism of excessive capitalism and of climate change, Pope Francis has become the target of the far-right, and especially of the secretive Opus Dei sect within the Catholic Church, explains former priest Matthew Fox…

Janine Jackson (2019-08-20). 'Monsanto Has Worked Very Hard to Discredit Me and My Work' – CounterSpin interview with Carey Gillam on Monsanto's attack on journalism. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed US Right to Know's Carey Gillam for the August 16, 2019, episode of CounterSpin, about being targeted by Monsanto. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…

Olivia Rosane (2019-08-20). Iceland holds its first funeral for a glacier. nationofchange.org Officials, activists and scientists gathered in Iceland Sunday for the funeral of the nation's first glacier to fall victim to the climate crisis. | Iceland's Okjokull glacier lost its glacier status in 2014, as AFP reported, and scientists fear it will only be the first of many to melt away. The country could lose all of its more than 400 glaciers by 2200. | "The sy…

Spirit Rock Meditation Center (2019-08-20). No Time to Lose: A Dharma Response to Climate Change (Spirit Rock Meditation Center). indybay.org Spirit Rock Meditation Center | 5000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Woodacre, CA 94973 | www.spiritrock.org/directions

Staff (2019-08-20). Living in Two Worlds: Capitalism Pretends All Is Well While the World Is Burning. truthout.org | | Global capitalism demands we pretend all is well, while climate and political realities already reveal the end game we are living in. The U.S. government, along with many others in the western world, has lurched into overt authoritarianism, while climate chaos accelerates at a breakneck pace. | How do we live in both worlds? | In this column, each of us reflect on our own process of coping with this existential schism, in hopes that our experiences might be of some help in grappling…

CA Democratic Progressive Caucus (2019-08-20). Strategy Meeting: Pass the DNC Resolution for a Presidential Climate Debate. indybay.org Parc 55 Hotel, Ballroom | 55 Cyril Magnin Street | San Francisco, CA 94102…

Patrick Walker (2019-08-20). Exploiting Russiagate coma, Democrats raped climate movement. nationofchange.org Introduction: Some gallows humor: | Seeing the grave existential and political fix we're now in, some gallows humor—a sophomoric old joke highly pertinent to my title theme—seems as good a way to start as any. | Q: What's the difference between a virgin and a light bulb? | A: You can unscrew a light bulb. | Like the virgin of this admittedly sick joke (relic of more patriarchal times), the climate movement has been truly and royally screwed by Democrats. Given what's at stake, a more appropriately inflammatory term is raped, and…

Staff (2019-08-20). Kamala Harris to Snub Climate Forum in Favor of Big Donors. truthout.org | | In the space of 24 hours, Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat running for the party's 2020 presidential nomination, made clear that when forced to choose between the interests of the donor class or progressives, she'd choose the former. | On Sunday night, as Bloomberg reported, Harris attended a big money fundraiser in the Hamptons, telling the superrich attendees "I be…

commondreams (2019-08-20). One Month Ahead of Global Climate Strikes, Thousands Pledge Support. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Environmental Defense Fund (2019-08-20). EDF Talk: California and the Rainforest – a Plan to Fight Climate Change. indybay.org EDF Office on 28th Floor, 123 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105…

WSWS (2019-08-20). Tensions over climate change dominate Pacific Islands summit. wsws.org Australia, with New Zealand's support, has again quashed efforts by small Pacific Island states to push for measures to address climate change.

Jake Johnson, staff writer (2019-08-20). #PrayForAmazonia Goes Viral as Twitter Users Call Attention to 'International Emergency' of Fires Devastating Brazil's Rainforest. commondreams.org "The Amazon rainforest has been burning for three weeks! We are on the verge of losing it completely if the fire isn't put out. The loss of trees, the loss of biodiversity is what is accelerating climate change." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/amazon_fires.jpg

Julia Conley, staff writer (2019-08-20). A Month Ahead of Global Climate Strike, Thousands Pledge to Attend Rallies Across Planet to 'Turn Up the Political Heat' and Demand Action. commondreams.org Organizers behind the global climate strike—from teenage students to adults who have fought for climate action for decades—are calling on all people who want to halt the climate crisis to join the worldwide action on September 20. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-11307845502.jpg

Jake Johnson, staff writer (2019-08-20). 'Absolutely Ludicrous': Canadian Election Officials Tell Green Groups That Ads Urging Rescue of Planet Earth Could Be Illegal. commondreams.org "We would have to bury the scientific consensus around climate change when we should be ramping up our activities." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/canada_climate_crisis.png

Kim Petersen (2019-08-19). Colonialism Lives on in the Mind of Donald Trump. dissidentvoice.org Outside of melting glaciers and global warming discussions, Kalaallit Nunaat does not often find itself in the spotlight, and when it does, it is usually referred to as Greenland. United States president Donald Trump's real-estate aspirations have given Kalaallit Nunaat/Greenland prominence in recent news. It seems Trump is serious about the US purchasing Greenland. Judging …

John Davis (2019-08-19). The Isle of White: a Tale of the Have-Lots Versus the Have-Nots. counterpunch.org The island of North Haven in the Penobscot Bay, Maine, is an eastern establishment, white-shoe summer-place overlain on a diesel swilling, bottom feeding lobster-industry that supports the year-round residents of this tiny, fractal-shored resort. It is washed by the Gulf Stream and reports the fastest rising ocean temperatures in the Western hemisphere, dramatic sea level rises and a devastated eco-system. Comprehensively cleared of its old-growth hardwood forests in the nineteenth century, its second growth pines are now attacked by bark beetles moving north under the duress of a warming climate…But some still…

Janine Jackson (2019-08-19). On Gun Violence, 'We Need the Federal Government to Take Bold Steps' – CounterSpin interview with Ernest Coverson on guns & human rights. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed Amnesty International USA's Ernest Coverson about guns and human rights for the August 16, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…

Kim Petersen (2019-08-19). Colonialism Lives on in the Mind of Donald Trump. globalresearch.ca Outside of melting glaciers and global warming discussions, Kalaallit Nunaat does not often find itself in the spotlight, and when it does, it is usually referred to as Greenland. United States president Donald Trump's real-estate aspirations have given Kalaallit …

Robert J. Burrowes (2019-08-19). Our vanishing world: Rainforests. nationofchange.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 …

United Nations (2019-08-19). FROM THE FIELD: Green wall of opportunities grows in the Sahel. un.org An ambitious plan has got underway to plant a band of trees across the Sahel region of Africa, to hold back desertification and combat climate change, thanks to the support of the United Nations.

Binoy Kampmark (2019-08-19). Condescension and Climate Change: Australia and the Failure of the Pacific Islands Forum. dissidentvoice.org It was predictably ugly: in tone, in regret, and, in some ways, disgust. Australia emerged from the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting isolated, the true spoiler of the party which saw 17 states facing the obstinacy of one. It had taken place on Tuvalu, some two hours flight north of Fiji. The capital Funafuti is …

Dr. Binoy Kampmark (2019-08-19). Condescension and Climate Change: Australia and the Failure of the Pacific Islands Forum. asia-pacificresearch.com

Philip A Farruggio (2019-08-19). Saints, Sinners and Hypocrites. globalresearch.ca In today's climate of increasing Neo Nazi thought and behavior in Europe and here at home, a must see film is director Marc Rotthemund's Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005). | Sophie Scholl was a member of the White Rose, …

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2019-08-19). With Key Vote Just Days Away, Activists Ramp Up Pressure on DNC to Hold #ClimateDebate. commondreams.org "Only a climate-specific debate will show whether the candidates are climate ready or not." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/dnc-climate-debate-days-vote.jpg

Eoin Higgins, staff writer (2019-08-19). Kamala Harris, Who Just Clarified Her Rejection of Real Medicare for All, to Snub Climate Forum in Favor of Big Donors. commondreams.org "We need a leader who prioritizes the future of humanity over rubbing elbows with millionaires and billionaires." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/ka_mala_harris.jpg

Julia Conley, staff writer (2019-08-19). Icelanders Hold Funeral for Okjukull, Country's First Glacier to Die From the Climate Crisis. commondreams.org "This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-11625171181.jpg

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

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.

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.

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…

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