2019-12-03: News Headlines

Erika Gonz√°lez (2019-12-03). Meet the Big Polluters Sponsoring COP25. commondreams.org The result of this corporate omnipresence is clear—the negotiations move at a snail's pace and more often than not reflect the interests of global corporations, not people and the planet. (Photo: UN Climate Change/Twitter) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/eky37vsxsambbki.jpeg

The Canary (2019-12-03). Conservatives' complaint over Channel 4 ice sculpture stunt rejected by Ofcom. thecanary.co Channel 4 has been cleared over its use of an ice sculpture to stand in for Boris Johnson during a debate on climate change, regulator Ofcom has said.The watchdog's election committee said the prop "was not a representation of the Prime Minister personally", and that "little editorial focus was given to it, either visually or in references made by the presenter or debate participants".The Conservatives complained that the broadcaster failed to allow the former environment secretary Michael Gove to be its representative for the debate, which saw party leaders face questions over how they would tackle climate chang…

Staff (2019-12-03). Greta Thunberg Has Sailed Back to Europe for Climate Talks. truthout.org From Stockholm, Sweden, we're covering the 40th Anniversary of the Right Livelihood Awards, widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." This year's recipients include 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who arrived Tuesday in Lisbon, Portugal, after traveling for three weeks across the Atlantic in the 48-foot catamaran La Vagabonde, refusing to fly because of the high carbon footprint of air travel. Thunberg was on her way to attend COP25 in Santiago, Chile, when the conference was abruptly re…

Student Activists (2019-12-03). National Climate Strike in Livermore. indybay.org Las Positas College, 3000 Campus Hill Drive, Livermore, CA 94551…

teleSUR (2019-12-03). 'Not Halting Climate Change Means Punishing Millions' XR Says. telesurenglish.net Environmental activists from around the world on Tuesday remain gathered and protesting in Madrid to demand that the 2019 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) take concrete and effective actions to halt global climate change. | RELATED: | There Can Be No Climate Justice Without Social Justice: Maduro | "We're a global movement trying to raise the climate emergency through direct action. We have to get people to pause and understand, especially our leader…

Brenda Norrell (2019-12-03). Tohono O'odham Ofelia Rivas with Extinction Rebellion in New York. indybay.org Tohono O'odham Ofelia Rivas spoke as Extinction Rebellion protested consumerism in New York City, urging protection of Mother Earth. Rivas also spoke at the 20 Million Women Strong gathering and offered a prayer at an event for Bolivians in New York. Rivas is the founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall and lives in her homeland, the Tohono O'odham Nation.

Margaret Flowers (2019-12-03). Failed Action on the Climate Crisis Makes Resistance Imperative. Worldwide Protest against Neoliberalism. globalresearch.ca On December 2, the 25th two-week long United Nations climate conference begins in Madrid, Spain. The stated task of the conference, referred to as COP 25 (Conference Of Parties), is to make sure there are plans to meet the goals …

Dan Bacher (2019-12-03). California Freezes New Fracking Permits — But All Oil Drilling Permits Still Outpace 2018. counterpunch.org The FracTracker Alliance and Consumer Watchdog unveiled a new website on November 19 to continually map and update the number of oil and gas wells permitted by the Newsom Administration: http: //www.NewsomWellWatch.com. "The pace of permitting overall is still on track to beat the total number of permits issued during Brown's final year in office (2018). The number More

Maj. Danny Sjursen (2019-12-03). Humanity Is Riding Delusion to Extinction. truthdig.com Horses sporting gas masks. That, of all things, has been on my mind lately. Bear with me, now. Gaze at the ever-so-cockamamie photo. A horse, wearing a gas mask. Nothing so illustrates the rank absurdity and irrationality of the human condition. It was during World War I—which killed an unheard-of nine million soldiers in just four years—that the armies of Europe still employed horses in an age of machine guns, airplanes (eventually), tanks and poison gas attacks. Rather than call a halt to the inane slaughter in the trenches, the world's great powers fought that wildly nationalistic war to its macabr…

Robert J. Burrowes (2019-12-03). Our Vanishing World: Wildlife. globalresearch.ca Throughout its history, Earth has experienced five mass extinction events. See, for example, 'Timeline Of Mass Extinction Events On Earth'. It is now experiencing the sixth. | The Ordovician-Silurian Extinction, which occurred about 439 million years ago, wiped out 86% …

United Nations (2019-12-03). Decade ending 2019 likely to be hottest on record. news.un.org Exceptional global heat driven by greenhouse gas emissions mean this decade will most likely go down as the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which released its provisional statement on the State of the Global Climate on Tuesday.

Ruth Conniff (2019-12-03). Middle America: The Danger for Democrats. commondreams.org It's too late to turn back the page to the soft, centrist, consensus politics of the era before Trump. (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/biden-climate-draft-policy-panned_0.jpg

Emily Beament (2019-12-03). The Hottest Years. commondreams.org "On a day-to-day basis, the impacts of climate change play out through extreme and "abnormal" weather. (Photo: U.S. Forest Service) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/forestfire_0.jpeg

Deutsche Welle (2019-12-03). Climate change forces 20 million people to flee each year, Oxfam finds. nationofchange.org At the U.N. climate talks in Madrid, environmental and development groups are pushing to establish a fund to help countries already reeling from climate change.

United Nations (2019-12-03). Only one in five countries has a healthcare strategy to deal with climate change. news.un.org Protecting people's health from climate change dangers such as heat stress, storms and tsunamis has never been more important, yet most countries are doing too little about it, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Amanda Mills (2019-12-03). WMO says this decade has been the hottest ever recorded. nationofchange.org The world's top climate scientists have praised WMO for communicating the urgency of the crisis and encourages lawmakers to take the report seriously.

Staff (2019-12-03). My Generation Needs to Say "Enough": A Swedish Climate Striker Speaks Out About Fridays For Future. democracynow.org From Stockholm, Sweden, we're covering the 40th Anniversary of the Right Livelihood Awards, widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." This year's recipients include 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, whose school strike for climate started in Stockholm when she began standing outside the Parliament building every school day to demand bold climate action more than a year ago. Her act of resistance soon became a global movement, with millions of youth around the world leaving school and taking to the streets to demand swift action to halt the climate crisis. Greta has just arrived in Lisbon,…

Staff (2019-12-03). "We Are Facing a Global Emergency": Greta Thunberg Arrives Back in Europe to Attend Climate Talks. democracynow.org From Stockholm, Sweden, we're covering the 40th Anniversary of the Right Livelihood Awards, widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." This year's recipients include 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who arrived Tuesday in Lisbon, Portugal, after traveling for three weeks across the Atlantic in the 48-foot catamaran La Vagabonde, refusing to fly because of the high carbon footprint of air travel. Thunberg was on her way to attend COP25 in Santiago, Chile, when the conference was abruptly relocated due to mass demonstrations against a proposed subway fare hike. She sounded a rallying cry to…

RT (2019-12-03). Climate commando Schwarzenegger prevented from attending COP25 climate summit due to US storms. rt.com Actor and former Republican governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger was scheduled to attend the COP25 summit on climate change in Madrid, but couldn't make it because of rampant storms across the US. | The news was broken by Sebastián Navarro, secretary-general of Capital Cities to Combat Climate Change (CC35), who said the 'Terminator' star could not attend for "personal reasons," adding that the US was experiencing a high number of storms which have precluded the Last Action Hero from flying to Madrid. | Schwarzenegger is a founding member of the World War Zero group established by former US Secr…

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2019-12-03). 'People Are Underestimating the Force of Angry Kids': Greta Thunberg Returns to Europe for Climate Summit. commondreams.org After three weeks of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Spain, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived Tuesday in neighboring Portugal, where she was welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-11916808391.jpg

Jon Queally, staff writer (2019-12-03). US Navy Places $22 Billion Cyber Monday Order for Nuclear Submarines, But Who Is Asking How We Gonna Pay For It? commondreams.org "$22 billion could fund a lot of kids learning," said Albert Lee, a Democrat running for Congress in Oregon. "We need an education race; not a wasted arms race." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/how_you_gonna_pay_for_it.jpg

Julia Conley, staff writer (2019-12-03). After Hottest Decade Since Records Began, WMO Warns World May Face 5 ∞C Rise by Century's End. commondreams.org As the decade comes to a close, the world's top climate scientists warned Tuesday that policymakers' continued failure to curb the warming of the planet could lead to a global temperature increase of 5 ∞ Celsius by the end of the century, putting the world "nowhere near on track" to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/vrijryctt45e7byw4ju62j736i_0.jpg

Danny Sjursen (2019-12-03). Humanity Is Riding Delusion to Extinction. commondreams.org World War I-era photo of a mounted lance corporal of the Household Cavalry wearing a gas mask, Windsor, United Kingdom. His horse is also wearing a gas mask. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screenshot.png

The Canary (2019-12-02). UN chief urges nations to take 'transformative' action and 'not to fiddle while planet burns'. thecanary.co UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres urged countries not to lose hope in the fight against climate change, as representatives from nearly 200 countries gathered in Madrid for a two-week meeting on tackling global warming.In his opening speech to delegates, Guterres cited recent scientific data showing that levels of heat-trapping gases have hit a record high, reaching levels not seen for at least three million years when sea levels were 10-20 metres higher than today.Unless emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are sharply cut, temperatures could rise to twice the threshold set in the 2015 Paris…

The Canary (2019-12-02). Don't be on wrong side of history, delegates at climate summit warned. thecanary.co The chair of a two-week climate summit attended by nearly 200 countries has warned that those refusing to adjust to the planet's rising temperatures "will be on the wrong side of history".Chile's environment minister, Carolina Schmidt, opened the summit in Madrid by saying the meeting needs to lay the groundwork for moving towards carbon neutral economies while being sensitive to the poorest and those most vulnerable to rising temperatures — something that policymakers have termed "just transition"."Those who don't want to see it will be on the wrong side of history," said Schmidt as she called on government…

Medea Benjamin (2019-12-02). Medea Benjamin: Donald Trump Was Right, NATO Should Be Obsolete. mintpressnews.com In an age where people around the world want to avoid war and to focus instead on the climate chaos that threatens future life on earth, NATO is an anachronism. It now accounts for about three-quarters of military spending and weapons dealing around the globe.

United Nations (2019-12-02). FROM THE FIELD: India's plastic waste revolution. news.un.org The recycling of plastic waste in India is boosting the incomes of impoverished women and helping build roads and fire cement furnaces, thanks to support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

United Nations (2019-12-02). Green economy 'not to be feared, but an opportunity to be embraced' says UN chief as COP25 gets underway. news.un.org A green economy is "not one to be feared but an opportunity to be embraced", UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, in a keynote speech to delegates at the opening of the COP25 UN climate conference in Madrid on Monday.

teleSUR (2019-12-02). Morales Vows To Do What's Best for Bolivia, Not Afraid of Jail. telesurenglish.net The democratically elected President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, said Sunday that he would value the option of being imprisoned in Bolivia, if that action helps the Bolivian people, who suffer from a climate of anxiety and instability after the coup d'etat driven by the right of the South American country. | RELATED: | The Pro-Evo Upheaval in Bolivia: How is it Affecting the Canadian Political Scene? | "For the Bolivian people, for the political instrument, for t…

teleSUR (2019-12-02). There Can Be No Climate Justice Without Social Justice: Maduro. telesurenglish.net Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro issued on Sunday a letter addressed to the heads of state and government meeting in Spain as they participate in the 25th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25). | RELATED: | Morales Vows To Do What's Best for Bolivia, Not Afraid of Jail | In the letter, the Venezuelan leader stressed that "there can be no climate justice without social justice", and mentioned that problems such as defores…

teleSUR (2019-12-02). Russia, Venezuela Have An Exemplary Relationship: Maduro. telesurenglish.net Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro bestowed the Russian Ambassador in Venezuela Vladimir Zaemsky with the Order Francisco de Miranda, the country's highest honor, and bequeathed a replica of Simon Bolivar's sword from the victorious battle of Carabobo, for a decade of work in the Latin American country. | RELATED: | There Can Be No Climate Justice Without Social Justice: Maduro | From the Simon Bolivar room at the presidential Miraflores Palace, Maduro expressed that "it is a d…

Staff (2019-12-02). Headlines for December 2, 2019. democracynow.org COP25 Opens in Madrid Amid Dire Warnings About Climate Change, House Judiciary Committee to Hold Hearing in Impeachment Inquiry, 3 Women Accuse Ambassador Sondland of Sexual Misconduct, Iraqi Prime Minister Resigns Amid Anti-Government Protests, Malta Prime Minister Resigns amid Probe of Journalist's Murder, Three More Egyptian Journalists Arrested, Attack on London Bridge Kills 2 Cambridge Graduates, Trump Visits Afghanistan in Surprise Thanksgiving Trip, Supreme Court to Hear First Major Gun Case in Nearly a Decade, Twitter Suspends Account of Ilhan Omar's Challenger, Sestak and Bullock Drop Out of 2020 Preside…

United Nations (2019-12-01). COP25: 'Signals of hope' multiplying in face of global climate crisis, insists UN's Guterres. news.un.org The UN Secretary-General has outlined the "increased ambition and commitment" that the world needs from governments during the coming days of the COP25 UN climate change conference which opens in Madrid on Monday, calling for "accountability, responsibility and leadership" to end the global climate crisis.

United Nations (2019-11-29). Friday's Daily Brief: violence in DR Congo, protester deaths in Iraq, human rights in Colombia, climate change conference, 'high human cost' of Ecuador unrest. news.un.org A recap of Friday's stories in brief: attacks on communities in an Ebola outbreak hotspot in eastern DRC sparks a humanitarian crisis; Guterres expresses concerns at continued protester deaths in Iraq; UN-appointed panel raises concerns about violence against indigenous rights defenders in Colombia; 5 things you need to know about COP25; UN rights chief urges dialogue to ease Ecuador unrest.

United Nations (2019-11-29). COP25: UN climate change conference, 5 things you need to know. news.un.org Climate change is happening—the world is already 1.1 ∞C warmer than it was at the onset of the industrial revolution, and it is already having a significant impact on the world, and on people's lives. And if current trends persist, then global temperatures can be expected to rise by 3.4 to 3.9 ∞C this century, which would bring wide-ranging and destructive climate impacts.

Yves Engler (2019-11-29). Alternative Media promotes Canadian Foreign Policy. dissidentvoice.org Why would an alternative media website that questions government and corporate policies about climate change and the environment have so much trouble understanding that the same sort of skepticism is necessary regarding Canadian foreign policy? Imagine a self-declared progressive media outlet saying they don't cover racism, patriarchy or the dispossession of First Nations because they …

Staff (2019-11-29). David Byrne on His Broadway Show "American Utopia," Talking Heads, Reasons to Be Cheerful & More. democracynow.org An hour with David Byrne, the celebrated musician, artist, writer, cycling enthusiast, filmmaker and now Broadway star. He has a new hit Broadway show called "American Utopia." The show grew out of Byrne's recent world tour, which the British music publication NME said "may just be the best live show of all time." Byrne talks about the production, his time in the groundbreaking band Talking Heads, his website Reasons to Be Cheerful, Greta Thunberg and more.

Fred_F (2019-11-29). School climate strikers sit down outside Liberal HQ. greenleft.org.au Climate Zebedee ParkesIssue 1247 Australia School Strike 4 Climate SydneyNovember 29, 2019School climate strikers sat down in front of the Liberal Party's Sydney headquarters on November 29, as par…

Fred_F (2019-11-29). The answer to the climate crisis is obvious: ban climate protests. greenleft.org.au environment Carlo SandsIssue 1247 Australia Carlo's CornerNovember 29, 2019As Australia burns amid record-breaking temperatures and ongoing drought, and report a…

Susan Price (2019-11-28). China's contribution to climate change. greenleft.org.au Climate change Chris SleeIssue 1247 China greenhouse gas emissionsNovember 28, 2019China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2). It surpassed the Un…

Julie Hollar (2019-11-27). We're Still Waiting for 'Early and Often' Climate Debate Questions. fair.org As the Democratic Party prepared for its first presidential primary debates in June, climate activists pushed the DNC to schedule a single-issue debate on the climate crisis, given the urgency of the problem and the lack of attention given to it in previous debates. DNC chair Tom Perez refused, saying he had "the utmost confidence" that climate disruption would be discussed in the debates "early and often" (FAIR.org, 6/18/19). | Now that seven nights of debates have passed, and multiple…

Fred_F (2019-11-27). School Strike 4 Climate WA: 'We are heading for a cliff and fossil fuel companies want to put their foot on the gas'. greenleft.org.au Climate School Strike 4 Climate WAIssue 1247 Australia School Strike 4 Climate PerthNovember 27, 2019School Strike 4 Climate WA sent the following letter to Western Australia Premier Mar…

Staff (2019-11-26). Headlines for November 26, 2019. democracynow.org Judge Rules Trump Can't Stop Officials from Testifying in Impeachment Inquiry, Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Disclosure of Trump's Financial Records, U.S. Troops Resume Combat Mission Against ISIS, U.N.: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Surged to Record-High Levels in 2018, 56 Killed in Landslides in Kenya, Leaked Documents Reveal China's "Brainwashing" of Uyghur Muslims, Duque Calls for "National Dialogue" as Protests Continue to Rock Colombia, Global Protests Mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Argentine Catholic Priests Sentenced to Prison for Raping Students, Water Protectors Block…

Fred_F (2019-11-26). Firefighters union leader: 'There are no climate sceptics on the end of a fire hose'. greenleft.org.au Climate Greg McConvilleIssue 1247 Australia bushfires United Firefighters Union (UFU) CanberraNovember 26, 2019United Firef…

David Cole (2019-11-26). We're Grateful for the Constitution. aclu.org Thanksgiving is here: that time of year when we pause to take stock of all we're grateful for. At the ACLU, we're saying thanks for all the crucial wins from our legal teams — and for the Constitution. | In just the last few months, we've racked up many essential victories in the ongoing battle to protect civil liberties and civil rights. The scope of these victories is breathtaking: they span criminal justice, privacy, religious freedom, reproductive rights, due process for immigrants, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, and the right to protest the Keystone pipeline, among others. We've won crucial victories…

Staff (2019-11-25). Police Raid Egypt's Last Independent News Outlet Mada Masr Amid "Increasingly Hostile" Media Climate. democracynow.org Egyptian security forces raided the office of Mada Masr, the country's last independent media outlet, and arrested three of its journalists this weekend. The raid began Sunday afternoon, when nine plainclothes security officers entered the Mada Masr office in Cairo, seizing phones and laptops and holding the staff in the building for more than three hours. They then arrested editor-in-chief Lina Attalah, managing editor Mohamed Hamama and reporter Rana Mamdouh. It came just a day after security forces arrested senior editor Shady Zalat at his home. All four journalists were released from detention Sunday night. T…

patrick (2019-11-20). Palestine is a climate justice issue – Israeli apartheid is not "green" bdsmovement.net Palestine is a climate justice issue – Israeli apartheid is not "green": Update Click to download and print this Fact Sheet.November 21, 2019 | By: | | Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)

Jon Rainwater (2019-11-07). Take Action — Some actual, SANE legislation. peaceaction.org Trump has plans to spend nearly $2 TRILLION over the next 30 years on unneeded and unnecessary nuclear weapons and delivery systems. This makes no sense. This is insane. That's nearly $100 million wasted every day for thirty years on weapons we are supposed to be getting rid of. To put that amount in perspective, …