(2019-07-12). First group of Extinction Rebellion protesters appear in court. thecanary.co 
More than 20 climate change protesters have appeared in court charged with a public order offence after Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in central London.The defendants were asked to enter guilty or not guilty pleas during hearings at City of London Magistrates' Court on Friday.The protesters, who range in age from 20 to 76, are accused of failing to comply with an order to stick to an allocated area near Marble Arch in central London.The hearings, which are continuing into the afternoon in two court rooms simultaneously, have recorded a mixture of pleas, resulting in a number of trials scheduled for Septembe…
(2019-07-12). It's Raining Sand in Rayalaseema. counterpunch.org 
It's a classic Indian cinema fight-in-the-desert scene. Against the background of dunes and depressions with a tiny sprinkling of scrub vegetation, the hero rises from the burning sands of a barren wasteland to beat the bad guys to a pulp. Adding plenty of heat and dust to that already bestowed by nature, he brings the More
(2019-07-12). Noam Chomsky says 'there is not much time' to avert global catastrophe. thecanary.co In an interview published on 12 July, Noam Chomsky told Jacobin that "there is not much time" to avert global catastrophe. He also talked about Iran, Venezuela, and antisemitism allegations aimed at the UK Labour Party. | Climate crisis and the Green New Deal: | Most importantly, he attended to the issue of global climate crisis. On the subject of rising sea levels, he said: the ca…
(2019-07-12). Too Horrible to Understand, Too Horrible to Ignore. counterpunch.org 
The Lolita Express……"I'm not for impeachment. The green dream or whatever."…… "maybe toilet water is a step up….." As if it wasn't obvious before, surely now the commingling interests of the wealthy should be evident to anyone with even rudimentary brain stem function. Like our worsening climate situation, the fact that the wealthy are simply More
(2019-07-12). The Climate Crisis Has Made Breathing Smoke Normal in Pacific Northwest. truthout.org You can't accuse Grace Stahre of not working to turn climate change around. She's fought the fossil fuel industry in court, on the streets, in kayaks and on social media. She has rallied to stop new coal terminals and helped pass a moratorium on new gas pipeline infrastructure. And she has lobbied for investment in renewable energy in Seattle, Washington, the city she calls home. | Stahre knew an increase in wildfires for the Pacific Northwest was predicted as a major consequence of climate change 20 years ago. What she didn't know is how quickly wildfires would bring catastrophic climate change to her doorste…
(2019-07-12). We Were Already Over 350 ppm When I Was Born. thenation.com We Were Already Over 350 ppm When I Was Born…
(2019-07-12). While climate breakdown destroys one of the ocean's most important ecosystems, a new study shows there may be some hope. thecanary.co Back-to-back heatwaves in the central Indian Ocean killed more than two-thirds of corals in two years, a study has shown. But research by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) suggests some corals were more resilient to the high sea temperatures, which could provide hope for the important habitat as the planet warms. | Heatwave statistics: | Scientists studied reefs in the remote Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT…
(2019-07-12). 'Failing' energy efficiency policy must be improved to meet net zero goals say MPs. thecanary.co The Government is presiding over a "failing policy" when it comes to making sure homes and offices are well insulated and energy efficient, MPs have warned. | Delivering energy efficiency in new and existing buildings needs to be addressed now if the UK is to have "any chance" of achieving its new legal target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, they said. | A report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Committee said the need to save energy in buildings to tackle climate change, end fuel poverty and reduce people's bills was well known. | But public investment in energy efficiency has shrunk, the rate a…
(2019-07-12). Amazon in Danger of Total Destruction Under Brazil's Right-Wing President Bolsonaro. therealnews.com 
If another 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest is destroyed, it could start a vicious cycle of self-destruction, unleashing enormous amounts of CO2 and massively impacting regional and global climate, says Alexander Zaitchik…
(2019-07-12). California's Biggest Secret? How Big Oil Has Expanded Drilling Under Brown & Newsom. indybay.org Consumer Watchdog and the FracTracker Alliance today released data showing a major increase in permits for new oil and gas wells this year under Governor Newsom. From January 1 to June 3, DOGGR approved 2,365 new oil and gas well permits and 191 fracking permits. | The data reveals that this year regulators have considerably increased the number of permits granted for drilling new wells (by 35.3%), well reworks (by 28.3%), and hydraulic fracturing (by 103.2%) as compared to the permitting rate during the final year of the Brown administration in 2018. Of the 2,365 well permits issued, 1064 or 45% of them benefitt…
(2019-07-12). Earth Over the Brink. counterpunch.org 
Glacier National Park is drip, drip, dripping into a puddle. People and companies and governments are cutting down trees to burn them to save the planet from global warming, mixing the sacrificial trees with oh-so-clean coal, and in Detroit with tires, and in North Carolina with chicken shit. Others are hacking down old forests to More
(2019-07-11). Water wars: As climate change escalates, South Asia's already fighting over water. peoplesworld.org 
During the faceoff earlier this year between India and Pakistan over a terrorist attack that killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries in Kashmir, New Delhi made an existential threat to Islamabad. The weapon was not India's considerable nuclear arsenal, but one still capable of inflicting ruinous destruction: water. "Our government has decided to stop our …
(2019-07-11). Monsanto seeks to reverse jury verdict in cancer case they lost. nationofchange.org Monsanto is fighting back against the $2 billion verdict awarded to a couple that claimed the company's infamous herbicide, Roundup, caused their cancer. | Claiming that the plaintiffs' counsel misconduct was "egregious and rampant," the mega-corporation is calling for a new trial or judgment notwithstanding verdict. | Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a couple in their 70s, used Roundup for 30 years until 2016 when they stopped after being made aware the glyphosate was possibly linked to cancer. | After the ruling Bayer, which recently purchased Monsanto, released the following statement: "Bayer is disappointed with t…
(2019-07-11). Brazil: Greenwald Accuses Moro of Threatening Press Freedoms. telesurenglish.net Brazilian Justice Minister Sergio Moro is a threat to press freedom, Intercept journalist Glenn Greenwald said Thursday before the nation's Senate Justice Commission. | RELATED: | First Audio of Brazilian Prosecutor Published in Lava Jato Case | "The climate that the minister is trying to create is a threat to the free press," Greenwald told Brazilian…
(2019-07-11). America's Colonial Climate Crisis. thenation.com America's Colonial Climate Crisis…
(2019-07-11). In Mozambique, it's 'a matter of the heart' says Guterres, lauding the cyclone-struck nation's 'undeniable moral authority'. un.org Arriving in Mozambique to express solidarity and see for himself the damage wrought by two back-to-back cyclones earlier this year, UN chief António Guterres on Thursday said "undeniable moral authority" lay with its people, who had borne the brunt of a disaster linked inexorably to climate change, and a warming world.
(2019-07-11). Maritime Union backs student-led climate strike. greenleft.org.au 
The following motion was passed unanimously at the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Sydney Branch monthly member's meeting on June 25. | * * * | The MUA Sydney Branch welcomes the call from the School Strike 4 Climate movement for workers to join their next global strike. We will build for the widest possible stoppage of work to join demonstrations on September 20. We call on our national union to support this action and campaign for stoppages across the global union movement. | We note with anger that the climate crisis is already affecting millions in Australia and around the world. We reaffirm MUA policy that…
(2019-07-11). We need everyone to strike on September 20. greenleft.org.au 
School Strike 4 Climate released the following statement on July 3. | * * * | On Friday September 20, three days before world leaders meet in New York for the United Nations Emergency Climate Summit, school strikers, together with our friends, communities and families, are holding our biggest Global Climate Strike yet. | Everyone is invited and everyone is needed as we build the biggest social movement the world has ever seen to tackle the climate crisis. | We often get asked by adults if it's OK f…
(2019-07-11). California's Biggest Secret? How Big Oil Has Expanded Drilling Under Brown & Newsom. indybay.org Consumer Watchdog and the FracTracker Alliance today released data showing a major increase in permits for new oil and gas wells this year under Governor Newsom. From January 1 to June 3, DOGGR approved 2,365 new oil and gas well permits and 191 fracking permits. | The data reveals that this year regulators have considerably increased the number of permits granted for drilling new wells (by 35.3%), well reworks (by 28.3%), and hydraulic fracturing (by 103.2%) as compared to the permitting rate during the final year of the Brown administration in 2018. Of the 2,365 well permits issued, 1064 or 45% of them benefitt…
(2019-07-11). Five new books for ecosocialists. greenleft.org.au 
Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus looks at five new books of interest to ecosocialists. | Vanishing Fish: Shifting Baselines & the Future of Global Fisheries | By Daniel Pauly
| Greystone Books, 2019 | Award-winning biologist Daniel Pauly examines the parlous state of today's global fisheries. Starting with the rapid expansion that followed World War II, he traces the arc of the fishing industry's ensuing demise, offering insights into how and why it has failed. His practical recommendations for a way forward incorporate a vision of a vib…
(2019-07-11). Mexico: The devious ways one water company is profiting from the poor. greenleft.org.au 
Water is becoming a coveted currency. As a basic need that is increasingly scarce in some regions due to climate disruption and abusive industrial and agricultural practices, it is the new gold that the wealthy want to get their hands on. | Companies like Nestlé and even drug gangs in Mexico are harnessing the profit and power potential of water, with trails of violence and corruption left in their wake. | In Puebla, two hours to the south of Mexico City, a private water company has plans to break up the streets…
(2019-07-11). We're invited to support student strikers. greenleft.org.au 
The Socialist Alliance National Council voted on June 30 to encourage its members and supporters to support of the September 20 climate strike and put motions along the following lines to their trade unions and other community-based organisations. | * * * | The School Strike 4 Climate has asked adults worldwide to come out onto the streets alongside them and make our voices heard. | To do that we too must strike for climate action. We must break with business as usual, leave our workplaces and rally with the students. | Yes, we will then cross a line. The rules do not let us strike when we want, for what we need…
(2019-07-11). Why Did the California Assembly Table Oil Setbacks Bill? therealnews.com 
Frontline communities in California have clamored for 2500 feet between oil drilling and homes and schools. California oil drilling impacts working-class Latino communities most directly, but Assembly Latino Caucus Chairwoman Lorena Gonzalez tabled AB 345 after taking thousands in industry campaign dollars…
(2019-07-11). Humanity Sleep-Walking Toward 'Mass Extinction'. commondreams.org "Today's oceans are absorbing carbon about an order of magnitude faster than the worst case in the geologic record." (Photo: Onny Carr/Flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/oceans.png …
(2019-07-10). How the Climate Crisis Is Pushing Central Americans Out of Their Homes Toward the U.S. democracynow.org 
As the U.S. continues to crack down on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, we look at one of the underreported driving factors leading people to flee their home countries: the climate crisis. John Carlos Frey, author of "Sand and Blood: America's Stealth War on the Mexico Border," spent time with Central American climate refugees traveling in a caravan toward the United States. He says, "If this drought continues, we're looking at all-out famine from Central America. …That's one of the major reasons why they're coming. … The government doesn't even acknowledge the fact that there is a climate c…
(2019-07-10). Climate change is a working-class and poor people's issue. peoplesworld.org 
If you've read anything about climate change over the past year, you've probably heard about the IPCC report that gives a 12-year deadline for limiting climate change catastrophe. But for many parts of the world, climate change already is a catastrophe. Recently in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, more than 40 people were killed by a severe heat …
(2019-07-10). The Limited Mind: Why Fear is Driving Humanity to Extinction. dissidentvoice.org I have previously written many articles describing one or more aspects of the dysfunctional nature of the typical human mind, together with an explanation of how this came about and what we can do about it. I have also explained that it is this dysfunctional psychological foundation that generated the behaviors, as well as the …
(2019-07-10). Chicago water meter program halted after testing reveals lead contamination. wsws.org Officials have known for many years that the city has a serious issue related to lead in its drinking water.
(2019-07-10). London's Burning: Brexit and Climate Change. counterpunch.org 
The Brexit farce continues, this time compounded by the pantomime that is the Tory-party leadership election. Both candidates are from the monied elite (of course), and will be disastrous as prime minister. The choice between them will be made by the largely male, white, and geriatric Tory party membership– it is a standing joke in social media that the meeting of the Young Conservatives at their annual conference has an average age of over 40. More
(2019-07-09). Alberta Government Declares War On Environmentalists. therealnews.com 
Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman says Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is a "climate change denier"
(2019-07-07). As Activists Push Democratic Climate Debate, DNC Donors Profit from Oil, Gas. therealnews.com 
For Democrats, the presidential primaries will end in Milwaukee at its convention in July 2020. It will be heavily funded by fossil fuel investors, Wes Edens and Marc Lasry, who also own the Milwaukee Bucks.
(2019-07-07). Future Resource Wars. therealnews.com 
The fantasy of the USA becoming the first global empire in history quickly dissolved in the wake of the Iraq war. Pepe Escobar and Eddie Conway discuss the coming nexus of global competition and climate change…
(2019-07-05). An Hour with Noam Chomsky on Fascism, Nuclear Weapons, Climate Change, Julian Assange & More. democracynow.org 
In April, hundreds of people packed into the Old South Church in Boston to hear the world-renowned dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky speak. In this hour-long special, we air an excerpt of Chomsky's speech and his on-stage interview with Amy Goodman.
(2019-07-04). City of Sydney joins 600 others declaring a climate emergency. greenleft.org.au 
On June 24, Lord Mayor Clover Moore called on the City of Sydney council to declare a climate emergency. The motion passed unanimously, and Sydney joined a snowballing list of councils globally that have made similar declarations. | But as the dust of the federal election settles and a sleepy giant begins to stir in the Galilee Basin, what will be the significance of Sydney council's words? | The language surrounding climate has changed over the last year or so. "Emergency", "crisis" and "breakdown" are now being used by activists, politicians and even the media. While it might seem like the "emergency" has came…
(2019-07-03). Eco-Socialism Conference to be held in Albuquerque: For the Earth to Live, Capitalism Must End! liberationnews.org 
Climate change and ecological devastation must be reversed as a matter of survival.
(2019-07-02). NBC News Whitewashes Colombia's Right-Wing President. fair.org 
Colombian President Iván Duque gave a talk on June 21 at the "Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity" on his book Orange Economy: An Infinite Opportunity. Duque wasn't alone—Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, singer John Legend and former NBA star Dwyane Wade also made appearances at the French Riviera event. | Claire Atkinson, the senior media editor at NBC News ( 6/27/19), i…
(2019-07-01). G20, Democratic debates, a pause in the trade war. uwidata.com G20 The two-day G20 summit ended in Osaka, Japan. Leaders of major powers discussed security, climate, trade, etc. The summit was marked by the United States' disagreement with other countries on a number of issues. For example, on the Paris climate agreement, on the China trade-war issue (despite the fact that a small "reconciliation" between …