Monthly Archives: December 2019

2019-12-25: News Headlines

news.un (2019-12-25). The 2010 — 2020 UN News Decade in Review, part two. news.un.org With the 2020s now in full view, welcome to the second in our three-part series looking back at some of the major UN-related stories of the past decade. In part two, we take in the years 2014 to 2016, which saw the worst outbreak of Ebola ever recorded; new hope that the climate crisis could be tackled by world leaders, through the historic Paris climate agreement; and the launch of the UN's 2030 Agenda, a plan of action for people, the planet and prosperity.

Citizens' Climate Lobby (2019-12-25). 2020 Citizens' Climate Lobby Northern CA Regional Conference, Day 2. indybay.org Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…

Citizens' Climate Lobby (2019-12-25). 2020 Citizens' Climate Lobby Northern California Regional Conference. indybay.org Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…

Staff (2019-12-24). Jane Fonda Arrested: We Are in a Climate Emergency. I Have No Choice But to Put My Body on the Line. democracynow.org A new round of protests, Fire Drill Fridays, led by actress Jane Fonda are calling for action to address the climate crisis, as bushfires fueled by a historic heat wave threaten Australia, high tides threaten to flood Venice, and the Philippines prepares for a Christmas typhoon. Last Friday, a day before Jane Fonda's 82nd birthday, the longtime political activist, feminist and two-time Academy Award winner was arrested for the fifth time, as she has been nearly every Friday in Washington since she started Fire Drill Fridays, inspired in part by the Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg. She was arrested a…

news.un (2019-12-24). FROM THE FIELD: Preventing Ethiopia's trash from going to waste. news.un.org The rehabilitation of a dumpsite in Ethiopia in which 116 people died following a landslide two years ago, has made the area safer for people working there thanks to support from the UN human settlements agency UN-Habitat.

Katrina vanden Heuvel (2019-12-24). The Climate Movement Is Gaining Momentum in Spite of Trump. thenation.com The Climate Movement Is Gaining Momentum in Spite of Trump…

Amanda Mills (2019-12-24). U.S. Government sides with Bayer over Roundup cancer case. nationofchange.org Roundup weedkiller did not have to require cancer warnings, according to the EPA and Justice Department.

teleSUR (2019-12-24). Lopez Obrador Ratifies Mexico's Environmental Commitments. telesurenglish.net President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador today ratified his government's commitment to caring for the environment with prohibitions on the use of techniques that damage it and negative concessions. | RELATED: | Mexico Accuses Bolivia of Intimidating Its Diplomats in La Paz | In his morning press conference, the president specifically referred to avoiding the use of transgenic corn seed, banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the…

Calvin Trillin (2019-12-24). The Low Point? thenation.com The Low Point?

Dean Baker (2019-12-24). Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Right to Dump Sewage on Your Lawn. counterpunch.org In debates over protecting the environment, and especially global warming, it is standard practice to refer to the pro-protection side as being in favor of government regulation and the anti-protection side as being pro-free market. This is nonsense and it is nonsense in a way that strongly benefits the enemies of environmental protection. There is More

Dennis Broe (2019-12-23). Person of the Year: The French worker on strike. peoplesworld.org PARIS—Time magazine named teen climate activist Greta Thunberg its Person of the Year last week, but in truth, given that this has been a year of global unrest and efforts from the streets worldwide to counter the effects of an ever more rapacious neoliberal capitalism, the real Person of the Year who epitomizes this moment …

Manuel García, Jr. (2019-12-23). CO2 and Climate Change, Old and New. counterpunch.org How long has science known about CO2-induced climate change, and are we clever enough today to geo-engineer our way out of cooking ourselves to extinction? In brief: a long time, and most likely no. Clive Thompson has written engagingly about the 19th century scientists — Joseph Fourier (1768-1830), Eunice Newton Foote (1819-1888), John Tyndall (1820-1893), More

WSWS (2019-12-23). Australian fires bring growing global climate crisis into stark relief. wsws.org The catastrophic fires in Australia follow blazes that have engulfed large areas of California, Siberia, Borneo and the Amazon.

RT (2019-12-23). 'I've got a lot of problems with you people': Rand Paul unloads on Washington in Festivus Twitter tirade. rt.com Government waste, neocon warmongers, and the ongoing impeachment circus: Senator Rand Paul is mad about a lot of things, and channeled his inner Seinfeld to air his grievances with the world. | Republican Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky) celebrates the fictional December 23 holiday of Festivus – immortalized by 'Seinfeld' in 1997 – with an annual "airing of grievances." After releasing his annual ' Festivus Report' on government overspending last week, the deficit-hawk Senator took to Twitter on Monday to air some more p…

Peter Koenig (2019-12-22). The Madrid Climate Disaster. dissidentvoice.org Does anyone know what COP25 stands for? Probably very few. It's unimportant. As unimportant as the whole roadshow itself. Just for the hell of it, for those who read this article, COP means Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The 25 stands for the 25th year …

Staff (2019-12-19). Headlines for December 19, 2019. democracynow.org President Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power & Obstruction of Congress, Trump Slams FBI, Democrats & Impeachment at Battle Creek Rally, McConnell Pushes Through 11 Federal Judge Nominations, DOJ Inspector General Testifies About FBI's Carter Page Surveillance, 7 Democratic Presidential Candidates to Take to Debate Stage in L.A. Tonight, Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Part of Affordable Care Act, Australia Protesters Pitch Tents Outside PM House over Climate Crisis, Report: U.N. Peacekeepers Fathered & Abandoned Hundreds of Children in Haiti, DRC: Families Sue Apple, Google, Microsoft over Children's Deaths in…

The Canary (2019-12-18). Jury convicts environmental protesters over Canary Wharf train stunt. thecanary.co Three Extinction Rebellion protesters who glued themselves to a train have been found guilty "with regret" by a jury in the first crown court trial linked to the environmental demonstrations.Cathy Eastburn, 52, Mark Ovland, 36, and Luke Watson, 30, were convicted at Inner London Crown Court after halting Docklands Light Railway services at Canary Wharf station.The trio denied the charges of obstructing a railway on 17 April, saying the stunt was justified because of the threat of the climate crisis.The trio had claimed their actions were justified due to the threat posed by climate change (Kirsty O'Connor/PA)Wats…

Staff (2019-12-17). Melting Greenland Could Displace 400M People; UN Climate Deal Does Little to Help. therealnews.com A new study says that Greenland is melting at a pace far faster than previously estimated and could displace 400 million people due to global sea-level rise.

Staff (2019-12-16). COP25 Was a Failure, But Activists' Collective Organizing at the Talks Was Unprecedented. democracynow.org The COP25 United Nations climate summit ended in failure Sunday, after negotiators failed to agree to a deal that would limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — a key goal of the Paris Agreement. Scores of civil society groups condemned governments in the European Union, Australia, Canada and the U.S. for a deal that requires far less action than needed to avert catastrophic climate change. Indigenous leaders and environmentalists blasted the United Nations for marginalizing civil society groups over two weeks of negotiations at the climate summit, while welcoming polluters.

Jeff Bryant (2019-12-16). Millions Wasted on Charter Schools. progressive.org The Network for Public Education calls the findings in its recent report "nothing short of a national scandal."

Staff (2019-12-13). COP25 Was Moved to Spain to Conceal Chilean Government's Human Rights Violations. therealnews.com The concept of "loss and damage" and carbon markets are a sticking point at the UN's climate summit, and protests are continuing in Chile, the original site of the talks. Oxfam's Nafkote Dabi and Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch discuss the realities of COP25.

Jeff Bryant (2019-12-12). A New Report Finds Massive Waste and Abuse in Federally Funded Charter Schools. progressive.org During the eight years that these federal grants were available, $504,517,391—28 percent of the total amount given out—went to charter schools that never opened or that have already closed.

Aviva Levine (2019-12-11). Chicago students take to the streets for the Climate Strike. liberationnews.org "Planet over profits!"

Bryan Ellis (2019-12-10). Sarasota students join global climate strike. liberationnews.org On Friday, 50 students and community members gathered at the Unconditional Surrender statue by Sarasota's bayfront to urge action on the global climate crisis.

Naomi Klein (2019-12-10). The Case for a Green New Deal. zcomm.org Interview on the case for a Green New Deal that tackles the causes and impacts of climate change while confronting racial and economic inequality…

pip.hinman (2019-12-10). Real climate action requires cutting coal exports. greenleft.org.au climate emergency Zane AlcornIssue 1248 Australia coal exports Adani Carmichael coal mineDecember 10, 2019On December 9, Labor leader Anthony Albanese reaffirmed his party's support f…

James Goodman (2019-12-06). goodman climate refugees teaser. progressive.org Climate change, pollution, and violence drive people to the U.S. border, even with no promise of a path to citizenship.

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…

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, …

Bernie Sanders (2019-10-15). We Will Make History. zcomm.org Sanders rededicates himself to the struggle to the struggle to guarantee health care for all, make public colleges and universities, tuition free cancel student debt, and deal with climate change, criminal justice reform and immigration reform…

2019-12-25: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

2020 Citizens' Climate Lobby Northern CA Regional Conference, Day 2
Citizens' Climate Lobby | indybay.org | 2019-12-25
Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/20/18829046.php

The 2010 — 2020 UN News Decade in Review, part two
news.un.org | 2019-12-25
With the 2020s now in full view, welcome to the second in our three-part series looking back at some of the major UN-related stories of the past decade. In part two, we take in the years 2014 to 2016, which saw the worst outbreak of Ebola ever recorded; new hope that the climate crisis could be tackled by world leaders, through the historic Paris climate agreement; and the launch of the UN's 2030 Agenda, a plan of action for people, the planet and prosperity.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1053701

2020 Citizens' Climate Lobby Northern California Regional Conference
Citizens' Climate Lobby | indybay.org | 2019-12-25
Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/20/18829045.php

Jane Fonda Arrested: We Are in a Climate Emergency. I Have No Choice But to Put My Body on the Line
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-24
A new round of protests, Fire Drill Fridays, led by actress Jane Fonda are calling for action to address the climate crisis, as bushfires fueled by a historic heat wave threaten Australia, high tides threaten to flood Venice, and the Philippines prepares for a Christmas typhoon. Last Friday, a day before Jane Fonda's 82nd birthday, the longtime political activist, feminist and two-time Academy Award winner was arrested for the fifth time, as she has been nearly every Friday in Washington since she started Fire Drill Fridays, inspired in part by the Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg. She was arrested a…
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/24/jane_fonda_fire_drill_fridays_protests

FROM THE FIELD: Preventing Ethiopia's trash from going to waste
news.un.org | 2019-12-24
The rehabilitation of a dumpsite in Ethiopia in which 116 people died following a landslide two years ago, has made the area safer for people working there thanks to support from the UN human settlements agency UN-Habitat.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1053981

The Climate Movement Is Gaining Momentum in Spite of Trump
Katrina vanden Heuvel | thenation.com | 2019-12-24
The Climate Movement Is Gaining Momentum in Spite of Trump…
thenation.com/article/climate-movement-madrid-greta/

U.S. Government sides with Bayer over Roundup cancer case
Amanda Mills | nationofchange.org | 2019-12-24
Roundup weedkiller did not have to require cancer warnings, according to the EPA and Justice Department.
nationofchange.org/2019/12/24/u-s-government-sides-with-bayer-over-roundup-cancer-case/

Lopez Obrador Ratifies Mexico's Environmental Commitments
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-24
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador today ratified his government's commitment to caring for the environment with prohibitions on the use of techniques that damage it and negative concessions. | RELATED: | Mexico Accuses Bolivia of Intimidating Its Diplomats in La Paz | In his morning press conference, the president specifically referred to avoiding the use of transgenic corn seed, banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the…
telesurenglish.net/news/Lopez-Obrador-Ratifies-Mexicos-Environmental-Commitments-20191224-0013.html

The Low Point?
Calvin Trillin | thenation.com | 2019-12-24
The Low Point?
thenation.com/article/thunberg-time-person-year/

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Right to Dump Sewage on Your Lawn
Dean Baker | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-24
In debates over protecting the environment, and especially global warming, it is standard practice to refer to the pro-protection side as being in favor of government regulation and the anti-protection side as being pro-free market. This is nonsense and it is nonsense in a way that strongly benefits the enemies of environmental protection. There is…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/24/greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-the-right-to-dump-sewage-on-your-lawn/

Person of the Year: The French worker on strike
Dennis Broe | peoplesworld.org | 2019-12-23
PARIS–Time magazine named teen climate activist Greta Thunberg its Person of the Year last week, but in truth, given that this has been a year of global unrest and efforts from the streets worldwide to counter the effects of an ever more rapacious neoliberal capitalism, the real Person of the Year who epitomizes this moment …
peoplesworld.org/article/person-of-the-year-the-french-worker-on-strike/

CO2 and Climate Change, Old and New
Manuel García, Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-23
How long has science known about CO2-induced climate change, and are we clever enough today to geo-engineer our way out of cooking ourselves to extinction? In brief: a long time, and most likely no. Clive Thompson has written engagingly about the 19th century scientists — Joseph Fourier (1768-1830), Eunice Newton Foote (1819-1888), John Tyndall (1820-1893),…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/23/co2-and-climate-change-old-and-new/

Australian fires bring growing global climate crisis into stark relief
wsws.org | 2019-12-23
The catastrophic fires in Australia follow blazes that have engulfed large areas of California, Siberia, Borneo and the Amazon.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/23/fire-d23.html

'I've got a lot of problems with you people': Rand Paul unloads on Washington in Festivus Twitter tirade
rt.com | 2019-12-23
Government waste, neocon warmongers, and the ongoing impeachment circus: Senator Rand Paul is mad about a lot of things, and channeled his inner Seinfeld to air his grievances with the world. | Republican Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky) celebrates the fictional December 23 holiday of Festivus – immortalized by 'Seinfeld' in 1997 – with an annual "airing of grievances." After releasing his annual ' Festivus Report' on government overspending last week, the deficit-hawk Senator took to Twitter on Monday to air some more p…
rt.com/usa/476693-rand-paul-festivus-grievances/

The Madrid Climate Disaster
Peter Koenig | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-22
Does anyone know what COP25 stands for? Probably very few. It's unimportant. As unimportant as the whole roadshow itself. Just for the hell of it, for those who read this article, COP means Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The 25 stands for the 25th year …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/the-madrid-climate-disaster/

Jury convicts environmental protesters over Canary Wharf train stunt
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-12-18
Three Extinction Rebellion protesters who glued themselves to a train have been found guilty "with regret" by a jury in the first crown court trial linked to the environmental demonstrations.Cathy Eastburn, 52, Mark Ovland, 36, and Luke Watson, 30, were convicted at Inner London Crown Court after halting Docklands Light Railway services at Canary Wharf station.The trio denied the charges of obstructing a railway on 17 April, saying the stunt was justified because of the threat of the climate crisis.The trio had claimed their actions were justified due to the threat posed by climate change (Kirsty O'Connor/PA)Wats…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/12/18/jury-convicts-environmental-protesters-over-canary-wharf-train-stunt/

Melting Greenland Could Displace 400M People; UN Climate Deal Does Little to Help
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-12-17
A new study says that Greenland is melting at a pace far faster than previously estimated and could displace 400 million people due to global sea-level rise.
therealnews.com/stories/melting-greenland-could-displace-400m-people-un-climate-deal-does-little-help

COP25 Was a Failure, But Activists' Collective Organizing at the Talks Was Unprecedented
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-16
The COP25 United Nations climate summit ended in failure Sunday, after negotiators failed to agree to a deal that would limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — a key goal of the Paris Agreement. Scores of civil society groups condemned governments in the European Union, Australia, Canada and the U.S. for a deal that requires far less action than needed to avert catastrophic climate change. Indigenous leaders and environmentalists blasted the United Nations for marginalizing civil society groups over two weeks of negotiations at the climate summit, while welcoming polluters.
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/16/cop25_failure_asad_rehman_tasneem_essop

Millions Wasted on Charter Schools
Jeff Bryant | progressive.org | 2019-12-16
The Network for Public Education calls the findings in its recent report "nothing short of a national scandal."
progressive.org/op-eds/millions-wasted-on-charter-schools-bryant-191216/

COP25 Was Moved to Spain to Conceal Chilean Government's Human Rights Violations
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-12-13
The concept of "loss and damage" and carbon markets are a sticking point at the UN's climate summit, and protests are continuing in Chile, the original site of the talks. Oxfam's Nafkote Dabi and Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch discuss the realities of COP25.
therealnews.com/stories/cop25-spain-chile-human-rights-violations

A New Report Finds Massive Waste and Abuse in Federally Funded Charter Schools
Jeff Bryant | progressive.org | 2019-12-12
During the eight years that these federal grants were available, $504,517,391–28 percent of the total amount given out–went to charter schools that never opened or that have already closed.
progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/new-report-waste-abuse-charter-bryants-191212/

Chicago students take to the streets for the Climate Strike
Aviva Levine | liberationnews.org | 2019-12-11
"Planet over profits!"
liberationnews.org/chicago-students-take-to-the-streets-for-the-climate-strike/

Sarasota students join global climate strike
Bryan Ellis | liberationnews.org | 2019-12-10
On Friday, 50 students and community members gathered at the Unconditional Surrender statue by Sarasota's bayfront to urge action on the global climate crisis.
liberationnews.org/sarasota-students-join-global-climate-strike/

The Case for a Green New Deal
Naomi Klein | zcomm.org | 2019-12-10
Interview on the case for a Green New Deal that tackles the causes and impacts of climate change while confronting racial and economic inequality…
zcomm.org/zvideo/the-case-for-a-green-new-deal/

Real climate action requires cutting coal exports
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-12-10
climate emergency Zane AlcornIssue 1248 Australia coal exports Adani Carmichael coal mineDecember 10, 2019On December 9, Labor leader Anthony Albanese reaffirmed his party's support f…
greenleft.org.au/content/real-climate-action-requires-cutting-coal-exports

goodman climate refugees teaser
James Goodman | progressive.org | 2019-12-06
Climate change, pollution, and violence drive people to the U.S. border, even with no promise of a path to citizenship.
progressive.org/dispatches/fleeing-not-migrating-goodman-191206/

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

School climate strikers sit down outside Liberal HQ
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-29
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…
greenleft.org.au/content/school-climate-strikers-sit-down-outside-liberal-hq