Guatemalan Water Protectors Persist, Despite Mining Company Threats
Jen Moore | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-01
The hard work of protecting water and land from the long-term harms associated with gold and silver mining takes place daily on the frontlines of tenacious struggles throughout Latin America and around the world. Indigenous people and affected communities face many reprisals for their resistance, including a mounting number of arbitration suits against their governments…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/01/guatemalan-water-protectors-persist-despite-mining-company-threats/

Tokyo 2020 organizers pass Olympic flame to Fukushima after Games postponement
rt.com | 2020-04-01
Organizers of Tokyo 2020 left the Olympic flame in the hands of Fukushima Prefecture on Wednesday. It will be there on display in a lantern for the next month after the Games were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak. | The handover took place at a subdued ceremony at the J-Village National Training Center in Fukushima, which was originally set to be the starting point of the torch relay. | Of the organizing committee, only Tokyo 2020 COO Yukihiko Nunomura made the trip north, Reuters reported. "This is a [symbol of] hope for the world to celebrate the best of human beings through Tokyo 2020 af…
rt.com/newsline/484653-tokyo-olympic-games-fukushima/

Livestream: COVID-19 and Climate Implications for Public Health
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-04-01
Onlin via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/03/30/18831954.php

'Ask the government': Former Celtics star claims NBA season could resume at classified US Air Force site Area 51
rt.com | 2020-04-01
Having held the 2019 Summer League at the University of Nevada, NBA chiefs could find a novel solution to ending the season at a less conventional base in the state

Trump's Chernobyl Moment: the US May Lose Its Status as World Superpower and Not Recover
Patrick Cockburn | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-31
The US may be reaching its "Chernobyl moment" as it fails to lead in combating the coronavirus epidemic. As with the nuclear accident in the Soviet Union in 1986, a cataclysm is exposing systemic failings that have already weakened US hegemony in the world. Whatever the outcome of the pandemic, nobody is today looking to…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/31/trumps-chernobyl-moment-the-us-may-lose-its-status-as-world-superpower-and-not-recover/

"Can I Keep You Safe? Your Future Is Uncertain": Climate And The Fate Of Humanity
Media Lens | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-31
In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the most immediate objective is to slow its spread, minimise the death toll and help people through the crisis. But, despite government promises to support citizens who are now losing their jobs and income, the underlying establishment concern will be as it always has been: to preserve the …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/can-i-keep-you-safe-your-future-is-uncertain-climate-and-the-fate-of-humanity/

On the Need for Dissent and Debate in These Urgent Times
John Nichols | thenation.com | 2020-03-31
On the Need for Dissent and Debate in These Urgent Times…
thenation.com/article/politics/dissent-debate-massie-aoc/

'A Shameful New Low': Amid COVID-19 Crisis, Alberta Govt. Ponies Up $1 Billion for Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Andrea Germanos, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-31
"We need billions of public dollars invested directly in vulnerable communities dying from COVID-19, not spent propping up massive oil companies and unneeded projects that would trample Indigenous rights and exacerbate the climate crisis." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/alberta-kxl.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/31/shameful-new-low-amid-covid-19-crisis-alberta-govt-ponies-1-billion-keystone-xl-tar?cd-origin=rss

[Obituary] Aron Goldhirsch
Andrew Green | thelancet.com | 2020-03-28
Medical oncologist specialising in breast cancer. Born on April 25, 1946, in Landsberg am Lech, Germany, he died on Feb 26, 2020, in Lugano, Switzerland, aged 73 years.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30642-5/fulltext?rss=yes

[Editorial] Learning the lessons of Chernobyl: time is running out
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-03-28
Unit number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded on April 26, 1986, causing radiation injuries to hundreds of people within a couple of weeks. High levels of radiation affected clean-up workers (liquidators) involved in the emergency response, more than 500‚Äà000 liquidators involved in later decontamination and containment, and the general population in the surrounding Soviet states. 116‚Äà000 people were evacuated, 220‚Äà000 were permanently relocated, and a 30 km exclusion zone still exists around the plant.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30687-5/fulltext?rss=yes

"Chaotic Situation": India Begins Lockdown of 1.3 Billion Residents as Coronavirus Pandemic Spreads
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-03-26
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the world, we look at India, which is now under the largest lockdown in human history, with 1.3 billion people ordered to shelter in place. As the country's economy and daily life come to an abrupt halt, hundreds of millions of Indians who live hand to mouth have been left without the means to support their families. We speak with Amitav Ghosh, whose books include "Gun Island" and "The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable."
www.democracynow.org/2020/3/26/amitav_ghosh_india_coronavirus_lockdown

Climate strike online
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2020-03-26
Climate crisis Zebedee ParkesIssue 1258 Australia COVID-19 Fridays for the FutureMarch 27, 2020Around the world climate activists are continuing to hold weekly Friday strikes for climate action [mdas…
greenleft.org.au/content/climate-strike-online

[Correspondence] Future of Chernobyl research: the urgency for consolidated action
Evgenia Ostroumova, Joachim Schàºz, Ausrele Kesminiene | thelancet.com | 2020-03-18
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986, continues to create fears and myths about its health consequences, as shown by the large response to a top-rated HBO miniseries devoted to the tragic event. Risk assessments range from recognising an increase in thyroid cancer incidence in exposed children and adolescents (becoming one of the single most established long-term health effects of the Chernobyl disaster on the general population), to claims of hundreds of thousands of deaths due to the accident.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30675-9/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Evidence informing the UK's COVID-19 public health response must be transparent
Nisreen A Alwan, Raj Bhopal, Rochelle A Burgess, Tim Colburn, Luis E Cuevas, George Davey Smith, Matthias Egger, Sandra Eldridge, Valentina Gallo, Mark S Gilthorpe, Trish Greenhalgh, Christopher Griffiths, Paul R Hunter, Shabbar Jaffar, Ruth Jepson, Nicola Low, Adrian Martineau, David McCoy, Miriam Orcutt, Bharat Pankhania, Hynek Pikhart, Allyson Pollock, Gabriel Scally, James Smith, Devi Sridhar, Stephanie Taylor, Peter W G Tennant, Yrene Themistocleous, Anne Wilson, on behalf of 36 signatories | thelancet.com | 2020-03-17
The UK Government asserts that its response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is based on evidence and expert modelling. However, different scientists can reach different conclusions based on the same evidence, and small differences in assumptions can lead to large differences in model predictions.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30667-X/fulltext?rss=yes

Could the climate crisis be "The Good News of Damnation"?
Lawrence Wittner | zcomm.org | 2020-03-02
There really is no other solution to the onrushing climate catastrophe than for people and nations to forget their tribal animosities and start behaving as part of a world society…
zcomm.org/zmagazine/could-the-climate-crisis-be-the-good-news-of-damnation/