Daily Archives: August 25, 2020

2020-08-25: News Headlines

Eds. (2020-08-25). Is there time for system change? mronline.org The IPCC Report's warning in October 2018 that the world has twelve years to avoid climate disaster was undoubtedly a major factor in galvanising a global wave of climate change activism, especially in the form of Greta Thunberg and mass school strikes and the Extinction Rebellion movement.

Staff (2020-08-25). "A Human Tragedy": Wildfires Reveal California's Reliance on Incarcerated Firefighters. democracynow.org As climate-fueled wildfires engulf California, tens of thousands of firefighters have been deployed across the state to combat the blazes amid a record heat wave and deadly pandemic. We look at how more than 1,300 incarcerated firefighters — who are annually deployed to the frontlines in California for just $1 an hour — are fighting back the blazes as coronavirus outbreaks in state prisons limit how many are available to fight the fires, and lay bare the state's reliance on prison labor to control its ever-growing wildfire season with an exploitative system many have called slave labor. "What they're…

Staff (2020-08-25). Headlines for August 25, 2020. democracynow.org Trump Claims Dems Trying to Steal Election, Biden Will "Destroy" Country, as RNC Kicks Off, WI Calls in National Guard as Protests Intensify over Police Shooting of Unarmed Black Man, FDA Head Says Plasma Treatment Results Were Overstated as Schools Grapple with Reopening, Hong Kong COVID-19 Patient Becomes Reinfected; Reports of Brutal Repression in Xinjiang Pandemic Response, Gaza Goes into Lockdown After New COVID-19 Cases; Libyan Doctors Warn System Can't Cope with Pandemic, Death Toll in Climate-Fueled California Wildfires Climbs to 7 as 600+ Blazes Burn Across the State, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Fails…

Fight Back (2020-08-25). Minnesota's Line 3 pipeline protests get results. fightbacknews.org St. Paul, MN – The Climate Justice Committee organized an action to protest Joe Biden's climate proposal on August 18, as Committee members and climate activists gathered outside the Governor's Mansion here, demanding Governor Walz re-file the state's appeal of the decision to allow the Line 3 oil pipeline to be rebuilt and expanded. The new pipeline would be an environmental disaster and violates federal agreements with indigenous governments. | Both the Climate Justice Committee and members of the Giniw Collective, an indigenous-led group that protested outside the mansion earlier in the day, held the street an…

news.un (2020-08-25). Rights expert denounces lack of investigation into 2017 killing of journalist in South Sudan. news.un.org Lack of investigation into the killing of a journalist three years ago in South Sudan is indicative of a wider climate of hostility towards journalists in the country, an independent UN human rights expert has said.

news.un (2020-08-25). Devastated by pandemic, tourism sector must be rebuilt in a safe, equitable and climate friendly way — UN chief. news.un.org Tourism is much more than visiting cultural landmarks or swimming in tropical beaches; it is "one of the world's most important economic sectors", the UN chief said on Tuesday.

_____ (2020-08-25). California And Colorado: Climate-Driven Transformation Of Wildfires. popularresistance.org The wildfires that exploded over the past few days in California and Colorado show clear influences of global warming, climate scientists say, and evidence of how a warming and drying climate is increasing the size and severity of fires from the California coast to the high Rocky Mountains. | They may also be the latest examples of climate-driven wildfires around the world burning not only much bigger, hotter and faster, but exploding into landscapes and seasons in which they were previously rare. | For tens of thousands of Californians enduring evacuations, and millions more suffering through smoke that has brou…

Staff (2020-08-25). California's Dependence on Incarcerated Labor Exposed as Wildfires Rage. truthout.org As climate-fueled wildfires engulf California, tens of thousands of firefighters have been deployed across the state to combat the blazes amid a record heat wave and deadly pandemic. We look at how more than 1,300 incarcerated firefighters — who are annually deployed to the frontlines in California for just $1 an hour — are fighting back the blazes as coronavirus outbreaks in state prisons limit how many are available to fight the fires, and lay bare the state's reliance on prison labor to…

Sasha Abramsky (2020-08-25). The Climate Apocalypse Has Arrived. thenation.com The Climate Apocalypse Has Arrived…

Staff (2020-08-24). As Democrats Hedge on Fossil Fuel Subsidies, Biden Misleads on Plan. therealnews.com Welcome back to TRNN's Climate Crisis News Roundup. We are in the dog days of summer, with record heat waves and extreme weather events happening throughout the United States and the world. Meanwhile, one of the global oil majors has a professed climate solution: powering its oil drilling with wind and solar energy across the…

teleSUR (2020-08-24). Greenland Had Massive Ice Melting in 2019 Due to Global Warming. telesurenglish.net Greenland lost over 580 billion tons of ice in 2019 due to atypical high temperatures, which provoked an irregular sea-level increase according to a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. | RELATED: | "More and more often, we have stable [atmospheric] high-pressure systems over the ice sheet, which favor the influx of warmer air from the midlatitudes, one of the conditions promoting melt," said Alfred Wegener Insti…

_____ (2020-08-24). How Much Will Earth Really Warm By? Here's The Latest Research. popularresistance.org A major new study has been published – one that gives much more certainty on the extent of future warming we might expect. | Along with many other international climate scientists, it was led by my colleague, climate scientist Steven Sherwood from the University of New South Wales in Australia. So, I asked him a few questions about it, to drill down what this means for us and the future. | We know Earth's climate warms as greenhouse gas concentrations like carbon dioxide rise in the atmosphere. From the 1950s, NASA temperature data show Earth has warmed ~0.8 ∞C up until the latest decade.The scale of future…

Benjamin Wehrmann (2020-08-23). Thunberg, other activists tell Merkel to 'abandon fossil industry contracts'. zcomm.org Thunberg said the activists were looking to find leaders who "prioritise the future over the past" and argued that the letter merely describes "the very minimum" of what needs to be done to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

_____ (2020-08-23). DNC Featured Native Speakers But Their Issues Remain Under-addressed. popularresistance.org The various caucus meeting speakers repeatedly stated that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be good for Indian Country. Some Native people are skeptical, though. Harris has a record of going against the sovereign interests of California tribal nations. Many Native people haven't forgotten the broken promises made by the Obama-Biden administration. Not only did the administration advance the Keystone XL Pipeline, but it also sat silently for months as Native people, accomplices and media were arrested, brutalized, and physically and sexually assaulted while trying to defeat the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

sputniknews (2020-08-23). Bayern Wins UEFA Champions League Final for Sixth Time: How They Claimed Five Others. sputniknews.com On Sunday night, Bayern Munich defeated French League 1 winner PSG with a total score of 1-0 in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League Final.

Jamie Henn (2020-08-23). Stop Adding (Fossil) Fuels to the Fire. commondreams.org Fire season isn't new to the West, but it's getting worse. And scientists are clearly pointing the finger at climate change and our ongoing use of fossil fuels. (Photo: Pixabay/CC) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/wildfire-california.jpeg

Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Anuna De Wever and AdélaàØde Charlier (2020-08-22). After two years of school strikes, the world is still in a state of climate crisis denial. zcomm.org We can have as many meetings as we like, but the will to change is nowhere in sight. Society must start treating this as a crisis…

RT (2020-08-22). Kamala Harris, 'pranked' by Russian comedians posing as Greta Thunberg, 'accepts' hoax kompromat on Trump. rt.com It seems pranksters Vovan and Lexus have successfully duped another politician, with audio suggesting Democrat VP nominee Kamala Harris was eager to accept a fake recording of Donald Trump, believing the caller was Greta Thunberg. | Vovan and Lexus, whose real names are Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, posed as the teenage climate activist and her father Svante to make a phone call in January to Harris, just months before she became Joe Biden's running mate. | "Congratulations on all your leadership. I'm so inspired by your courage and your voice," Sen. Harris (D-California) tells the pranksters, in th…

Linda McQuaig (2020-08-22). NDP Should Use Its Clout to Push Vulnerable Liberals to Take Urgent Climate Action. commondreams.org Climate campaigners in Canada and beyond and protested Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's ongoing support for the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project. (Photo: Greenpeace) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2018-03-23_at_3.33.16_pm_1_0_0_0.jpg

Staff (2020-08-21). Biden, Harris Feel The Heat Over Fossil Fuel Subsidies. therealnews.com The DNC says the platform statement calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies was an "error" and that's why it was removed. But climate activist circles smell a rat and are calling for clarification.

Staff (2020-08-21). Biden Vows to Fight COVID, Climate, Racism and Economic Meltdown. truthout.org We air highlights from Joe Biden's highly anticipated speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention, in which he formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, focused on the dangers of President Trump's reelection and pledged to address the four simultaneous crises of systemic racism, the pandemic, the economic downturn and the climate crisis. "United, we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America," Biden said. The 25-minute speech was delivered from his home state…

Tamara Toles O'Laughlin (2020-08-21). When It Comes to Climate Change, It's Joe Biden Versus the DNC. thenation.com When It Comes to Climate Change, It's Joe Biden Versus the DNC…