Daily Archives: September 23, 2020

2020-09-23: News Headlines

Alan Macleod (2020-09-23). New Report Links Mass Extinction of Animals To Human Activity. mintpressnews.com A new report by the WWF shows that humans are overusing earth's biocapacity by over 50%, rendering over 68% of all the world's animal life extinct.

Nadda Osman (2020-09-23). Debris from Beirut explosion adds to Lebanon's rubbish crisis. middleeasteye.net Debris from Beirut explosion adds to Lebanon's rubbish crisis | The port blast has damaged many waste management facilities, leaving rubbish to pile up again | Wed, 09/23/2020 – 12: 20 | Rubbish has started piling up in streets as the country struggles to deal with the aftermath of the explosion (AFP) | Last month's port blast in Beirut has put further stress on Lebanon's waste management infrastructure,…

Mike Hastie (2020-09-23). When Truth Exposes the Unspeakable. counterpunch.org I photographed this billboard on September 19, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Three days prior to this, Portland, Oregon had the worst air quality in the world, as a result of raging killer Climate Fires throughout the state. President Donald Trump believes thatGlobal Warming is a hoax. Millions of Americans are directly influenced by his opinions. As you look at

RT (2020-09-23). Seattle lawmakers successfully override mayor's veto on $3 million police budget cut & 100 officer layoffs. rt.com Seattle City Council has voted to overturn Mayor Jenny Durkan's veto on legislation that would slash millions of dollars from the local police budget, a move cheered by activist groups and reviled by some residents. | The council overturned Durkan's veto by a vote of 7-2, securing exactly the number of votes needed to put the legislation into effect. | "In the wake of a racial reckoning, a $300 million budget shortfall, a pandemic, a climate crisis, a homelessness crisis… and a lack of federal leadership, our fundamental duty remains: to balance the city's budget and meet the needs of Seattle's most vulnerab…

Noam Chomsky (2020-09-23). Internationalism or Extinction. zcomm.org PI Council Member Noam Chomsky's keynote speech at the Progressive International's inaugural summit.

Ashley Curtin (2020-09-23). Morgan Stanley announces new climate commitment, first American bank to set target. nationofchange.org The financial institute is the first major American bank to commit to "providing financing, expertise and thought leadership to support the transition to a low-carbon world."

Sonali Kolhatkar (2020-09-23). Democrats Mock the GOP for Denying Climate Science, But They are Still Addicted to Fossil Fuel Funders. counterpunch.org The recent chorus of Democratic Party leaders lining up to denounce President Donald Trump's climate science denial is deafening. As the West Coast of the United States burns relentlessly, taking lives and land, spewing ash and smoke, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Bidendenounced Trump's refusal to acknowledge climate science, saying in a speech, "If you give

Rob Okun (2020-09-23). The End of "Climate Change" counterpunch.org "Climate change" is over. No, not the relentless, catastrophic environmental crisis that's spreading like, well, wildfire around the world. That is definitely real and definitely far from over. What I'm talking about is the anemic, wishy-washy term "climate change," which does such a poor job of communicating the existential threat to the planet. Let's face

Sonali Kolhatkar (2020-09-23). Dems Mock GOP for Denying Climate Science, But Are Still Addicted to Fossil Fuel Funders. zcomm.org The liberal party offers strong rhetoric on climate change but in practice promotes continued fossil fuel production. In the face of our unfolding climate catastrophe, this needs to end now…

Rachel Zhang (2020-09-23). Youth Must Focus This Election on Climate Change — and Push Dems to Confront It. zcomm.org Together, we can transform a burnt, drained, and inequitable world into a green, replenished, and just one for generations to come…

Youth Solidarity Project (2020-09-23). Friday 9/25: Climate Strike: March 4 Our Future Against Chevron Corporation in Richmond. indybay.org Starting point: Judge George D Carroll Park, cross streets area of South Gardland Ave & E. Richmond Ave. & West Cutting Blvd, Richmond, CA 94801…

Leon Kunstenaar (2020-09-23). Arrest at Extinction Rebellion Protest. indybay.org "We Want to Live!" "SOUND THE ALARM" | "California Is On Fire!!"

Climate Reality Project & Commonwealth Club (2020-09-23). Thursday 10/1: Climate Justice in San Francisco: Racism, Radioactive & Toxic Waste, and Rising Oceans. indybay.org Online (FREE)…

Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force (2020-09-23). Friday 9/25: Climate Emergency Mobilization Summit Bay Area. indybay.org Online…

350 Marin & others (2020-09-23). Saturday 9/26: Climate Strike: #BayAreaShoeStrike Climate Emergency Protest Online & In-person North Bay. indybay.org In-person: Novato City Hall, 901 Sherman Ave, Novato, CA 94945 | Online via social media & YouTube…

Staff (2020-09-23). Voters Want to Use Climate Change Policies to Rebuild the Economy After COVID. truthout.org A majority of U.S. voters want to see corrective climate change policies and the creation of jobs in the clean energy sector as a way to recover from the mismanagement and economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll. | The poll, conducted by VICE Media Group and several partners, found that 54% of Americans disapprove of President Trump's handling of the pandemic, while 78% of Americans want to see Congress take a more aggressive stance in stamping out the coronavir…

Steve Topple (2020-09-23). PMQs was a waste of 12 minutes, until the SNP stepped in. thecanary.co If you wanted to waste 12 minutes of your life, you could have watched Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday 23 September. That was until the SNP got involved. | A prime shambles: | Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer were both muddled, to say the least. Although the Labour leader did seem more robust than he has on previous occasions. Probably something to do with Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband's But Starmer still failed to land a…

Tom Engelhardt (2020-09-23). A Vote for Trump Is a Vote for Climate Apocalypse. thenation.com A Vote for Trump Is a Vote for Climate Apocalypse…

Mark Hertsgaard, Kyle Pope (2020-09-23). The Media's Climate Coverage Is Improving, but Time Is Very Short. thenation.com The Media's Climate Coverage Is Improving, but Time Is Very Short…

Editor (2020-09-22). Chris Hedges: The Cost of Resistance. scheerpost.com By Chris Hedges / Original to Scheerpost Two of the rebels I admire most, Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher, and Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, are in jail in Britain. That should not be surprising. You can measure the effectiveness of resistance by the fury of the response. Julian courageously exposed the lies, deceit, war crimes and corruption of the ruling imperial… |

_____ (2020-09-22). Chris Hedges: The Cost Of Resistance. popularresistance.org Two of the rebels I admire most, Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher, and Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, are in jail in Britain. That should not be surprising. You can measure the effectiveness of resistance by the fury of the response. Julian courageously exposed the lies, deceit, war crimes and corruption of the ruling imperial elites. Roger has helped organized the largest acts of mass civil disobedience in British history, shutting down parts of London for weeks, in a bid to wrest power from a ruling class that has done nothing, and will do nothing, to halt the climate emergency and…

Staff (2020-09-22). 18-Year-Old Indigenous Climate Activist Fights to Save Arctic Wildlife Refuge. truthout.org This story originally appeared in Teen Vogue and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. | In March, Ph.D. candidate and climate justice organizer Maia Wikler traveled to Alaska to continue reporting on the ongoing human rights and climate crisis in the Arctic. She is directing a short documentary film, with support from The North Face, featuring the Gwich'in women who are leading the fight to protect…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-09-22). "What's Your Voting Plan?" Organizers Urge Americans to Get #VoteReady on National Voter Registration Day. commondreams.org As the U.S. marked the eighth annual National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, advocacy groups focused on issues ranging from reproductive rights and the climate crisis to immigrant and voting rights urged the public to ensure they are registered to vote in the November 3 general election. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-09-22_at_4.31.53_pm.jpg

David Rovics (2020-09-22). Diary of a Smoke Refugee. dissidentvoice.org As Arun Gupta tweeted the other day, "Pardon the catastrophic global warming, we now return you to your regularly scheduled state violence." It's been quite a week here in Oregon. I know there are plenty of other horrors happening in the world. The invisible ones are the worst. Like tens of millions of children in …

Staff (2020-09-22). Use every tool, says AOC to Democrats. therealnews.com The stakes for the upcoming Supreme Court battle couldn't be higher as Roe v. Wade, workers, healthcare access, unions, LGBTQ communities and climate change legislation hang in the balance.

John Scales Avery (2020-09-22). Climate and the U.S. election. nationofchange.org The U.S. election in November is critical, not just because of Donald Trump's neo-fascisinm, but primarily because if the climate-change-denying and fossil-fuel supporting Republican Party retains power.

news.un (2020-09-22). As UN turns 75, multilateral milestones show successes and 'how much remains to be done' — Kagame. news.un.org In a virtual address to the UN General Assembly's annual general debate, the President of Rwanda on Tuesday noted that while milestones on gender, climate and development have demonstrated the achievements of multilateral action, they also serve to remind "how much remains to be done".

news.un (2020-09-22). 'Enhance solidarity' to fight COVID-19, Chinese President urges, also pledges carbon neutrality by 2060. news.un.org The Chinese President Xi Jinping called for enhanced international solidarity to fight the coronavirus on Tuesday during his UN General Assembly address, declaring that his country would aim to become carbon neutral, in the wider battle against climate change, by 2060.

Staff (2020-09-22). Climate Anxiety Is Rising in the US — But Not Among Republicans. truthout.org Polling shows that people in the United States are taking climate change more seriously today than they were five years ago, but views on climate change remain sharply divided along partisan lines as the November elections loom. Concern about climate change remains higher in dozens of other countries, particularly in nations such as Mexico, Turkey and Vietnam, where people are more likely to feel personally affected by climate change than those living in the U.S. — despite record temperatures, widespr…

commondreams (2020-09-22). Climate Affects Every Topic for First Presidential Debate. It Cannot Be Ignored on Tuesday. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Derrick Z. Jackson (2020-09-22). Election Day Is Nearing, But There's No End in Sight to Trump's Attacks on Science. commondreams.org Will the American electorate end up asking for an encore performance of this full-throated rejection of scientific evidence? (Photo: Grist / U.S. Forest Service) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/climate-denier.jpg

Bill McKibben (2020-09-22). Vote as if the Climate and the Future of Humanity Depend on It—Because They Do. commondreams.org A firefighter uses a drip torch to set a backfire to protect houses in Adobe Canyon during the Nuns Fire on October 15, 2017 near Santa Rosa, California. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/fire_this_time_california_0.jpg

Bill McKibben (2020-09-22). Vote as if the Climate and the Future of Humanity Depend on It—Because They Do. thenation.com Vote as if the Climate and the Future of Humanity Depend on It—Because They Do…

Sonia Shah (2020-09-22). First Came the Hurricane, Then Came the Campaign of Terror. thenation.com First Came the Hurricane, Then Came the Campaign of Terror…

Daniel Judt (2020-09-22). In the UK, Climate Isn't a Political Issue. That's a Problem. thenation.com In the UK, Climate Isn't a Political Issue. That's a Problem.

Katrina vanden Heuvel (2020-09-22). Putting the Existential Threat of Climate Change Front and Center. thenation.com Putting the Existential Threat of Climate Change Front and Center…

_____ (2020-09-21). Greenwashing The US military, Julian Assange, RIP Kevin Zeese. popularresistance.org The weather is getting more extreme by the year and conversations about climate change are growing along with it. So when Michael Moore made the movie 'Planet of the Humans', criticizing the corporate co-optation of the green movement, he came under attack from well-connected activists. Lee Camp reports on how Bill McKibben, one of the targets of Moore's movie, has adopted a role of helping some of the worst industries and institutions out there to greenwash their images. In an op-ed from a year ago, McKibben used his platform to rehabilitate the image of the US military.

Staff (2020-09-21). Amy McGrath raised millions after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Is it all wasted? therealnews.com After the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Democrats around the country began donating to Senate races in an effort to remove McConnell as majority leader.

Center For Biological Diversity (2020-09-21). Administration Sued for Records Detailing U.S. Role on Behalf of Glyphosate-maker Bayer in Pressuring Thailand to Reverse Plan to Ban Pesticide. globalresearch.ca The Center for Biological Diversity sued the administration for public records detailing the U.S. government's efforts on behalf of Bayer, the maker of the herbicide glyphosate, to convince Thailand last year to reverse its planned ban of the cancer-linked chemical….

Thom Hartmann (2020-09-21). Trump's Destruction of America Started With Reagan. counterpunch.org Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies are letting America die. The billionaires who make their money from fossil fuels have bought off Trump and Republicans so that they're denying climate change while a dozen states in the West burn and the Gulf Coast is repeatedly ravaged by hurricanes. Firefighters are using dogs to identify the

Staff (2020-09-21). Europe Drives Destruction of US Forests in the Name of Fighting Climate Change. truthout.org Europe is often considered to be a global leader on climate action. For over a decade, the European Union (EU) has been actively promoting the need for action on climate change, pushing policies that scale back carbon emissions and support the growth of renewable energy. | On the bright side, this has led to the retirement of a large number of coal-burning power plants and increased adoption of solar and wind power. However, a number of countries have embraced biomass electricity, a short-t…

commondreams (2020-09-21). Environment America Unveils New Initiatives During Climate Week. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Lisa Newcomb, staff writer (2020-09-21). Climate Crisis Fears Growing Across Globe, Study Shows, With Concern Highest Among Most Vulnerable. commondreams.org "This is a year of vulnerability and exacerbation of inequality and those most susceptible to disruption feel the greatest level of seriousness." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/getty-family-flood-bangladesh.jpg

commondreams (2020-09-21). Members of Congress to Introduce Resolution Supporting Juliana Climate Case Plaintiffs and Other Youths. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2020-09-21). Fracking and Petrochemicals Create Fewer Pennsylvania Jobs Than Clean Energy. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Lisa Newcomb, staff writer (2020-09-21). Fracking Not a 'Sustainable Pathway to Prosperity': New Report Shows Clean Energy Would Create More Jobs Than Fossil Fuels. commondreams.org "For the sake of giving workers a stable future, protecting public health, and making real strides in the fight against climate chaos, the choice is clear: Clean energy jobs can deliver far more good jobs for Pennsylvania." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/getty-biden-pennsylvania.jpg

Jamie Henn (2020-09-21). The Climate Emergency Isn't Just a Crisis, It's a Crime. commondreams.org A law enforcement officer watches flames launch into the air as fire continues to spread at the Bear fire in Oroville, California on September 9, 2020. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/gettyimages-1228419561.png

commondreams (2020-09-21). 350.org on Morgan Stanley's Latest Climate Announcement. commondreams.org ______________________________…

John Buell (2020-09-21). The Many Ugly Faces of Climate Science Denial. commondreams.org "Fox News, the Republican Party, and the right edge of evangelicalism take the lead, often inspiring each other to new levels of extremism." (Photo: Screenshot) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/lauragreta.png

Jacob Wallace (2020-09-21). Want the Youth Vote? Prioritize Climate Change. thenation.com Want the Youth Vote? Prioritize Climate Change…