Daily Archives: October 19, 2020

2020-10-19: News Headlines

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2020-10-19). Indigenous Women to Financial CEOs: Stop Abetting 'Climate-Wrecking' Tar Sands Sector or Expect More Resistance. commondreams.org "Join us putting the proverbial nail in the coffin of these dying unneeded industries." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/indigenous-women-financial-tar-sands.jpg

Zoe PC (2020-10-19). Hours before Bolivia goes the polls, early results system suspended, military mobilization in La Paz. mronline.org The first elections since the coup d'état will be held on October 18 amid a tense social and political climate. This includes a military mobilization in La Paz the night before the polls and the suspension of the DIREPRE early results system.

WSWS (2020-10-19). Melting glaciers threaten catastrophic consequences for humanity. wsws.org Global warming has already resulted in continual and worldwide loss of glacial ice, and the concurrent melting of the permafrost ground layer is approaching irreversibility.

_____ (2020-10-19). Embracing The Gifts Of Conflict For Social Change. popularresistance.org As a collective, we are living in unprecedented times. The triple pandemic of COVID-19, white supremacy, and capitalist-driven climate crisis has intensified survival fears and made the structural oppression we are living under more palpable and unbearable. We are coming face to face with the fact of our interdependence, and the stakes are high. Either we as a species learn to live well with each other and the earth now, or die trying. | As so many wise souls are reminding us, our liberation is bound together, and we need each other, now, more than ever.

Climate Reality Project and partners (2020-10-19). Saturday 10/24: Your Vote, Your World: #GOTV Virtual Rally for Climate, Racial, & Social Justice. indybay.org Online via livestream…

Center for Biological Diversity (2020-10-19). Thursday 10/22: Saving Life on Earth: Illegal Wildlife Trade & the Extinction Crisis of Africa's Wildlife. indybay.org Online via Zoom…

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2020-10-19). 'An Appalling Environmental Crime': Japan to Dump Radioactive Fukushima Water Into Pacific Ocean. commondreams.org "The moment that I hear the word 'treated' being used instead of 'contaminated,' I can't think differently than this is a kind of newspeak," said one Greenpeace official. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/fukushima_6.jpg

commondreams (2020-10-19). Efficient, Electric: Report Offers Path to U.S. Aviation Climate Pollution Cuts. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Josh Lappen (2020-10-19). How Climate-Driven Disasters Threaten Climate Progress. thenation.com How Climate-Driven Disasters Threaten Climate Progress…

Tina Landis (2020-10-18). Remote work aids climate protection, fuels inequality under capitalism. liberationnews.org By the author of Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism.

The Canary (2020-10-18). Woodland Trust plans to plant 50 million trees by 2025 to fight climate crisis. thecanary.co A conservation charity is pledging to plant 50 million trees by 2025 to help tackle climate change.The Woodland Trust is also urging millions of people to join its "big climate fightback" by planting trees this November to build support to sustain the biggest mass planting campaign the country has seen, in the next few years.The efforts come in the face of the impacts of Covid-19, with tree planting rates falling despite the need to increase woodland cover to store carbon and tackle the climate crisis. | As part of the push, the Woodland Trust is sending more than 600,000 free trees to community groups and school…

_____ (2020-10-18). Another Apocalypse Is Possible. popularresistance.org Everyone speaks about the Apocalypse as if it means "the end of the world." But, if we really want to grasp the complexity of the contemporary threats that are leading to mass extinction, we should return to the original Greek meaning of apokalyptein as of "unveiling", "uncovering" something. What is happening today — from the ongoing climate crisis to the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic — is luckily not the end of the world just yet, but in its horrifying destruction it is a warning, a "revelation" about the near future to come.

Dan Bacher (2020-10-18). Newsom Administration approves 6 more fracking permits, bringing the total to 54 this year. indybay.org "Gov. Newsom sacrifices our health, food, water and climate while dodging criticism when he issues new fracking permits on a Friday night," said Alexandra Nagy, California Director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action. "Newsom's concern over climate change is a deceptive mirage as his actions reveal a strong adherence to the status quo.

Steven Singer (2020-10-18). An Originalist Reading of Public Schools and the Absurdity of Amy Coney Barrett. commondreams.org Just imagine if we interpreted everything like people living in the 18th Century! (Photo: Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/amy_coney_barrett_climate.png

Staff (2020-10-17). Amid Climate Crisis, Many Americans Still Don't Know What the Green New Deal Is. truthout.org Americans could be forgiven if the first time they heard about the Green New Deal was during the October 7 vice-presidential debate between Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence. Viewers of Fox News may have heard about the Green New Deal, but the coverage on Fox, according to Media Matters, has, for the last two years, focused on

Noam Chomsky (2020-10-17). The President, the Pandemic & the Election. zcomm.org The urgent problem of overcoming the existential crises—global warming, nuclear war, pandemics—has to be done within the general framework of existing institutions. We can improve them. But you won't be able to overcome them in the relevant time frame…

Mariah Kreutter (2020-10-17). Dianne Feinstein Was Harder on Preteen Climate Activists Than She Was on Amy Coney Barrett. commondreams.org Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., speaks as the Senate Judiciary Committee hears from legal experts on the final day of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, on October 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/feinstein_1.jpg

Peoples Dispatch (2020-10-17). Fishermen oppose release of contaminated water from Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. peoplesdispatch.org The company which operates the plant, Tokyo Electric Power, has collected over 1.23 million tons of contaminated water since the collapse of the nuclear plant in 2011…

_____ (2020-10-17). Agribusiness Interests Hijack 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. popularresistance.org Oakland, CA -This World Food Day (October 16) amidst the ongoing pandemic and the devastating impact of the climate crisis, a Food Systems Summit is being planned a year from now by the United Nations, to fulfil the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. As the Summit takes shape, it is obvious that it does not intend to trigger the deep systemic changes necessary to address the massive challenges that we face. The Summit will do more of the same — green and poor wash — to preserve and perpetuate interests of agribusiness and agro-chemical corporations at the expense of people and the plane…

Staff (2020-10-16). Deeply Troubling: Kristen Clarke on How Rush to Confirm Barrett Endangers Voting & Civil Rights. democracynow.org The Senate confirmation hearing for President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett ended Thursday with Republicans on the Judiciary Committee scheduling a vote on her nomination for October 22, with a full Senate vote to follow shortly thereafter — less than two weeks before the presidential election, in which the Supreme Court could play a decisive role. The right-wing judge's confirmation looks all but assured, after four rushed days of questioning in which Barrett refused to state her position on abortion rights, gay marriage, the Affordable Care Act, voting rights, climate change, and even if…

Dan Bacher (2020-10-16). Karuk Tribe Leads Effort to Fight Racism and Climate Change with Fire. counterpunch.org The day after Indigenous Peoples Day was celebrated worldwide, the indigenous-led Western Klamath Restoration Partnership (WKRP) announced it is organizing its annual Klamath River Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (KTREX). though organizers said it will look very different from past years. "Organizers believe this is all the more urgent as the United States (and the World)

Juan Cole (2020-10-16). Pro-Life, Judge Barrett? Climate Denialism Is Mass Murder. commondreams.org The likelihood is that Barrett will go on looking out for the interests of Big Oil. (Photo: Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/world_1_0.jpg

Eve Ottenberg (2020-10-16). How Trust in a Covid Vaccine Eroded. counterpunch.org The Trump regime has managed to scare most Americans off taking a covid vaccine, by convincing them it politicized the science to rush it to market. People have concluded it may not be safe. So much for Operation Warp Speed. It turned into Operation Warp Distrust. So what if it provides 300 million vaccine doses by early 2021 — if few people take it, that's a waste of time and effort.

People's World (2020-10-16). People's World Oct. 25 Voter Town Hall: 'The People Have the Power'. peoplesworld.org Join us Sunday, Oct. 25, for a People's World event: The People Have the Power: A Voter Town Hall We're now in the home stretch, the last big push before the election, but we can't let up for a minute. Issues like COVID-19, the Heroes Act, aid for the unemployed climate change, the fight for …

RT (2020-10-16). Race & climate change, but no economy? Debate topics list lines up with Democrat issues, not what Americans care about. rt.com The newly released list of topics for the last remaining debate between President Donald Trump and his challenger Joe Biden seems to be tailored to Democrats rather than subjects that polls show most Americans care about. | The Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit that traditionally runs the process, announced on Friday that the topics for the October 22 debate have been picked by moderator Kristen Welker of NBC. They will range from fighting Covid-19 and climate change to leadership, families and race. | Debate topics for third debate disclosed: | Nothing on the economy (top issue in Gallup) | No…

Ramona du Houx (2020-10-16). During apocalyptic fires, elected officials called on Newsom to declare state of emergency. indybay.org Climate change created drought conditions and tinder box forests yet California remains a top oil producer adding to greenhouse gas emissions.

Mark Hertsgaard (2020-10-15). Journalists Must Demystify The Green New Deal. commondreams.org Climate Activists Protest Against Senate Leader Chuck Schumer Demanding He Sign On To Green New Deal. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-10-15_at_10.02.29_am.png

Matt Sedlar (2020-10-15). Biden's Treasury Could Fight Climate Change, But Would Lael Brainard's? cepr.net Common Dreams See article on original site If Joe Biden wins in November, he will have no time to spare to shift our trajectory away from climate disaster. He will need to move quickly to install forward thinking, dynamic, and aggressive advocates for climate action, especially in his Treasury Department. What does the Treasury department …

Bill McKibben (2020-10-15). The Breakage Machine Meets the Climate Crisis. progressive.org Trump's response to this existential planetary threat has been uniquely destructive.