2021-01-20: News Headlines

_____ (2021-01-20). Could Baltimore's Climate Change Suit Become A Supreme Court Test Case? popularresistance.org What began as a narrow jurisdictional question to be argued Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a climate change lawsuit filed by the city of Baltimore could take on far greater implications if the high court agrees with major oil companies to expand its purview and consider whether federal, rather than state courts, are the appropriate venue for the city's case and possibly a host of similar lawsuits. | The high court initially agreed to hear a request by the oil and gas industry to review a ruling by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in which the court affirmed a federal district judge's decision to…

Pip Hinman (2021-01-20). On current trends, Australia will reach carbon neutrality in 300 years. greenleft.org.au The climate-denying federal government is putting Australia on track to reach net zero emissions in 300 years, writes Sarah Hathway.

teleSUR (2021-01-20). Biden Orders US To Rejoin Paris Agreement on Climate Change. telesurenglish.net U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order returning the United States to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. | Hours after being sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, Biden signed in the Oval Office an executive order that returns his country back to the Paris Agreement on climate change, reversing his predecessor Donald Trump's decision to abandon the deal. | RELATED: | "We are g…

Johanna Kichton (2021-01-20). People's Action Statement on President Biden's Executive Orders. peoplesaction.org Contact: Johanna Kichton, 240.206.1145, press@peoplesaction.org WASHINGTON, D.C.—People's Action today release the following statements in anticipation of President Biden's executive orders on climate, housing, and immigration: Climate "The Biden administration's commitment to act on climate and revoke the Keystone XL pipeline's permit are encouraging first steps in the direction of climate and environmental justice," People and …

_____ (2021-01-19). Martin Luther King's Vision Of An Interconnected World. popularresistance.org We are facing converging global crises — a horrific pandemic, worsening economic inequality both in the United States and globally, climate change and the continuing scourge of systemic racism around the world. What would Martin Luther King Jr. think or advise if he were alive today? What might he say in these days after the Capitol Building was attacked by a primarily white mob that was seeking to usurp the results of a free and fair election and implement an America First agenda through violent force? | To get to these answers, we need to consider one of King's most important and overlooked pieces of writ…

Amanda Mills (2021-01-19). Biden expected to cancel Keystone XL pipeline on day one of presidency. nationofchange.org "This decision to halt the Keystone XL pipeline on day one in office sets a precedent that all permitting decisions must pass a climate test and respect Indigenous rights."

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2021-01-19). 'Subsidizing the Spread of Covid': Report Shows Corporate Landlords Received Public Funding Yet Still Kicked Out Tenants. commondreams.org "Giving 'Covid relief' to those most likely to evict is like giving money to stop climate change to oil barons—it makes the problem worse." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/eviction_crisis_5.jpg

The Conversation (2021-01-18). Climate Crisis: what would 7.1 ∞ F. ( 4 ∞C) of global warming feel like? juancole.com By Robert Wilby | — Another year, another climate record broken. Globally, 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year ever recorded. This was all the more remarkable given that cool conditions in the Pacific Ocean — known as La Niña — began to emerge in the second half of the year. The Earth's mean …

Editor (2021-01-18). There Was Nothing Corporate-Friendly About Martin Luther King, Jr. scheerpost.com Thomas Hawk / CC BY-NC 2.0] By Liz Theoharis / Tom Dispatch 2020 will go down as the deadliest year in American history, significantly due to the devastation delivered by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, count in nearly two trillion dollars in damage from climate events (many caused by, or heightened by, intensifying global warming), a surge of incidents of police violence inflicted on Black… |

_____ (2021-01-18). Decoding The Hype Behind The Natural Gas Industry's Hydrogen Push. popularresistance.org It seems like nearly every day another hopeful article touts the potential of using hydrogen as a fuel to tackle climate change. What's known as "green hydrogen" — which relies on renewable power for production — is getting the bulk of that attention. | In December, ABC News ran an article with the headline "Why green hydrogen is the renewable energy source to watch in 2021." And as Bloomberg has reported, Airbus is betting big on hydrogen as a fuel for its planes. Meanwhile, South Korea's SK Global just announced an investment in U.S. hydrogen fuel cell producer Plug Power; in the past year, the comp…

_____ (2021-01-18). Many Overheated Forests May Soon Release More Carbon Than They Absorb. popularresistance.org The last decades have been filled with dire warning signs from forests. Global warming has contributed to thinning canopies in European forests and to sudden die-offs of aspen trees in Colorado, as well as insect outbreaks that are killing trees around the world. In many places, forests are not growing back. | New research shows that Earth's overheated climate will alter forests at a global scale even more fundamentally, by flipping a critical greenhouse gas switch in the next few decades. The study suggests that, by 2040, forests will take up only half as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they do now, i…

Carey Gillam (2021-01-18). A Death and a Settlement as Bayer Continues Trying to End Roundup Litigation. globalresearch.ca Seven months after Bayer AG