2021-04-07: News Headlines

Evaggelos Vallianatos (2021-04-07). The Climate Elephant in the Atmosphere (and in the Room). counterpunch.org Climate is a complex biological and chemical interaction between the Earth and the Sun. The Earth is the only star, which is the only live planet in the known universe. It keeps a safe distance from the fiery Sun, so that life is its distinguishing characteristic. The Sun bathes the Earth with life-giving light and energy.

Eurasia Review (2021-04-07). New Study Ties Solar Variability To Onset Of Decadal La Nina Events. eurasiareview.com A new study shows a correlation between the end of solar cycles and a switch from El Nino to La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean, suggesting that solar variability can drive seasonal weather variability on Earth. | If the connection outlined in the journal Earth and Space Science holds up, it could significantly improve the predictability of the largest El Nino and La Nina events, which have a number of seasonal climate effects over land. For example, the southern United States tends to be warmer and drier during a La Nina, while the northern U.S. tends to be colder and wetter. | "Energy from the Sun is th…

Eurasia Review (2021-04-07). Alien Raindrops Surprisingly Like Rain On Earth. eurasiareview.com Raindrops on other planets and moons are close to the size of raindrops on Earth despite having different chemical compositions and falling through vastly different atmospheres, a new study finds. The results suggest raindrops falling from clouds are surprisingly similar across a wide range of planetary conditions, which could help scientists better understand the climates and precipitation cycles of other worlds, according to the researchers. | Raindrops on Earth are made of water, but other worlds in our solar system have precipitation made of more unusual stuff. On Venus, it rains sulfuric acid; on Jupiter,…

Arab News (2021-04-07). The Greenhouse Gases We Ignore At Our Peril — OpEd. eurasiareview.com By Ranvir S. Nayar* | Over recent decades, as awareness of global warming and climate change has spread across the globe, the focus has fallen on carbon dioxide, which has been identified as the villain of the piece. There is no denying that carbon dioxide is extremely harmful to the global climate and is responsible, in large part, for the warming of the planet since the start of the Industrial Revolution three centuries ago. | But carbon dioxide has become an easy target for both climate activists and businesses for several reasons. First is that it is a high-visibility gas, as it is released as a result of…

Eurasia Review (2021-04-07). Human Activities Sound An Alarm For Sea Life. eurasiareview.com Humans have altered the ocean soundscape by drowning out natural noises relied upon by many marine animals, from shrimp to sharks. | Sound travels fast and far in water, and sea creatures use sound to communicate, navigate, hunt, hide and mate. Since the industrial revolution, humans have introduced their own underwater cacophony from shipping vessels, seismic surveys searching for oil and gas, sonar mapping of the ocean floor, coastal construction and wind farms. Global warming could further alter the ocean soundscape as the melting Arctic opens up more shipping routes and wind and rainfall patterns change.

Eurasia Review (2021-04-07). Houston Flooding Polluted Reefs More Than 100 Miles Offshore. eurasiareview.com Runoff from Houston's 2016 Tax Day flood and 2017's Hurricane Harvey flood carried human waste onto coral reefs more than 100 miles offshore in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, according to a Rice University study. | "We were pretty shocked," said marine biologist Adrienne Correa, co-author of the study in Frontiers in Marine Science. "One thing we always thought the Flower Garden Banks were safe from was terrestrial runoff and nutrient pollution. It's a jolt to realize that in these extreme events, it's not just the salt marsh or the seagrass that we need to worry about. Offshore ecosystems…

Nick Cunningham (2021-04-07). Indigenous youth rally calls on Biden to cancel Line 3 and Dakota Access Pipelines. nationofchange.org The White House remains silent on both of the pipeline projects, which Indigenous communities say are blatant cases of racism and injustice.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-04-07). Slovenian Left intensifies campaign against changes to Water Act. peoplesdispatch.org Slovenian left party Levica and other progressive environmental groups in the country, such as the Eco Circle Society, Civil Initiative TODAY, Young people for climate justice and the Balkan River Defence, have intensified their campaign against recent amendments to the Water Act. Several campaign points were opened in capital Ljubljana till Monday, April 5 to collect signatures for a referendum against dilution of the Water Act. The Slovenian parliament had passed the amendments on March 31 with 44 votes in favor and 38 against. | According to reports, the amendments dilute restrictions on constructing buildings…

Ted Glick (2021-04-07). A Winning Climate and Political Approach. zcomm.org If the Biden proposal is the best that can be passed this year, then it should be supported and passed, but with a clear understanding that it is a beginning, not an end…

Zachary Conti (2021-04-07). 260 Faith, Labor and Development Groups Press IMF, G20 and White House on COVID Response. indybay.org Ahead of Spring IMF and World Bank Meetings, World's Largest Unions, Human Rights Groups, Environmental and Religious Institutions Call for Aid, Debt Relief, Access to Emergency Reserves and Climate Protections…

Reiner Brown (2021-04-07). Lockdown for the Military. indybay.org Life can only be saved with a consistent policy of social justice, of cooperation instead of capitalist competition for profit and supremacy. Peace is the basis of sustainable politics. The world is too small, too vulnerable, nature too endangered for wars and military. Climate justice requires no to war and yes to disarmament.

Emperor Norton the Ninth (2021-04-07). Berkeley Anti-Homeless & Anti-Food… indybay.org Anti-Homeless architecture in Berkeley, and covering up food waste, with the illusion and propagation of false environmental narratives…

Juan Cole (2021-04-06). Middle East, Africa, in Special Trouble as Human-Caused Climate Emergency causes 30% drop in Agricultural Productivity Growth. juancole.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — A new paper in the journal Nature Climate Change has found that the human-caused climate emergency is responsible for a 20 percent drop in global agricultural productivity growth in the past 60 years.* A. Ortiz-Bobea and colleagues write: "The cumulative impact of ACC [anthropogenic or human-caused climate change] on global …

Dan Dinello (2021-04-06). Winning the War for Earth: Kim Stanley Robinson's subversive new Novel Rejects Doomism and Imagines a Hopeful Solution to the Climate Emergency. juancole.com Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) — In the wake of a killer heat wave that slaughters millions, eco-terrorism spreads across the globe and capitalism ruptures in Kim Stanley Robinson's science fiction novel that envisions a climate crisis scenario of the next thirty years. Despite violence, ecological calamity and a super-depression, The Ministry for the Future …

_____ (2021-04-06). Six Ways Chevron Imperils Climate, Human Rights, And Racial Justice. popularresistance.org Although we're barely one quarter into 2021, multiple forces are squeezing Chevron for the preventable harm it is inflicting on the global climate. The company is also being dragged for its greenwashing, its role in perpetuating racial injustice in the United States, and its violations of Indigenous peoples' rights and other human rights from Burma/Myanmar to Ecuador. | The table is now set for Chevron's annual meeting in May, where several climate-related shareholder proposals will be on the agenda. Campaigners are calling for votes against both the board chair and the lead independent director on the basis of f…

_____ (2021-04-06). Indigenous Youth Rally To Demand Biden Stop Pipelines. popularresistance.org On Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Sacred Stone Camp on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation to resist the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), frontline Indigenous youth and organizers held several actions in Washington, D.C. The activists called on President Joe Biden to end DAPL and the Line 3 pipeline and to "Build Back Fossil Free." | "It was our youth that led today," explained Waniya Locke (Diné, Lakota, Nakota and Anishinaabe). The youth-led actions included a rally at the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) headquarters, where organizers delivered petitions with 400,000 signatures demand…

WSWS (2021-04-06). Florida phosphate reservoir on the verge of collapse: An exposure of industrial and government negligence. wsws.org The state is pumping millions of gallons of radioactive contaminated wastewater into Tampa Bay with the aim of preventing the imminent collapse of a mismanaged phosphate reservoir.

CJ Polychroniou (2021-04-06). A Green New Deal Is More Affordable in the Long Term Than Fossil Fuels. zcomm.org It is naàØve and dangerous to rely on the "invisible hand" of the market either for economic transformation or for a solution to the problem of climate change…

Dan Dinello (2021-04-06). Winning the War for Earth. zcomm.org Kim Stanley Robinson's subversive new Novel Rejects Doomism and Imagines a Hopeful Solution to the Climate Emergency…

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2021-04-06). 'We Have to Act': Atmospheric CO2 Passes 420 PPM for First Time Ever. commondreams.org "It is truly groundbreaking," Greta Thunberg said of the growing concentration of the heat-trapping gas. "And I don't mean that in a good way." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/no_planet_b.jpg

commondreams (2021-04-06). Climate and Environmental Justice Groups Call on EPA to Hold Industrial Dairy and Hog Operations Accountable for Pollution. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Charles Komanoff (2021-04-06). Any Bipartisan Approach With GOP on a Carbon Tax Is a Fool's Errand. commondreams.org We at Carbon Tax Center believe that removing climate deniers from the Climate Solutions Caucus could help rehabilitate carbon taxing in the public conversation. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/coal_1_0.jpg

commondreams (2021-04-06). 50 Organizations Call on President Biden to Protect Tongass National Forest and Carbon-rich Forests Under U.S. Climate Commitments. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2021-04-06). 'We Need Police-Free Schools': Survey Finds 2/3 of US Students Want Cops Removed From Campus. commondreams.org "Students deserve more than an education system that is hell-bent on criminalizing them instead of providing them with the resources they need to succeed." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/school-to-prison_pipeline.jpg

Staff (2021-04-06). Biden's $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan Goes Beyond Bridges & Roads, But Its "Scale Is Inadequate" democracynow.org We speak with economist Darrick Hamilton, founding director of the Institute on Race and Political Economy at The New School, about how U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling for a minimum global corporate income tax to help pay for President Joe Biden's proposed $2.25 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan, aimed in part at combating the climate crisis and addressing racial inequities in housing and transportation. The plan includes over $650 billion for roads, bridges, railways and ports; $650 billion to expand broadband, retrofit homes and upgrade water systems and the electrical grid; $400 billion for…

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