Climate movement attracts new generation of activists
kathy_f | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-10
The latter part of 2018's Australian political discourse will be remembered for the re-emergence of climate action on the national agenda. | Independent Kerryn Phelps' win in the Wentworth by-election, promising "meaningful environmental action" and Labor's subsequent adoption of a 50% renewable energy policy by 2030 has come in the midst of researcher Rebecca Huntley's findings that "climate and environmental concerns" have increasingly become "a test of leadership" for voters. | These centrist platforms, however, have been rightly superseded by the newest base of the climate movement: high school students. | Ti…
greenleft.org.au/content/climate-movement-attracts-new-generation-activists
In Another Blow to Keystone XL, Judge Rules TransCanada Can't Conduct Pre-Construction Work
Jessica Corbett | globalresearch.ca | 2018-12-09
Opponents of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline–from indigenous and environmental groups to local farmers and ranchers–celebrated a win in court after a federal judge ruled on Friday that the fossil fuel giant cannot conduct pre-construction work on the pipeline until the … | The post In Another Blow to Keystone XL, Judge Rules TransCanada Can't Conduct Pre-Construction Work appeared first on Global Research.
globalresearch.ca/in-another-blow-to-keystone-xl-judge-rules-transcanada-cant-conduct-pre-construction-work/5662320
A Bold New Plan to Tackle Climate Change
Miles Kampf-Lassin | zcomm.org | 2018-12-09
In a livestreamed town hall event, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez laid out the best hope yet to stave off climate disaster and transform our economy: A Green New Deal. And now it's gaining support in Congress…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/a-bold-new-plan-to-tackle-climate-change/
Scientists Propose Restoring Forests to Fight Climate Change
STAFF | truthdig.com | 2018-12-09
New research shows that going back to nature through more environmentally conscious land use could help the U.S. could cut a fifth of its greenhouse gas emissions. | The post Scientists Propose Restoring Forests to Fight Climate Change appeared first on Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists.
truthdig.com/articles/scientists-suggest-restoring-forests-to-fight-climate-change/
Brown administration withdraws key document necessary for Delta Tunnels approval
Dan Bacher | indybay.org | 2018-12-09
"This is a great day for the Delta Protection Act," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. "We are thrilled about DWR's withdrawal from the consistency determination process."
indybay.org/newsitems/2018/12/07/18819657.php
Climate Town Hall
Regeneration-Pájaro Valley Climate Action | indybay.org | 2018-12-09
275 Main St, Watsonville, CA…
indybay.org/newsitems/2018/12/09/18819685.php
Valentin Lopez Speaks on the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Santa Cruz News | indybay.org | 2018-12-09
Valentin Lopez, Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, spoke at an event in celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, hosted by the United Nations Association: USA Santa Cruz, CA Chapter on December 8 at the Resource Center for Nonviolence.
indybay.org/newsitems/2018/12/09/18819692.php
Trump's Attack on the Clean Water Act Will Fuel Destructive Pipeline Boom
Sharon Lerner | theintercept.com | 2018-12-09
A new water rule that will strip federal protections from an estimated 60-90 percent of U.S. waterways will dramatically ease restrictions on how polluting industries do business. | According to the rule, which is due out next week, streams that don't run year-round and many wetlands will no longer be subject to the Clean Water Act. As a result, a wide range of industries — including agriculture, mining, waste management, chemical companies, real estate development, and road construction — will be free…
theintercept.com/2018/12/09/clean-water-act-regulations/
Signs Against Climate Change From Paris to Katowice
teleSUR | telesurenglish.net | 2018-12-08
As international negotiators and representatives gathered in Poland, for the COP24 U.N. Climate Change Conference, thousands of protestors gathered in several French cities as well as Katowice to demand politicians implement tougher environmental measures.The COP24 is considered a follow-up to the Paris Agreement, negotiated in 2015, and is aimed at producing a rule book on how to enforce action to limit further warming of the planet by the end of the year.At noon, demonstrators, accompanied by a heavy police presence, took to the streets of Katowice to demand an agreement that will prevent temperatures rising by…
telesurenglish.net/news/Signs-Against-Climate-Change-From-Paris-to-Katowice-20181208-0020.html
Reviving the Nuclear Disarmament Movement: A Practical Proposal
Lawrence Wittner | zcomm.org | 2018-12-08
In late November 2018, Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned public intellectual, remarked that "humanity faces two imminent existential threats: environmental catastrophe and nuclear war." Curiously, although a widespread environmental movement has developed to save the planet from accelerating climate change, no counterpart has emerged to take on the rising danger of nuclear disaster. Indeed, this danger‚Äïexemplified Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/reviving-the-nuclear-disarmament-movement-a-practical-proposal/
Making Global Climate Change Local
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2018-12-08
At the Sanders Institute Gathering, Abdul El-Sayed, the runner-up in Michigan's Democratic 2018 governor's race primary, talks about how to bridge fights for environmental health and justice with the global fight to reduce carbon emissions | The post Making Global Climate Change Local appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/making-global-climate-change-local
Shell Oil Executive Boasts That His Company Influenced the Paris Agreement
Kate Aronoff | theintercept.com | 2018-12-08
Shell oil helped write the Paris climate agreement, according to a top Royal Dutch Shell executive. | They're also the world's ninth-largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions. | The executive, Shell's Chief Climate Change Adviser David Hone, made his comments at the international climate change conference COP 24 on Friday. Hone was candid about just how much of a hand his company — through their involvement with the Internation…
theintercept.com/2018/12/08/shell-oil-executive-boasts-that-his-company-influenced-the-paris-agreement/
Climate Crisis Critical Issue in 2020 Elections — Jane Sanders
Shared by Jocelyn Dombroski | therealnews.com | 2018-12-07
Jane Sanders tells Paul Jay that voters shouldn't support candidates who claim to be progressive, but don't prioritize the fight against fossil fuel interests | The post Climate Crisis Critical Issue in 2020 Elections — Jane Sanders appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/climate-crisis-critical-issue-in-2020-elections-jane-sanders
The Deadly Cost of Pipelines in Native Land: Winona LaDuke on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-07
As the oil and gas pipeline boom crosses the United States and Canada, indigenous activists say the influx of male workers in Native communities has corresponded with a spike in the kidnapping and murder of indigenous women. We speak with Winona LaDuke, Ojibwe environmental leader and executive director of the group Honor the Earth. She lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota.
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/7/winona_laduke_crisis_of_missing_murdered
Winona LaDuke Calls for Indigenous-Led "Green New Deal" as She Fights Minnesota Pipeline Expansion
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-07
While world leaders converge in Poland for the U.N. climate change summit, we look at the indigenous-led fight against destructive oil pipelines and the revolutionary potential of the Green New Deal with Winona LaDuke, Ojibwe environmental leader and executive director of the group Honor the Earth. She lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota.
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/7/winona_laduke_calls_for_indigenous_led
What If We Just Buy Off Big Fossil Fuel? A Novel Plan to Mitigate the Climate Calamity
Steve Hendricks | counterpunch.org | 2018-12-07
Photo Source Food & Water Watch | CC BY 2.0 | As the nations of the world are gathered in Poland to fret about the state of the climate, there's an unpleasant truth–one might say an inconvenient truth–that climate advocates have long refused to face: Big Fossil Fuel has beaten us. | We've done our damnedest to stop them from wrecking the climate, but they're nonetheless pulling carbon from the ground in wondrous quantities. It was once astonishing that in the U.S. alone they could extract 55 quadrillion BTUs worth of oil, gas, and coal each ye…
counterpunch.org/2018/12/07/what-if-we-just-buy-off-big-fossil-fuel-a-novel-plan-to-mitigate-the-climate-calamity/
EPA's New Water Rule Will Gut the Clean Water Act
Sharon Lerner | theintercept.com | 2018-12-07
A new water rule will greatly reduce federal water protections, imperiling drinking water, endangered species, and ecosystems across the country. According to the rule that the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release next week — some details of which were leaked Thursday — streams that are dependent on rainfall and wetlands not physically connected to year-round waterways will no longer be covered by the Clean Water Act. | As a result of the change, an estimated 60-90 percent of U.S. waterways could lose federal protections that cu…
theintercept.com/2018/12/07/epas-new-water-rule-will-gut-the-clean-water-act/
Poland Denies Entry to Environmental Activists to Attend Climate Talks
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2018-12-07
When I traveled to Poland to attend the United Nations climate conference yesterday, I passed through immigration without any problems. But not all representatives of civil society groups participating in the negotiations have been that lucky. | Women climate change activists demand respect for rights at Paris Agreement signing ceremony outside the United Nations in New York, April 2016. | © 2016 Katharina Rall/Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Watch is aware of at least 13 people whom Polish authorities, over the pas…
hrw.org/news/2018/12/07/poland-denies-entry-environmental-activists-attend-climate-talks
Russia: Human Rights Defender Jailed
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2018-12-07
Russian human rights activist Lev Ponomarev at an All-Russian convention on the protection of human rights. | © 2017 Anton Novoderezhkin\TASS via Getty Images | Update: On December 7, the Moscow City Court reduced Ponomarev's sentence to 16 days detention, after hearing an appeal in his case. | (Moscow) — A Russian court has unjustly jailed one of the founders of Russia's human rights movement for a Facebook post about a peaceful protest, Hum…
hrw.org/news/2018/12/07/russia-human-rights-defender-jailed
A Conference on Climate Change Became a Conference on Coal
Daniel Judt | thenation.com | 2018-12-06
A Conference on Climate Change Became a Conference on Coal…
thenation.com/article/cop24-poland-climate-change-conference/
Comment: Climate Sanity–How We Get There from Here
Bill McKibben | progressive.org | 2018-12-06
The path out of this nightmare is relatively clear–and communities on the frontlines are leading the way.
progressive.org/magazine/comment-climate-sanity%E2%80%94how-we-get-there-from-here/
On the Line: A Bright REDD+ Line
progressive | progressive.org | 2018-12-06
Indigenous peoples fight schemes to buy and sell their land in the name of a climate change 'solution.'…
progressive.org/magazine/on-the-line_bright-REDD-line/
Don't Do Anything About Climate Disaster, USA Today Warns Dems
Miranda Spencer | fair.org | 2018-12-06
USA Today ( 11/27/18) warns Democrats that efforts to address climate change might "whisk them out of power" again. | "Democrats Will Push on Climate Change," declared the lead story on the front page of the November 27 USA Today. (The online version bore the more verbose headline, "Once Democrats Take Charge of the…
fair.org/home/dont-do-anything-about-climate-disaster-usa-today-warns-dems/
The fightback against Adani and Aurizon steps up
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-06
Adani CEO Lucas Dow's November 29 declaration that work on a scaled-down coalmine in Queensland's Galilee Basin would begin before Christmas was met with one of the most powerful nationwide protests against it so far as primary and high school students walking out of class the next day for the Student Strike 4 Climate Action. | A reported 20,000 students, many of them with their parents and grandparents in tow, took to the streets with a powerful message to Adani and policymakers: ignore us at your peril. | This was followed by a sit-in at Parliament House in Canberra on December 5. | Another round of #StopA…
greenleft.org.au/content/fightback-against-adani-and-aurizon-steps
President Trump Is Accelerating the Militarization of the Southwest Border
ACLU | aclu.org | 2018-12-05
Under President Trump, the slide toward a fully militarized border between the U.S. and Mexico is happening rapidly to the detriment of civil rights. | For decades, the ACLU has fought back against the militarization of domestic law enforcement agencies and the use of the military in our communities. Nowhere is this militarization more pronounced than on the border between the U.S. and Mexico — and President Trump is only making it worse. | The creation of the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11 accelerated the government's operations on the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP…
aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/president-trump-accelerating-militarization-southwest-border
What Response to Climate Change Gives You Hope?
The Progressive Magazine | progressive.org | 2018-12-05
Movement leaders tells us about communities making concrete change in the face of planetary crisis.
progressive.org/magazine/what-response-to-climate-change-gives-you-hope/
Unhinged GDP Growth Could Actually Destroy the Economy, Economists Find
Kate Aronoff | theintercept.com | 2018-12-05
For decades, scientists have warned of the pending crisis for the planet and humanity in the event of runaway climate change. But a new paper from prominent economists frames the situation in language that people might actually understand: Not addressing climate change, they conclude, will lead inevitably to "worldwide economic collapse." | Researchers also have a warning for renewable energy evangelists and techno-optimists, concluding that it is a fantasy to believe that the economy can grow at a torrid pace — as measured by GDP — while simultaneously reducing or eliminating greenhouse gas. | That's…
theintercept.com/2018/12/05/climate-change-economics/
Sorry To Bother You offers rich lessons in seeking radical social change
kathy_f | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-04
Sorry to Bother You | Written & directed by Boots Riley | In cinemas now | This review includes mild spoilers. | As an Australian living abroad, incidents of Australians being racist and/or misogynistisic that attract attention from international media outlets are frequently forwarded to me in anticipation of a seething refrain. | My response is typically motivated by a mix of rage and embarrassment, as well as a deep concern for how racial capitalism has been almost completely normalised. I am deeply concerned by the fact that not only is our social and political climate ill-equipped to address racism, i…
greenleft.org.au/content/sorry-bother-you-offers-rich-lessons-seeking-radical-social-change
NSW law will 'lead to a new stolen generation'
kathy_f | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-03
Another stolen generation appears certain to be created in NSW, after the Coalition government passed a new adoption law making it easier for a child to be adopted by a foster family without parental consent. | The new adoption law, Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Amendment Bill, passed on November 22 despite fierce opposition, imposes a two-year limit on fostering a child. The Children's Court now has the power to decide whether a birth parent should be rei…
greenleft.org.au/content/nsw-law-will-lead-new-stolen-generation
Eight new books for ecosocialists
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-01
Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus offers up eight new books as recommended reading for ecosocialists. Inclusion does not imply agreement with a book's contents. | *** | 1. The Biofuels Deception: Going Hungry on the Green Carbon Diet | By Okbazghi Yohannes | Monthly Review Press, 2018 | Eliminating fossil fuels is essential, but biofuels have far more to do with sating profit-hungry corporations than saving the Earth. Combining meticulous scientific narrative with devastating economic analy…
greenleft.org.au/content/eight-new-books-ecosocialists
A true people's artist
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-01
Rock & Roll Harbour | Exhibition by The Shop Gallery | 112 Glebe Point Road, Glebe | Thurs January 3 — Wed Jan 9 | Peter Gow is the people's artist. | His ouvre is driven by his down-to-earth, inner-city environment such as boathouses and the heritage-listed Sydney Harbour Bridge in various attitudes, all of which feature prominently in this exhibition. | Gow is a qualified electrician and builder as well, very handy for making the frames in his spare time that embrace his art. | His deep, rich, contrasting colours leap from his palette onto the canvas. His short brush strokes create a palindrom…
greenleft.org.au/content/true-people%E2%80%99s-artist
New maps of land destruction show why people flee Central America
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-30
A new map developed at the University of Cincinnati illustrates one motivating force behind migrant caravans leaving Guatemala and Honduras to reach the United States. | UC geography professor Tomasz Stepinski has turned high-resolution satellite images from the European Space Agency into one of the most detailed looks so far at how people are reshaping the planet. | Stepinski said: "Right now there are caravans of people walking to the United States. Many of them are coming from Guatemala." | News agencies such as The Guardian have called some of the Central American migrants "climate-change refugees" since many…
greenleft.org.au/content/new-maps-land-destruction-show-why-people-flee-central-america
US condemned for tear-gassing refugees, children
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-30
Legal experts and human rights advocates have denounced the tear gassing of children and other asylum seekers by US forces at the Mexico border on November 25. | "The migrants at our southern border include mothers and small children exercising their legal, human right to seek asylum," declared the ACLU in a tweet on November 26. It told the US Customs and Border Protection agency: "Tear gassing children is out…
greenleft.org.au/content/us-condemned-tear-gassing-refugees-children
WA Labor opens the gate to fracking
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2018-11-30
The Western Australian Labor government announced it is opening up 5.2 million hectares — an area roughly the size of 75% of Tasmania — to potential fracking operations on November 27. | The decision follows advice from an inquiry carried out by the WA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that said fracking in the Kimberley, Mid-West and Gascoyne regions would not pose a serious threat to people, agriculture or the environment. | Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a dangerous process that involves fracturing rock with pressurised liquid to mine unconventional gas. | Prior to last year's state ele…
greenleft.org.au/content/wa-labor-opens-gate-fracking
"No Deal" Brexit predictions, GDP, average incomes, austerity and the CLIMATE CRISIS
Joe Emersberger | zcomm.org | 2018-11-30
If Bill Gates walks into a room full of factory workers then the average income of everybody in the room skyrockets. It would skyrocket even if everybody else in the room were going bankrupt as Gates entered. Similarly, the average income of the people in the room would plummet as Gates walked out the door even Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/no-deal-brexit-predictions-gdp-average-incomes-austerity-and-the-climate-crisis/
George Monbiot: Ending Meat & Dairy Consumption Is Needed to Prevent Worst Impacts of Climate Change
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-11-29
We look at the link between climate change and meat consumption on the heels of a series of damning reports that say if humans don't act now to halt climate change, the results will be catastrophic. A new study by the World Meteorological Organization shows the past four years have been the hottest on record. On Tuesday, the United Nations reported that carbon emissions reached record highs in 2017 and are on the rise for the first time in four years. Radical reductions are necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, the level that would prevent the worst effects of catastrophic climate change. Livestock fo…
www.democracynow.org/2018/11/29/george_monbiot_ending_meat_dairy_consumption
NAACP Statement on Recent Criminal Justice Reform Compromise Introduced in Senate
Vanessa Mbonu@naacpnet | naacp.org | 2018-11-28
NAACP released the following statement in support of the Crimianl Justice Reform Compromise: Our American criminal justice system is broken. Sentencing is disproportionately weighted against African Americans, and the current political climate continues to devalue black lives by reviving the same failed policies of the war on drugs that fueled mass incarceration," said NAACP President […] | The post NAACP Statement on Recent Criminal Justice Reform Compromise Introduced in Senate appeared fir…
naacp.org/latest/naacp-statement-recent-criminal-justice-reform-compromise-introduced-senate/
Elected Constituent Assembly in Venezuela provoked International Outrage, not the illegal handpicked one in Ecuador
Joe Emersberger | zcomm.org | 2018-11-22
"CONAIE and CREO direct the new National Electoral Council" announces a headline yesterday in the rightwing Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo. CONAIE is a self-declared "left" federation representing indigenous peoples in Ecuador. CREO is the party of the "defeated" right wing presidential candidate in 2017. I put "defeated" in quotes because CREO's electoral defeat — which they stupidly Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/elected-constituent-assembly-in-venezuela-provoked-international-outrage-not-the-illegal-handpicked-one-in-ecuador/