2019-07-21: News Headlines

Common Dreams Staff (2019-07-21). Until emissions drop, nothing has been accomplished: The climate resistance handbook is here. nationofchange.org Common Dreams editor's note: The following excerpts are taken from the Foreward, by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, and the Introduction, by 350.org campaigner Daniel Hunter, of the new Climate Resistance Handbook (Or, I Was Part of a Climate Action. Now What?) recently published online. If you're wondering how to build a powerful, strategic movement that can make big wins for climate action, this is your guide (p…

Ruth Milka (2019-07-21). Scotland generates enough wind energy to power itself twice. nationofchange.org Scotland is truly a leader in renewable energy. In the first half of 2019 the country's wind turbines powered an astonishing 9,831,320 megawatt hours. | To put that number into perspective, that is enough electricity to power 4.47 million homes for six months, or almost double the number of homes in Scotland. | "These figures show harnessing Scotland's plentiful onshore wind potential can provide clean, green electricity for millions of homes across not only Scotland, but England as well," said Robin Parker, climate and energy policy manager at WWF Scotland. | Scotland has big plans for its renewable energy. T…

Jordan Davidson (2019-07-21). Great Barrier Reef authority warns that climate action is needed urgently. nationofchange.org "Only the strongest and fastest possible actions to decrease global greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the risks and limit the impacts of climate change on the Reef."

Fridays For Future Sacramento (2019-07-21). Peace Strike for Climate & Amazon Rainforest in State Capital. indybay.org California State Capitol Museum, West Steps | 1315 10th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814…

Terra Cultura (2019-07-21). Climate Smart Farming and Gardening Workshop. indybay.org The event will be held on site at Terra Cultura, a nonprofit eco-education farm in Aromas, CA. Our mission is to cultivate resilient communities empowered through education and collaboration in agrecology, sustainable living, and the arts.

Mike Gaworecki (2019-07-21). June 2019 was the hottest on record: NOAA. nationofchange.org June 2019 was the hottest month recorded in the 140 years since the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began collecting global temperature data, the agency announced yesterday.On land, June's global average surface temperature was 2.41 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 55.9 ∞F, the highest June land temperature on record, beating the previous record set in 2015. At sea, average surface temperatures were 1.46 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century monthly average of 61.5 degrees Fahrenheit, tying June 2016 as the highest global average ocean temperature on reco…

Eds. (2019-07-20). Fukushima: an ongoing disaster. mronline.org n March—on the eighth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster—Time magazine published an article with the headline: "Want to Stop Climate Change? Then It's Time to Fall Back in Love with Nuclear Energy". | Source

Glen Black (2019-07-20). Seahorses are on the path to extinction but Etsy refuses to stop sales on its website. thecanary.co Sellers on handmade items marketplace Etsy are dealing in seahorses, which are threatened worldwide. And despite repeated attempts by seahorse conservationists to limit sales, the website has refused to co-operate.Threatened species: The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) put seahorses on its list in 2004. It said at the time that seahorses were: | the first commercially valuable marine genus to be protected under [CITES]. A nu…

Sharon Lerner (2019-07-20). How the Plastics Industry Is Fighting to Keep Polluting the World. theintercept.com The students at Westmeade Elementary School worked hard on their dragon. And it paid off. The plastic bag receptacle that the kids painted green and outfitted with triangular white teeth and a "feed me" sign won the students from the Nashville suburb first place in a recycling box decorating contest. The idea, as Westmeade's proud principal told a local TV news show, was to help the environment. But the real story behind the dragon — as with much of the escalating war over plastic waste — is more complic…

Staff (2019-07-20). "Climate Grief": Fears About the Planet's Future Weigh on Americans' Mental Heal. truthout.org | | Therapist Andrew Bryant says the landmark United Nations climate report last October brought a new mental health concern to his patients. | "I remember being in sessions with folks the next day. They had never mentioned climate change before, and they were like, 'I keep hearing about this report,'" Bryant said. "Some of them expressed anxious feelings, and we kept talking about it over our next sessions." | The study, con…

Amahia Mallea (2019-07-20). As Flood Risks Increase Across the US, It's Time to Recognize the Limits of Levees. commondreams.org Grape-Bollin-Schwartz Levee overtops in numerous areas June 27, 2011. The road that crosses the railroad and goes to the levee is overtopping and eroding. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Susan Abbott via flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/rethink-levees-climate.jpg

Staff (2019-07-20). Giving "Upper Hand to Corporate Polluters," EPA Drops Surprise Inspections. truthout.org | | President Donald Trump's EPA is provoking criticism once again, this time over a new "no surprises" policy stopping unannounced visits to power, chemical and waste facilities. | "The Trump @EPA is just chucking aside any flimsy pretense that they care about upholding environmental laws, enforcing against big polluters, or protecting Americans," tweeted John Walke, Clean Air Director and senior attorney for the Natural R…

Staff (2019-07-20). Some Candidates Have Climate Plans, But Are They Climate Justice Plans? therealnews.com At Netroots Nation 2019, 350.org's Thanu Yakupitiyage says she's looking for every presidential candidate to release tangible climate plans, bring frontline communities into the room, and take on the fossil fuel industry and its money…

WSWS (2019-07-20). Plastic waste from foreign nations dumped in East Java village. wsws.org With China blocking imports of recyclable waste, developed countries have now resorted to illegally smuggling plastic into Indonesia and other parts of South East Asia.

RT (2019-07-20). That funny smell: 4.5mn-gallon sewage spill shuts Washington beaches. rt.com Power glitches at the two biggest sewage treatment plants in Washington state's King County have resulted in the uncontrollable discharge of millions of gallons of wastewater into the ocean, causing several beaches to close.

WSWS (2019-07-20). Publico reports Spanish intelligence facilitated 2017 Barcelona terror attack. wsws.org The report is prima facie evidence of criminal behavior by the Spanish state, abetted by other NATO powers, to create the climate to build a fascistic police-state regime.

Eds. (2019-07-19). Rainforest on fire. mronline.org On the Front Lines of Bolsonaro's War on the Amazon, Brazil's Forest Communities Fight Against Climate Catastrophe | Source

Kenn Orphan (2019-07-19). Stranger Things, Stranger Times. counterpunch.org To say we live in extraordinarily strange times is perhaps the ultimate understatement. Strange times indeed, and terrifying as well. Rising global fascism, the continued threat of nuclear war, an imperiled biosphere and a climate that is rapidly heating up. In the US it is even more apparent. There are concentration camps on the southern More

Janine Jackson (2019-07-19). On Climate, 'Looking at the Structural Barriers to Progress Is Important' – CounterSpin interview with Zoà´ Carpenter on GOP's Oregon power grab. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed Zoà´ Carpenter about the GOP's Oregon power grab for the July 12, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…

Joseph Natoli (2019-07-19). Gaming the Climate. counterpunch.org The greater divisiveness of the various warring factions in Game of Thrones places our own national divisiveness on to small, less frightening screen only because our divisiveness does not include White Walkers and their Army of the Dead. The Thrones is a world of all against all far more confusing than our own U.S. war More

James Carden (2019-07-19). As Trump Tears Up Our Treaties, Can Local Efforts Yield Diplomatic Fruit? thenation.com As Trump Tears Up Our Treaties, Can Local Efforts Yield Diplomatic Fruit?

Greta Thunberg & Daniel Hunter (2019-07-19). Until Emissions Drop, Nothing Has Been Accomplished: The Climate Resistance Handbook Is Here. commondreams.org "People always tell me and the other millions of school strikers that we should be proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished," writes Greta Thunberg in the introduction to the new Climate Resistance Handbook. "But the only thing that we need to look at is the emission curve." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/climate_resistance_handbook_cover.jpg

Ben Lilliston (2019-07-19). Did Obama's Trade Legacy Just Hammer the Green New Deal? commondreams.org "We continue to hear very little about how we must reform trade rules to achieve our climate goals and a just transition for people," the author writes. (Photo: Stephen Melkisethian/flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/trade-climate-lilliston.jpg

Dan Bacher (2019-07-19). Chevron's Oil Spill Endangers Kern County. counterpunch.org MCKITTRICK, CA A massive oil spill even bigger than the Plains All American Pipeline disaster off Refugio Beach in Santa Barbara County in 2015 has occurred in Kern County, as first reported by Ted Goldberg at KQED. The latest disaster has spilled more than 798,000 gallons of combined oil and wastewater into the surrounding area More

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2019-07-19). WATCH: Australian Singer Releases Music Video She Calls 'Homage to the Youth Climate Movement'. commondreams.org As the school climate strike movement continues in spite of summer vacation, Australian singer and songwriter Montaigne has released a new single and music video inspired by the youth who have taken to the streets around the world to demand that adults take bolder action to battle the global crisis. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/montaigne.jpg

WSWS (2019-07-19). Thousands protest in central China against proposed waste incinerator. wsws.org The Wuhan protests are an expression of the growing social discontent throughout China, occurring at the same time as the mass demonstrations in Hong Kong.

pip.hinman (2019-07-19). Tasmanian councils declare climate emergency. greenleft.org.au Kingborough Council voted to declare a statewide Climate Biodiversity Emergency on July 8, just three weeks after adjoining Hobart City Council became the first Australian capital city to do the same. | The motion, moved by councillor Amanda Midgley, also commits council to write to Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman and Prime Minister Scott Morrison to urge them to declare a climate emergency at the state and federal levels. | The public gallery at the Kingborough council meeting was packed and included members of the Red Brigade, an affiliate group of Extinction Rebellion (XR) Tasmania, who stood silently dressed i…

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2019-07-19). With Petition to Congress, 100,000+ People Demand Green New Deal 'That Fixes Our Food System'. commondreams.org A coalition of environmental, farmworker, public health, and food safety advocacy groups on Thursday delivered to Congress a petition signed by more than 100,000 people which calls for a Green New Deal "that fixes our food system" to combat the climate crisis. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/farmers_0.jpg

WSWS (2019-07-19). United Nations report finds global hunger on the rise for third year in row. wsws.org The rise in hunger and food insecurity around the world is inextricably linked to the rise of social inequality, the outbreak of new wars and the disastrous effects of climate change.

Eds. (2019-07-18). An extraordinary Twitter exchange with Richard Tol. mronline.org I had an extraordinary Twitter Exchange with Richard Tol over the last few days. I've written this post to preserve that exchange in case, at a future date, Tol decides to delete his tweets. They provide a superb window into the thinking that lies behind mainstream economic modelling of climate change, and why this has […] | Source

susan_p (2019-07-18). Challenging capitalism is the ultimate climate mitigation strategy. greenleft.org.au The climate movement both at the international level and within specific countries is quite disparate, meriting a distinction between climate activists per se and climate justice activists. | Representatives of the former include organisations such as the Climate Action Network, Greenpeace, and Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, which emphasise the need for renewables, energy efficiency, and other techno-fixes and attempt to work within the parameters of global capitalism. | Others, such as Friends of the Earth, Climate Justice Action, and various socialist and anarchist groups, are attuned to the enormous social…

pip.hinman (2019-07-18). Extinction Rebellion disrupts Brisbane. greenleft.org.au Extinction Rebellion activists disrupted numerous intersections in Brisbane's CBD on July 11. | climate justice Jacob AndrewarthaIssue 1229 Australia Extinction Rebellion BrisbanePhoto: J…

pip.hinman (2019-07-18). Australia needs a 'Green Fair Go'. greenleft.org.au RMIT University professor Rob Watts believes Australia needs a "Green Fair Go" — akin to the United States proposal of a "Green New Deal" — that would include a commitment to full employment through jobs linked to combating climate change. To make this a reality would require "people power", he said. | Watts was speaking at a Fair Go For Pensioners conference on July 10, where he provided an overview of the neoliberal policies pursued by Labor and Coalition governments during the past four decades. | He spoke of the decline of the union movement, growing inequality, the abandonment of the goal of full…

Audrea Lim (2019-07-17). The Street-by-Street Battle Against Climate Change. thenation.com The Street-by-Street Battle Against Climate Change…

Staff (2019-07-17). Why A 20-Year Old Climate Activist is Suing the Federal Government. therealnews.com At Netroots Nation 2019, Vic Barrett, a young defendant in Juliana vs US, talks to Dharna Noor about why he's suing the federal government for its role in the climate crisis…

Staff (2019-07-15). "Fossil Fuel Stooges" Pence & Trump Deny Climate Crisis as Deadly Rains Slam Louisiana & South Asia. democracynow.org Ongoing heavy rain has killed at least 67 people in Nepal, 25 in India and 14 in Bangladesh as flooding from monsoons has displaced 1 million people in South Asia. This year's flooding in the region has been worse than ever before and is likely fueled by rising global temperatures, which have led to more extreme weather. Scientists warn that the risk of deadly floods is not over. In the United States, New Orleans residents managed to avoid the worst of Tropical Storm Barry, but 11 million people continued to be on flash flood warning as the storm slowly made its way through Louisiana over the weekend. President T…