Australian prime minister plans to outlaw climate activism
GETUP | indybay.org | 2019-11-07
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has just told a room full of mining lobbyists that he's begun work on legislation to outlaw climate activism — banning climate protests, boycotts and "disruptive" strikes.1 | It's the most alarming attack we've seen yet — threatening people's right to take action against climate-denying politicians, and corporate climate wreckers.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/11/06/18827897.php

Trump Interior Nominee Fast-Tracked a "Deficient" Drilling Permit
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-11-07
This story was originally published by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX, at revealnews.org/podcast. | In March 2017, a politically connected oil firm called Cimarex Energy Co. was in a hurry to begin fracking on a flat expanse of farmland in the western Okl…
truthout.org/articles/trump-interior-nominee-fast-tracked-a-deficient-drilling-permit/

Can Carbon Pricing Address Climate Justice?
James K. Boyce, Manuel Pastor | thenation.com | 2019-11-07
Can Carbon Pricing Address Climate Justice?
thenation.com/article/carbon-economics-climate-change/

'This Is a Huge Opportunity to Create an Energy System Rooted in Climate Justice' – CounterSpin interview with Johanna Bozuwa on public utilities
Janine Jackson | fair.org | 2019-11-07
Janine Jackson interviewed the Democracy Collaborative's Johanna Bozuwa about public utilities for the November 1, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
fair.org/home/this-is-a-huge-opportunity-to-create-an-energy-system-rooted-in-climate-justice/

Sierra Club Takes a Commendable Turn on Population, Climate Change, and Inequality
Roger D. Harris | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-07
The Sierra Club — long a retrograde proponent of saving the planet by driving a Tessler, eating wild caught salmon, and voting blue — took positive environmental leadership with their end of the year issue of the Sierra magazine. Stating it is "time to fix the population fixation," they examine the interactions of population, climate …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/sierra-club-takes-a-commendable-turn-on-population-climate-change-and-inequality/

Trump's Worst Impeachable Offense Hurts the Whole World
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-11-07
You can run from the climate crisis, but you can't hide. On the front lines of this global environmental calamity, entire communities are being consumed by fire, submerged by typhoons and hurricanes, or baked under the sun amid historic droughts. President Donald Trump, the climate change denier in chief, has formally begun the process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. Originally signed by President Barack Obama in 2015, the accord established a cooperative, global path to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees F) above preindustrial levels. The United States is now the only nati…
truthdig.com/articles/trumps-worst-impeachable-offense-hurts-the-whole-world/

In Bolsanaro's Brazil, Dams Are Ticking Time Bombs
Tchenna Maso | globalresearch.ca | 2019-11-07
Today is the fourth anniversary of the Fundà£o tailings (mine waste) dam disaster in Mariana, a town in the South-eastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The Fundà£o dam and the associated iron ore mine, called Samarco, is operated by a …
globalresearch.ca/bolsanaro-brazil-dams-ticking-time-bombs/5694257

"The Pollinators": New Film Shows How Decline of Bee Colonies Could Mean Collapse of Food Chain
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-07
A documentary film "The Pollinators" tells the story of the world's yellow-black jacketed honey bees, whose existence may determine the future of human survival. The insects pollinate nearly all the fruits, vegetables and nuts we consume, and some experts estimate one out of every three bites of food we eat depends on the work of honey bees. However, the future of the insects is now in peril with widespread reports of bee colony collapses. In the last decade and a half, beekeepers have reported staggering declines in their bee populations due to pesticides, parasites and loss of habitat. Scientists warn climate c…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/7/the_pollinators_film_decline_of_bee

Adani's Carmichael coal mine: a stranded asset?
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-07
Climate Margaret GleesonIssue 1244 Australia AdaniNovember 7, 2019Could Indian mining firm Adani's Carmichael coal mine, in Central Queensland, become a stranded asset? A number of recent events indicate the answer could be "Yes". | Adani has always relied more on spin than hard…
greenleft.org.au/content/adani-carmichael-coal-mine-stranded-asset

The 'quiet Australians' that Morrison fears
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-07
Climate Pip HinmanIssue 1244 AustraliaNovember 7, 2019It is worthwhile listening to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's speech to the Queensland Resources Council on November 1, where he rails against "progressivism" and the…
greenleft.org.au/content/quiet-australians-morrison-fears

Avoiding the Climate Catastrophe Starts With Divesting From the War Machine
Jodie Evans | commondreams.org | 2019-11-06
Jane Fonda and her Fire Drill Fridays are linking social movements across issues, eyeing the connections between the myriad problems we see causing climate chaos, many of them rooted in capitalist consumer culture. (Photo: Twitter/CodePink) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/codepink.jpeg …
commondreams.org/views/2019/11/06/avoiding-climate-catastrophe-starts-divesting-war-machine?cd-origin=rss

An Open Letter to Climate Activists in the Northwoods…and Beyond
Aimee Cree Dunn | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-06
From a talk delivered November 1, 2019. Northern Michigan University Sonderegger Symposium: Anishinaabek: East, South, West, North. Marquette, MI. Overview I'm going to cut straight to the point: averting climate change is not going stop the global collapse of the planet as we know it. Don't get me wrong. Climate change is a global…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/06/an-open-letter-to-climate-activists-in-the-northwoodsand-beyond/

An Open Letter to Climate Activists in the Northwoods…and Beyond
Aimee Cree Dunn | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-06
From a talk delivered November 1, 2019. Northern Michigan University Sonderegger Symposium: Anishinaabek: East, South, West, North. Marquette, MI. Overview I'm going to cut straight to the point: averting climate change is not going stop the global collapse of the planet as we know it. Don't get me wrong. Climate change is a global…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/06/an-open-letter-to-climate-activists-in-the-northwoodsand-beyond/

Extinction Rebellion wins court challenge against Met Police over protest ban
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-11-06
Extinction Rebellion (XR) has won a High Court challenge against the Metropolitan Police over a London-wide protest ban.The force imposed a blanket ban across the capital last month, prohibiting any assembly of more than two people linked to XR's Autumn Uprising action.But two senior judges ruled the decision to impose the ban, made under Section 14 of the Public Order Act, was "unlawful".Police remove an Extinction Rebellion protester from Trafalgar Square (David Mirzoeff/PA)Announcing their judgment in London on Tuesday, Lord Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Chamberlain said the Met had no power to impose the b…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/11/06/extinction-rebellion-wins-court-challenge-against-met-police-over-protest-ban/

The First Step to Averting Climate Catastrophe
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-11-06
The Pentagon is the single largest consumer of oil on the planet. Its war machine must be dismantled if we hope to preserve our biosphere.
truthdig.com/articles/the-first-step-to-averting-climate-catastrophe/

Nationalism Is Global. The Left Is on the Defensive
John Feffer | thenation.com | 2019-11-06
Nationalism Is Global. The Left Is on the Defensive.
thenation.com/article/far-right-nationalist-climate-crisis/

'Ban things I don't like': Elizabeth Warren slams Twitter's new ban on political ads after urging Facebook to censor opponents
rt.com | 2019-11-06
Democratic 2020 hopeful Elizabeth Warren can't seem to make up her mind on the correct course for big tech, first attacking Facebook's ad policies as too lax, then Twitter's as too strict. Perhaps they should make her CEO. | Senator Warren (D-Massachusetts), who has vowed to break up tech giants she deems too large or powerful, took to Twitter on Tuesday to denounce the platform's upcoming policy change banning all political ads, arguing the new rule helps the spread of misinformation about climate change. | "Twitter's new ad policy will allow fossil fuel companies to buy ads defending themselves and spreading…
rt.com/usa/472706-warren-facebook-twitter-hypocrisy/

Teachers Unions Could Move the Climate Strikes Into Phase 2
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-11-06
As young people across the country join the global movement to mobilize school strikes to demand climate action, one group is starting to think more seriously about how to best support those efforts: their teachers. | Educators, like those in the California Federation of Teachers and the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), are beginning to leverage their power both as teachers and union members to push the bounds of climate activism. | Kurt Ostrow, a high school English teacher in Fall River, Mass., has…
truthout.org/articles/teachers-unions-could-move-the-climate-strikes-into-phase-2/

Jeremy Corbyn dismantles an entire front page tantrum by the Telegraph in a single tweet
Kerry-anne Mendoza | thecanary.co | 2019-11-06
The front page of 6 November's Telegraph newspaper reads like the nightmare of paranoid billionaires. Because it is. And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn didn't waste a moment in pointing that out. | The nonsense the super-rich will come out with to avoid paying a bit more tax… pic.twitter.com/FlUl29ksvz | — Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) November 5, 2019Dam…
thecanary.co/opinion/2019/11/06/jeremy-corbyn-dismantles-an-entire-front-page-tantrum-by-the-telegraph-in-a-single-tweet/

'Vindication' for Climate Activists as UK Court Rules London Ban on Extinction Rebellion Protests Unlawful
Andrea Germanos, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-11-06
"XR protesters have been raising the alarm about the climate crisis. We need to listen to that alarm, not outlaw it." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/hight-court-xr-ban-unlawful.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/11/06/vindication-climate-activists-uk-court-rules-london-ban-extinction-rebellion?cd-origin=rss

Trump's Greatest Dereliction of Duty–His Disgraceful Denial of Climate Change
Katrina vanden Heuvel | thenation.com | 2019-11-05
Trump's Greatest Dereliction of Duty–His Disgraceful Denial of Climate Change…
thenation.com/article/trumps-greatest-dereliction-of-duty-his-disgraceful-denial-of-climate-change/

Isabel Allende: Trump is a 'Fool' for Denying Climate Change
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-05
Chilean writer Isabel Allende said Monday she is bemused by how U.S. President Donald Trump can deny climate change, adding that it was a foolish stance to take. | RELATED: | Australia's Premier to Ban Climate Boycotts | "How is it possible that the President of the United States denies climate change, with what that means in terms of policies, of image, of the message he gives to the world? Who can deny it? Only a fool can deny it," she said as she was in Barcelona to pick up the International Barcino…
telesurenglish.net/news/Isabel-Allende-Trump-is-a-Fool-for-Denying-Climate-Change-20191105-0013.html

Over 11,000 scientists declare climate emergency and call for urgent action
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-11-05
More than 11,000 scientists around the world have declared a climate emergency, warning of "untold suffering" without urgent action. | Scientists from the University of Sydney, Australia, Oregon State University and Tufts University in the US, and the University of Cape Town in South Africa are joined in the warning by 11,000 signatories from 153 countries, including the UK. The declaration is based on analysis of more than 40 years of publicly available data covering a range of measures from energy use to deforestation and carbon emissions | In a paper published in the journal Bioscience, the researchers set out…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/2019/11/05/over-11000-scientists-declare-climate-emergency-and-call-for-urgent-action/

Brazil Mining Regulator Says Vale 'Negligence' Cost Lives
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-05
Brazil's mining regulator on Tuesday blasted iron ore miner Vale SA for failing to disclose problems with a mining dam before a deadly collapse in January, saying this kept the agency from taking actions that could have saved lives. | RELATED: | Death Toll in Brazil Dam Collapse Rises to 250: New Findings | The dam in Brumadinho collapsed and flooded a nearby company cafeteria and the surrounding countryside with mining waste, killing more than 250 people. It was Vale's second dea…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Mining-Regulator-Says-Vale-Negligence-Cost-Lives-20191105-0018.html

Bill McKibben on U.S. Withdrawal from Paris Accord, California Fires, Climate Refugees & More
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-05
The Trump administration notified the United Nations Monday that it would withdraw the U.S. from the historic Paris climate agreement, starting a year-long process to leave the international pact to fight the climate crisis. The United States — the world's largest historic greenhouse gas emitter — will become the only country outside the accord. Trump's announcement of the withdrawal came on the first day possible under the agreement's rules. From Middlebury, Vermont, we speak with Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org. "The decision of the United States to be the only country on Earth … unwilling to…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/5/trump_admin_paris_climate_agreement_withdrawal

Dems think Bernie better on MOST policy issues, but will vote for Biden in hopes he dethrones Trump — poll
rt.com | 2019-11-05
Bernie Sanders's progressive agenda has struck a chord with Democrats who now think he is the best on healthcare and climate, and on par with Joe Biden on economy and immigration. However, Biden remains their preferred candidate. | While the independent Vermont senator is trailing Biden in the polls, his take on key US policies is shared by more constituents than that of the former vice president, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted between November 1-4 has revealed. | Asked about what candidate they think is the best on environment, 24 percent of prospective Democratic voters went for Sanders against 17 percen…
rt.com/usa/472702-sanders-biden-poll-lead/

Witnessing repression from a hotel window: A personal reflection on suppression of Chile protests
Susan Price | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-05
John EnglartIssue 1244 Chile 2019 Chile protests SantiagoNovember 5, 2019I am in Chile due to the United Nation's Climate conference being originally hosted here in Santiago. Now, I find myself an observer of the widespread social protest against the government, ca…
greenleft.org.au/content/witnessing-repression-hotel-window-personal-reflection-suppression-chile-protests

Monday's Daily Brief: US formally announces climate accord withdrawal, young foreigners stranded in Syria, India toxic smog crisis, Ebola worker death shows frontline risks
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-04
A recap of stories this Monday: UN reaction to US Paris Agreement withdrawal; UNICEF urges repatriation of children stranded in Syria; Public health emergency in India's New Delhi; Ebola health worker death in DR Congo shows deadly risks; Guinea Bissau crisis, Security Council update; UNEP campaign targets ocean microplastics.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1050591

Rex Tillerson Testifies in Climate Denial Case
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-11-04
Longtime ExxonMobil CEO and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson testified in a case pitting the company against the state of New York. ExxonMobil faces civil charges of defrauding investors by funding climate denial, even as its own scientists studied the climate impacts of fossil fuel extraction.
therealnews.com/stories/rex-tillerson-testifies-climate-denial-case

Worse than Flint: Canadians face widespread lead contamination
Martha Mendoza | peoplesworld.org | 2019-11-04
MONTREAL (AP)–Hundreds of thousands of Canadians have been unwittingly exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water, with contamination in several cities consistently higher than they ever were in Flint, Mich., according to an investigation that tested drinking water in hundreds of homes and reviewed thousands more previously undisclosed results. Residents in some …
peoplesworld.org/article/worse-than-flint-canadians-face-widespread-lead-contamination/

Far more needed to 'confront the world's climate emergency', Guterres tells ASEAN-UN Summit
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-03
Four of the 10 countries most affected by climate change are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday, urging the ASEAN-UN Summit in Bangkok to "confront the world's climate emergency".
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1050501

Coal addiction 'must be overcome' to ease climate change, UN chief says in Bangkok
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-02
In Thailand for the ASEAN Summit, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visited a climate mitigation project in Bangkok's new Centenary Park on Saturday where he told journalists that "coal addiction must be overcome".
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1050491

How police attacked peaceful protesters to protect climate criminals
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-01
environment civil liberties Zane AlcornIssue 1243 Australia MelbourneNovember 1, 2019I attended the peaceful blockade of the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) and witnessed how Vi…
greenleft.org.au/content/how-police-attacked-peaceful-protesters-protect-climate-criminals

Headlines for October 31, 2019
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-31
Tens of Thousands Evacuate as New Blazes Erupt in Fire-Ravaged California, Chile Calls Off U.N. Climate Talks Amid Massive Protests Against Inequality, Protesters Confront JPMorgan Chase CEO Over Fossil Fuel Investments, Youth Climate Activists Stage Sit-In at House Speaker Pelosi's Office, Keystone Pipeline Breach Spills Oil in North Dakota, House Readies Vote to Formalize Impeachment Process, Top Immigration Official Grilled Over Move to Deport Critically Ill Immigrants, "Not Qualified" Rating from Bar Association Draws Tears from Judicial Nominee, India to Split Jammu and Kashmir Into Two Territories Controlle…
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/31/headlines

New Study: 300 Million Face Severe Risk of Climate-Fueled Coastal Flooding by 2050
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-31
As a shocking new report finds that many coastal cities will be flooded by rising sea levels by 2050, Chile's President Sebastián Piñera announced Wednesday that the U.N. Climate Summit in Santiago has been canceled. Anti-inequality protests have entered their third week in the country with protesters calling for the Piñera government to resign. The U.N. said it is now looking for an alternative venue for the annual climate meetings. Meanwhile, a dire new report has warned 300 million people are at risk from rising sea levels, with the most vulnerable populations concentrated in the Global South. According to the…
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/31/chile_cancels_un_climate_summit_after

As Rich Hire Private Firefighters, Housekeepers Go to Work in Fire Zone & Prisoners Fight CA Blazes
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-31
As climate-fueled fires rage across California, we look at how the blazes are disproportionately affecting some of the state's most vulnerable communities. As a growing number of wealthy homeowners hire private firefighters to protect their properties for up to $3,000 per day, domestic workers and gardeners who tend to some of the most opulent homes in Los Angeles attended work despite the Getty Fire evacuation order earlier this week. Many of their employers failed to even tell them not to come in. Meanwhile, of the more than 4,000 firefighters currently working across the state, at least 700 are California pris…
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/31/california_fires_domestic_workers_prisoner_firefighters

As California Burns Again, Rep. Ro Khanna Calls for PG&E to Become Publicly Owned Utility
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-31
Extreme winds of up to 60 miles per hour caused new fires to erupt across southern California Wednesday, prompting tens of thousands to evacuate. The blazes are just the latest in a spate of climate change-fueled fires threatening the state. In Northern California, firefighters have finally beat back the Sonoma County Kincade Fire that had forced nearly 200,000 people to flee their homes over the weekend. Nearly all evacuees in the region have now been allowed to return to their homes and the utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric said Wednesday it would begin restoring power to the 365,000 customers who were plung…
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/31/ro_khanna_california_fires_gas_electric

Deep-sea mining threatens ocean, global climate
Patricia Gorky | liberationnews.org | 2019-10-28
There is a new race for resources: the ocean floor. Seabed exploration, a precursor to mining, is underway in remote parts of the Pacific Ocean as corporations and nation-states attempt to catalog the underwater resources.
liberationnews.org/deep-sea-mining/