Most recent 40 articles: Commondreams
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Biden, listen to students and declare a climate emergency - Commondreams (Mar 15) |
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Mar 15 · Young organizers hold up a banner celebrating the “Green New Deal for Schools Summer Camp 2023. ”
As educators and AFT members, we believe it is time for the rest of the labor movement, as well as the Biden-Harris administration, to join students in defending the conditions for life on Planet Earth.
As educators we have been inspired and moved both to witness and stand alongside young people across the nation who have been at the forefront of campaigns pushing local elected officials and the Biden-Harris administration to declare a climate emergency.
We watched in awe in September when 75,000 people gathered on the streets of New York to attend the March to End ... Read more ...
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As World Saw Hottest Year on Record, Corporate News Cut Coverage - Commondreams (Mar 14) |
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Mar 14 · A journalist reports from the Santa Ana wind-driven Bond Fire burning near a hillside residence along Santiago Canyon Road in Silverado, California on December 3, 2020.
"We need more climate journalism, not less," said one Media Matters for America writer.
Last year featured not only what scientists worldwide confirmed was the hottest year in human history but also a 25% drop in corporate broadcast networks' coverage of the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency, according to an analysis released Thursday.
Media Matters for America, which has long tracked television networks' climate coverage, reviewed transcripts and video databases for ABC, CBS, NBC, and ... Read more ...
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2 years into war, Ukraine's commitment to clean energy is a beacon of resilience - Commondreams (Feb 21) |
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Feb 21 · Principle Ivan Ptashnik, head teacher of School Number 17 in Irpin, waves at colleagues as he inspects solar panels the school's roof on May 2, 2023, in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine.
In the face of full-scale conflict, climate-friendly renewable energy projects have emerged as a ray of light, showcasing Ukraine's innovative spirit and determination.
As we mark the two-year anniversary of the devastating war in Ukraine that has taken thousands of innocent lives, the crisis has also led to some positive changes in terms of clean energy independence.
Having to quickly adapt to targeted Russian attacks, which damaged 50% of its dated energy infrastructure, Ukraine has ... Read more ...
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Big Oil, Plastics Industry Led 'Campaign of Deception' to Push Recycling Fraud - Commondreams (Feb 15) |
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Feb 15 · More than 90% of plastics disposed of between 1950 and 2015 were not recycled.
"The oil industry's lies are at the heart of the two most catastrophic pollution crises in human history," one advocate said.
The petrochemical industry - including major oil companies like ExxonMobil - knew for decades that recycling was not a sustainable solution to the problem of plastic waste, yet continued to promote it in order to avoid regulation and deceive consumers into continuing to buy and use their products, a report released Thursday by the Center for Climate Integrity reveals.
The report, titled The Fraud of Plastic Recycling: How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry ... Read more ...
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The ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is rapidly melting. Scientists now have evidence for when it started and why | CNN - Commondreams (Feb 9) |
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Feb 9 · Marguerite Bay is on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula.
"We now have direct evidence that this ice sheet suffered rapid ice loss in the past," said a Cambridge researcher.
As European Union scientists confirmed that last month continued a worrying trend of historically high temperatures, U.K. researchers released a study Thursday warning how fossil fuel-driven global heating could lead to catastrophic and rapid ice loss in Antarctica not seen for thousands of years.
The study, published by researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of Cambridge in Nature Geoscience, relies on an ice core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that is ... Read more ...
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US: Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ - Commondreams (Jan 26) |
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Jan 26 · Hundreds of young climate activists march along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House to demand that U.S. President Joe Biden work to make the Green New Deal into law on June 28, 2021 in Washington, D.C.
That this is a huge victory can’t be said strongly enough - for the people in the Gulf who have fought so long and hard as well as for the planet.
I wrote you two days ago with provisional good news - it looked as if the long and deep fight to rein in runaway LNG export growth had scored a huge victory. The succeeding 48 hours have been full of joy, because that news turned out to be entirely true. As the White House confirmed with the official release of its policy at ... Read more ...
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Impact of ‘failed promises’ on climate, evident in Antarctica: A UN Resident Coordinator blog - Commondreams (Nov 29) |
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Nov 29 · United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visited Antarctica in Novmeber 2023.
"It is profoundly shocking to stand on the ice of Antarctica and hear directly from scientists how fast the ice is disappearing."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday issued yet another impassioned call for ambitious climate action after a trip to Antarctica and amid preparations for the U.N. Climate Change Conference later this week.
"I have just returned from Antarctica - the sleeping giant. A giant being awoken by climate chaos. Together, Antarctica and Greenland are melting well over three times faster than they were in the early 1990s," he told ... Read more ...
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'Absolutely Gobsmackingly Bananas': Early Data Shows September 2023 Hottest on Record - Commondreams (Oct 04, 2023) |
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Oct 04, 2023 · Dozens of people spend time at Silgar beach, on 30 September, 2023, in Sanxenxo, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain.
"We've never seen a record smashed by anything close to this margin," one climate scientist said.
In another sign of the climate crisis, September of 2023 - following the hottest summer ever recorded over June, July, and August - also seems to be one for the record books.
A data set out of Japan found that September 2023 was 0.5°C warmer than the previous warmest September on record and around 1.8°C warmer than temperatures in the preindustrial era, climate scientist Zeke Hausfather wrote on Tuesday on the social media site formerly known as ... Read more ...
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'Time to Make Them Pay': Internal Docs Further Expose Exxon Efforts to Spread Climate Lies - Commondreams (Sep 16, 2023) |
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Sep 16, 2023 · Climate advocates take part in a protest against ExxonMobil on October 22, 2019 in New York.
"Climate change isn't just a tragedy, it's a crime," said one climate campaigner in response to documents reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Previously unreported documents published on the front page of The Wall Street Journal Thursday show that ExxonMobil continued to work behind closed doors to cast doubt on climate science, even after the company publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuel-driven greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in 2006.
The documents - which detail email exchanges between executives, board meeting conversations, and other ... Read more ...
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?? - Commondreams (Sep 15, 2023) |
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Sep 15, 2023 · "If the issue of 'plastic air pollution' is not addressed proactively, climate change and ecological risks may become a reality, causing irreversible and serious environmental damage in the future," the study's lead author warned.
They're in the world's water, air, food, and even in our blood - and now researchers in Japan have discovered microplastics in clouds, raising the specter of super-contaminating "plastic rainfall" and possibly affecting the Earth's climate.
Analyzing cloud water samples from high-altitude mountains in Japan including Mt. Fuji, researchers from Waseda University in Tokyo found nine different types of polymers and one type ... Read more ...
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Climate protesters worldwide call for end to fossil fuels amid escalating weather extremes - Commondreams (Sep 15, 2023) |
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Sep 15, 2023 · Climate campaigners block an entrance to Citibank's headquarters in New York City on September 14, 2023.
"Citi is the world's second-largest financier of fossil fuels," noted one group taking part in the protest. "How do these people sleep at night? How?"
Declaring a #ClimateShutdown, hundreds of activists blockaded the entrances of Citibank's Lower Manhattan headquarters Thursday morning to demand that the financial giant end fossil fuel financing and stop greenwashing its record of planet-heating investments.
"We're shutting down Citibank, the world's second-largest funder of fossil fuels," the activist group Stop the Money Pipeline explained ... Read more ...
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Uniting for change: Global solidarity against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline - Commondreams (Aug 31, 2023) |
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Aug 31, 2023 · A protester holds a placard reading, "Stop Funding The East African Crude Oil Pipeline" (EACOP) at a protest in London on September 2, 2021.
While project proponents argue that it promises economic development and increased energy access for the region, the stark reality is that the fossil fuel project poses severe environmental and social risks.
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Why did Alberta put the brakes on its booming clean energy industry? - Commondreams (Aug 24, 2023) |
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Aug 24, 2023 · An aerial view shows solar panels now sitting on the site of an orphaned well in a field near Taber, Alberta, Canada, on May 25, 2023.
For any other jurisdiction, diversifying the economy away from fossil fuels while building a thriving renewables sector would be a good news story to celebrate and accelerate - not pause.
In western Canada, the province of Alberta is poised to become a renewable energy superpower. Sadly, Alberta’s leadership wants to destroy that prospect, threatening billions in renewable energy projects currently in development. Without consulting the renewables sector, Alberta announced a pause of new approvals of renewable projects over one megawatt ... Read more ...
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'Historic and Wonderful': Ecuadorians Reject Oil Drilling in Precious Amazon Region - Commondreams (Aug 19, 2023) |
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Aug 19, 2023 · Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, walks through the Hangar Convention Center during the Amazon Summit in Belem, Brazil.
"To avoid the point of no return," argued Colombian President Gustavo Petro, "we need an ambitious transnational policy to phase out fossil fuels."
The leaders of eight Amazon nations closed out a two-day summit in Brazil on Wednesday without reaching a shared agreement to end deforestation by 2030, a failure that stemmed in part from disputes over oil extraction in the critical ecosystem.
Colombia, represented by leftist President Gustavo Petro, pushed for an end to oil development in the Amazon, whose status as a key carbon sink has suffered ... Read more ...
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'This Is Huge': Judge Sides With Montana Youths in Landmark Climate Trial - Commondreams (Aug 14, 2023) |
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Aug 14, 2023 · Youth plaintiffs await the start of the nation's first youth climate change trial at Montana's First Judicial District Court on June 12, 2023 in Helena, Montana.
"As fires rage in the West, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today's ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation's efforts to save the planet," said one attorney representing 16 young plaintiffs.
Climate advocates on Monday expressed hope that an unprecedented ruling by a state judge in Montana, siding with 16 young residents who argued the state violated their constitutional rights by promoting fossil fuel extraction, will mark a sea change in the outcomes ... Read more ...
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Study Warns Climate-Driven Collapse of Critical Ocean Current System 'Much Closer Than We Thought' - Commondreams (Jul 26, 2023) |
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Jul 26, 2023 · The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that carries warm water from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean.
"It is very plausible that we've fallen off a cliff already and don't know it," said one researcher.
The system of Atlantic Ocean currents that drive warm water from the tropics toward Europe is at risk of collapsing in the coming decades, an analysis of 150 years of temperature data published Tuesday concluded.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which includes the Gulf Stream, "is a major tipping element in the climate system and a future collapse would have severe impacts on the climate in the North Atlantic region," states the ... Read more ...
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Republicans want to plant a trillion trees. Scientists are skeptical. - Commondreams (Jul 18, 2023) |
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Jul 18, 2023 · Oil drilling platforms off the Texan Gulf Coast.
The Republican majority’s latest in a series of attempts to hand over our public lands and waters to Big Oil, this bill strips away the Department of Interior’s land and ocean management discretion.
In their latest legislative attack on our climate, the Republican majority in the House has written a bill that is so detrimental to our environment and communities, it may rank as the worst appropriations bill in decades.
For both our shared public lands and oceans, the bill carves out giveaways for the fossil fuel industry that go against not only our climate goals but also common sense. Instead of recognizing that ... Read more ...
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'Could Be a World Record': South Florida Ocean Temperature Hits 101.1°F - Commondreams (Jul 14, 2023) |
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Jul 14, 2023 · "I have no doubt a dip in Manatee Bay today would have been a hot tub-like experience," said one meteorologist earlier this week.
A buoy positioned roughly 40 miles south of Miami recorded a sea surface temperature of 101.1°F earlier this week, stunning scientists who say the reading could mark the latest in a string of global records as fossil fuel-driven extreme weather around the world brings unprecedented heat.
Meteorologist Jeff Masters wrote that the temperature in Florida's Manatee Bay reached hot tub levels on Monday and "could be a world record."
"I have no doubt a dip in Manatee Bay today would have been a hot tub-like experience, with [sea surface ... Read more ...
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New Study Identifies United States as 'Planet-Wrecker-in-Chief' - Commondreams (Jul 14, 2023) |
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Jul 14, 2023 · Planned fossil fuel expansion in the U.S. accounts for more than a third of new oil and gas extraction projects set to begin through 2050, according to Oil Change International.
A new report released Tuesday identifies the United States as "planet-wrecker-in-chief," pointing to the nation's plans for a massive expansion of oil and gas production over the next two and a half decades even as it postures as a climate leader on the world stage.
According to Oil Change International's (OCI) research, planned oil and gas expansion in the U.S. - the largest historical contributor to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions - accounts for more than a third of prospective ... Read more ...
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Tropical Forest Loss Generated 2.7 Gigatonnes of Carbon Pollution in 2022 - Commondreams (Jun 28, 2023) |
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Jun 28, 2023 · A man lights a fire in an area located on the edge of the BR-230 (Transamazonica) highway in Manicoré, Amazonas state, Brazil, on September 23, 2022.
That's one figure from a new report finding tropical deforestation increased in 2022 despite global pledges.
Despite world leaders' pledge to halt and reverse global deforestation by 2030, the tropics lost 10% more primary forest in 2022 than in 2021.
That's the latest update from the World Resources Institute's (WRI) Global Forest Watch, released Tuesday, which found that tropical forests had lost 4.1 million hectares, generating as much carbon dioxide as India emits from fossil fuels in a year at 2.7 ... Read more ...
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Oregon County Sues Big Oil and 'Misinformation Agents' Over Deadly 2021 Heatwave - Commondreams (Jun 23, 2023) |
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Jun 23, 2023 · Oregon's Multnomah County sued fossil fuel companies and "their misinformation agents" in state court on June 22, 2023.
"The heat dome was a direct and foreseeable consequence of the defendants' decision to sell as many fossil fuel products over the last six decades as they could and to lie to the county, the public, and the scientific community."
Two years after what experts called the "world's most extreme heatwave in modern history" devastated the Pacific Northwest, Oregon's Multnomah County filed a lawsuit against several fossil fuel giants and "their misinformation agents" in state court.
"This lawsuit is about accountability and fairness, and ... Read more ...
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As Smoke Recedes, the Climate Denial of Everyday Life Becomes Clear - Commondreams (Jun 14, 2023) |
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Jun 14, 2023 · The tramway to Roosevelt Island crosses the East River as smoke from Canadian wildfires casts a haze over the area on June 7, 2023 in New York City. Air pollution alerts were issued across the United States due to smoke from wildfires that have been burning in Canada for weeks.
If humanity’s two choices are to transform or collapse, the only rational, moral choice is to become a part of the transformation.
The smoke emergency faced by NYC and much of the Eastern Seaboard should be our “Pearl Harbor” moment. It should stir a collective awakening to the existential threat of climate change, and a shared understanding that our entire economy and society must be mobilized in ... Read more ...
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The Climate Crisis Will Be the Mother of All Financial Crises - Commondreams (Jun 12, 2023) |
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Jun 12, 2023 · This aerial photograph taken in Pakistan's Balochistan province on August 31, 2022 shows people wading in floodwaters next to a house that collapsed due to monsoon rains turbocharged by the climate crisis.
Our rapidly heating planet is the fundamental crisis for humanity and will have repercussions on all human systems.
The criminal profits of large multinational corporations in 2022 might seem to indicate a reversal of the historical trend for global profit decline of recent decades, but they are only a hiccup and a massive assault enabled by the privileges of the monopolists of global capital. The fall in profitability continues and the climate crisis is already ... Read more ...
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140+ groups demand insurers end support for 'toxic' LNG terminals - Commondreams (Jun 08, 2023) |
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Jun 08, 2023 · Groups including Public Citizen and Rain Forest Action Network called on insurers to stop insuring LNG terminals in a letter on June 8, 2023.
"It's time for insurance companies to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of communities over profits and take a stand against these dangerous facilities," said one campaigner.
Climate justice, consumer rights, and conservation groups were among more than 140 organizations that wrote to insurance agencies on Thursday to demand they stop underwriting LNG export terminals like nearly two dozen that have been proposed on the United States' Gulf Coast, with frontline communities joining the call on the one-year anniversary of ... Read more ...
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Putin is vulnerable—stop buying Russian fossil fuels and he'll be powerless - Commondreams (Jun 04, 2023) |
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Jun 04, 2023 · If you stand with Ukraine, tell world leaders to fully sanction Russian oil and gas companies.
Recently my son graduated from high school, but because Russia invaded our country last year, he and his classmates faced a graduation with no ceremony due to unrelenting military attacks. The sadness and frustration I felt was intense. I feared the defining moments of his life would be persistently marred by tragedy, when all I want is for my son to enjoy a healthy, everyday life.
For over a year, we’ve angrily watched as the world continues to finance Vladimir Putin’s war by purchasing Russian fossil fuels, without considering the effect this has on Ukrainian lives. Over the ... Read more ...
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Frontline Communities Need an Ambitious Global Plastics Treaty - Commondreams (Jun 03, 2023) |
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Jun 03, 2023 · Children wade through floating garbage to reach their house as king tides inundate Funafuti Atoll, on 19 February 2004, home to nearly half of Tuvalu's entire population of 11,500.
An effective treaty must reduce plastic production and prioritize protecting biodiversity, safeguarding the climate and ensuring a just transition to a low-carbon, reuse-based economy.
Climate-crisis-fuelled storms have hit New Zealand hard this year. In January, we suffered unprecedented extreme weather and flooding, followed by Cyclone Gabrielle in February - the worst storm in 55 years - which triggered a national state of emergency. In total, we had 5.5 times more rain than Auckland ... Read more ...
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Big Trouble in the Deep: World's Oceans Are Now Heating Up Very, Very, Very Fast - Commondreams (May 19, 2023) |
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May 19, 2023 · A historic visualization of sea surface temperatures by NASA. Recent data showing a surge ocean temperatures, writes McKibben, "has scientists somewhat perplexed and considerably more frightened."
Remember, people, this is an experiment we haven’t run before, and the test tube we’re using is the whole planet.
Something very troubling is happening on and under the 70 percent of the planet’s surface covered by salt water. We pay far more attention to the air temperature, because we can feel it (and there’s lots to pay attention to, with record temps across Asia, Canada and the Pacific Northwest) but the truly scary numbers from this spring are showing up in the ... Read more ...
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Governments Failing To Target Global Methane Pollution - Commondreams (May 19, 2023) |
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May 19, 2023 · Trash is flattened and spread out across a hilllside before being covered with dirt at the Prima Deshecha landfill in San Juan Capistrano, California on Thursday, March 10, 2022.
"Landfills not only contribute to climate change, but they disproportionately impact low-income neighborhoods and communities of color forced to live near dumps," said the co-author of a new report.
Methane emissions from U.S. municipal landfills - collectively, one of the nation's largest sources of the planet-heating greenhouse gas - could be reduced if the Environmental Protection Agency enacted "strong new regulations," a report released Thursday argues.
The report - entitled ... Read more ...
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'Global LNG Boom Must Be Stopped in Its Tracks,' Climate Coalition Tells Biden - Commondreams (Apr 13, 2023) |
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Apr 13, 2023 · A woman takes part in a protest against fracked gas exports on June 15, 2022 in New York.
"Every LNG terminal that comes online risks locking in decades of avoidable climate pollution and environmental injustice."
Ahead of a planned global summit on the climate and environment in Japan, campaigners on Wednesday urged the Biden administration to resist pressure from Japanese officials to expand public investments in liquefied natural gas, which is derived from fracking and the drilling of oil and gas wells, warning that proponents have wrongly claimed the gas is a "clean" alternative to other fossil fuels.
The Group of 7 (G7) is expected to convene from April 15-16 ... Read more ...
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1,300+ Scientists Urge JPMorgan Shareholders to Vote for End to New Fossil Fuel Financing - Commondreams (Apr 10, 2023) |
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Apr 10, 2023 · An activist holds a sign depicting JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and detailing information about the bank's fossil fuel financing at a protest in London on October 19, 2021.
"It's time for big banks to listen to the science and stop funding climate destruction," said one advocate.
As the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis continues to wreak havoc around the globe, more than 1,300 scientists and researchers on Monday published a letter imploring JPMorgan Chase shareholders to support a resolution that asks the financial giant's board of directors to "adopt a policy for a time-bound phaseout" of bankrolling new coal, oil, and gas projects.
The resolution ... Read more ...
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The Willow Project Was a Key Climate Test. And Joe Biden Failed It. - Commondreams (Apr 10, 2023) |
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Apr 10, 2023 · Climate activists gather to protest with demanding President Biden stop the Willow Project by unfurling a banner on the Lafayette Square in front of the White House on January 10, 2023 in Washington D.C., United States.
The rubber-stamping of such a project sends a message not just to our generation but humanity as a whole: The future of our planet and the present well-being of frontline communities are being sacrificed for short-term economic gain and political expediency.
President Joe Biden’s recent approval of the Willow Project in Alaska has alarmed many young people and once again made us question his seriousness about addressing the climate crisis before it is too ... Read more ...
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Glaciologist Says New Melting Study 'Frankly Scary. Even to Me.' - Commondreams (Apr 06, 2023) |
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Apr 06, 2023 · Satellite imagery shows the Larsen B Ice Shelf in Antarctica on February 21, 2000. The ice shelf's collapse in 2002 was hastened by fossil fuel-driven global warming.
"Ice sheets are retreating fast today," said one expert. "But we see traces in the seafloor that the retreat could go faster, way faster, and this is a reminder that we have not seen everything yet."
Peer-reviewed research out Wednesday shows that parts of a huge ice sheet covering Eurasia retreated up to 2,000 feet per day at the end of the last ice age - by far the fastest rate measured to date.
The new finding, published in the journal Nature, upends "what scientists previously thought were the ... Read more ...
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'Incredibly Disturbing' Docs Reveal Oil Giant Shell Knew About Climate Impacts Even Earlier - Commondreams (Apr 03, 2023) |
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Apr 03, 2023 · "Despite internal awareness, the company systematically downplayed the problem to the public, instead promoting more and more fossil fuel use despite the dangers," said one expert. "Now, five decades later, Shell continues to dawdle and delay."
Reporting on a cache of documents published over the weekend shows Shell knew about the impact of fossil fuel even earlier than previously revealed, potentially bolstering legal efforts to hold Big Oil accountable for the global climate emergency.
The reporting from DeSmog and Follow the Money is based on Dirty Pearls: Exposing Shell's hidden legacy of climate change accountability, 1970-1990, a project for which researcher ... Read more ...
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Alliance of 60+ Groups Demands Farm Bill That Rejects False Climate Solutions - Commondreams (Mar 17, 2023) |
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Mar 17, 2023 · Cows at seen at a dairy farm on August 24, 2016, in Porterville in California's Central Valley.
"There's no way around it - we have to actually cut fossil fuel emissions," said Food & Water Watch.
Dozens of climate action, Indigenous rights, and public interest groups on Thursday announced an alliance that plans to engage with lawmakers ahead of this year's congressional debate on the Farm Bill, calling on them to pass legislation that rejects carbon offsets, carbon markets, and other policies that perpetuate a planet-heating agricultural system.
Food & Water Watch convened more than 60 groups including the Farmworker Advocacy Network, the Indigenous ... Read more ...
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Trump's Indictment Was Not the Biggest Story of the Week - Commondreams (Feb 24, 2023) |
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Feb 24, 2023 · Hours before news of the former president's indictment took over the headlines, a study warned that "melting ice around Antarctica will cause a rapid slowdown of a major global deep ocean current by 2050 that could alter the world's climate for centuries."
Last Thursday’s big news story was the indictment of Donald Trump, with banner headlines in all the papers that still print on paper. The phrase I saw most often was “uncharted territory,” (and occasionally “unchartered territory”), which is somewhat true: we’ve never had a former president, much less one seeking election, under indictment. But, truth be told, it seems like these waters were fairly easy to predict. ... Read more ...
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Reaching 1.5°C of Global Heating by 2024 Isn't Even the Whole Story - Commondreams (Jan 27, 2023) |
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Jan 27, 2023 · A policeman with a dog stands on the edge of a lignite mine in the village of Luetzerath, western Germany, on January 11, 2023, during the evacuation of anti-coal activists staging an 'active defence' of the village, ahead of a planned demolition to expand a coal mine.
Does anyone out there still believe that our current system of growth at all costs is symbiotic with our existence?
With the warmer El Niño climate pattern about to replace the colder La Niña in the Pacific Ocean at the end of the year, we are about to get a real glimpse into our collective future. While our governments have been pretending to focus on a distant 2050 target to limit warming to ... Read more ...
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'Failure of Climate Leadership': Biden Approving More Drilling on Public Lands Than Trump - Commondreams (Jan 25, 2023) |
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Jan 25, 2023 · "Avoiding catastrophic climate change requires phasing out fossil fuel extraction, but instead we're still racing in the opposite direction," said one environmental justice advocate.
Although President Joe Biden vowed on the campaign trail to phase out federal leasing for fossil fuel extraction, his administration approved more permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in its first two years than the Trump administration did in 2017 and 2018.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity's analysis of federal data released Wednesday, the Biden White House greenlit 6,430 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in 2021 and 2022 - a 4.2% increase ... Read more ...
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Climate Crisis Making Millions Too Poor to Escape... the Climate Crisis - Commondreams (Jan 25, 2023) |
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Jan 25, 2023 · A mother and her children fetch water at a site for internally displaced people in Montepuez District, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.
"Ongoing climate change is keeping many people in the Global South in poverty, making it more difficult for them to migrate," said the co-author of a new study. "Thus climate change deprives people of an important way to adapt to its impacts and increases the gap between rich and poor."
As the worsening climate emergency creates an increasing number of migrants around the world, the economic effects of the planetary crisis are paradoxically making millions of people throughout the Global South too poor to escape its ravages.
That's ... Read more ...
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World On Verge of 'New Industrial Age' as Clean Energy Jobs Boom: IEA - Commondreams (Jan 13, 2023) |
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Jan 13, 2023 · Workers install solar panels on the roof of a house in Oak View, California.
"We're talking about new clean energy technology markets worth hundreds of billions of dollars as well as millions of new jobs," said the head of the International Energy Agency - if countries implement their climate pledges.
Clean energy manufacturing jobs will more than double by the end of the decade if countries worldwide live up to their climate and energy pledges, according to a report published Thursday by the International Energy Agency.
"The energy world is at the dawn of a new industrial age - the age of clean energy technology manufacturing - that is creating major new ... Read more ...
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'Absolute Madness': Record-Shattering Heat Dome Hits Europe - Commondreams (Jan 08, 2023) |
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Jan 08, 2023 · A thermometer at a pharmacy in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg Germany shows an air temperature of 18°C (64°F) on December 31, 2022.
It's "the most extreme event ever seen in European climatology," said one climatologist. "Nothing stands close to this."
As Europe closed the books on its warmest year ever recorded, an exceptionally potent winter heat dome descended on much of the continent over the holiday weekend, with thousands of daily and monthly high-temperature records shattered from Spain to Russia.
"The intensity and extent of warmth in Europe right now is hard to comprehend," meteorologist Scott Duncan toldThe Times of London. "There are too many records to ... Read more ...
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