“It’s a mistake to ignore methane,” said Rob Jackson, professor of earth system science at Stanford University and a co-author of both studies. “If we can reduce methane emissions quickly, we could shave a half-a-degree Celsius off peak temperatures.”
The problem is that methane keeps rising. And rising. Starting in 2007, methane emissions started climbing fast, after remaining fairly stable for the previous seven years. But scientists couldn’t figure out exactly why.
“It’s embarrassing, honestly,” said Jackson.
Methane levels have hit a scary record high, new studies say
grist.org
Global lockdowns haven’t stopped this powerful greenhouse gas from surging.“Natural gas, a fossil fuel, has long been called a “bridge” to a cleaner energy future because burning it has a much lower carbon footprint than burning coal or oil. But research has called that narrative into question by showing that methane leaking across the natural gas supply chain raises its climate impact significantly. Recent developments have called the economics of natural gas into question, too: In early July, the developers of the high-profile Atlantic Coast Pipeline decided to abandon the project after an onslaught of lawsuits made the pipeline too expensive to build.
California, Massachusetts, and New York haven’t decided whether — or to what extent — natural gas can remain in their energy mixes. But the point of these investigations is much larger than those questions. There’s no established roadmap for managing the transition to zero-emissions buildings, and there are serious consequences to getting it wrong — huge cost burdens on residents, mass layoffs and bankruptcies at utilities, and of course, climate disaster.”
There’s no roadmap to the other side of the natural gas bridge. These states are making one.
grist.org
Unless governments take a proactive, holistic approach to long-term natural gas planning, it’s going to get messy, fast.
The University of Vermont is finally divesting from fossil fuels. Congratulations and thank you to our tireless climate champions at Club Organize UVM!
University of Vermont Announces Plan to Divest From Fossil Fuels
www.sevendaysvt.com
After years of pressure from students and activists, the University of Vermont has announced plans to phase out investments in fossil fuel companies. UVM's board..."In few places is the problem more pronounced than in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and its suburbs. In 2019, the region saw 103 days of triple-digit temperatures and 197 fatalities from heat-related causes. It was the highest number of heat-associated deaths on record for the county, and the fourth year in a row of record-setting heat deaths there. Those numbers are only expected to increase as the climate changes.
Image: Two years into her first term as mayor, Democrat Kate Gallego wants to make Phoenix “the most sustainable desert city on the planet."
Two years into her first term as mayor, Democrat Kate Gallego wants to make Phoenix “the most sustainable desert city on the planet."
But Phoenix may also serve as a role model for cities seeking ways to cool down. Ortiz and other community activists are helping residents develop heat action plans and fight for shade structures in their neighborhoods. Local scientists are working with the city’s sustainability office to establish a framework for “heat ready” certification, which would evaluate a community’s preparedness for extreme temperatures in the way the National Weather Service’s “storm ready” program sets the standard for responding to bad weather. Mayor Kate Gallego (D), who holds an environmental science degree, wants Phoenix to be a model for the nation."
How America’s hottest city will survive climate change
www.washingtonpost.com
On a warming planet, heat hurts communities of color more. But Phoenix is finding ways to cool down.“But it’s also whose interests are automatically included when you enter the public sphere and say, “I want to change society.” Whose interests are not negotiable? I don’t think the interests of any person, North or South, can be disposable. If we agree with that, then the very first thing is to examine the legitimate demands coming from poor or less powerful people in the North and the South. It’s a method for thinking about how to do politics.
What that brings us to is the set of fundamental demands that animated the global climate justice movement until around 2014 when they became increasingly submerged. The essence of it is the call for ecological or climate debt. If you took the most minimal G77 program in 2012 or 2014, for example, that was calling for $100 billion per year to be ramped up rapidly. These were the most minimal calls. There were much more radical calls out there. One can calculate climate debt much more expansively as well.
Stan Cox, who has a fantastic book called The Green New Deal and Beyond, estimated the cost of worldwide clean transition at $100 trillion—and said the US should shoulder a huge portion of that. Which really begins to get more properly at this question of climate debt. This was the fundamental demand that came from the Cochabamba meetings that brought together all the radical civil society of the Global South, but also the Global North, and was supported by the Bolivian government. This wasn’t something that didn’t have an echo in the Global North. If you talk to anyone who was really involved in these proceedings, they will say “it’s common sense.”
‘Either you are fighting to eliminate exploitation or not’: A leftist critique of the Green New Deal
canadiandimension.com
Canadian Dimension spoke with Max Ajl, an associated researcher at the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment, about his critiques of the Green New Deal, its relationship to cap...“Centered in the equatorial tropics, Africa is the world's hottest continent, and millions of people there are facing a growing threat from deadly heat waves. But no one knows how many people have died or been seriously affected in other ways by extreme heat because the impacts have been poorly tracked.
Coordinated reporting is lacking and, at the global level, research and tracking of the impacts of climate change are biased toward developed countries, scientists concluded in a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Africa is warming faster than the global average, and the lack of data is a roadblock to effective disaster preparation, assessment of vulnerability and planning for climate resilience, said co-author Friederike Otto, acting director of the University of Oxford Environmental Change Institute. She said she noticed the information gap when she reviewed the international disasters database (EM-DAT), for another recent study on extreme weather events in lower income countries.”
Climate Science Has a Blind Spot When it Comes to Heat Waves in Southern Africa
insideclimatenews.org
The lack of detailed information on extreme heat impacts hinders disaster response and preparedness.“Mongabay spoke with experts on both sides of trophy hunting for the 5th anniversary of the lion 'Cecil' being shot by an American dentist: interesting remarks from the Namibian conservationist saying how trophy hunting does in fact support her local community in multiple ways, despite lack of published studies that prove it so -- also the scientist from Oxford on how it impacts ongoing science.”
Podcast: Five years after the death of Cecil the Lion, trophy hunting debate rages on
news.mongabay.com
On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we take a look at the state of the debate over trophy hunting five years after the killing of Cecil the Lion sparked widespread outrage. Listen here: Last w...“Socio-environmental activists are an endangered species in the Brazilian Amazon, with regularly occurring assassination-style killings like those of activists Chico Mendes in 1988 and Sister Dorothy Stang in 2005 creating an ongoing climate of fear.
According to human rights watchdog Global Witness, Brazil in 2017 was the world’s most dangerous country for environmental acivists: 57 out of 201 deaths worldwide occurred in Brazil. Intimidation and murder of activists continues into the present.”
Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
news.mongabay.com
Juma Xipaya, a young indigenous woman, medical student and fierce activist, fought the Belo Monte dam and exposed corruption; now she lives in daily terror of two thugs in a white pickup.“Previously, scientists had thought singing occurred only during courtship and mating, but now they think whales may also use song while migrating and hunting. They know song has a crucial role in the whales’ lives.
“There’s a whole other dimension to humpback whale song,” Ryan says. “It is a mode of cultural transmission in this species. They learn songs from each other. They share songs as a population, and when populations mix and mingle, they learn new ideas, they explore with their song, improvise, and it’s a real essential part of their culture.”
In 2015, institute researchers placed a hydrophone 3,000 feet deep, recording and analyzing humpback whale songs. Between 2015 and 2018, they collected over 26,000 hours of audio, which they used computer software to analyze. The researchers determined “peak singing season” in November through January, and they found most singing occurred at night. During peak season, songs were heard around 70% of the night.
However, from September 2015 to May 2016, they detected whales singing only about 11% of the time. Those months correlated with a period when the water temperature was especially high, depleting stocks of vital food sources like anchovies and krill, and correlating also with a toxic algal bloom. Scientists think the whales may have had to devote more time and energy to finding food, leaving less for singing. As researchers continue to study the worlds’ oceans, they will undoubtedly learn more about underwater mysteries.”
Hearing the under-sea whispers of a warming climate » Yale Climate Connections
www.yaleclimateconnections.org
Scientists are using hydrophones, instruments that use underwater microphones, to collect clues about melting glaciers and the songs of whales.'Privatize the Profit, Socialize the Mess': Abandoned Fracking Wells Left Spewing Climate-Killing Methane Nationwide
www.commondreams.org
"Are we going to be responsible for the mess that these companies leave behind?"I've read that all over.
“the real harm that Fauci does is in leading the discussion away from the cause of Covid 19 and similar zoonotic diseases. Rob Wallace (Big Farms Make Big Flu) explains that the bases for the rise of new zoonotic diseases (ones which jump the species barrier to human beings) are factory farming and habitat destruction. These are putting humans and domesticated meat animals (like fowl, pigs, etc.) into ever closer contact with wild species (like bats) and also encouraging the evolution of viruses into new forms that can infect humans. (See this article for a fuller explanation.) What Wallace also explains is that once a new virus has been discovered it’s already too late. What’s necessary is to change the conditions that lead to the evolution of these viruses. Anything else is really just closing the barn door after the horses have gotten out.
The approach of Fauci and the majority of scientists fits with that of the less insane politicians like Joe Biden. From global warming to endocrine system disruption to zoonoses, what they advocate is in effect that human society – meaning capitalism – can continue to rape the natural world with impunity and all that’s needed is some technical fixes. This idea is most clearly expressed in the school of thought called ecomodernism. In a way, ecomodernism could be called “scientific capitalism” as opposed to the lies of Trump and the mysticism of the likes of Mike Pence and others like him.”
Ready to be accomplices?
“We don’t need allies. We need accomplices. We need people that are going to be accomplices with us in the dismantling of white supremacy.”
ndncollective.org
NDN Collective President and CEO Nick Tilsen was among 20 Land Defenders arrested while protesting Trump’s visit to Mount Rushmore. After being detained for three days, he shared this statement.
Our violent system has claimed another comrade.Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante leader Durvi Martinez died on July 1st from COVID-19. Durvi contracted coronavirus soon after being deported from Vermont to Mexico. Durvi, a trans woman who had suffered severe violence before immigrating to the United States, was deported despite a pending asylum claim.
Before being deported, Durvi was part of the farmworker community in Vermont and a member of Migrant Justice. They were a brave and outspoken advocate for immigrant and LGBTQ rights. Durvi will be remembered as a loving and supportive friend.
Durvi was arrested by ICE in January, 2020 and spent three months detained in deplorable conditions. They were held in an all-male section of the prison, denied medication, and suffered severe weight loss. Durvi’s months in detention led to a weakened immune system that likely increased their susceptibility to the virus that ultimately took their life.
Durvi was in the midst of preparing an asylum application based on the horrific and systemic violence that they experienced as a trans person in Mexico. When the coronavirus pandemic began spreading in immigration detention centers in March, ICE chose to quickly deport Durvi, ignoring the asylum claim and failing to notify Durvi’s lawyer. Rather than releasing Durvi, ICE deported them to their death.
Migrant Justice unequivocally denounces Durvi’s unjust detention and deportation, and we hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement responsible for their death.
Durvi’s family must now pay significant hospital bills and funeral costs and support is urgently needed. Please donate to their family’s GoFundMe to help cover these expenses: gf.me/u/yfivu4
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline went down yesterday, and now this. It’s nice to get some wins once in awhile, eh?
'Historic day' for Standing Rock as pipeline company told to shut down, remove oil
indiancountrytoday.com
UPDATED: Order says Dakota Access assumed much of its economic risk knowingly, and the potential harm each day the pipeline operates
"To understand the root causes of the pathologies we see today, which impact all of us—but affect Brown, Black and Poor people more intensely—we have to examine the foundations of this society which began with Colonization…. the way the extractive economic system of Capitalism came to this land, supported by systems of supremacy and domination which are a necessary part to keep wealth and power accumulated in the hands of the colonizers and ultimately their financiers.” — Dr. Rupa Marya #AnotherWorldIsPossible #FutureWeWant #DefundPolice
Are you hearing about defunding the police and wondering about how it can be done?:
"They don’t carry guns or lay charges – both because they can’t and they don’t want to. The distinction has earned them trust and respect in the community, as well as national and international attention.
Mr. Park and his colleagues have picked up intoxicated teens stumbling through 40-below nights, finding them safe places to go. They’ve attended overdoses, administering Naloxone, interceded in incidents of domestic violence and consistently check on people struggling with addictions. They also drive kids to hockey, have helped write résumés, change light bulbs, chase bears out of the community and pick up hitchhikers, such as the 90-year-old elder they took on a spontaneous Christmas lights tour last winter."
Four officers, no weapons, no charges: A Yukon First Nation’s solution for keeping the peace
www.theglobeandmail.com
In Whitehorse, colonialism and crime have damaged the people of Kwanlin Dun’s relationships with the RCMP and one another. Now, a pilot project is trying to do policing differently — and Indigenou...“As a group whose pursuit is environmental justice, we recognize that racial justice is at the forefront of that effort. Our extraction-fueled, profit-driven society is built upon the oppression of the Earth and, by the same token, entire groups of people. Fossil fuel infrastructure, toxic waste dumps, and more are usually located within low-income communities and communities of color, disproportionately affecting their health and cutting their lives short. These communities routinely suffer the most from polluted land, air, and water, and make up the vast majority of those on the frontlines of the ecological and climate crisis, despite doing the least to contribute to the destruction themselves. Our extractive society is sacrificing them for short term profit. This must stop.”
Monica Filippenko: Extinction Rebellion group in solidarity with BLM
vtdigger.org
As a group whose pursuit is environmental justice, we recognize that racial justice is at the forefront of that effort.On this Memorial Day, as we mourn the needless loss of thousands of fellow humans in days past and future, we acknowledge that these losses are rooted in the diseases of domination, greed, violence, militarism, discrimination, and war. Let us today make a commitment to support egalitarian, regenerative, and sustainable solutions for generations to come.
People of Colour Experience Climate Grief More Deeply Than White People
People of Colour Experience Climate Grief More Deeply Than White People
www.vice.com
We are not only disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, but we carry a pain that comes from a long history of racial terror.
Planet of the Humans : Let's just have a think...
This is a great critique, a clear rebuttal actually of the many distortions in this film. Can't understand why Michael Moore is promoting it - he obviously hasn't vetted it carefully.
ANNOUNCEMENT! Uprise Youth Action Camp has the green light from the State of Vermont to hold camp! We're going for it! Sign up HERE -> forms.gle/dw5USfjAdLT7ee7p6
DONATE TO SUPPORT YOUTH LEADERSHIP IN THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT HERE! -> www.gofundme.com/f/uprise-camp-amp-youth-action-alliance?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link...
After everything that’s happened, does anyone still think petitions are going to change anything? If you’re not already fired up to get out of your comfort zone, now’s the time to light that fire.
Last Saturday, Extinction Rebellion Vermont and allies, using extreme social distancing techniques, planted 39 chestnut trees in honor of nonviolent warrior Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated the same day in 1968 at the age of 39.
The trees were planted on property where working class families once lived before the City of Burlington razed their homes to expand BTV airport and pave the way for the appalling F-35 war aircraft. Vermont's contingent of F-35s burns thousands of gallons of toxic fuel in mere moments and is contributing to the ill health of neighboring communities due to their freakishly loud engine noise.
Burlington has turned a working class neighborhood into a wasteland. The ghostly footprints of former homes remain, waiting for a purpose and reminding us of the disdain that the forces of destruction have for life. These forces are not resting during this pandemic, and neither can we.
The city has said it has a landscape plan for the area, but we all know that "plan" likely consists of occasional mowing. Extinction Rebellion's planting of these 39 "MLK Trees" will help the city with their landscaping, provide healing to these maltreated residential lots, and begin the process of recapturing a fraction of the carbon burned by the military's death machines next door.
We invite the City of Burlington to use these trees as a catalyst for a full reforestation of this besieged territory.
What do you think capitalists will say when climate change becomes too severe to ignore? We need a revolution so we don’t have to find out.
Solidarity with all frontline workers! Workers who continue to keep our society running during this crisis need big raises, and they need additional protections in place, immediately.
www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/perdue-employees-walk-out-as-coronavirus-concerns-grow/93-7c7bd...
'This is not a game': Perdue plant employees walk out over COVID-19 concerns
www.13wmaz.com
Almost 50 employees walked out Monday morning say some workers on the production line were in contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19Coronavirus Holds Key Lessons on How to Fight Climate Change
Coronavirus Holds Key Lessons on How to Fight Climate Change
e360.yale.edu
When the COVID-19 pandemic is past, societies may adopt some important measures that would lower emissions, from more teleconferencing to shortening global supply chains. But the most lasting lesson m...soil is usSOIL IS US
We owe our existence to soil. In a sense, we are animate consciously-aware expressions of the life generated by soil. Without soil there would be no terrestrial life forms on earth.
Four-hundred-and-seventy million years ago fungi cytoplasts united with bacteria and algae to become lichen and launched their mutualistic partnership upon a vast single continent of rock. They know longer waited for weatherization to wash nutrients to the sea. They colonized the rock and became the primogenitors of pedogenesis. The Permian forests grew from the soil lichen first built---laying down the coal oil and shale we burn today. Back then the CO2 in the atmosphere was 7000-8000 ppm. Deep soils teeming with life drew CO2 down to as low as 100ppm. Soil gave rise to hydrologic systems. Established the balanced climate in which our species evolved. Yet, to judge by our actions, soil is the most under-valued and abused of all the natural resources at our disposal. The last 30 years have seen an explosion in exciting new panoramas of research into the complex mutualism between plants and the soil biome. We now know that through photosynthesis plant roots deliver a 3rd or more of the sugars plants produce to the soil microorganisms. This liquid carbon drives the vast food web of our biosphere. The soil carbon sponge is designed to be the repository of excess carbon. It is the living library out of which all our dreams of existence are spun. We have come to understand that fungi are a keystone species in this hidden world. And that the conventional agriculture we have developed over the last 60 years has reduced that soil fungal population by 90%. We have degenerated degraded and desertified ½ of the terrestrial planet that is not covered with ice. If we restore this land just think of how much carbon we could draw down.
Living the good life starts here.....
This content isn't available right nowWhen this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now
Insanity.
www.businessinsider.com
Airlines are running empty "ghost" flights because of European rules forcing operators to run their allocated flights or risk losing their slots.The state of our oceans
www.aljazeera.com
World Meteorological Office report just released confirms warmer, more acidic oceans and continuing sea-level rise.MERLYN CLIMATE GRANTSNext Application Deadline: MAY 15, 2020
Wet’suwet’en Isn’t Just About a Pipeline, but Keeping Indigenous Women Safe
Wet’suwet’en Isn’t Just About a Pipeline, but Keeping Indigenous Women Safe
www.vice.com
Evidence shows a link between the presence of resource extraction workers who live in temporary 'man camps' and violence against Indigenous women and girls.Former UN Climate Chief Calls For Civil Disobedience
Former UN Climate Chief Calls For Civil Disobedience
www.forbes.com
The woman who led the negotiations for the Paris Agreement has called in a new book for political engagement on climate change that goes well beyond the voting booth.Photos taken 9 days apart from each other. Pressure must be kept on the globe’s largest polluters— fossil fuel companies and the defense industrial complex.
'Antarctica Melts,' NASA Says, Showing Effects Of A Record Warm Spell
www.npr.org
Taken just nine days apart, two images illustrate the impact a recent warm period had on the Antarctic Peninsula. NASA says such warmth "has become more common in recent years."Longest Railway Shutdown in Canadian History Entering it's 8th day | Real People's Media
Longest Railway Shutdown in Canadian History Entering it's 8th day | Real People's Media
realpeoples.media
Tyendinaga Mohawks Seek Peaceful Resolution TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police invaded Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia on February 5th, 2020 to enforce a ...Not all heroes wear capes
Boring photo—but exciting evening. Montpelier City Council votes unanimously to declare climate emergency!
RCMP arrest Unist'ot'en matriarchs during ceremony to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls
www.straight.com
There are five Wet'suwet'en clans and 13 house groups. The Unist'ot'en (Dark House) is one of three houses within the Gilseyhu (Bull Frog) clan.In Memoriam: 28 Indigenous Rights Defenders Murdered in Latin America in 2019
In Memoriam: 28 Indigenous Rights Defenders Murdered in Latin America in 2019
www.culturalsurvival.org
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