Yet another reason for Extinction Rebellion US's Fourth Demand for a Just Transition.
Kids as young as four toiling in African mica mines
on.msnbc.com
Thousands of children in Madagascar are working in the country’s mica industry. Katy Tur discusses with NBC News Senior Investigative Correspondent Cynthia McFadden.
If the adults don't lead, Vermont's youth will. They're being polite now, but that will change if Governor Phil Scott and the legislature don't take bold action in 2020.
A good number of Vermont’s XR Youth attended the Congress and pushed the conversation toward bolder legislation.
I support the students!
What would you describe as 'Bold Action' by Phil Scott?
It was time to stop being polite 30 years ago...
Climate Caucus legislators need to hear from us, too, to amplify the voices of these youth!
www.vpirg.org/news/climate-solutions-caucus-holding-forums-statewide/
Vermont youth call on lawmakers to act on climate change
www.wcax.com
Vermont’s youth took over the Statehouse Sunday to write a climate declaration they're planning to send to state lawmakers.
Humans Aren’t Inherently Destroying the Planet — Capitalism Is
truthout.org
A new book dubs our current geological era the “Capitalocene.”"...we call it the Capitalocene because it’s not some innate quality of humans that has destroyed the planet, it’s a product of how the system of capitalism operates. If we are to stop the destruction of the planet, then we need to name the systems that cause it and observe that there are some humans who had nothing to do with it — that some humans are very importantly not to blame for what gets called the Anthropocene. Labeling them with the same term as other humans not only blames the victim in some cases, but it also obscures potential solutions to the climate crisis that aren’t about exploiting nature but are about entering into a much more reasonable relationship to the web of life."
Humans Aren’t Inherently Destroying the Planet — Capitalism Is
truthout.org
A new book dubs our current geological era the “Capitalocene.”Depends on what you put under the umbrella of capitalism. China is the largest emitter of CO2. Are they capitalist? Industrialism & consumerism & militarism, sure. But capitalism per se? Not so clear to me.
Teacher Friends,
On Saturday, December 7, Bill Bigelow is facilitating a workshop for K-12 educators, teacher educators, and activists, based on his book A People's Curriculum for the Earth: Teaching Climate Change and the Environmental Crisis.
This is a great opportunity!
www.epsilonspires.org
Bill Bigelow, curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools magazine and co-director of the Zinn Education Project, facilitates a workshop for K-12 educators, teacher educators, and activists, based on his ..."The New York Times sparked fierce backlash from environmentalists Friday for publishing a news story that leads with a matter-of-fact comparison between Sen. Bernie Sanders' plan to finance the Green New Deal by taxing and fining the fossil fuel industry and President Donald Trump's claim that Mexico would pay for the construction of a border wall."
www.commondreams.org
"Article misses a key 'expert' perspective: The climate scientists who are saying we need to radically transform every aspect of our economy in the next decade if we want even a 50 percent chance of a...The New York Times is not your friend. Never has been.
“BlackRock, which has $6.84 trillion in assets under management, could not be reached for immediate comment.
In August, as fires ravaging the Amazon basin sparked unprecedented deforestation, a report released by Friends of the Earth, Amazon Watch and Dutch research firm Profundo took BlackRock to task over its "substantial exposure to deforestation and land conflict risk".
The report concluded that BlackRock is among the top three shareholders in 25 of the planet's largest publicly traded companies with "deforestation risk". An analysis of BlackRock's holdings showed that the asset manager's investments in six sectors - soy, beef, palm oil, rubber, timber and pulp/paper- have increased by more than half a billion dollars in the past five years.”
Extinction Rebellion targets BlackRock, keeping up the pressure
www.aljazeera.com
Activists have repeatedly called the biggest global asset manager the 'world's largest investor in deforestation'.What the Public Doesn’t Know Can’t Hurt Them — Can It?
Advocates of biofuels around the country tout them as better for the environment than fossil fuels, a fact that polls tell us the public doesn't disagree with.
Scientists, on the other hand, have begun to question some of those environmental benefits. According to some studies, biodiesels emit more of certain pollutants than regular diesel, and biofuels can have a larger carbon footprint than gasoline, depending on where you start in the production cycle. These findings don't seem to enter the public discourse.
Lobbying and Public Perception
www.ecowatch.com
The industry often referred to as "Big Corn" has a surprising amount of power and has actively intensified its lobbying efforts.In 2018 several biofuel interest groups each spent more than $1 million ...Corn ethanol is more of an energy conversion, converting diesel fuel and fertilizer and valuable top soil into ethanol, than it is and energy creator. The Energy Returned on Energy Invested is somewhere around 2:1 in the USA. Not really helping anything. At least with sugar cane in Brazil, Ethanol production can reach 7:1 in the most modern plants. Still barely worth it. Fracked oil is about 15:1 and is too expensive to sell at $60/ barrel. Modern society was built on, and relies on to avoid economic collapse, $20/ barrel oil which was the historical trend average.
My perception has always been that corn based ethanol was originally meant to replace gasoline. Then like most federal programs once it got started and developed a lobby it has become a political football.
An interview with Klein via telephone about her new book. The conversation followed the rise of climate barbarism and eco-fascism, as well as the narrow path forward for the Left to win global justice and a Green New Deal.
Naomi Klein on Climate Chaos: “I Don’t Think Baby Boomers Did This. I Think Capitalism Did.”
inthesetimes.com
The author and activist weighs in on the presidential race, youth movements and the Right's response to climate change.“I Don’t Think Baby Boomers Did This. I Think Capitalism Did.” What a great quote!
“I sometimes quote my friend Saket Soni, a labor organizer, who said: “They have disaster capitalism, we need disaster collectivism.” In other words, what is our plan for how we want to transform society in the context of the system failures that are being produced? You know, I see the sort of intersectional vision in a Green New Deal as that kind of counter shock. I’ve been involved in other projects like it, like the Leap Manifesto in Canada [which articulates a movement-backed transformation of society], and this has been a gradual process on the Left of realizing that we really need to have a vision for whatever the crisis is. We needed it in Greece, we needed it after the 2008 meltdown, and we needed it in Egypt. Too often there have been these system crises and really regressive forces have their “shock doctrine” plan and the Left doesn’t have a democratic counterpart. And I think the significance of the Green New Deal is that for the first time the Left does have a plan.” The question is how to keep the Green New Deal from being co-opted by Capitalism.
“Anne Richards, chief executive of Fidelity International, said the world must end “our obsession with ever-increasing GDP” and the “primacy of shareholders” to foster the kind of long-term thinking that would help protect the environment.
Andreas Utermann, CEO of Allianz Global Investors, said the world’s growth mania — “nominal GDP growth, supported by population growth, [and profit] growth” — was clearly unsustainable, and suggested that capitalism in its current form is “borrowing from the future while destroying the environment”.
City fund managers call for rethink of capitalism
www.ft.com
FT City Network says government and business must address challenges of climate changeBut is it even possible to have capitalism without the obsession with ever-increasing growth, when capitalism is predicated upon ever-increasing maximization of profit? The basic logic of capitalism is antithetical to an ecologically sustainable and regenerative society.
In Autlan, Jalisco, girls, and boys urinate pesticides - The Mazatlán Post
themazatlanpost.com
Nausea, cramping, and vomiting. Those were the conditions that set off the alert of fathers and mothers of the El Mentidero delegation, in the municipality of Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco.
I pledge to NOT own large factories that spew clouds of Sulfur Dioxide into the air. I pledge to NOT own a military industrial complex that pollutes as much as 140 countries and consumes more than half of our budget. I pledge to not run a pipeline through Native American Land, which then leaks oil into the river. I pledge to NOT support weather modification programs that are being conducted throughout the country. I pledge to not wage war on countries in the Middle East, South America and elsewhere in order to gain control of their oil and natural resources. How did I do?
🔥🔥🔥
"We're Sorry"
Activists hold climate conference deep in the Amazon rainforest
www.theguardian.com
Young XR members travel by canoe into heart of Amazon to form ‘forest pact’ with indigenous groups and land activistsYouth movements, voice and perspectives are essential to revolutionary change, resilience and our future.
Youth Groups Increasingly Impatient Over Climate Inaction
www.youthlobby.org
Co-written By: Beck Andersen and Matt Henchen 11/13/19 On November 17th, hundreds of Vermont youth, from middle school to law school, will converge on the statehouse to create a “Declaration ofQuotes from Stephen Leslie.
Extinction Rebellion confronts the existential issue of our time
uuworld.org
Unitarian Universalists are getting involved with growing climate action network Extinction Rebellion.UU's r steppin up....
Extinction Rebellion confronts the existential issue of our time
uuworld.org
Unitarian Universalists are getting involved with growing climate action network Extinction Rebellion.
Tragic that youth need to be on the frontlines in this way, but powerful that they are.
Lili Platt & Evelyn Seidner: Youth take stand on climate action
vtdigger.org
A coalition of Vermont students are uniting at the Statehouse on Sunday, Nov. 17, for the Vermont Youth Climate Congress.
‘Insect apocalypse’ poses risk to all life on Earth, conservationists warn
www.theguardian.com
Report claims 400,000 insect species face extinction amid heavy use of pesticidesI'm sure the 'conservationist' trophy hunters will save us by wiping out rare insects in the name of 'conservation'...
Youth Groups Increasingly Impatient Over Climate Inaction
www.youthlobby.org
Co-written By: Beck Andersen and Matt Henchen 11/13/19 Disclosure: This is an opinion piece, Beck is directly affiliated with both XRY and Youth Lobby and Matt is an adult coordinator for Youth LoRemember when EV's were going to make gas cars obsolete by the year 2000? Gen X is even *more* impatient with this crap kids...beyond frustrated really.
Carmen Skinder is a coordinator of Extinction Rebellion Youth Vermont, and has also been helping to create the declaration for the Climate Congress. She says that she is advocating for the legislature to demand zero fossil fuel emissions by 2025, in opposition to the common net-zero emissions that many are advocating for.
“Cap and trade is broadly recognized as a false solution by peer-reviewed science and economists, but continues to be at the forefront of nonprofit organizations campaigns,” Skinder said when asked if cap and trade policies were enough for Vermont moving forward.
“This is because cap and trade allows for the one percent to continue business as usual and continue to get richer. Nonprofits rely on foundations, who rely on rich people, causing their messaging to be influenced by what their funders, who are a very select group of people, want.”
www.youthlobby.org/youth-groups-increasingly-impatient-over-climate-inaction/
Youth Groups Increasingly Impatient Over Climate Inaction
www.youthlobby.org
Co-written By: Beck Andersen and Matt Henchen 11/13/19 Disclosure: This is an opinion piece, Beck is directly affiliated with both XRY and Youth Lobby and Matt is an adult coordinator for Youth LoFaced with this news, an intelligent society would immediately boost electric car subsidies and ban all new SUVs.
"Growing demand for SUVs in the US, China, Europe and elsewhere could negate all the environmental benefits of the increased use of electric cars."
Growing demand for SUVs 'could negate electric car benefits'
www.theguardian.com
Global energy watchdog issues warning in climate forecast for the next two decadesEvery issue like this is addressed through birth control, (each and every year more and more humans need more and more homes, cars, food , etc) it's never to late to try and save life on Earth
Is this news from 1996? FML...
thesustainabilityagenda.com/episode-59-interview-ian-gough-emeritus-professor-social-policy-unive...
Or make an electric SUV
Vermont legislators are canvassing the state to tell us their climate plans for 2020. Get out of your comfort zone and tell them what you think!
www.vpirg.org/news/climate-solutions-caucus-holding-forums-statewide/
This will be the final nail in the coffin for this harvest season for countless numbers of farmers.
If we string a few such years together, famine will be the result.
www.sott.net
We are witnessing "unprecedented" crop failures all across the United States, but the big mainstream news networks are not talking too much about this yet. As you will see below, local news outlets al...also, perennial vegetables all day long
Solar powered vertical farms use 1% the water. They are the way forward
change is coming whether we want it or not
Climate Change Is Breaking Open America's Nuclear Tomb
fal.cn
The Marshall Islands say that plutonium is leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the concrete dome the U.S. built to dispose of nuclear waste.Plutonium isn't found on islands....
Sweden’s recycling is so revolutionary the country has run out of rubbish
Sweden’s recycling is so revolutionary, the country has to import rubbish from other countries to keep its recycling plants going. What lessons can we learn, asks Hazel Sheffield
incineration? I'm not convinced this isn't a greenwash article. reminds me of "clean coal"
Remember when we danced in the streets to call attention to the Climate Emergency? #vermontclimateencampment
To evaluate whether we are currently in a climate crisis, the public will look to each other — and particularly to the climate organizations, writers, and leaders. Are they calling it an emergency? Does the tone of their writing and statements convey alarm and a passionate desire for massive action to avert imminent crisis? Are they demanding an emergency response? Are they acting like it’s an emergency? Are they themselves in emergency mode? If the answer to these questions is “no,” the individual will conclude that there must not be an emergency, or that emergency action is hopeless because the leaders are apparently unwilling to coordinate emergency action. This suggests the sad, dangerous conclusion that NGOs who communicate with euphemism and advocate carbon gradualism are actually preventing the public from entering emergency mode.
blog.usejournal.com/leading-the-public-into-emergency-mode-b96740475b8f
Thank you Isaac.
Isaac Bissell: Climate reality check
vtdigger.org
The collective failure of our media to report on the reality of our climate crisis is astonishing.
"So, to the media and our politicians in Montpelier: Now is the time to be brave."
vtdigger.org/2019/11/05/isaac-bissell-climate-reality-check/
In that pre-social media era, activists had to spend years mobilizing through community outreach and organization-building. Activists met near daily to drill, strategize and hash out disagreements. But those tasks made the movement more durable, ensuring it was built on real-world grass-roots networks. And it meant that the movement had the internal organization both to persevere when things got hard and to translate street victories into carefully planned political outcomes.
Social media allows movements to skip many of those steps, putting more bodies on the streets more quickly, but without the underlying structure to help get results.
messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?uri=nyt://newsletter/375eeb8b-49fd-4a0f-9...
The Interpreter: The global protest wave, explained
messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com
They’ve been growing more common, year over year, since the end of World War II, now reaching an unprecedented level of frequency.
Demand # 3:
We do not trust our Government to make the bold, swift and long-term changes necessary... and we demand a Peoples’ Assembly to oversee the changes, creating a democracy fit for purpose. #VermontClimateEncampment #peoplesassembly
Thank you to all of our partners who helped us to center our conversations at the Climate Encampment on the fundamental need for intersectionality in the climate movement and on the frontline communities that are most affected by climate change. Our speakers from the Youth Action Alliance, Migrant Justice Vermont, Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools, and members of the Vermont agricultural community were amazing. #vermontclimateencampment
Burlington people, there is still time to make it to Montpelier for dinner and dancing. The street is ours, come on down! #everybodynow
The chickens have arrived! Come to the statehouse lawn tonight for our take back the streets dance party!
Extinction Rebellion NYC just parked a boat in times square. Feeling rebellious? Join us at the climate encampment in Montpelier October 17th-19th.
Can't make it to the Climate Encampment in Montpelier October 17th-19th? Consider supporting from afar by donating to help us cover the costs and by sharing this link with your friends.
xrvt.us/donate/
OCTOBER CLIMATE ENCAMPMENT: DONATIONS – xrvt.us
xrvt.us
Extinction Rebellion Vermont is run entirely by unpaid volunteers — your neighbors and fellow concerned residents of the planet. This encampment project is emptying our pockets! If you can, please h...Democracy Now is doing a great job (as usual) covering the Extinction Rebellion protests that began Monday. Check out this coverage to learn more about Extinction Rebellion.
