WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden’s made it official Wednesday. He yanked, effective immediately, the federal construction license for the remaining section of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline from Alberta through the U.S. Continue reading →
While welcoming the win, activists vowed to continue fighting against destructive oil and gas extraction in the region.
Climate action advocates and wildlife defenders celebrated Monday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected the Trump administration’s approval of Liberty, a proposed offshore oil-drilling project in federal Arctic waters that opponents warned would endanger local communities, animals, and the environment. Continue reading →
On drilling in Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge, banks, like broken clocks, get it right once every so often.
WASHINGTON—Occasionally, the nation’s corporate capitalists—in this case, its six dominant banks—do something right. And their refusal to lend big oil any money to “Drill, baby, drill!” in former GOP Gov. Sarah Palin’s words, in the ecologically vital Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may stop lame-duck GOP Oval Office occupant Donald Trump’s last-minute scheme to let the oil giants do so. Continue reading →
The central problem which the world faces in its attempts to avoid catastrophic climate change is a contrast of time scales. In order to save human civilization and the biosphere from the most catastrophic effects of climate change we need to act immediately. Fossil fuels must be left in the ground. Forests must be saved from destruction by beef or palm oil production. Continue reading →
At issue is Tongass National Forest, located in southeast Alaska and described as ‘the crown jewel of the National Forest System.’
The Trump administration on Friday moved closer to its goal of stripping conservation protections from the nation’s largest national forest, putting over 9 million acres at risk of clear-cut logging and bulldozing for roads and sparking warnings of “irreversible ecological consequences.” Continue reading →
‘The judge basically rejected every attempt by the Trump administration to gut these common-sense waste prevention measures on behalf of their oil and gas industry cronies.’
Green groups celebrated a “resounding victory for taxpayers, public health, and the environment” late Wednesday after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from rolling back an Obama-era rule designed to limit planet-warming methane emissions. Continue reading →
The omnicidal Republicans controlling the Senate support Trump’s reckless agenda regardless of the environmental harm done to their own families.
Earth Day, April 22, 1970, was the most consequential demonstration of civic energy in modern American history. Engaging nearly 20 million Americans participating in about 13,000 local events, this first Earth Day changed corporate and government policies through popular demands for clean air, water, soil and food. Continue reading →
The Green New Deal resolution that was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives in February hit a wall in the Senate, where it was called unrealistic and unaffordable. Continue reading →
The corrupt Brazilian government installed by Washington has decided to destroy the Amazon Rain Forest. This will adversely affect the Earth’s climate by eliminating a massive carbon sink. Continue reading →
The ecologically-sensitive Galapagos Islands, home to many species not found anywhere else in the world and made famous by scientist Charles Darwin in his seminal work on evolution, “On the Origin of Species,” will soon be the location of yet another US military base. Under Donald Trump, the Pentagon is expanding its network of overseas bases to include some of the world’s most pristine regions. Based on prior actions, a US military presence leaves a permanent footprint of hazardous materials, plain garbage, and petroleum and its by-products in and around air and naval bases. Continue reading →
Food is not a commodity, it is not “stuff” put together mechanically and artificially in labs and factories. Food is life. Food holds the contributions of all beings that make the food web, and it holds the potential of maintaining and regenerating the web of life. Food also holds the potential for health and disease, depending on how it was grown and processed. Food is therefore the living currency of the web of life. Continue reading →
‘It's no surprise that Trump is once again taking an action championed by climate deniers and fossil fuel companies.’
Just a week after a chemical plant explosion killed one worker and spewed thousands of pounds of dangerous pollutants into the air in Crosby, Texas, President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to visit that city Wednesday to sign executive orders to speed up approval of pipelines and other fossil fuel projects. Continue reading →
The deeply unpopular plan would benefit a few rich oil companies while threatening people, wildlife and the climate.
The Trump administration is barreling ahead with plans to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the largest refuge in the country and an area of global ecological importance. Continue reading →
As I knew would happen, my review of the very serious and heavily documented book, “Unprecedented Crime” resulted in condemnations from the fossil fuel industry’s trolls and from libertarians who think that global warming is a scheme for government to seize more power over private industry. Personally, I wish the fossil fuel trolls and libertarians were correct, but there is scant, if any, evidence on their side. I must say that I am discouraged that the oligarchs’ disinformation campaigns are again taking precedence over fact. Continue reading →
The prospect of drastic climate change is back in the news. But, for all too many people it is just that, a news item. It is like other eye-grabbing stories: a bit scary, but also happening somewhere else and at some other time. Of course, if you happen to be at that other place or approximate to that time (the latest examples would be the Florida Panhandle in mid-October and Mexico’s southwestern coast in late October), things get more immediate, more real. But otherwise it is theory. Examine your own sense of urgency as you read on. Continue reading →
The tobacco companies’ response to the US Surgeon General’s report in 1964 linking smoking to lung cancer was countered by the tobacco companies setting up propaganda organizations to create a controversy by generating doubt over the link. This strategy staved off the inevitable for more than two decades. Continue reading →
Frequent oil spills, GMO seeds, chemical, and other toxins poison planet earth worldwide—humanity’s survival threatened by ecocide or nuclear war. Continue reading →
As dead marine animals continue to wash up on Florida’s coasts, a campaign event for the state’s term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Scott—who is attempting to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson—was “besieged” by a crowd of protesters angry about his role in exacerbating the ongoing red tide crisis by systematically attacking the state’s environmental protection laws. Continue reading →
Shocking as this sounds, the U.S. government is—by its own admission—willing to murder up to 1,600 Americans a year to enrich a few coal billionaires.
In August 1921, sheriff’s deputies in West Virginia—later joined by federal troops—massacred striking mineworkers using machine guns and aerial bombardment, in what’s now known as the Battle of Blair Mountain. Continue reading →
Ahead of President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night rally in West Virginia, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a highly anticipated new rule that would roll back restrictions targeting greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, and enable states to set their own standards. Continue reading →
Offering a stark warning to the world, a new report out Monday argues that the reticence of the world’s scientific community—trapped in otherwise healthy habits of caution and due diligence—to downplay the potentially irreversible and cataclysmic impacts of climate change is itself a threat that should no longer be tolerated if humanity is to be motivated to make the rapid and far-reaching transition away from fossil fuels and other emissions-generating industries. Continue reading →
‘Air pollution is one of the unseen dangers of the storm.’
As the catastrophic flooding brought about by Hurricane Harvey continues to devastate Texas, reports of “unbearable” smells are beginning to emerge from the state, sparking growing concerns of the long-term health effects that could result from toxic waste and fumes being spewed from temporarily closed oil refineries. Continue reading →
Tuesday’s announcement that the Three Mile Island Unit One nuclear plant will close unless it gets massive subsidies has vastly strengthened the case for a totally renewable energy future. Continue reading →
Want to save the environment? De-Fund the Pentagon.
Posted on October 1, 2019 by Caitlin Johnstone
Millions of people are uniting in demonstrations worldwide against our civilization’s ecocidal march toward extinction, which makes me so happy to see. It’s really encouraging to see so many young people burning with love for their planet and a hunger to reverse the damage that has been done to our ecosystem by the refusal of previous generations to turn away from our path of devastation. This must continue if we are to survive as a species. Continue reading →