Lead
Posted in Climate change Environment News

Kelly, Manchin join GOP in passing motion to bar Biden from declaring climate emergency

“Our political leadership is out to kill most of us,” lamented one climate justice advocate. by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams May 5, 2022 Two right-wing Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Mark Kelly of…

Click to read full article
Posted in Analysis Carbon Climate change

What is the ‘social cost of carbon’?

2 energy experts explain after court ruling blocks Biden’s changes by Jim Krane, Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and Mark Finley, Rice University When an electric company runs a coal- or natural gas-fired power…

Click to read full article
Rancher Jon Pedotti walks on the cracked remains of a parched lake bed of his 1,561-acre ranch located along San Simeon Creek in the Santa Lucia Mountain foothills of Cambria, California during a drought on October 1, 2014. (Photo: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Posted in Climate change Politics Water

Groups call on CFTC to shut down water futures market

“In this time of global-warming-induced drought in California, the last thing we need is to gamble on our precious water resources.” by Julia Conley, Common Dreams December 21, 2021 Warning Wall Street against commodifying what has…

Click to read full article
Posted in Climate change Columns Wade Rathke

Could direct action stop climate change?

by Wade Rathke December 20, 2021 Little Rock    Sometimes you stumble over something so obvious, you shake your head wondering why your thinking was so patterned that it was in danger of becoming more habitual…

Click to read full article
Posted in Climate change Spotlight On Climate Sustainability

Global climate disasters – This is not the new normal

Spotlight on Climate by Stefan Sommer Saturday, December 18, 2021 2021 was yet again one of the hottest years on record. This past summer was the hottest summer on record for North America. Is this the…

Click to read full article
Posted in Analysis Climate change

2021 Arctic Report Card reveals a (human) story of cascading disruptions, extreme events and global connections

The report describes, rapid and pronounced human-caused warming continues to drive most of the changes, and ultimately is paving the way for disruptions that affect ecosystems and communities far and wide. Community members from Utqiagvik, Alaska,…

Click to read full article
Deb Haaland—then a Democratic congresswoman representing New Mexico's First District but now U.S. interior secretary—visits Chaco Canyon in 2019. (Photo: Monica Sanchez/Natural Resources Democrats/Flickr/cc)
Posted in Climate change Indigenous News

Indigenous leaders hail Biden’s proposed Chaco Canyon drilling ban as ‘Important first step’

“We are most hopeful that this action is a turning point where the United States natural resource management planning philosophy focuses on the protection of all living beings.” by Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams November 16, 2021…

Click to read full article
Right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has expressed opposition to a provision in the Build Back Better Act that would incentivize both fair working conditions at auto plants and the manufacturing and purchase of electric vehicles. (Photo: Joshua Roberts-Pool/Getty Images)
Posted in Climate change News Restart 2021

Manchin leads charge against Biden’s electric vehicle tax credit

“Manchin thinks being pro-labor is un-American.” by Julia Colney, Common Dreams  Monday, November 15, 2021  Advocates for both workers’ rights and climate policy are condemning Sen. Joe Manchin’s latest statements opposing provisions in the Build Back…

Click to read full article
Posted in Analysis Climate change

A quick guide to climate change jargon – what experts mean by mitigation, carbon neutral and 6 other key terms

by Wändi Bruine de Bruin, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences October 26, 2021 As a major U.N. climate conference gets underway on Oct. 31, 2021, you’ll be hearing a lot of technical terms…

Click to read full article
A woman looks at wildfires tearing through a forest in the region of Chefchaouen in northern Morocco on August 15, 2021. (Photo: Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)
Posted in Climate change News

WMO says atmospheric carbon at level unseen in 3 million years

The new report has “a stark, scientific message for climate change negotiators at COP 26,” said the head of the World Meteorological Organization. by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams Monday, October 25, 2021 Carbon dioxide concentrations reached…

Click to read full article
(L-R) U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) speak to reporters as they arrive at the U.S. Capitol after a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House on June 24, 2021. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Posted in Climate change News Restart 2021

Sinema pushing $100 billion in climate cuts from reconciliation bill

A Sunrise Movement leader said the Arizona Democrat’s reported proposal for the Build Back Better package is “not surprising since she’s been meeting nonstop with corporate executives.” by Jessica Corbet, Common Dreams October 8, 2021  Already…

Click to read full article
Posted in Arizona Climate change

Monsoons make deserts bloom in the US Southwest, but climate change is making these summer rainfalls more extreme and erratic

Lightning during a monsoon storm in southern Arizona, Saguaro National Park. (Photo: Pete Gregoire, NOAA) by Diana Zamora-Reyes, University of Arizona and Christopher L. Castro, University of Arizona October 5, 2021 If you’ve never lived in…

Click to read full article
Lake Mead, the nation’s largest freshwater reservoir, has been losing water because of epochal drought since 2000. Credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Posted in Climate change The West Water

40 million people rely on the Colorado River. It’s drying up fast.

One of the country’s most important sources of fresh water is in peril, the latest victim of the accelerating climate crisis. by Abrahm Lustgarten Friday, August 27, 2021   The Water Crisis in the West On…

Click to read full article
Posted in Climate change Climate Justice Water

Postcard from Thermal: surviving the climate gap in Eastern Coachella Valley

In the climate crisis, it’s possible to live in the same place but inhabit different worlds. by Elizabeth Weil and Mauricio Rodríguez Pons, ProPublica August 19, 2021   The first thing to know about Thermal, California,…

Click to read full article
Icebergs near Ilulissat, Greenland are seen on May 16, 2021. The climate emergency is having a profound effect in Greenland with glaciers and the Greenland ice cap retreating. (Photo: Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Posted in Climate change Energy Environment Sustainability

Greenland ditches all oil drilling

‘Future Belongs to Renewable Energy’ “Great news!” exclaimed one international legal group. by Andrea Germanos, Staff writer July 16, 2021 Greenland announced Thursday a halt on new oil and gas exploration, citing climate and other environmental…

Click to read full article
Even with a decree banning fires, flames and clouds of smoke were seen near the city of Novo Progresso, in southern Pará, Brazil, on August 15, 2020. (Photo: Ernesto Carriço/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Posted in Analysis Climate change Environment

‘Biggest story in the world right now’: Humanity has flipped Amazon from carbon sink to source

The findings, said one expert, “show that the uncertain future is happening now.” by Jessica Corbett, Staff writer July 14, 2021 Following years of warnings and mounting fears among scientists, new research revealed Wednesday that climate…

Click to read full article
The National Weather Service shared video footage captured by the U.S. Forest Service showing a firenado that formed over the Tennant Fire in California's Siskiyou County on June 29, 2021. (Photo: U.S. Forest Service)
Posted in Climate change Filibuster Politics Wild Fire

‘This is what bipartisanship looks like’: Fire tornado caught on film in California

“Climate policy isn’t about imagining a spectrum from left to right and finding the sweet spot in the middle. It’s a zero-sum battle with physics.”   by Jon Queally, Staff Writer July 8, 2021 Responding to…

Click to read full article
Posted in Climate change Pipelines

‘Keystone XL Is Dead!’: After 10-year battle, Climate Movement victory is complete

“Keystone XL is now the most famous fossil fuel project killed by the climate movement,’ said one veteran campaigner, “but it won’t be the last.” by Jon Queally, staff writer June 9, 2021 fter more than…

Click to read full article
Posted in Arizona Climate change Colorado River

Arizona’s current historic drought may be ‘baseline for the future’

by Alyssa Marksz, Cronkite News May 27, 2021   WASHINGTON –    Arizona and other Western states just lived through the driest year in more than a century, with no drought relief in sight in the near…

Click to read full article
Posted in Carbon Climate change Sustainability

Engine No. 1’s big win over Exxon shows activist hedge funds joining fight against climate change

by Mark DesJardine, Penn State and Tima Bansal, Western University One of the most expensive Wall Street shareholder battles on record could signal a big shift in how hedge funds and other investors view sustainability. Exxon…

Click to read full article
Climate activists on Wednesday celebrated a Dutch court's ruling that Royal Dutch Shell must cut its carbon emissions 45% by 2030. (Photo: Friends of the Earth Europe/Twitter)
Posted in Climate change Energy Sustainability

Court Rules Shell must cut CO2 emissions 45% by 2030

‘Landslide Victory for Climate Justice’ “This is a turning point in history,” said an attorney who noted that the ruling “may also have major consequences for other big polluters.” by Jessica Corbett, staff writer Wednesday, May…

Click to read full article
Climate activists protest on the fist day of the ExxonMobil trial outside the New York State Supreme Court building on October 22, 2019 in New York City. (Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Posted in Business Climate change

Activist Investors Score Surprise Win With ExxonMobil Board Seats

‘A Seismic Shift’ for Big Oil “The outcome is a sign that Exxon’s morally inept and fiscally questionable long-term climate strategy is finally catching up with it,” wrote one journalist. by Kenny Stancil, staff writer Wednesday,…

Click to read full article
Posted in Climate change News

‘Generation on fire’: Sunrise Movement activists to march 400 miles from New Orleans to Houston

“We’re living in constant crisis: hurricanes, superstorms, jobs that break our bodies and could be taken away at any minute. This is an emergency, but it isn’t an accident.” by Brett Wilkins, staff writer May 10,…

Click to read full article
A gas flare is seen at an oil well site on July 26, 2013 outside Williston, North Dakota. Gas flares are created when excess flammable gases are released by pressure release valves during the drilling for oil and natural gas. (Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
Posted in Analysis Climate change

New UN report highlights ‘absolutely critical’ need to dramatically slash global methane emissions

“Reducing human-caused methane emissions is one of the most cost-effective strategies to rapidly reduce the rate of warming and contribute significantly to global efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.” by Brett Wilkins, staff writer Thursday,…

Click to read full article