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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…

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Posted in Analysis Nuclear Waste

Nuclear disaster in Ukraine could make swaths of Europe ‘uninhabitable for decades’

Russia’s assault on Ukraine risks nuclear devastation “far worse even than the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe of 2011,” Greenpeace warns. by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams March 2, 2022 The international environmental group Greenpeace warned Wednesday that Russia’s…

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Posted in Analysis

Like the truck-machines in ‘Mad Max,’ the ‘freedom convoy’ relies on access to fuel

Truckers and supporters gather in Delta, B.C. on Jan. 23 before departing on a cross-country convoy that arrived in Ottawa five days later.  THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck by Krista Collier-Jarvis, Dalhousie University February 12, 2022 The…

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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…

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Posted in Arizona Courts Solar

Ruling on rooftop solar, clean energy ‘game-changer’

“For the first time a federal court has said utilities can be liable under antitrust laws if they attack rooftop solar,” said one advocate. “The future for renewable energy just got a lot brighter.” by Kenny…

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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…

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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts arrive to hold a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, October 3, 2017. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Posted in Analysis Labor Restart 2021

UMW coal miners’ union rebukes Manchin for effort to kill Build Back Better

“Manchin has lost the coal miners with this latest betrayal,” said one labor reporter.   by Julia Conley, Common Dreams Tuesday, December 21, 2021 The push for passage of the Build Back Better Act got a…

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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…

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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…

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Posted in Analysis Sustainability Water

Why the second-driest state rejects water conservation

Utah has some of the highest per-capita water use and is the fastest-growing state. Yet a powerful group that steers Utah’s water policy keeps pushing for costly infrastructure over meaningful conservation efforts. by Thursday, December 16,…

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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,…

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Anuj Shrestha, special to ProPublica Environment The Celebrity-Backed Green “Fintech” Company That Isn’t as Green as It Seems Aspiration is among a group of companies that provide banking and financial services, and promise to help the environment. But so far its marketing is greener than its reality.
Posted in Banks Environment

The celebrity-backed green “Fintech” company that isn’t as green as it seems

Aspiration is among a group of companies that provide banking and financial services, and promise to help the environment. But so far its marketing is greener than its reality. by Carson Kessler November 17, 2021 You…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Posted in Analysis Infrastructure Restart 2021

Sinema kills Democrats’ plan to raise corporate tax rate

Although “all of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda can be paid for by fairer taxes on the wealthy and corporations,” noted Americans for Tax Fairness, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s refusal to support tax hikes on the…

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Posted in Infrastructure News Restart 2021

5 Sinema advisers quit in protest

‘Hanging Your Constituents Out to Dry’ “You have become one of the principal obstacles to progress, answering to big donors rather than your own people.” by Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams Thursday, October 21, 2021 As U.S….

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Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) hobnobs with attendees of a May 17, 2019 event hosted by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr/cc)
Posted in Dark Money News Politics

While roadblocking Party agenda, Sinema absconds to Europe for fundraising

“She might as well start fundraising for McConnell at this point.” by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams Thursday, October 14, 2021 With President Joe Biden’s popular legislative agenda hanging in the balance largely due to her obstruction,…

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Low-wage workers, economists, faith leaders, and a progressive lawmaker spoke about Democrats' budget reconciliation package outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on October 12, 2021. (Photo: Poor People's Campaign/Twitter)
Posted in Analysis Restart 2021 Workers

Essential, low-wage workers share why they need reconciliation package

‘Please Help Us’ “We’ve heard the voices of the poor. We’ve heard the voices crying out, demanding justice. All I want to know right now, Joe Manchin, is which side are you on?” by Jessica Corbett,…

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(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…

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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…

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A fire crew battles the Zogg Fire on October 2, 2020. (Photo: California Conservation Corps/Wikimedia Commons)
Posted in News Utilities Wild Fire

PG&E Charged With Manslaughter

11 Felony Counts— 2020 Zogg Fire “PG&E has a history with a repeated pattern of causing wildfires that is not getting better,” said Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett. “It’s only getting worse.” by Brett Wilkens, Common…

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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…

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