The Corporate Campaign To Greenwash Natural Gas
The Lever – February 14, 2023 – Naomi LaChance
https://www.levernews.com/the-corporate-campaign-to-greenwash-natural-gas/
Despite the claims of the energy industry and their political allies that natural gas is a climate-friendly alternative to other fossil fuels, the production and use of natural gas, which is essentially methane, has a negative impact on both the planet and public health. Natural gas, which people use to heat their homes and power their stoves, contributes to increasing global temperatures. Experts warn the effects of natural gas leaks could make its use even worse for the planet than coal… Research has shown that methane is worse for the environment than fossil fuel companies let on. Methane molecules, the main component of natural gas, are as much as 90 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide molecules are. While methane releases far less carbon than coal, its use contributes to rising global temperatures.
Notes on Democracy, from Kyiv to East Palestine
Bill McKiibben’s Substack – February 23, 2023
https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/notes-on-democracy-from-kyiv-to-east
Remember: Putin’s Russia is an oil and gas company, Exxon with tanks. Like Exxon, it’s made a lot of money this year as the price of oil shot through the roof. But like Exxon it’s prospects can be undermined if we move quickly to get off its product. For my money, Svitlana Romanko’s Razom project (it’s Ukrainian for “Together”) has been the single most useful reaction to Putin’s invasion. She’s helped push the EU to move much faster on the transition to clean energy and on defunding the fossil fuel industry; today Razom publishes a new manifesto, including these words: The heroes of Ukraine are not fighting for a world that stays the same. They are fighting for the future. That is why we call for a future free from fossil fuel dictators, where renewable energy is democratically produced and consumed.
Invisible Destruction: 38% of Remaining Amazon Forest Already Degraded
Monga Bay – February 13, 2023 – Suzana Camargo
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/invisible-destruction-38-of-remaining-amazon-forest-already-degraded/
“Deforestation is the removal of trees and the conversion to another land use, which is normally agriculture. Degradation occurs in the forest that is left. Severe disturbances could lead to the loss of most trees, but if the land use does not change, it is degradation and not deforestation,” Barlow explains. According to the analysis, based on previous studies conducted between 2001 and 2018, 38% of what remains of the Amazon Forest — that is, what has not been deforested yet — suffers from some type of degradation caused by human action… The authors point out that degradation is being driven by four main disturbances: forest fires, timber extraction, extreme droughts — intensified by human-induced climate change — and edge effects (impact of open areas on adjacent forests). “It’s surprising that 38% of the forest is already undergoing this process, unfortunately,” says Patricia Pinho, deputy science director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute and one of the co-authors of the study. “When you look at the magnitude of this, not counting the areas that have already been deforested, it really sounds like a warning sign for our forest.”
A looming El Niño could give us a preview of life at 1.5C of warming
Grist – February 24, 2023 – Kate Yoder
https://grist.org/science/el-nino-tipping-points-amazon-great-barrier-reef/
The last three years were objectively hot, numbering among the warmest since records began in 1880. But the scorch factor of recent years was actually tempered by a climate pattern that slightly cools the globe, “La Niña.” This year and next, La Niña might give way to its hotter counterpart, El Niño. Distinguished by warm surface waters in the tropical Pacific Ocean, the weather pattern has consequences for temperatures, drought, and rainfall around the world. The planet hasn’t seen a strong El Niño since 2016 — the hottest year ever recorded — and the next El Niño will occur on top of all the warming that’s occurred since then.
Seismic Shocks Like Turkey’s Could Make California a Radioactive Wasteland
Reader Supported News – February 22, 2023 – Harvey Wasserman
https://www.rsn.org/001/seismic-shocks-like-turkeys-could-make-california-a-radioactive-wasteland.html
They could shake the two decrepit atomic reactors at Diablo Canyon, near San Luis Obispo, into mega-lethal rubble. Their fallout’s incalculable health, ecological and economic devastation could render the region uninhabitable for centuries to come. Diablo’s two outdated nukes are surrounded by seismic faults. In 2013 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s senior resident site inspector, Dr. Michael Peck, warned that some critical instrumentation might not survive potential shocks, leading to a major catastrophe… California gets far more usable electricity from rooftop solar than from Diablo. Yet as Newsom strong-armed the Assembly to subsidize those reactors, his CPUC slashed grid payments from decentralized solar panels, which have twice saved the state from blackouts… All-in-all, Diablo is a terrible Devil’s bargain that needlessly imperils us all. It needs to shut….NOW!
Fracking Wastewater Causes Lasting Harm to Key Freshwater Species
Inside Climate News – February 21, 2023 – Liza Gross
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21022023/fracking-wastewater-water-mites-food-web/
Extracting fossil fuels from underground reservoirs requires so much water a Chevron scientist once referred to its operations in California’s Kern River Oilfield “as a water company that skims oil.” Fracking operations use roughly 1.5 million to 16 million gallons per well to release oil and gas from shale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. All that water returns to the surface as wastewater called flowback and produced water, or FPW, contaminated by a complex jumble of hazardous substances in fluids injected to enhance production, salts, metals and other harmful elements once sequestered deep underground, along with their toxic breakdown products… “If there was more transparency with fracking for the people who are trying to assess toxicity, that would go a long way,” Blewett said. “But that’s never going to happen because oil and gas won’t let it happen.”
Monsanto Invades Corn’s Garden of Eden in Mexico
Timothy A. Wise blog – February 13, 2023
https://www.timothyawise.com/blog/monsanto-invades-corns-garden-of-eden-in-mexico
As U.S. officials continue to threaten Mexico with trade disputes over its restrictions on genetically modified corn, I offer this primer on the issue: My excerpted book chapter from Eating Tomorrow. I cover the valiant and thus far successful struggle to prevent Monsanto and other multinational seed companies from growing GM corn in Mexico. It is truly a David and Goliath story, with an underfunded coalition of farmer, environmental, and consumer groups taking on the world’s most powerful seed companies, with their armies of lawyers, and the Mexican government that then supported them. They won an injunction to stop the planting, successfully arguing that it would endanger the rich biodiversity of Mexico’s unique store of native maize. That has now been upheld by Mexico’s Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, elected in 2018, supported the injunction and has decreed that GM maize cannot be grown in Mexico.
World’s fossil fuel subsidies surged to $1 trillion after Ukraine invasion
Grist – February 15, 2023 – Jake Bittle
https://grist.org/international/fossil-fuel-subsidies-iea-report-ukraine-russia-europe/
Global fossil-fuel subsidies doubled last year to $1.1 trillion, by far the highest number ever recorded, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency, or IEA. The surge in financial support for oil and gas was largely a response to the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, which caused many countries to abruptly reconsider their dependence on Russian fossil fuel reserves. Experts say the subsidies could be difficult to unwind, if consumers become accustomed to having a cushion against high prices. Nevertheless, 2022 also saw record spending on green energy — indeed it was the first year in which the world spent as much on the energy transition as it did on finding and producing fossil fuels — leaving hope that the unprecedented fossil fuel handouts areonly temporary… High and volatile fossil fuel prices drive home the unsustainability of today’s energy system and underscore the benefits of energy transitions, but these episodes come with significant economic and social cost,” the authors write. “High fossil fuel prices are no substitute for consistent climate policies.”
Big Soda’s Alcohol Drinks Worry Health Experts
The New York Times – February 21, 2023 – Ted Alcorn
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/health/alcohol-soft-drinks-health-risk.html
It wasn’t until after PepsiCo bought the company in 1964 and eventually built a global youth-oriented brand, one marketed by extreme sports athletes, that the soft drink left its Appalachian roots behind. In a way, Mountain Dew came full-circle last year when PepsiCo … As alcohol-related deaths in America reach record highs, regulators and public health experts are voicing concern that the new class of drinks and the expanding industry could alter how people buy and drink alcohol. Some also expressed worry that the convenience of the new products could reverse the long-term decline in alcohol consumption by young people. And recent studies show that consuming even one alcoholic drink a day increases a person’s risk of cancer and heart disease.
Human Composting Poised to Become a Billion-Dollar Industry
Mother Jones – February 25, 2023 – Kari Paul
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/02/human-composting-green-burial-industry-startups-recompose-return-home/
After death, bodies are typically handled in one of two ways: embalmed and buried in a casket, or incinerated and turned into ashes. But both of these options have contributed to the environmental crisis—with fossil fuel-intensive cremation emitting chemicals such as carbon monoxide into the air, and burials taking up large swathes of land. As interest in alternatives rises, startups aiming to disrupt these practices are gaining steam. New York in January became the sixth state in the US to legalize human composting, also known as “natural organic reduction,” which uses heat and oxygen to speed up the microbial process that converts bodies into soil.
Bernie Sanders: ‘Oligarchs Run Russia. But Guess What? They Run the US as Well’
The Guardian – February 19, 2023 – Tim Adams
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/19/bernie-sanders-oligarchs-ok-angry-about-capitalism-interview
“One of the points that I wanted to make,” he says, “is yeah, of course the oligarchs run Russia. But guess what? Oligarchs run the United States as well. And it’s not just the United States, it’s not just Russia; Europe, the UK, all over the world, we’re seeing a small number of incredibly wealthy people running things in their favour. A global oligarchy. This is an issue that needs to be talked about.”
Is Police Brutality Just Part of the Job?
The Washington Post – February 17, 2023 – Paul Butler
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/02/17/police-reform-books-paul-butler/
Two recent books propose ways forward, but the limited hope they offer is overwhelmed by the depravity of the misconduct they describe, as well as the persistent failure of politics and law to hold law enforcement accountable. The reader is left wanting not so much to petition a legislature or file a lawsuit as to throw a brick… “The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover Up in Oakland” is investigative journalists Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham’s deep dive into the brutal history of the Oakland, Calif., criminal legal system — one dare not refer to it as a criminal “justice” system after this searing exposé. “Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable” is law professor Joanna Schwartz’s rigorous examination of why, most of the time, dirty cops get away with violating their badges.
Incarcerated people must be at the forefront of Biden Administration and Federal Trade Commission efforts to end “junk fees”
Prison Policy Initiative – February 8, 2023 – Mike Wessler
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2023/02/08/junk-fees/
“Junk fees,” those hidden charges attached to purchases or transactions, are something we’ve all faced. For those outside the prison walls, they are an inconvenience that may force them to find another company to do business with or grumble as they pay more for a product than they expected. For incarcerated people, though, there is no escape. They don’t have the option to use a different service or company. And their ability or inability to pay these fees often has dramatic consequences, determining whether they can stay in touch with a loved one or buy food at the commissary to supplement the paltry meals the prison provides. And considering the unconscionably low wages they earn for their labor, these fees are no minor inconvenience… The nearly two million people behind bars (and their loved ones on the outside) are unfairly exploited by corporations and governments every day. Addressing these junk fees will not end this exploitation entirely, but it will be a significant and meaningful step toward economic justice.
As Rail Executives Grow Richer, Train Derailments Have Become Commonplace
Jacobin – February 22, 2023 – Branko Marcetic
https://jacobin.com/2023/02/train-derailments-east-palestine-norfolk-southern-profits
What’s behind this? The fact that Norfolk Southern’s accident rate was ticking up at the same time its profits were rising and its executives were assuring investors they’d keep costs down offers a clue. According to More Perfect Union, Norfolk was engaging in what’s known in the industry as “precision scheduled railroading,” one of those consultant-coined bits of jargon that means transporting more train cars and carrying heavier loads with a fraction of the workers. This approach allowed the company to splurge a gargantuan $4.7 billion on dividends and — what else? — stock buybacks, a 4,500 percent increase from two decades earlier, enriching their shareholders… Norfolk Southern was just one of the firms profiled by the Washington Post in January 2020 about railroad companies laying off more than twenty thousand railworkers in a year, the worst cuts since the Great Depression, while in the years that followed, operating profits rose while spending on labor plummeted. What seemed at the time like ingenious cost-saving efficiencies in supply chains led to the bottlenecks and shortages that have helped drive worldwide inflation; these railroad accidents are the cost-cutting chickens coming home to roost. Safety deregulation of the industry has only made things worse.
The Case for Nationalizing the Railroads
In These Times – February 16, 2023 – Kari Lydersen
https://inthesetimes.com/article/nationalize-the-railroads-workers-on-strike-biden-wages
On Oct. 5, 2022, RWU adopted a resolution calling for public ownership of railroad infrastructure, which is operated for the public benefit. The grassroots organization brings together members from all 12 rail unions but has no official power to negotiate with employers or the government. Its members were prominently featured in national media around the possible strike, and the group says its resolution reflects a growing demand for change among railroad workers. The resolution outlines how the rail industry has downsized one-third of its workforce, “outraged shippers” by “jacking up prices,” “failed to solicit nor accept new but ‘less profitable’ freight,” opposed safety measures and took a “hostile stance” toward unions, among other failings… Meanwhile, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) recently also issued a strident call for public ownership of railroads to protect the economy, workers, frontline communities and the environment.
Ohio train: Americans blind to toxic dangers rolling through towns
BBC News – February 25, 2023 – Kayla Epstein
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64750378
Environmental experts warn that without stricter regulation from Congress and increased transparency requirements for dangerous materials passing through residential areas, many more towns and cities will be left in the dark and unprepared, as East Palestine was before a 3 February derailment unleashed a toxic onslaught on the town. “Millions of people deal with it every single day, they probably just don’t know it,” says David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment. “The potential for a catastrophic train derailment and fire or explosions has been high, it’s certainly been something experts have warned about for many, many years”.
Access to abortion is a unifying issue
The Washington Post – February 26, 2023 – Jennifer Rubin
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/26/abortion-polling-unifying-economic-issue/
A recent report from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) finds, “Just under two-thirds of Americans (64%) say that abortion should be legal in most or almost all cases,” including 68 percent of independents. Only one-third say it should be illegal in most or almost all cases. Even among Republicans, 36 percent favor legal abortion. And the percentage of the party that favors banning all or most abortions has declined from 21 to 14 percent in just over a year. In fact, majority support for abortion access cuts across gender, racial, ethnic, educational attainment and age lines. That support also spans most religious groups.
US supreme court lets Arkansas law penalising Israel boycotts stand
The Guardian – February 21, 2023 – Chris McGreal
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/feb/21/us-supreme-court-arkansas-anti-boycott-israel-law
The laws, pushed by groups such as American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) and the American Jewish Committee with the backing of the Israeli government, are primarily aimed at the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. But they have also provided the template for legislation to curb boycotts of companies over the climate crisis, gun control, factory farming and others issues. Leveritt said he had no intention of boycotting Israel, with which his newspaper does no business, but he refused to sign the commitment because it “requires the Arkansas Times to take a political position in return for advertising”.The editor said he was disappointed that the supreme court declined to take the case but it will not change his position… “In other states they’ve introduced laws to deny state contracts to any company that subsidises their employees transportation costs if they go out of state for an abortion. So this is just going to be used time after time after time, eventually, the supreme court is going to have to deal with it, or else it’s going to be open season on the first amendment.”
Israeli Rampage leaves 11 Dead, over 100 Injured
Informed Comment – February 23, 2023 – Juan Cole
https://www.juancole.com/2023/02/occupied-condemns-occupation.html
Going after resistance fighters is not forbidden, but rampaging around shooting people as the Israelis did on Wednesday is strictly forbidden… So let’s just contrast the Biden administration’s forceful rhetoric about the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory with its mealy-mouthed, mild criticism of “unilateral” actions that “undermine” the two-state solution in the case of Israel… Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is not as brutal as Russia’s tactics in the Donbass. The difference is only, however, in numbers and not in kind… That the US full-throatedly condemns one illegal occupation but not the other is among the things that makes American diplomacy on Ukraine so ineffective in the Global South. After five hundred years of European colonialism and neoolonialism, people there have a keen nose for hypocrisy.
History Lessons for Antifascists
Portside – February 25, 2023 – Helmut-Harry Loewen
https://portside.org/2023-02-25/history-lessons-antifascists
A study of strategies that have shaped antifascist mobilizations over the past century, offers lessons for thinking about an “effective and long-term response to the loose coalition of forces that we saw at the Capitol … [an] entanglement that we will continue to see in the coming weeks and months.” … The global extremism industry – a network of government ministries, intelligence agencies, military and police forces, university research centers, think tanks, media outlets, and government-oriented NGOs – dutifully serves the ruling class by occluding liberalism’s complicity with fascism by placing antifascist movements on an extremism spectrum that also includes violent fascist formations, a mystification aimed at policing the Left and criminalizing antifascists.
Jimmy Carter was Pilloried for Worrying about Israeli Apartheid, but he has Been Amply Vindicated by History
Informed Comment – February 24, 2023 – H. Scott Prosterman
https://www.juancole.com/2023/02/pilloried-apartheid-vindicated.html
Carter’s prescient 2006 book Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid elicited a storm of criticism from many Jewish organizations and leaders. It prompted condemnation from the powerful lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC), and leaders such as Alan Dershowitz, who outrageously branded Carter’s judicious book “a foray into bigotry.” Carter has been the only American president with the candor to call out Israel for mirroring apartheid policies of South Africa. So it’s timely to revisit the message, consequences and reactions to that book, as his passing approaches. Since AIPAC and Dershowitz have lost the credibility they once had, their branding and character assassination of Carter doesn’t reflect so badly on him, when you consider the source… Carter embellished his post-presidential legacy more gracefully than virtually any president in U.S. history. His legendary work for Habitat for Humanity is a poignant reminder of President Carter’s exemplary leadership and devotion to “walking the walk.” President Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his role in initiating the Camp David accords in 1978. Let that be the defining accomplishment of his legacy.
A Year of War
Steady – February 24, 2023 – Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner
https://steady.substack.com/p/a-year-of-war
What has transpired over the last 12 months is an unmitigated human tragedy — one measured in death and dismemberment, rape and retaliation, hardship and horror. War is hell. It always has been and always will be. But the war being waged by Russian forces, some of whom are now convicts released from prison and sent to the frontlines, is a special circle of hell… The Ukrainians, through courage, determination, resilience, and inventiveness, have proven the doubters wrong and exposed Putin as an inept bully. Inept bullies, however, can still be very dangerous. And while besides all the sorrow there is much to be proud of and thankful for on this anniversary, the fates of the war, of Europe, and of the world remain in flux. What happens next on the battlefield will shape events around the globe. These are dangerous and unstable times. The future could be a lot brighter. It could also be much worse. That’s what’s at stake in this conflict… The world is inherently complicated. Each era has its challenges and tragedies. But those who support the forces of freedom and democracy ultimately have more reasons for hope today than seemed possible a year ago. That is a victory in and of itself. But we cannot delude ourselves. A long, difficult, and costly road stretches ahead.
Achieving Peace in Ukraine
Common Dreams – February 24, 2023 – Robert Dodge
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/achieving-peace-in-ukraine
So today, 77 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 39 years after the recognition of the obsolescence of war, and entering the second year of the Ukraine war, where are we? This war has no end in sight and has brought us the closest we’ve been to nuclear war since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. This has resulted in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moving their Doomsday Clock forward to 90 seconds till midnight last month. What is the solution?… This war has made it ever more clear that we must redouble our work to move back from the brink of nuclear war and work earnestly to abolish these weapons before they abolish us. Fortunately, there is a movement in the U.S. called Back from the Brink that does just that.
After One Year of Devastation, A Peace Offensive Is Badly Needed to End War in Ukraine
Common Dreams – February 24, 2023 – Ted Glick
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/year-war-ukraine-peace-offensive
Growing numbers of people and organizations in the U.S. are speaking out and taking action to call for the U.S. to change course. Instead of overt rhetoric to put Putin into a corner, the Biden Administration needs to go on a diplomatic offensive toward a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war. It is time to move towards a peaceful resolution of this deepening conflict in which Ukraine’s right to self-determination and independence is central. With a shift of this kind, there are reasons to believe that countries like China and India would come on board to help end this war. Given the ratcheted-up rhetoric coming from both Putin and Biden, this will not be easy. But those of us who appreciate the seriousness of the current situation must speak out now and keep building the political pressure from below… One year of devastating war is enough. War is not the answer.