Losing Earth: The Decade We
Almost Stopped Climate Change
The first suggestion to Rafe Pomerance that humankind was destroying the conditions necessary for its own survival came on Page 66 of the government publication EPA-600/7-78-019. It was a technical report about coal, bound in a coal-black cover with beige lettering — one of many such reports that lay in uneven piles around Pomerance’s windowless office on the first floor of the Capitol Hill townhouse that, in the late 1970s, served as the Washington headquarters of Friends of the Earth. In the final paragraph of a chapter on environmental regulation, the coal report’s authors noted that the continued use of fossil fuels might, within two or three decades, bring about “significant and damaging” changes to the global atmosphere.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html
Writing a New Chapter, Not an Obituary, for the Planet
A recent New York Times Magazine article suggests action to address climate change is futile
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/08/31/writing-new-chapter-not-obituary-planet
America’s first big offshore wind farm sets
record low price of 6.5c/kWh
Farmers see promise and profit for agroforestry in southern Kenya
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/farmers-see-promise-and-profit-for-agroforestry-in-southern-kenya/
California Moves Toward Setting Official Goal:
100% Clean Energy by 2045
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/california-sets-goal-of-100-percent-clean-energy-by-2045/
Can We Stop Burning Garbage and Calling It Renewable?
Staving off the worst effects of climate change requires getting serious about each state’s renewable energy development. That starts with taking stock of how well they’re performing, so we did — and the grades are out.
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/can-we-stop-burning-garbage-and-calling-it-renewable
CAN CHINA REALLY LEAD THE WAY TO
AN “ECOLOGICAL CIVILIZATION”?
If president Xi Jinping’s ecological vision turns out to be more than mere rhetoric,
it could have a profound effect on humanity’s future.
OPINION: Can China really lead the way to an “Ecological Civilization”?
Here’s How America Uses Its Land
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-us-land-use/
No Ecosystem on Earth Is Safe From Climate Change
If carbon emissions continue to grow, anyone who works with the land
could face ‘unprecedented challenges.’
Corporate Food Brands Drive the Massive Dead Zone
in the Gulf of Mexico
https://truthout.org/articles/corporate-food-brands-driving-the-massive-dead-zone-in-gulf-of-mexico/
Brazil’s pesticide poisoning problem poses global dilemma, say critics
Shell Took 16 Years To Warn Shareholders of Climate Risks,
Despite Knowing in Private All Along
Injecting wastewater underground can cause earthquakes up to 10 kilometers away
Big Oil Wants Taxpayers to Shield It From Climate Change
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/big-oil-wants-taxpayers-to-shield-it-from-climate-change/
Pigs Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering From
North Carolina’s Industrial Hog Farms
Bribery Trial Reveals Jeff Sessions’ Role in Blocking EPA Action Targeting One of His Biggest Donors
His Senate office coordinated closely with Drummond Coal and its lawyers to derail an environmental cleanup.
Analysis Reveals That World’s Largest Battery Saved
South Australia $8.9 Million In 6 Months
As Climate Turns Deadly, Media Are Stuck in Denial
What Wildfires Do to Our Minds
A Northern California community offers mental health first aid to survivors of devastating fires.
https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/mental-health/what-wildfires-do-to-our-minds-20180807
Cost of New E.P.A. Coal Rules: Up to 1,400 More Deaths a Year
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/climate/epa-coal-pollution-deaths.html
Russia Bans ‘Undesirable’ U.S. Environmental Group
as Security Threat
Caribbean island of Dominica bans plastic and Styrofoam
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/dominica-plastic-ban/index.html
Why We Need More Women Involved in
Creating Environmental Policy
https://truthout.org/articles/why-we-need-more-women-involved-in-creating-environmental-policy/
Al Gore Calls on Trump to Resign as Samoan PM
Calls Out Climate Change Deniers
Government inaction on climate change and climate deniers were called out
by former vice president Al Gore and Samoan prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele
separately this week.
Al Gore Calls on Trump to Resign as Samoan PM Calls Out Climate Change Deniers
Why is ExxonMobil Still Funding Climate Science Denier Groups?
https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/exxonmobil-still-funding-climate-science-denier-groups
Tons of plastic trash enter the Great Lakes every year
- where does it go?
CAN THE GREAT LAKES CONTINUE TO FEND OFF
AN INCREASINGLY THIRSTY WORLD?
A 2008 interstate compact prevents distant dry places from siphoning off Great Lakes water.
But will the agreement hold up in the face of growing demand?
https://ensia.com/features/great-lakes/
Chemicals in Food May Harm Children, Pediatricians’ Group Says
California vows to ‘fight this stupidity’ as
EPA moves to scrap clean car rules
Governor Jerry Brown calls administration’s proposal to
weaken Obama-era emissions rules ‘reckless’ and a ‘betrayal’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/02/epa-trump-vehicle-emissions-clean-car-rules
HUMAN-CAUSED FIRES ARE DESTROYING THE AMAZON
A new study using a combination of data sources finds that fire is causing
more degradation of forests than logging, the other most significant driver of loss in the Amazon.
https://psmag.com/environment/manmade-fires-are-killing-the-amazon
Crop losses to pests will soar as climate warms, study warns
Rising temperatures make insects eat and breed more, leading to food losses growing world population cannot afford, say scientists
Coffee and the Shock Doctrine in Puerto Rico
https://foodfirst.org/coffee-and-the-shock-doctrine-in-puerto-rico/
Why Treaty Protection Is Needed for Migratory Pollinators
Butterflies are not protected under any treaty,
and consequently their populations are in danger.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/08/04/why-treaty-protection-needed-migratory-pollinators
Biodiversity and the society of superlatives (commentary)
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/biodiversity-and-the-society-of-superlatives-commentary/
Invasive Species Are Riding on Plastic Across the Oceans
Crustaceans and mollusks foreign to the United States have survived up
to six years riding on ocean trash.
Audio: Beavers matter more than you think
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/audio-beavers-matter-more-than-you-think/
Trump’s Farmer “Bailout,” Explained
And what we really need to do to get agriculture back on track.
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/trump’s-farmer-bailout-explained
Ravenous for Meat, China Faces a Climate Quandary
On the whole, the country consumes 28 percent of the world’s meat —
twice as much as the United States. And that figure is only set to increase.
https://undark.org/article/china-meat-consumption-climate-change/
Orangutans, Drones, Seaweed and Water Wars:
The 13 Best New Eco-books for August
https://www.ecowatch.com/best-new-eco-books-for-august-2592092647.html
BP and Big Oil Drive Society Over the “Climate Cliff”
http://priceofoil.org/2018/08/17/bp-and-big-oil-drive-society-over-the-climate-cliff/
Conserving Oil Is No Longer an Economic Imperative, U.S. Says
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/conserving-oil-is-no-longer-an-economic-imperative-u-s-says/
Fracking Wastewater Spikes 1,440% in Half Decade,
Adding to Dry Regions’ Water Woes
https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/08/15/duke-1440-fracking-wastewater-permian-shale-water-demand
Droughts, heatwaves and floods:
How to tell when climate change is to blame
Weather forecasters will soon provide instant assessments of global warming’s
influence on extreme events.
http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05849-9
Mexico City’s first woman mayor wants car firms’ help to end smog
Industrial fisheries’ expansion impacts 90 per cent
of the global ocean, causes massive catch decline
University of British Columbia
https://phys.org/news/2018-08-fishing-fleets-fish.html#jCp
Atmospheric carbon last year reached levels not seen in 800,000 years
‘Global Greening’ Sounds Good. In the Long Run, It’s Terrible.
Rising carbon dioxide levels are making the world greener. But that’s nothing to celebrate.
Stop Meat Companies from Rigging the Grass-fed Market
https://www.iatp.org/blog/stop-companies-rigging-grass-fed-market
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OPENS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGES TO POLLINATOR POISONS AND HARMFUL GMOS
Climate Change Destroys the Lives of the Poorest Human Beings First
History will not look kindly on us for this, or for any other aspect
of our environmental record.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a22690104/climate-change-alaska-oil-drilling/
The story of a recovery: how hurricane Maria boosted small farms
Puerto Rico’s small farms – aided by outside groups such as World Central Kitchen – have seized a post-disaster opportunity to challenge the island’s import-reliant food economy
Industrial fishing fleets traveling farther to reel in fewer fish
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/industrial-fishing-fleets-traveling-farther-to-reel-in-fewer-fish/
Here’s Why Capitalism Can’t Fix Climate Change
With all due respect to The Guardian’s economics editor,
our planet will not be saved by capitalism.
https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/heres-why-capitalism-cant-fix-climate-change-20180831
Soil microbes speed up global warming
They’re microscopic, but soil microbes play a massive role in the climate machinery.
New research suggests they may be warming the world more than ever.
https://climatenewsnetwork.net/soil