Trump Pushed for Mining Project That Could Destroy Alaska Salmon Ecosystems, Despite EPA Opposition
12 August 2019
Popular
Salmon swim in the Naknek River in the Bristol Bay Borough of Alaska. Natalie Fobes / Corbis Documentary / Getty Images Plus
By Jon Queally
"Gold over life, literally."
That was the succinct and critical reaction of Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein to reporting on Friday that President Donald Trump had personally intervened — after a meeting with Alaska's Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy on Air Force One in June — to withdraw the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) opposition to a gold mining project in the state that the federal government's own scientists have acknowledged would destroy native fisheries and undermine the state's fragile ecosystems.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So Trump meets Alaska's governor in his airplane and agrees to push through a goldmine that had been stopped b/c it will devastate salmon habitat. This at a time that orcas are already starving death. Salmon carry entire ecosystems on their backs. Gold over life, literally. <a href="https://t.co/QcT2UosP0g">https://t.co/QcT2UosP0g</a></p>— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) <a href="https://twitter.com/NaomiAKlein/status/1159975077666066434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Based on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/us/epa-alaska-pebble-mine-salmon-invs/index.html" target="_blank">reporting</a> by CNN that only emerged Friday evening, the key developments happened weeks ago after Trump's one-on-one meeting with Dunleavy — who has supported the copper and gold Pebble Mine project in Bristol Bay despite the opposition of conservationists, Indigenous groups, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon">salmon</a> fisheries experts, and others.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The EPA told staff scientists that it was no longer opposing a controversial Alaska mining project that could devastate one of the world's most valuable wild salmon fisheries, just one day after President Trump met with Alaska's governor, CNN has learned <a href="https://t.co/vJmjAYfSw4">https://t.co/vJmjAYfSw4</a> <a href="https://t.co/TFGjPxSeAR">pic.twitter.com/TFGjPxSeAR</a></p>— CNN (@CNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1159977633859473409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>CNN reports:<br></p><blockquote>In 2014, the project was halted because an EPA study found that it would cause "complete loss of fish habitat due to elimination, dewatering, and fragmentation of streams, wetlands, and other aquatic resources" in some areas of Bristol Bay. The agency invoked a rarely used provision of the Clean Water Act that works like a veto, effectively banning mining on the site.</blockquote><p>"If that mine gets put in, it would ... completely devastate our region," Gayla Hoseth, second chief of the Curyung Tribal Council and a Bristol Bay Native Association director, told CNN. "It would not only kill our resources, but it would kill us culturally."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">EPA just lifted a restriction blocking <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PebbleMine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PebbleMine</a> — which would decimate 3,500+ acres of Alaskan wetlands<br><br>"Yet again, the agency charged with protecting our public health and environment is abandoning science to advance the interests of a wealthy few."<a href="https://t.co/8aCOe63eCq">https://t.co/8aCOe63eCq</a></p>— Friends of the Earth (@foe_us) <a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/status/1158467835083010055?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>When the internal announcement was made by Trump political appointees that the agency was dropping its opposition, which came one day after the Trump-Dunleavy meeting, sources told CNN it came as a "total shock" to some of the top EPA scientists who were planning to oppose the project on environmental grounds. Sources for the story, the news outlet noted, "asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDU1Nzg5OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjcwODIwMH0.sV50WTX_sib2kpms_OdQZP8oNMMjkQzfAlaRvaFZFx4/img.jpg?width=980" id="951c7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fdb78957a94ab25695675b934bcfd20f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>According to CNN:</p><blockquote>Four EPA sources with knowledge of the decision told CNN that senior agency officials in Washington summoned scientists and other staffers to an internal videoconference on June 27, the day after the Trump-Dunleavy meeting, to inform them of the agency's reversal. The details of that meeting are not on any official EPA calendar and have not previously been reported.<br>Those sources said the decision disregards the standard assessment process under the Clean Water Act, cutting scientists out of the process.<br>The EPA's new position on the project is the latest development in a decade-long battle that has pitted environmentalists, Alaskan Natives and the fishing industry against pro-mining interests in Alaska.</blockquote><p>Responding to Klein's tweet, fellow author and activist Bill McKibben — long a colleague of hers at 350.org — expressed similar contempt.</p><p>"This is one of the world's most beautiful places, with a thriving salmon run, and now we'll get some ... gold," McKibben <a href="https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/1159977178962038785" target="_blank">tweeted</a>. Trump, he added, is "President Midas."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It’s all so tragic, and criminal. <a href="https://t.co/SB02V25G9P">https://t.co/SB02V25G9P</a></p>— Bonnie Bates (@bonniebates51) <a href="https://twitter.com/bonniebates51/status/1159979125970538497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>After being told that the decision was made, one EPA inside told CNN, "I was dumbfounded. We were basically told we weren't going to examine anything. We were told to get out of the way and just make it happen."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pebble Mine Threatens One of the Last Great Salmon Rivers <a href="https://t.co/QAlbSueeAC">https://t.co/QAlbSueeAC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NRDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NRDC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidSuzukiFDN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DavidSuzukiFDN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateReality?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClimateReality</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/GreenpeaceCA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GreenpeaceCA</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/969618969253613569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/10/gold-over-life-literally-how-trump-forced-reversal-mining-project-epa-scientists?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- EPA Likely to Approve Mine That Threatens Alaska's Largest Salmon Hatchery - EcoWatch ›
- Clean Water Act Rollback: Trump's EPA Limits States’ and Tribes’ Rights to Block Pipelines - EcoWatch ›
- Trump Admin Reverses Obama-Era Restrictions on Pebble Mine Near Alaska's Largest Salmon Nursery - EcoWatch ›
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More than 200 people demonstrated in January 2017 against the appointment of former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state. Eman Mohammed / 350.org
By Jessica Corbett
New York state prosecutors last week accused ExxonMobil of trying to discourage witnesses from testifying against the company in a climate fraud case, leading the head of the environmental group 350.org to declare Thursday that "we won't be intimidated."
<p>In a statement, May Boeve, the avocacy group's executive director, also charged that "Exxon is polluting these proceedings just like it has polluted our communities."</p><p>Last October, following a three-year probe and amid growing demands that the dirty energy industry be held accountable for the impacts of its products, then-New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/10/24/wow-wow-wow-huge-news-new-york-sues-exxonmobil-defrauding-investors-hiding-climate" target="_blank">sued</a> ExxonMobil for defrauding investors about the financial threat of efforts to combat the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate</a> emergency.<br></p><p>Boeve's statement came in response to allegations from the current state attorney general's office Friday that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> giant is attempting to intimidate third-party witnesses by demanding they disclose all contact they have had with various experts and environmental groups, including 350.org.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ExxonMobil is after us again. <a href="https://twitter.com/NewYorkStateAG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NewYorkStateAG</a> is currently suing them for fraud.<br><br>Now, ExxonMobil is attempting to intimidate witnesses from testifying by making them disclose all contact they’ve had with 350. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/exxonknew?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#exxonknew</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeThemPay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MakeThemPay</a><a href="https://t.co/Artfvfev8z">https://t.co/Artfvfev8z</a></p>— 350 dot org (@350) <a href="https://twitter.com/350/status/1159477723909230593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>InsideClimate News<em> </em>— which exposed ExxonMobil's decades of climate deception with a damning investigative series in 2015 — <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06082019/exxon-climate-fraud-investigation-witness-pressure-investors-new-york-attorney-general?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social" target="_blank">reported</a> on the allegations Tuesday:</p><blockquote>New <a href="https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=weCXFZGO0IpZFl9K7eGbPw==&system=prod" target="_blank">court filings</a> reveal that Exxon sent letters to a group of investment advisers and shareholder activists who prosecutors want to put on the stand, informing them they will be subject to subpoenas from the company seeking documents relevant to the case if they choose to testify.<br>Because of their roles investing in and engaging with Exxon over climate change, these witnesses' testimony could prove critical to the state's case.<br>With opening statements scheduled to begin Oct. 23, a lawyer in New York Attorney General Letitia James's office <a href="https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=weCXFZGO0IpZFl9K7eGbPw==&system=prod" target="_blank">wrote</a> that the request would "impose disproportionate burdens on these witnesses in a transparent attempt to discourage them from testifying voluntarily, and threatening to upend the trial schedule."<br>The attorney general's office has asked Justice Barry Ostrager of New York Supreme Court to order Exxon to halt its requests for documents.<br></blockquote><p>Aaron Caplan, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and expert in legal ethics, told the outlet that Exxon's letter "tiptoes right up to the line of impropriety ... And whether it crosses that line is up to interpretation."</p><p>Climate Liability News, which also <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2019/08/06/exxon-climate-fraud-new-york-attorney-general/" target="_blank">reported</a> on the filings from James's office Tuesday, spoke to one expert who characterized Exxon's move as part of a broader legal strategy.</p><blockquote>Yale law professor Douglas A. Kysar, who is not involved in the suit, said the <a href="https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=nOHJZgKfTFEYoTuekGjozg==&system=prod" target="_blank">document request</a> feeds into Exxon's narrative of an "anti-carbon conspiracy" involving liberal academics, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and plaintiffs' lawyers. The request includes "all communications concerning ExxonMobil between you and Matthew Pawa, Peter Frumhoff, Naomi Oreskes, Geoffrey Supran, the Rockefeller Family Foundation, Sharon Eubanks, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Richard Heede, Sher Edling, LLP, 350.org, or the Union of Concerned Scientists."<br>"The third party witnesses won't necessarily take this request literally as a threat by Exxon — but they will have to consider the vast expense and inconvenience that would follow from being dragged into the 'anti-carbon conspiracy' narrative," Kysar said.<br></blockquote><p>"The line between 'normal legal maneuvering' and 'intimidation-style tactics' is a fine one that is almost always pushed by litigants in high-stakes battles like this one," added Kysar. "Still, the timing and the breadth of the document request by Exxon's lawyers raises even my cynical eyebrows."</p><p>350.org's Boeve wrote in an email to supporters Thursday that it is "clear" that "ExxonMobil executives are scared of the power of our movement and the strength of our numbers."</p><p>"This could be the greatest case of corporate fraud in history," she noted. "This lawsuit is a huge opportunity to set a precedent around the world for holding fossil fuel executives accountable and making them pay for a just transition to a 100 percent <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" rel="noopener noreferrer">renewable energy</a> economy."</p><p>In her statement, Boeve thanked James "for her vigilance in standing up for our communities" and vowed that Exxon's legal maneuvers won't deter the movement to make polluters pay for fueling the global climate emergency.</p><p>"As communities bear the costs of Exxon's lies, millions of people led by youth, frontline communities, workers, and more are mobilizing towards the September 20 climate strikes to build a world that works for all of us," said Boeve. "Together, all of us will hold accountable fossil fuel executives most responsible for the climate crisis, and make them pay for their climate destruction."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"415 PPM: We Are All Part of Exxon’s Uncharted Climate Experiment Now" via <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EcoWatch</a>: <a href="https://t.co/UtSZk1Iu81">https://t.co/UtSZk1Iu81</a></p>— Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelEMann/status/1129036771772252160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/08/we-wont-be-intimidated-declare-campaigners-after-exxonmobil-accused-pressuring" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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Trump's Rollback of Fuel Economy Standards Could Cost Americans $460 Billion: Consumer Reports
08 August 2019
Politics
By Jessica Corbett
A new analysis from the nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Reports warns that American drivers could lose about $460 billion dollars in fuel savings if the Trump administration implements its proposal to gut federal fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks.
<p><br/></p>
<p>Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally announced the administration's <a href="https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/safer-affordable-fuel-efficient-safe-vehicles-proposed" target="_blank">plan to amend</a> Obama-era vehicle standards for model years 2021 through 2026.</p><p>Described by critics as "<a href="https://www.citizen.org/media/press-releases/clean-cars-rollback-equivalent-100-car-pileup" target="_blank">a disastrous wreck for consumers and the planet</a>," the so-called Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule would freeze federal fuel efficiency standards for automakers at 2020 levels. As Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/02/disastrous-wreck-consumers-and-planet-trump-epa-moves-gut-clean-car-standards" target="_blank">reported</a> last week, "the Trump administration's new proposal would also revoke the power of states — most prominently California — to establish their own more stringent fuel efficiency rules."</p><p>The Consumer Reports <a href="https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/The-Un-SAFE-Rule-How-a-Fuel-Economy-Rollback-Costs-Americans-Billions-in-Fuel-Savings-and-Does-Not-Improve-Safety-2.pdf" target="_blank">study</a> out Wednesday, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-07/trump-s-bid-to-ease-auto-rules-would-hike-fuel-costs-study-says" target="_blank">noted</a>, "undermines the administration's chief talking points in favor of the move."</p><p>"The facts don't back this rule's Orwellian name," David Friedman, vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports, <a href="https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/press_release/unsaferule/" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement. "The evidence shows that lowering fuel economy and emissions standards won't do anything to improve traffic safety, but it will leave Americans stuck with the bill."</p><p>"Instead of making a data-driven decision, the agencies instead seem to have been given a predetermined outcome and tried to make the numbers back it," said Friedman. "They don't."</p><p>The Consumer Reports study — titled <em>The Un-SAFE Rule: How a Fuel Economy Rollback Costs Americans Billions in Fuel Savings and Does Not Improve Safety </em>— concludes that the administration's rollback would have sweeping negative consequences.</p><p>The group outlines those consequences in a <a href="https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Summary-for-Policymakers-CRs-unSAFE-Rule-1.pdf" target="_blank">summary for policymakers</a>, detailing how the plan "would result in significant setbacks compared to the current standard in three major categories: (1) increased overall oil consumption and fuel costs for consumers, (2) higher vehicle ownership costs (net present value) for consumers, especially SUV and pickup truck owners, and (3) lower auto sales for automakers and dealers. Further, a rollback could harm, but certainly would not improve, highway safety, contrary to the misleading 'SAFE Rule' title used for the proposal."</p><p>A chart from the summary document details the anticipated impacts of four rollback scenarios as well as a plan to strengthen fuel economy standards:</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDU1MTMwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTc1MDUxMH0.ykuxwtOiRQGS7YG3Griml4FOjefcn7b2pPlYA5zmtjI/img.jpg?width=980" id="40c46" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5285b53b2b8e12865c506a8cdaa5bbe6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>"Whether it's a complete freeze or a partial rollback, weakening Clean Cars standards costs Americans money and increases pollution," said study co-author Shannon Baker-Branstetter, manager of cars and energy policy at Consumer Reports.</p><p>"The last thing the federal government should be doing is burdening consumers with more costs, while thwarting progress in the development of cleaner cars," she said.</p><p>In terms of the planetary impact, the group's researchers found that "the rollback would increase oil consumption by 320 billion gallons, the equivalent to 20 percent of the country's proven oil reserves," and "increase greenhouse gas emissions by nearly three gigatonnes of CO2, equivalent to almost two years of current emissions from the entire transportation sector."</p><p>Under existing federal vehicle standards, consumers are set to save $660 billion — but $460 billion of that savings would be lost over the lifetime of the vehicles if the Trump rollback goes though, according to Consumer Reports. About half of the costs would impact used vehicle buyers and more than 70 percent would fall on light truck drivers.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDU1MTYwMC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODc1NTYxMH0.6vVTRbvlNpGU-OqMxe7ELf5Rz2a4QzRnu_6EBJz-ps0/img.png?width=980" id="b268d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cbd94c2e2eb2ed196c67a41b6f591d36" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>The summary document further warns that "weakening fuel-economy standards does not improve highway safety and may in fact slightly diminish it," though it acknowledges the projected increase in fatalities is statistically small in terms of annual figures and the rollback's impact on safety "is likely to be difficult to discern from other, more significant factors."<br></p><p>Additionally, Consumer Reports found that the auto industry would be harmed by the rollback, seeing a decrease in sales by more than two million vehicles between model years 2021 and 2035.</p><p>Outlining how the industry has responded to the Trump administration's recent moves, Bloomberg reported:</p><blockquote>Carmakers have pleaded with administration officials to restart negotiations with California over the standards, arguing the changes could lead to years of uncertainty and a split market, with federal mileage requirements governing most states and California-backed rules applying in states that account for more than a third of U.S. auto sales.<br>Four major automakers last month said they had reached a <a title="White House Shrugs at California's Compromise With Automakers" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-25/big-automakers-buck-trump-plan-with-california-emissions-pact" target="_blank">compromise</a> with California to voluntarily boost fuel efficiency, a move seen aimed at pressuring the administration to shift course.</blockquote><p>Another <a href="https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Impacts-of-Trump-Fuel-Economy-Standard-Rollback-on-US-Section-177-States-Canada.pdf" target="_blank">analysis</a> on the Trump administration's proposed rollback, <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/energy-innovation-cars-emissions-rollback-trump-california-canada-study-07bacd01710d/" target="_blank">released</a> Wednesday by the environmental policy group Energy Innovation, found that the plan "would damage the U.S.economy, costing up to $400 billion (real 2018 U.S. dollars, discounted at three percent annually) through 2050 and increasing transportation emissions by up to 10 percent in the year of maximum impact."</p><p>With the administration's proposal, the Energy Innovation report concluded, "the only winners are the oil companies, who stand to sell more gasoline at the expense of American consumers, manufacturers, and the environment."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">4 Automakers Strike Emissions Deal With California, Steering Clear From Trump's Pro-Pollution Agenda <a href="https://t.co/NzX9pmmUa1">https://t.co/NzX9pmmUa1</a></p>— The Progressive (@1Progressivism) <a href="https://twitter.com/1Progressivism/status/1155337846263373825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/07/trumps-rollback-fuel-economy-standards-could-cost-americans-460-billion-consumer?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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Fiji Unveils Plan to Fight Climate Crisis, Condemns 'Grossly Irresponsible and Selfish' Inaction of World Powers
08 August 2019
Politics
A boy sits on a log in the village of Vunisavisavi in Fiji, on Oct. 16, 2017. The village is the first in the country to be forced to relocate due to rising water levels. Christoph Sator / Picture Alliance via Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
The island nation of Fiji on Wednesday slammed world powers for their "grossly irresponsible and selfish" failure to act on the planetary emergency and unveiled a bold plan to bring the country's carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.
<p>Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji's economy and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a> minister, said in a speech to parliament Wednesday morning that the fight against the climate crisis is "a fight for our lives and our livelihoods."</p><p>"As the impacts of climate change accelerate and attempts are made to weaken global ambitions," said Sayed-Khaiyum, "we must listen more than ever to the scientists, not the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" target="_self">climate deniers</a> or those motivated by self-interest or political interests."</p><p>Sayed-Khaiyum continued:</p><blockquote>Here in the vast Pacific sits our beloved Fiji. Small and increasingly vulnerable as we scan the horizon anxiously year by year for the kind of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> event that three years ago, took the lives of 44 of our loved ones and inflicted damage equal to one-third of our GDP.<br>That is the grave situation in which we find ourselves through no fault of our own and why this government puts such a strong emphasis on the climate issue.</blockquote><p>The Guardian described Fiji's plan as "one of the world's most ambitious legislative programs to tackle the climate crisis."</p><p>"The act will include tighter restrictions on the use of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastics</a>, a framework for Fiji to reduce its emissions to net-zero by 2050, the introduction of a carbon credits scheme, and the establishment of procedures for the relocation of communities at risk from the adverse effects of the climate crisis," The Guardian reported.</p><p>Sayed-Khaiyum said he hopes the climate legislation will pass parliament with "unanimous support."</p><p>"There is no room for cynicism, no room for complacency," Sayed-Khaiyum added. "We cannot afford climate change fatigue to set in Fiji because if anything the outlook is worsening."</p><p>The climate plan, which was unveiled ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Tuvalu next week, comes after <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/31/visionary-document-small-island-nations-declare-climate-crisis-pacific" target="_blank">Fiji joined a group of Pacific island nations</a> in declaring a climate emergency and urging "governments of high emitting countries that are hindering progress in climate change efforts to heed the climate science and urgently change direction for the benefit of all, including the people in their own countries."</p><p>Fenton Lutunatabua, regional managing director of 350.org in the Pacific, celebrated the declaration as "visionary."</p><p>"The collective futures of Pacific peoples depends on us being able to push back against the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> industry fueling this climate crisis, and towards equitable and just solutions centered on people," Lutunatabua said. "This is what is at the heart of this important international statement."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fiji in Fight for Survival Due to Climate Change, Prime Minister Says After Deadly Cyclone <a href="https://t.co/Z2fHkFE8Lx">https://t.co/Z2fHkFE8Lx</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/climatesavers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@climatesavers</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OneWorld_News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OneWorld_News</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/981349402836176896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/07/condemning-grossly-irresponsible-inaction-world-powers-fiji-unveils-ambitious-plan?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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Shift to Vegetarian Diets Is Needed to Save the World, Climate Scientists Say in Leaked Report
05 August 2019
Climate
Agriculture and other land uses now account for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. Chesapaeake Bay Program / Flickr
By Julia Conley
When some of the world's top scientists conclude an international summit in Geneva next week, they are expected to call for a major shift to vegetarian diets around the world in order to keep the warming of the globe under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
<p>Simply focusing on reducing or eliminating carbon emissions from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" rel="noopener noreferrer">fossil fuel</a> industries, factories and vehicles will not be enough to avoid catastrophic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a>, according to a leaked draft of the report out of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summit.</p><p>Humans will also need to significantly change how <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/food/">food</a> is produced and consumed, the draft says, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/03/ipcc-land-use-food-production-key-to-climate-crisis-leaked-report" target="_blank">according to</a> The Guardian.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Translation: go vegetarian and control land use.<br>"It will be impossible to keep global temperatures at safe levels unless there is also a transformation in the way the world produces food and manages land."<a href="https://t.co/6mP3jBPvqJ">https://t.co/6mP3jBPvqJ</a></p>— Elise Misao Hunchuck (@elisehunchuck) <a href="https://twitter.com/elisehunchuck/status/1157651148830105605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The case for moving towards a largely vegetarian or vegan diet gets stronger and stronger, quite apart from the moral issues about animal suffering. <a href="https://t.co/CWdGtuATRL">https://t.co/CWdGtuATRL</a></p>— Nigel Warburton (@philosophybites) <a href="https://twitter.com/philosophybites/status/1157690678966661122?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>"We are now getting very close to some dangerous tipping points in the behavior of the climate — but as this latest leaked report of the IPCC's work reveals, it is going to be very difficult to achieve the cuts we need to make to prevent that happening," Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, told The Guardian in response to the leaked report.</p><p><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture">Agriculture</a> and other land uses now account for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, while half of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane" rel="noopener noreferrer">methane</a> emissions in the atmosphere are released from cattle and rice fields. Nearly a quarter of the world's land is now taken up by humans and their endeavors supporting the growing population and developing and maintaining food systems.</p><p>Land will have to be managed far more sustainably, the IPCC finds, and a significant shift away from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/meat-consumption" rel="noopener noreferrer">meat-heavy diets</a> will need to take place to keep the warming of the globe from passing 1.5 degrees Celsius.</p><p>"The consumption of healthy and sustainable diets, such as those based on coarse grains, pulses and vegetables, and nuts and seeds … presents major opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions," the draft reads, according to The Guardian.</p><p>The panel is also expected to recommend "improved access to markets, empowering women farmers, expanding access to agricultural services, strengthening land tenure security, [and] early warning systems for weather, crop yields, and seasonal climate events."</p><p>The IPCC summit ends August 6. One hundred and ninety nations are expected to meet in late 2020 for the largest climate-focused summit since the Paris climate accord was forged in 2015.</p><p>On social media, climate experts and other observers implored leaders at all levels of government to heed the IPCC's warning and push for significant changes to agriculture and food systems.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/sendems?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sendems</a> If you are running for the 2020 presidency, it is important to include this in your climate crisis plan: We must transform food production to save the world, says leaked report <a href="https://t.co/c9bBZ42EG7">https://t.co/c9bBZ42EG7</a></p>— Karen Loebig (@karen_loebig) <a href="https://twitter.com/karen_loebig/status/1157721834286018560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Will those in power take note of this report? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPCC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPCC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateEmergency?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateEmergency</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateCrisis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateCrisis</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sustainability?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sustainability</a> <a href="https://t.co/qm5o5BUTCH">https://t.co/qm5o5BUTCH</a></p>— Martyn R-Slater (@robinsonslater) <a href="https://twitter.com/robinsonslater/status/1157732573122060291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">7 Reasons Your Family May Want to Become Vegetarian <a href="https://t.co/Eu4Ujs9iQu">https://t.co/Eu4Ujs9iQu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/food?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#food</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/health?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#health</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/environment?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#environment</a></p>— Earth Accounting (@EarthAccounting) <a href="https://twitter.com/EarthAccounting/status/1141115395945852933?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/03/drastic-changes-food-production-and-consumption-needed-save-planet-catastrophic?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Pacific Island Nations Declare Climate Crisis, Fear Being Uninhabitable by 2030
01 August 2019
Climate
The people of Kiribati are under pressure to relocate due to sea level rise. Jonas Gratzer / LightRocket via Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
A group of Pacific island nations on Tuesday declared a climate crisis and said that developed nations, in particular Australia, have so far failed to take requisite action to avert the "grave consequences" their nations face, including the prospect of their lands being "uninhabitable as early as 2030."
<p>The statements came in the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cbSloYVSuY4mIZnUUC5ISpZUaV3NTb2y/view" target="_blank">Nadi Bay Declaration</a>, which was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-31/australian-climate-change-policies-criticised-pacific-leaders/11369086" target="_blank">signed</a> by the leaders of Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Timor Leste and Tonga on the second of the two-day Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) Leaders' <a href="https://pidf-leaders-summit-conference-2019.eventcreate.com/?aid" target="_blank">Summit</a> hosted by Fiji.</p><p>The declaration <a href="https://350.org/pacific-island-states-declare-climate-crisis/" target="_blank">drew</a> praise from Fenton Lutunatabua, regional managing director of 350.org in the Pacific, who said the statement "makes clear that the current scale of the climate crisis calls for urgent action to phase out <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a> and other <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>."</p><p>Among the demands of the document are a stop to all new coal mining; an end to fossil fuel subsidies; and for states to meet their obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to protect future generations by "prevent[ing] dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."</p>
<p>The declaration also calls on "those governments of high emitting countries that are hindering progress in climate change efforts to heed the climate science and urgently change direction for the benefit of all, including the people in their own countries."</p><p>Fossil fuel producers, the declaration adds, must abide by their "urgent responsibility and moral obligation" to stop development.</p><p>The Pacific nations also took a dig at Australia by calling on "relevant parties to the Kyoto Protocol to refrain from using 'carryover credits' as an abatement for the additional Paris Agreement emissions reduction targets."</p>
<p>As Australia's ABC explained,</p><blockquote>Australia<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-11/australia-using-loophole-to-claim-emissions-reduction-on-track/10606406" target="_blank"> controversially counts some emissions reductions achieved during the past decade under the Kyoto Protocol </a>towards reduction targets set out in the Paris Agreement.<br><br>The carry-over does not breach the Paris Agreement because there has been no international consensus on the rules, but Australia's decision to count past emissions towards new targets has been widely condemned.</blockquote><p>350's Lutunatabua, in his statement, suggested it was grassroots mobilization that drove the text's strong message.</p><p>"This visionary declaration," he said, "is a testament to the will of the Pacific people who have moved their politicians to show committed actions in confronting the climate crisis."</p><p>"The collective futures of Pacific peoples depends on us being able to push back against the fossil fuel industry fueling this climate crisis, and towards equitable and just solutions centered on people," said Lutunatabua. "This is what is at the heart of this important international statement."</p><p>Richie Merzian, climate and energy program director at The Australia Institute, applauded the declaration, and pointed to its potential effect on <a href="https://www.forumsec.org/pacific-islands-forum-leaders-meeting-2019-media-and-information-accreditation/" target="_blank">next month</a>'s Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu.</p><p>The Nadi Bay Declaration, said Merzian, delivers "a powerful message to Australia … to lift their game on climate action."</p><p>Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Merzian predicted, "will struggle to sell a sensible and balanced approach to climate change when the Pacific have just declared a regional climate emergency."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WATCH: The Pacific island nation of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kiribati?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Kiribati</a> facing unrelenting sea level rise. Film <a href="https://twitter.com/anotesark?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@anotesark</a> shows what it’s like for the people living there <a href="https://t.co/kzFq47saZj">https://t.co/kzFq47saZj</a> <a href="https://t.co/6AuJAH7V1A">pic.twitter.com/6AuJAH7V1A</a></p>— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) <a href="https://twitter.com/Greenpeace/status/981076039144214528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associates <a href="<blockquote%20class=%22twitter-tweet%22><p%20lang=%22en%22%20dir=%22ltr%22>WATCH:%20The%20Pacific%20island%20nation%20of%20<a%20href=%22https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kiribati?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>#Kiribati</a>%20facing%20unrelenting%20sea%20level%20rise.%20Film%20<a%20href=%22https://twitter.com/anotesark?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>@anotesark</a>%20shows%20what%20it%E2%80%99s%20like%20for%20the%20people%20living%20there%20<a%20href=%22https://t.co/kzFq47saZj%22>https://t.co/kzFq47saZj</a>%20<a%20href=%22https://t.co/6AuJAH7V1A%22>pic.twitter.com/6AuJAH7V1A</a></p>%E2%80%94%20Greenpeace%20(@Greenpeace)%20<a%20href=%22https://twitter.com/Greenpeace/status/981076039144214528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>April%203,%202018</a></blockquote>%20<script%20async%20src=%22https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js%22%20charset=%22utf-8%22></script>" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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New BLM Appointee Believes Founding Fathers Wanted All Public Lands to Be Sold off
31 July 2019
Politics
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona is among the public lands which could be threatened by the appointment of William Perry Pendley. Bureau of Land Management
By Julia Conley
Control over nearly 250 million acres of public lands was placed Monday in the hands of a former Reagan administration official who has argued that all federal lands should be sold to fossil fuel and other corporate interests in accordance with the goals of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
<p>Interior Secretary David Bernhardt <a href="https://time.com/5638829/william-perry-pendley-bureau-land-management/" target="_blank">appointed</a> attorney William Perry Pendley as acting head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), sending fears throughout <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> groups that many of the country's minerals and resources will soon be handed over to oil and gas companies.</p><p>Pendley <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/01/federal-government-should-sell-western-land-follow-constitution/" target="_blank">wrote</a> in 2016 that "the Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold," and as recently as this month he <a href="https://twitter.com/Sagebrush_Rebel/status/1148664155525664768" target="_blank">lauded</a> fossil fuel extraction as an "energy, economic, and environmental miracle."</p><p>"This appointment shows Trump and Bernhardt are only interested in selling off public lands to the highest bidder," said Chris Saeger, executive director of the Western Values Project, in a statement. "Pendley is an outspoken advocate for the transfer of public lands to the state. Anything they've ever said about not selling off public lands has just been a political smokescreen to distract from their real intentions: handing over public lands to their special interest allies."</p><p>Pendley's appointment comes on the heels of the Interior Department's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/07/16/top-trump-officials-tell-bureau-land-management-staff-most-them-must-leave-dc-by-end-next-year/?utm_term=.c7e58fabb1ef" target="_blank">decision</a> to spread the BLM's Washington, DC-based headquarters across a number of western states, a move which critics say is aimed at giving the agency less control over federal decision-making about federal lands.</p><p>The news of Pendley "ascending to the top of BLM just as it is being reorganized strongly suggests the administration is positioning itself to liquidate our shared public lands," Phil Hanceford, conservation director for The Wilderness Society, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/opponent-of-us-public-lands-picked-to-oversee-them_n_5d403a87e4b0d24cde05e6ac?utm_hp_ref=ca-us-politics" target="_blank">told</a> the Associated Press<em>.</em></p><p>During his tenure in the Interior Department during the Reagan administration, the Western Values Project noted in a statement, Pendley frequently called for a repeal of the Antiquities Act, which preserves archeological sites, historic structures, and cultural landscapes across the country.</p>
<p>Under the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a> administration, Pendley has been critical of the Interior Department's <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/04/ignoring-local-tribes-and-public-outcry-trump-carves-national-monuments-mining-and" target="_blank">shrinking</a> of Bears Ears and Grand Escalante National Monuments — because he feels the president has not been aggressive enough in offering the public lands for what he views as their sole purposes: "ranching, mile, oil and gas, or energy activities," <a href="https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/conservationists-concerned-over-new-blm-leaders-support-public-lands-sales#stream/0" target="_blank">according to</a> a 2016 interview.</p><p>"We now have someone in charge of the BLM who would prefer to sell those places off rather than doing the job of caring for them on behalf of all Americans," <a href="https://twitter.com/ehananoki/status/1156215226817228801" target="_blank">said</a> Kayje Booker, policy and advocacy director for Montana Wilderness Association, in a statement.</p><p>Upon learning of Pendley's appointment, the environmental law group Earthjustice <a href="https://www.mtpr.org/post/enviro-groups-call-out-blm-appointees-conflict-interest" target="_blank">called</a> on the incoming BLM chief to recuse himself from any decision-making regarding one area in Montana, regarding which the group said he has a conflict of interest.</p><p>Pendley's former legal client, Solenex, lost its oil and gas lease for the Badger-Two Medicine area in Montana in 2016 when BLM canceled the agreement.</p><p>The lease for the area, near Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Nation reservation, was reinstated by a district judge last year and Earthjustice is currently fighting that decision in an appeals court.</p><p>Pendley has "moved from one side of the case to the other, and he's obviously in a position to influence BLM's decision making regarding this important case and that's totally inappropriate," Preso said. "There's a huge conflict of interest there."</p><p>"It's hard to imagine anyone in this position more dangerous than William Perry Pendley," <a href="https://twitter.com/ehananoki/status/1156215226817228801" target="_blank">said</a> Booker.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Americans will die because of this. <a href="https://t.co/SrIeOy06Pu">https://t.co/SrIeOy06Pu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ActOnClimate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ActOnClimate</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeepItInTheGround?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KeepItInTheGround</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PublicLands?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PublicLands</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateCrisis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateCrisis</a></p>— Enviro Voter Project (@Enviro_Voter) <a href="https://twitter.com/Enviro_Voter/status/1151908722219855872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/30/new-blm-appointee-brings-conflicts-interest-and-plans-sell-public-lands-agency?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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New Trump Admin Plan for Bears Ears National Monument 'Recklessly Weakens Protections'
29 July 2019
Insights + Opinion
The Interior Department on Friday released its management plan for Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. Bob Wick / Bureau of Land Management
By Jessica Corbett
Conservation groups and congressional Democrats slammed the Trump administration Friday over its destructive new management plan for the "illegally reduced" Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.
<p>In December of 2017, the administration provoked mass outrage with its <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/04/ignoring-local-tribes-and-public-outcry-trump-carves-national-monuments-mining-and" target="_blank">decision</a> to reduce Bears Ears by about 85 percent. The Bureau of Land Management — an agency of the U.S. Interior Department — published in the Federal Register on Friday <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/07/26/2019-15905/notice-of-availability-of-the-bears-ears-national-monument-indian-creek-and-shash-ja-units-proposed" target="_blank">a management plan</a> for, as one critic <a href="https://www.npca.org/articles/2235-trump-administration-issues-flawed-plan-for-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">put it</a>, "the meager remnants of the original monument."</p><p>"This administration's management plan only reinforces its illegal action to steal huge swaths of land from the national monument so that oil and gas and mining companies can exploit the land," Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) <a href="https://rubengallego.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-ruben-gallego-and-deb-haaland-statement-trump-administration-s" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement Friday. "It puts sacred sites at risk of being lost forever."</p><p>Haaland is an original co-sponsor of the Bears Ears Expansion and Respect for Sovereignty<a href="https://congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/871/text" target="_blank"> (BEARS) Act</a>. The bill, introduced by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) in January, would not only protect the original land designated by former President Barack Obama, but also expand the monument to the full 1.9 million acres encompassing sacred artifacts and cultural resources that local tribes wish to protect.</p><p>The administration's new plan, Gallego warned, "recklessly weakens protections even for the land that remains in the monument, failing to protect important sites from threats like ATV use, looting, vandalism, and damage from target shooting — which would be permitted within monument boundaries."</p><p>"This proposed management plan confirms what we already knew," he declared. "The Trump administration has no interest in protecting the thousands of cultural and archeological sites in Bears Ears Monument or in seriously consulting with tribes on how best to manage their sacred ancestral lands."</p><p>Environmental groups and tribes have challenged the administration's move to reduce the monument in court. Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney of the nonprofit law firm <a href="https://earthjustice.org" target="_blank">Earthjustice</a>'s Rocky Mountains office, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/07/26/trump-administration-releases-new-plan-whats-left-bears-ears" target="_blank">said</a> Friday that "if we win the legal fight to restore Bears Ears National Monument, this plan will just be 800 pages of wasted effort."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trump released his new plans for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BearsEars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BearsEars</a> today, but they’ll be useless if we win the battle to restore the iconic monument: “If we win the legal fight to restore Bears Ears, this plan will just be 800 pages of wasted effort.” <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithBearsEars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StandWithBearsEars</a> <a href="https://t.co/wMXAP57AaB">https://t.co/wMXAP57AaB</a></p>— Earthjustice (@Earthjustice) <a href="https://twitter.com/Earthjustice/status/1154778378865696770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Responding to the administration's plan for the monument, McIntosh added that "even in the parts of Bears Ears that President Trump left intact, he's planning on putting destructive activities before the American public's interests. Bears Ears is not the kind of place for chaining thousands of acres of forest or stringing up utility lines."</p><p>Other conservation groups quickly piled on with criticism Friday.</p><p>Katherine Malone-France, chief preservation officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, <a href="https://www.npca.org/articles/2235-trump-administration-issues-flawed-plan-for-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">called</a> the proposal "fundamentally flawed and premature," while Tim Peterson of Grand Canyon Trust said that the way the Trump administration has "added the insult of this detestable plan to the injury of slashing Bears Ears is deeply disturbing, and it cannot stand."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: The Trump Administration's new plan for Bears Ears will not sufficiently protect cultural resources and sacred sites, leaving them more vulnerable to destruction than ever before. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithBearsEars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StandWithBearsEars</a> <a href="https://t.co/RiyGy2PjRB">https://t.co/RiyGy2PjRB</a></p>— National Parks Conservation Association (@NPCA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NPCA/status/1154748625404211200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Chris Saeger, executive director of the Western Values Project, raised concerns about the timing.</p><p>"The release of this management plan days before Congress leaves for a month is dubious at best and reckless at worst," Saeger <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/07/26/trump-releases-management-plan-illegally-reduced-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement. "The Trump administration continues to prove its utter disregard of our public lands and outdoor heritage through its strong-armed attempts to illegally shrink this sacred and culturally-critical place."</p><p>"There is a lack of respect for the law, the courts, and the mass public concern that illegally shrinking Bears Ears has evoked," he added. "Stealing land away from the public in order to reward their special interest allies seems to be the only priority of this administration."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trump Administration Sells Oil and Gas Leases Near Utah National Monuments <a href="https://t.co/XptLS04waz">https://t.co/XptLS04waz</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/renewable?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#renewable</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/solar?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#solar</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wind?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wind</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PV</a> <a href="https://t.co/zIUy1q0977">pic.twitter.com/zIUy1q0977</a></p>— Renewable Search (@RenewableSearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RenewableSearch/status/976130946977026048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/26/critics-charge-new-trump-plan-recklessly-weakens-protections-what-remains-illegally?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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'It Is Time to Rebel': Listen to Greta Thunberg on New Track From British Pop Rock Band The 1975
26 July 2019
Popular
Greta Thunberg / Twitter
By Jessica Corbett
British pop rock band The 1975 released the first track of their forthcoming album Wednesday, which features Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg delivering an instrumental-backed speech about the global climate emergency.
<p>"We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis. And we need to call it what it is. An emergency," 16-year-old Thunberg says on the nearly five-minute song, which closely resembles her <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/25/my-message-davos-elites-act-if-our-house-fire-because-it" target="_blank">speech</a> at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last year. "It is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel."</p><p>Each of the band's past three albums has kicked off with a track titled "The 1975," but this latest version for<em> Notes on a Conditional Form </em>is a notable departure from the previous ones. At Thunberg's request, all proceeds from the track will go to the climate action group Extinction Rebellion.</p><p>Listen:</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="37c78a830f9a14e6e578e057fae692ba"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xWcfzAfuFyE?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>Speaking about the song to The Guardian, Thunberg <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/25/time-to-rebel-greta-thunberg-makes-musical-debut-on-the-1975-track" target="_blank">said</a>: "I'm grateful to get the opportunity to get my message out to a broad new audience in a new way. I think it's great that The 1975 is so strongly engaged in the climate crisis. We quickly need to get people in all branches of society to get involved. And this collaboration I think is something new."</p><p>Promoting the track on Twitter Thursday, the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/14/ahead-global-climatestrike-she-inspired-16-year-old-greta-thunberg-nominated-nobel" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize nominee</a> noted that any money made from the song will go to Extinction Rebellion, whose members <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/more/1605" target="_blank">engage</a> in civil disobedience across the globe to demand that governments take bolder action to address the human-caused climate crisis.Extinction Rebellion issued a "massive thank you" to Thunberg and the band in a <a href="https://rebellion.earth/2019/07/25/thank-you-greta-thunberg-the-1975-everything-needs-to-change/" target="_blank">statement</a> Thursday.</p><p>"Greta you are an outstanding human," said the group. "You were there when Extinction Rebellion launched back on Parliament Square in London just nine months ago. Again and again you show your support in meaningful ways — from small kind acts to things like this. We salute you sister. "</p><p>"To the 1975s, we thank you massively for your rebellious contribution and promise to put this to good use," the group added. "We're loving your commitment to rebel for life with us. Music has the power to break through barriers, and right now we really need to break through some barriers if we are to face this emergency. We are currently heading towards 4 degrees of heating for the world."</p><p>Read the full text of Thunberg's speech from the track, as transcribed by The Guardian:</p><p><em>We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis.</em></p><p><em>And we need to call it what it is. An emergency.</em></p><p><em>We must acknowledge that we do not have the situation under control and that we don't have all the solutions yet. Unless those solutions mean that we simply stop doing certain things.</em></p><p><em>We admit that we are losing this battle.</em></p><p><em>We have to acknowledge that the older generations have failed. All political movements in their present form have failed.</em></p><p><em>But homo sapiens have not yet failed.</em></p><p><em>Yes, we are failing, but there is still time to turn everything around. We can still fix this. We still have everything in our own hands.</em></p><p><em>But unless we recognise the overall failures of our current systems, we most probably don't stand a chance.</em></p><p><em>We are facing a disaster of unspoken sufferings for enormous amounts of people. And now is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we can or cannot say. Now is the time to speak clearly.</em></p><p><em>Solving the climate crisis is the greatest and most complex challenge that homo sapiens have ever faced. The main solution, however, is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have to stop our emissions of greenhouse gases.</em></p><p><em>And either we do that, or we don't.</em></p><p><em>You say that nothing in life is black or white.</em></p><p><em>But that is a lie. A very dangerous lie.</em></p><p><em>Either we prevent a 1.5 degree of warming, or we don't.</em></p><p><em>Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, or we don't.</em></p><p><em>Either we choose to go on as a civilization or we don't.</em></p><p><em>That is as black or white as it gets.</em></p><p><em>Because there are no grey areas when it comes to survival.</em></p><p><em>Now we all have a choice.</em></p><p><em>We can create transformational action that will safeguard the living conditions for future generations.</em></p><p><em>Or we can continue with our business as usual and fail.</em></p><p><em>That is up to you and me.</em></p><p><em>And yes, we need a system change rather than individual change. But you cannot have one without the other.</em></p><p><em>If you look through history, all the big changes in society have been started by people at the grassroots level. People like you and me.</em></p><p><em>So, I ask you to please wake up and make the changes required possible. To do your best is no longer good enough. We must all do the seemingly impossible.</em></p><p><em>Today, we use about 100 million barrels of oil every single day. There are no politics to change that. There are no rules to keep that oil in the ground.</em></p><p><em>So, we can no longer save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed.</em></p><p><em>Everything needs to change. And it has to start today.</em></p><p><em>So, everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel.</em></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour Raises $21.5 Million to Fight Climate Crisis in Guitar Auction <a href="https://t.co/aELlVcA3KM">https://t.co/aELlVcA3KM</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Climateaction?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Climateaction</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Climatechange?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Climatechange</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Activism?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Activism</a> <a href="https://t.co/oEifFKnPFh">pic.twitter.com/oEifFKnPFh</a></p>— Renewable Search (@RenewableSearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RenewableSearch/status/1143223031617056769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/25/it-time-rebel-listen-1975s-new-track-featuring-speech-climate-leader-greta-thunberg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Participants of the climate demonstration Fridays for Future in Hamburg, Germany on June 14. Georg Wendt / picture alliance via Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
Organizers of upcoming global climate strikes hope their demands for a rapid end to business as usual and a swift start to climate justice will be too loud to ignore.
<p>The strikes, which are set for Sept. 20 and 27 — with additional actions slated for the days in between — are planned in over 150 countries thus far, and over 6,000 people have already pledged to take part.</p><p>It has the potential to be the biggest climate mobilization yet, said organizers.</p><p>"Our house is on fire — let's act like it," says the strikes' call-to-action, referencing the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/25/my-message-davos-elites-act-if-our-house-fire-because-it" target="_blank">words</a> of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. "We demand climate justice for everyone."</p><p>Thunberg echoed that call in a just-released <a href="https://www.facebook.com/350.org/videos/427395381195077/?v=427395381195077" target="_blank">video</a> promoting the upcoming actions.</p><p>"Everyone should mobilize for the 20th and 27th of September," said Thunberg, "because this is a global issue which actually affects everyone."</p><p>It's been the world's youth, though, that have played a driving force in recently calling attention to the climate crisis with protests and school strikes.</p><p>"Young people have been leading here," 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben said in the Thunberg video, "but now it's the job of the rest of us to back them up."</p><p>The two Fridays of action, according to organizers, will bookend a "Week for Future" to sustain the climate call. Nestled between is the United Nations Summit on Climate Change on Sept. 23 in New York.</p><p>"Because we don't have a single year to lose," said Luisa Neubauer of Fridays for Future Germany in a press <a href="https://globalclimatestrike.net/press-release-millions-gear-up-to-take-part-in-septembers-global-climate-strikes/" target="_blank">statement</a> Wednesday, "we're going to make this week a turning point in history."</p><p>The upcoming protests reflect a call form a <a href="https://globalclimatestrike.net/partners/" target="_blank">diverse group</a> of global organizations, including Amnesty International, Oxfam, La Via Campesina, Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion.</p><p>The Youth Climate Strike Coalition, which includes Sunrise Movement and Zero Hour, issued a press statement Wednesday focusing on U.S. actions on September 20.</p><p>"The youth uprising," said 350.org North America director Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, "is backed by millions who refuse to sit by while the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration, hand-in-hand with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" rel="noopener noreferrer">fossil fuel</a> executives, continues their campaign of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate denial</a> and policy rollbacks, all while we face extreme heat waves, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires."</p><p>"We stand with communities demanding economic transformation that works for our collective right to a sustainable, healthy, and livable future," she continued.</p><p>Backing up the need for the mobilization is ample evidence of the climate crisis. As the Global Climate Strike website sums up:</p><ul><li>Our house is on fire.</li><li>Our hotter planet is already hurting millions of people.</li><li>We need to act right now to stop burning fossil fuels and ensure a rapid energy revolution with equity, reparations, and climate justice at its heart.</li></ul><p>The inter-generational and global actions, according to the global organizers, can serve to show the size of the chorus of those demanding an end to the fossil fuel economy, bring out those previous on the sidelines of the climate justice fight, and "kickstart a huge wave of action and renewed ambition all over the world."</p><p>To make that happen, massive turnout is necessary, said Evan Cholerton of Earth Strike International.</p><p>"Multinational corporations aren't going to give up anything unless we fight," he said.</p><p>"This is a fight for ourselves, for our future, and for future generations," continued Cholerton. "This is a fight for justice for all: workers, students, parents, teachers, conservatives, liberals, socialists, and everyone else. We can fight against climate breakdown, and we can fight against environmental destruction. We need to all be part of this, or else the establishment won't budge."</p><p>"We can do this," he added, "if we do this together."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">RT! Student-Led Climate Strikes Happening in 130+ Countries<br><br>"We are unstoppable. Another world is possible"<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateStrike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateStrike</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateStrike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateStrike</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateStrike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateStrike</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateStrike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateStrike</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateStrike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateStrike</a><br> <a href="https://twitter.com/GetUp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@getup</a> @wiesslersophie <a href="https://twitter.com/veta_chan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@veta_chan</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeHudema?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mikehudema</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/pragmactivist?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@pragmactivist</a> <a href="https://t.co/ON0zg0TkBc">https://t.co/ON0zg0TkBc</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1106586341792468992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/24/everyone-should-mobilize-climate-leaders-urge-massive-turnout-global-climate-strikes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Candida auris was first identified in 2009. It causes serious multidrug-resistant infections in hospitalized patients and has high mortality rates. Kateryna Kon / Science Photo Library / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
A new analysis warns that "global warming may have played a pivotal role" in the recent rise of a multidrug-resistant fungal superbug, sparking questions and concerns about the emerging public health threats of the human-caused climate crisis.
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/23/health/superbug-candida-auris-climate-crisis-study/index.html" target="_blank">Reporting</a> on the research Tuesday, CNN outlined the history of <em>Candida auris</em>:</p><blockquote>Until recently, scientists considered it <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/health/candida-auris-fungus-drug-resistance/index.html" target="_blank">a mystery</a> how <em>C. auris</em> popped up in more than <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/tracking-c-auris.html" target="_blank">30 countries</a> around the globe a decade after it was <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1348-0421.2008.00083.x" target="_blank">first discovered</a> in 2009<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/health/candida-auris-fungus-drug-resistance/index.html" target="_blank">.</a> It emerged simultaneously on three continents — in India, Venezuela, and South Africa — between 2012 and 2015, each strain being genetically distinct.</blockquote><p>The <a href="https://mbio.asm.org/content/10/4/e01397-19" target="_blank">study</a> — published Tuesday in <em>mBio</em>, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology — argues that <em>Candida auris </em>"may be the first example of a new fungal disease emerging from climate change."</p><p>"The argument that we are making based on comparison to other close relative fungi is that as the climate has gotten warmer, some of these organisms, including <em>Candida auris</em>, have adapted to the higher temperature, and as they adapt, they break through human's protective temperatures," lead author Arturo Casadevall, chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/asfm-roc071819.php" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement.</p><p>Fungal diseases are relatively uncommon in humans because of body temperature — but if they adapt to rising temperatures, and aren't easily treatable with medications, they could increasingly endanger human health on a global scale. Casadevall warned that while <em>C. auris</em> may be the first fungal disease whose emergence scientists have tied to rising temperatures, it potentially won't be the last.</p><p>"Global warming may lead to new fungal diseases that we don't even know about right now," he said. "What this study suggests is this is the beginning of fungi adapting to higher temperatures, and we are going to have more and more problems as the century goes on."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Whether C. auris is the first example of new pathogenic fungi emerging from climate change … its emanation stokes worries that humanity may face new diseases from fungal adaptation to hotter climates”<a href="https://t.co/GpV3obWVYt">https://t.co/GpV3obWVYt</a></p>— Jeffrey Duchin (@DocJeffD) <a href="https://twitter.com/DocJeffD/status/1153713943409393664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Stat News <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/07/23/the-superbug-candida-auris-is-giving-rise-to-warnings-and-big-questions/" target="_blank">published</a> a piece Tuesday that mentions the new study but also addresses a series of pressing questions about the emerging superbug with help from experts who include Tom Chiller, chief of mycotic diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Tejas Bouklas, an assistant professor in the department of biomedical sciences at Long Island University.</p><p>Among those questions is: "Could <em>C. auris</em> help other fungi adapt to be bigger threats to humans?"</p><blockquote>That's a question Bouklas is wondering about. "The more ubiquitous it becomes, the more problematic. Because now it could potentially transmit DNA to other Candida species. And maybe even bacteria," she said.<br>That idea is not far-fetched. Fungi can mate sexually, Chiller pointed out, allowing them to swap large amounts of DNA.</blockquote><p>In light of the potential impacts of the climate crisis on public health highlighted in the study, Casadevall charged in his statement that "we need to make investments in better surveillance of fungal diseases."</p><p>"We are pretty good at surveilling influenza and diseases that cause diarrhea or are contagious, but fungal diseases are not usually contagious and therefore nobody has really bothered to document them well," he said. "If more fungi were to cross over, you really wouldn't know until somebody started reporting them in the literature."</p><p>Chiller, in his <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/07/23/the-superbug-candida-auris-is-giving-rise-to-warnings-and-big-questions/" target="_blank">interview</a> with Stat News, agreed that more research on the superbug is vital to protecting the public.</p><p>Understanding <em>C. auris</em>'s backstory is crucial, Chiller said, because "these things are going to continue to emerge. And understanding how they emerge and where they emerge might lead us to prevention strategies or reactive strategies or preparation strategies for the next big thing."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Climate Change Could Supercharge Threat of Antibiotic Resistance: Study <a href="https://t.co/nNr8o9JN8u">https://t.co/nNr8o9JN8u</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/tcktcktck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tcktcktck</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OneWorld_News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OneWorld_News</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelEMann?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MichaelEMann</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1000701919885774850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/23/beginning-new-study-warns-climate-crisis-may-have-been-pivotal-rise-drug-resistant?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Babies Born Near Oil and Gas Wells Are 40 to 70% More Likely to Have Congenital Heart Defects, New Study Shows
22 July 2019
Energy
A new fracking rig and a pumping rig stand beside a house Feb. 10, 2016 in an Oklahoma City, Oklahoma neighborhood. J Pat Carter / Getty Images
By Julia Conley
Proximity to oil and gas sites makes pregnant mothers up to 70 percent more likely to give birth to a baby with congenital heart defects, according to a new study.
<p><br/></p>
<p>Led by Dr. Lisa McKenzie at the University of Colorado, researchers <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/uoca-gpo071819.php" target="_blank">found</a> that the chemicals released from oil and gas wells can have serious and potentially fatal effects on babies born to mothers who live within a mile of an active well site — as about 17 million Americans do.</p><p>The researchers studied more than 3,000 newborns who were born in Colorado between 2005 and 2011. The state is home to about <a href="https://corising.org/colorado-map-oil-gas-wells/" target="_blank">60,000 fracking sites</a>, according to the grassroots group Colorado Rising. In areas with the highest intensity of oil and gas extraction activity, mothers were 40 to 70 percent more likely to give birth to babies with congenital heart defects (CHDs).</p><p>"We observed more children were being born with a congenital heart defect in areas with the highest intensity of oil and gas well activity," said McKenzie in a statement.<br></p><p>The study was more precise than previous reports about the link between oil and gas extraction and CHDs. The researchers studied families in which the pregnant mother lived near an active oil or gas well up to the second month of pregnancy, when fetal cardiac development takes place.</p><p>They also estimated the level of intensity of the oil and gas activity, determined exactly how close the pregnant mothers lived to the well sites, and ensured there were no other significant <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollution</a> sources which could skew their results.</p><p>One science journalist, on social media, called the study "extremely convincing."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This study that found a 40-70% increased risk of congenital heart defects in children born close to oil and gas infrastructure is extremely convincing. They adjusted for all the things I wondered about when I first saw the headlines.<a href="https://t.co/Unccpzi9MD">https://t.co/Unccpzi9MD</a></p>— Dave Levitan (@davelevitan) <a href="https://twitter.com/davelevitan/status/1152226809238478853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This study that found a 40-70% increased risk of congenital heart defects in children born close to oil and gas infrastructure is extremely convincing. They adjusted for all the things I wondered about when I first saw the headlines.<a href="https://t.co/Unccpzi9MD">https://t.co/Unccpzi9MD</a></p>— Dave Levitan (@davelevitan) <a href="https://twitter.com/davelevitan/status/1152226809238478853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Biologist Sandra Steingraber was among the experts on the dangers of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> extraction who pointed to the study as the latest evidence that allowing oil and gas wells to operate, especially near communities, is a public health hazard.</p><p>"It's a strong study," Steingraber wrote on Twitter after reading the paper, noting that the researchers built on knowledge scientists already have about chemicals that are known to be harmful to prenatal health and that are released during <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/" rel="noopener noreferrer">fracking</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2/ First of all, the link makes sense. We know that these specific birth defects, which affect the valves and great arteries of the heart, are associated w prenatal exposure to benzene/diesel exhaust, and we know that benzene/diesel exhaust are found in air near fracking sites.</p>— Dr. Sandra Steingraber (@ssteingraber1) <a href="https://twitter.com/ssteingraber1/status/1152205104453496832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Previous studies about the effects of oil and gas drilling on cardiac health of newborns "did not take into account stage of pregnancy or what was happening at the wellpad during that window of time," <a href="https://twitter.com/ssteingraber1/status/1152207596918595584" target="_blank">wrote</a> Steingraber. "This matters because the cardiac structures form very early in development — during the first two months. If fracking is literally wrecking the hearts of unborn babies it has to do so in early pregnancy."</p><p>"Looking at where mothers lived immediately before pregnancy and during the first critical weeks after conception and what was going on at nearby fracking wells, researchers found startling patterns," she <a href="https://twitter.com/ssteingraber1/status/1152208690025549826" target="_blank">added.</a></p><p>CHDs are the leading cause of death in infants who have birth defects. Babies born with CHDs are more likely to show a "failure to thrive," experience brain injury and exhibit developmental challenges.</p><p>The study comes as President Donald <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trump</a> plans to open up <a href="https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2019/05/13/trump-administration-california-central-coast-public-lands-oil-gas-fracking/1189281001/" target="_blank">725,000 acres of public land</a> in California to oil and gas companies. The president has <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/17/trumps-drilling-leases-public-lands-could-release-47b-metric-tons-carbon-more-all-28" target="_blank">offered</a> a total of 378 million acres of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" rel="noopener noreferrer">public land</a> and water for oil and gas drilling activities since taking office.</p><p>Steingraber called on opponents of fossil fuel extraction to speak out about their opposition by appealing to lawmakers and in letters to the editor, noting that McKenzie has been targeted by oil and gas giants for years as they fight research revealing the public health dangers they pose.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Study: Babies With Low Birth Weights More Likely Near Pennsylvania Fracking Sites <a href="https://t.co/vqOPN7KLVU">https://t.co/vqOPN7KLVU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/foodandwater?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@foodandwater</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/greenwatchdogNY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@greenwatchdogNY</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/941501836187656192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/19/babies-born-near-oil-and-gas-wells-are-70-more-likely-have-congenital-heart-defects?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Calls for Radical Climate Action Grow Louder as NOAA Reports Last Month Was Hottest June Ever Recorded
19 July 2019
Climate
U.S. government scientists concluded in a new report that last month was the hottest June on record. Angelo Juan Ramos / Flickr
By Jessica Corbett
As meteorologists warned Thursday that temperatures above 100°F are expected to impact two-thirds of the country this weekend, U.S. government scientists revealed that last month was the hottest June ever recorded — bolstering calls for radical global action on the climate emergency.
<p>The revelation came in a new monthly climate <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201906" target="_blank">report</a> from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Scientists at the agency's National Centers for Environmental Information <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-201906" target="_blank">found</a> that "the global land and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">ocean</a> surface temperature departure from average for June 2019 was the highest for the month of June in the 140-year NOAA global temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST IN: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/June?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#June</a> 2019 was the warmest June on record for globe, says <a href="https://twitter.com/NOAA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NOAA</a> National Centers for Environmental Information. Record dates to 1880. <a href="https://t.co/sEG5ZD9SnI">https://t.co/sEG5ZD9SnI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NOAA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NOAA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StateOfClimate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StateOfClimate</a> <a href="https://t.co/UI0NYQb4Qs">pic.twitter.com/UI0NYQb4Qs</a></p>— NOAA NCEI Climate (@NOAANCEIclimate) <a href="https://twitter.com/NOAANCEIclimate/status/1151869592786153472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Meteorologist Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground, <a href="https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/June-2019-Earths-Hottest-June-Record" target="_blank">explained</a> that "the global heat in June is especially impressive and significant given that only a weak (and weakening) El Niño event was in place. As human-produced greenhouse gases continue to heat up our planet, most global heat records are set during El Niño periods, because the warm waters that spread upward and eastward across the surface of the tropical Pacific during El Niño transfer heat from the ocean to the atmosphere."</p><p>According to NOAA, "Regionally, South America, Europe, Africa, the Hawaiian region, and the Gulf of Mexico had their warmest June in the 110-year record." Central and Eastern Europe, North-Central Russia, northeastern Canada and southern parts of South America endured the most notable departures from average June temperatures.</p><p>And, as Masters noted, that high heat came with consequences:</p><blockquote>Three billion-dollar weather-related disasters hit the Earth last month, according to the June 2019 Catastrophe Report from insurance broker <a href="http://catastropheinsight.aonbenfield.com/Pages/Home.aspx" target="_blank">Aon</a>: a severe weather outbreak in Europe ($1.1 billion), flooding in China ($9+ billion, including losses up until July 16), and a drought in India ($1.75 billion). In addition, severe weather outbreaks in the U.S. in late May and mid-March accumulated more than $1 billion in losses by the end of June, bringing the 2019 tally of billion-dollar weather disasters to 14.</blockquote><p>Five of the disasters documented by Aon were in the United States. NOAA, in the climate anomalies and events section of its report, noted that higher than average rainfall across the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and East Coast contributed to <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/04/extreme-flooding-across-midwest-exactly-line-scientific-warnings-climate-crisis" target="_blank">destructive flooding</a> in those areas. Experts warn that as human behaviors continue to warm the planet, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/07/staggering-un-warning-climate-crisis-disasters-now-occur-weekly-provokes-calls" target="_blank">extreme weather events</a> will become more intense and common.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Read a summary of global climate conditions and events in June 2019: <a href="https://t.co/bDQR49npk1">https://t.co/bDQR49npk1</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StateOfClimate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StateOfClimate</a> <a href="https://t.co/rLhMbxBgyW">pic.twitter.com/rLhMbxBgyW</a></p>— NOAA NCEI Climate (@NOAANCEIclimate) <a href="https://twitter.com/NOAANCEIclimate/status/1151898693521563648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>NOAA scientists found that January through June tied with 2017 for the second-highest average temperature ever recorded in that six-month period over the past 140 years. Though 2016 still remains the hottest first six months of the year on record, last month beat 2016's June temperature average by 0.04°F, with an average global temperature 1.71°F above the 20th century average.</p><p>Jonathan Erdman, a senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel, <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2019-07-18-june-2019-earths-warmest" target="_blank">wrote</a> Thursday that although the increases may seem small, "ultimately, what's most important is not whether a given month is a fraction of a degree warmer or colder; rather, it's the overall trend, which continues its <a href="https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs_v4/graph_data/Global_Mean_Estimates_based_on_Land_and_Ocean_Data/graph.png" target="_blank">upward climb since the late 1970s</a>."</p><p>In response to NOAA's report, climate scientist Phil Duffy, president and executive director of Woods Hole Research Center, <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL2N24I1FQ" target="_blank">told</a> Reuters that "action is urgently needed at the world, federal, state, and local levels to rapidly cut fossil fuel pollution and to protect and rebuild naturally stored carbon."</p><p>The NOAA report, as Erdman noted, echoes conclusions about June temperatures by researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the Japan Meteorological Agency and Europe's <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-temperature-june-2019" target="_blank">Copernicus Climate Change Service</a> (C3S).</p><p>Reacting to the C3S report earlier this month, the environmental advocacy group 350.org <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/03/after-data-shows-last-month-was-hottest-june-record-sanders-says-maybe-now-time" target="_blank">declared</a>, "We need to act like this is the climate emergency it is."</p><p>The findings about June come on the heels of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/16/hotter-future-thats-hard-imagine-super-charged-climate-crisis-new-study-warns-killer" target="_blank">new research</a> from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) that shows without urgent global action to curb planet-heating human activities, "the number of days per year when the heat index — or 'feels like' temperature — exceeds 100°F would more than double from historical levels to an average of 36 across the country by midcentury and increase four-fold to an average of 54 by late century."</p><p>The USC report warned that the global community must pursue ambitious climate action "if we wish to spare people in the United States and around the world the mortal dangers of extreme and relentless heat."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Only one in eight of the world's most-polluting companies are on track to meet their <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/climate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#climate</a> goals <a href="https://t.co/cvOXW2aMxI">https://t.co/cvOXW2aMxI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DeSmogBlog?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DeSmogBlog</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1150510438335037441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/18/noaas-finding-last-month-was-hottest-june-ever-recorded-bolsters-calls-radical?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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