The Wilpinjong coal mine, located between Denman and Mudgee, Australia. Photo: Newcastle Herald

New South Wales government may open two new coal fields for exploration to boost economic growth

By Ben Butler 9 October 2019 (The Guardian) – The New South Wales government is considering opening two large coal fields to exploration as it seeks to make the state the “number one mining investment destination”, Guardian Australia has learned. The Advisory Body for Strategic Release, which controls the state’s minerals reserves, has written to […]

Aerial view of Frying Pan Lake in Alaska. If the proposed massive Pebble Mine, located between two prime salmon spawning streams, is ever built, Frying Pan Lake, would disappear beneath a giant pile of tailings. Bristol Bay is one of the world’s greatest fisheries. Photo: SeattlePI

Battle over Bristol Bay mine: Native, fisheries groups sue Trump – “There’s simply no precedent for open pit mining coexisting with sockeye salmon on the scale proposed by the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay”

By Joel Connelly 8 October 2019 (SeattlePI) – Five Bristol Bay native and fisheries groups sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, seeking to restore Clean Water Act protection and block a giant open pit copper-goldmine proposed cheek-by-jowl with the world’s greatest sockeye salmon fishery. The suit was filed on National Salmon Day. The U.S. Environmental […]

The top 20 companies that have contributed to 480 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent since 1965. At the top is Saudi Aramco, followed by Chevron, Gazprom, and Exxon Mobil. Data: Richard Heede / Climate Accountability Institute. Graphic: The Guardian

Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions – “The great tragedy of the climate crisis is that seven and a half billion people must pay the price so that a couple of dozen polluting interests can continue to make record profits”

By Matthew Taylor and Jonathan Watts 9 October 2019 (The Guardian) – The Guardian today reveals the 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of the world’s oil, gas and coal reserves can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era. New data from world-renowned researchers [Climate […]

People walk home in the dark due to power shortages in Harare, on Monday, 30 September 2019. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa presented a State of the Nation address on 1 October 2019, at a time the southern African nation is reeling from its worst economic crisis in more than a decade. Zimbabweans are enduring shortages of everything from medicines, fuel, cash and water, bringing a weariness and disgust that has often flared into streets protests. Opposition lawmakers walk out of president’s speech. Photo: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press

Surviving the extreme water shortage in Zimbabwe’s capital – Doctors on strike over “appalling and disgraceful” conditions in hospitals – Opposition lawmakers walk out of president’s speech

By Morgan Passi and John McGill 2 October 2019 (CBC Radio) – Think of it as a cash and flow problem. Last month, city councillors in Harare, Zimbabwe shut off their main water plant, blaming a lack of foreign currency needed to import treatment chemicals. The water is back on now — after the national government stepped in. […]

Zimbabweans sit and pray on top of a large rock on the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe, 8 September 2019. Photo: Themba Hadebe / AP Photo

Zimbabwe’s capital runs dry as taps cut off for 2 million people – “It is a desperate situation”

By Farai Mutsaka 24 September 2019 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) – Tempers flared on Tuesday as more than 2 million residents of Zimbabwe’s capital and surrounding towns found themselves without water after authorities shut down the main treatment plant, raising new fears about disease after a cholera outbreak while the economy crumbles even more. Officials in Harare have struggled to […]

Historical U.S. election industry spending, Energy vs. Environment, 1990-2019, showing contributions to candidate campaigns, party committees, and outside groups (1990-2018 federal election cycles). Graphic: Center for Responsive Politics

Fossil fuel industry continues to dwarf environmental groups in election-related spending – Industry gives millions to Trump Victory and Trump Make America Great Again Committee

By Yue Stella Yu 24 September 2019 (Center for Responsive Politics) – Following a global climate strike over the weekend, climate activists in Washington, D.C., raged on and flooded the district Monday as the United Nations Climate Action Summit took place in New York. Participating groups issued several demands, including the passage of the Green New Deal, the […]

Logo for the Republican Climate Resolution. Graphic: CCL

Republican Climate Resolution: “If left unaddressed, the consequences of a changing climate have the potential to adversely impact all Americans”

24 September 2019 (Desdemona Despair) – After yesterday’s sad display by the governments of the U.S., Australia, and Canada at the U.N. Climate Action Summit 2019, it’s good to remember that not all U.S. Republicans are antiscience fanatics. Here’s the text of the Republican Climate Resolution (H.Res.195 Expressing the commitment of the House of Representatives […]

While speaking at the United Nations on 23 September 2019, climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered an impassioned speech during the Climate Action Summit 2019, where she spoke about the dangers of climate change. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” climate activist Greta Thunberg has told world leaders, accusing them of ignoring the science behind the climate crisis: “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth - how dare you?” Photo: United Nations / NBC News

Climate activist Greta Thunberg condemns world leaders in emotional speech at UN – “The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you.”

By Oliver Milman 23 September 2019 UNITED NATIONS (The Guardian) – Greta Thunberg has excoriated world leaders for their “betrayal” of young people through their inertia over the climate crisis at a United Nations summit that failed to deliver ambitious new commitments to address dangerous global heating. In a stinging speech on Monday, the teenage […]

Climate activist Greta Thunberg glares at Donald Trump arriving at the United Nations on 23 September 2019, after she scolded international politicians over inaction on global warming at Climate Action Summit 2019. Photo: The Independent

Trump drops by UN climate summit, skips Greta Thunberg’s speech, hurries off to talk faith and freedom – Standing ovation for Trump at religious freedom panel that never mentioned plight of Uighur Muslims

By Julian Borger 23 September 2019 NEW YORK (The Guardian) – In the UN general assembly chamber, the world’s leaders gathered to share the latest grim news of the planet’s climate crisis, but 100 metres away another meeting had been prepared: a summit of one. Donald Trump had booked a separate venue in the middle of the […]

Migration and food availability in Guatemala, 2016-2018. Data: U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Graphic: NBC News

Trump admin ignored its own evidence of climate change’s impact on migration from Central America

By Jacob Soboroff and Julia Ainsley 20 September 2019 GUATEMALA CITY (NBC News) – Research compiled one year ago by Customs and Border Protection pointed to an overwhelming factor driving record-setting migration to the U.S. from Guatemala: Crop shortages were leaving rural Guatemalans, especially in the country’s western highlands, in extreme poverty and starving. An […]

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