Category: Climate Change

Uneven Earth’s Monthly Readings

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7 December 2019 — Uneven Earth

[Came across this very useful resource, from yet another information source, Uneven Earth. Frankly, with the wealth of accurate information available to us these days, there really is no excuse for inaction, no matter how small, over the major issues of our time. WB]

November readings

On the wave of global protests, lessons from the 1999 Seattle shutdown, and nuclear energy

Once a month, we put together a list of stories we’ve been reading: things you might’ve missed or crucial conversations going on around the web. We focus on environmental and social justice, cities, science fiction, current events, and political theory.

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A system that steals from our future

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26 November 2019 — Climate & Capitalism

Deadly gains

“We have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realize economic and development gains in the present”

A major report on human health in the Anthropocene, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, begins by noting an apparent paradox, that global human health has been improving even while environmental destruction is undermining it. The explanation, the authors say, is “straightforward and sobering.”
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Green Strategy: To beat climate change, humanity needs socialism

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14 November, 2019 — People’s World

Demonstrators sit on the ground in front of the White House, April 29, 2017, during a demonstration and march. Thousands gathered across the country to march in protest of President Trump’s environmental policies, which have included rolling back restrictions on mining, oil drilling, and greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants.| Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

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Capitalism versus Life on Earth

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20 November 2019 — Climate & Capitalism

Deadly growth

Image by The All-Nite Images via Flickr

Environmental destruction isn’t driven by human nature or mistaken ideas. It is an inevitable consequence of a system built on capital accumulation.

Climate & Capitalism editor Ian Angus spoke at an educational conference organized by Socialist Action in Toronto, on November 16, 2019. His talk has been edited for publication.

by Ian Angus

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Extinction Rebellion: Rebellion against whom?

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8 November 2019 — Fightback by Benoît Tanguay

Extinction Rebellion- Rebellion against whom?

In the past year, we have seen an explosion of the environmental movement. Through the global climate strike and mass demonstrations for the planet launched by Greta Thunberg, an entire generation has gotten a taste of political action, understanding the need for dramatic change to deal with environmental degradation. It is in this context that the group Extinction Rebellion (XR) has struck a chord. For many, both young and old, the urgency of the situation requires drastic solutions, and many have therefore been seduced by the group’s actions and its calls for immediate measures to save our planet. But are XR’s methods what the climate movement needs? What exactly does XR stand for?
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The 5G Roll Out of 20,000 Telecom Satellites. Cosmic Junk

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11 November 2019 — Global Research

By Richard Gale and Dr. Gary Null

For years, scientists have warned about the dangers of enormous amounts of debris orbiting our planet. Aside from wrenches and other tools used by astronauts, plastic bags, and yes even a toothbrush, according to the federally-funded Areospace organization, the greater dangers are obsolete spacecraft, portions of damaged and disabled satellites, rocket fragments, flywheels, and nuclear reactor cores that have broken up or collided with various other objects. Yet even a screwdriver traveling at an average of 17,500 mph, with an impact velocity of 21,000 mph, can be very destructive if it were to crash into a satellite, rendering it inoperable. And this simply adds to more useless junk, now estimated at 128 million small bits of debris under 1cm and the 34,000 larger pieces, floating above our heads. Imagine being hit with a piece of space scrap the size of a sugar cube is “equivalent of standing next to an exploding hand grenade.”

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WATCH: The Ethics of Voluntary Carbon Offsets – Professor Clive Spash

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10 November 2019 —

“Sales of so-called carbon offsets are soaring: Myclimate, a Swiss nonprofit whose clients include Deutsche Lufthansa AG, reported a five-fold uptake in its credits in a year. At Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest discount carrier, the number of customers making voluntary offset payments has almost doubled in 18 months.”

— Bloomberg, August 10, 2019

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Roger and me – a socialist view on Extinction Rebellion

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4 November 2019 — Red Flag

James Plested

Around 7am on the fourth day of Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) “Spring Rebellion” in Melbourne in early October the clouds to the east cleared enough for the first bright rays of sun to penetrate through to a city centre still shrouded in a cold, misty rain. A dazzling rainbow appeared above the skyline – arching over the grey and blue forest of skyscrapers as members of XR huddled in a laneway below for a briefing on that morning’s action.

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Green Tories? Don’t Believe the Hype

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6 November 2019 — Novara Media

A leaked briefing note has revealed Tory HQ’s attack lines on climate policy for this winter’s General Election. In it, HQ cites two key figures to argue the case that the Conservative Party is the party of climate action. First, they claim that during their decade in government there has been a 25% reduction in emissions, and second, that thanks to their leadership, renewables have been “boosted… to record levels”. It should come as no surprise that these claims are dubious at best. 

Ecosocialist Bookshelf, November 2019

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4 November 2019 — Climate & Capitalism

The red and green shelf is overflowing! Nine important new books address topics ranging from ecosocialism and rising seas to trees, growth and global poverty.

Ecosocialist Bookshelf is an occasional feature. We can’t review every book we receive, but we will list and link to any that seem relevant to Climate & Capitalism’s mission, along with brief descriptions. Titles listed here may be reviewed in future. Inclusion of a book does not imply endorsement, or that we agree with everything (or even anything!) these books say.

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Dammed Good Question about the Green New Deal

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11 January 2019 — Green Social Thought

By: Don Fitz

Gordon Dam, Southwest National Park, Tasmania, Australia (2008). Creator: JJ Harrison. Via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gordon_Dam.jpg

Hydroelectric power from dams might be the thorniest question that proponents of the Green New Deal (GND) have to grapple with. Providing more energy than solar and wind combined, dams could well become the backup for energy if it proves impossible to get off of fossil fuels fast enough.

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