BILL McKIBBEN – Falling Short on Climate in Paris

Paris — THE climate news last week came out of Paris, where the world’s nations signed off on an agreement to finally begin addressing global warming. Or, alternately, the climate news came out of Chennai, India, where hundreds died as flooding turned a city of five million into an island. And out of Britain, where the heaviest rains ever measured …

Beyond Paris, Climate Movement Plans Global Swarm for Future of Humanity

As the United Nations climate talks in Paris near their end, global activists on Thursday said people power needs to step in where governments are failing while announcing plans for upcoming mass mobilizations that aim to “keep fossil fuels in the ground and accelerate a just transition to 100% renewable energy.” Acts of civil disobedience scheduled for May 2016, slated …

Halfway Through Paris… And a Very Long Way from World-Saving Deal

The COP21 climate talks in Paris reached their halfway point on Saturday, but a deal that experts and global justice campaigners would consider acceptable remains a long way off as the fossil fuel industry and wealthy nations maintain their powerful grip on the direction of the international summit. Given the troubled history of the UN-sponsored talks, most members of civil …

New Study Shows Antarctic Melting Approaching ‘Unstoppable’ Tipping Point

‘What we call the eternal ice of Antarctica unfortunately turns out not to be eternal at all,’ says lead author of new study A new study published Monday warns that “unstoppable” melting in West Antarctica could make a three-meter increase in sea level “unavoidable.” According to researchers at Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the vulnerable Amundsen Sea sector …

Gaurav Agnihotri – How Much Longer Can The Oil Age Last?

History has been so fascinated with oil and its price movements that it is indeed hard to imagine our future without oil. Over the last few months, we have witnessed how oil prices have fluctuated from a 6 year low level of $42.98 per barrel in March 2015 to the current levels of $60 per barrel. It is interesting to …

Chris Hedges – Death by Fracking

DENVER—The maniacal drive by the human species to extinguish itself includes a variety of lethal pursuits. One of the most efficient is fracking. One day, courtesy of corporations such as Halliburton, BP and ExxonMobil, a gallon of water will cost more than a gallon of gasoline. Fracking, which involves putting chemicals into potable water and then injecting millions of gallons …

David Griffin – Climate Denial

According to a recent report from Inside Climate News, scientists hired by Exxon had concluded in the 1970s and ’80s that continuing to burn great quantities of fossil fuels would likely produce “catastrophic events” that could endanger humanity. Therefore, said these scientists, Exxon should begin a transition away from fossil fuels to renewable resources. But in the late ’80s, the …

Neela Banerjee, Lisa Song and David Hasemyer – Exxon’s Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels’ Role in Global Warming Decades Ago

At a meeting in Exxon Corporation’s headquarters, a senior company scientist named James F. Black addressed an audience of powerful oilmen. Speaking without a text as he flipped through detailed slides, Black delivered a sobering message: carbon dioxide from the world’s use of fossil fuels would warm the planet and could eventually endanger humanity. “In the first place, there is …

Josh Fox, Lee Ziesche – What the Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know About Fracking

When we hear politicians and gas companies extoll the virtues of fracking, jobs created by drilling is usually high on their list of talking points. But the jobs created by fracking are not the kind of quality jobs American workers deserve. They are not the kind of jobs American laborers have fought and died for throughout our country’s history. They are …

Jon Queally – Islamic Declaration Blasts Short-Sighted Capitalism, Demands Action on Climate

Just as scientists announced July was the hottest month in recorded history, and ahead of a major climate summit in Paris later this year, an international group of Islamic leaders on Tuesday released a public declaration calling on the religion’s 1.6 billion followers to engage on the issue of global warming and take bold action to stem its worst impacts. …