Climate Change

Exxon Mobil’s About-Face On Climate Disclosure: Is It Enough?

December 21, 2017 Paul Griffin, ecowatch.com Resist! Climate Change, Environment, Exxon, Fossil Fuels

Scores of investor-activists have sought to force Exxon—along with the entire global industry—to change its ways for nearly three decades. They welcomed the news regarding Exxon Mobil's upcoming climate change risk report. But this change of course did not surprise all of them because it occurred three days before the deadline for shareholders to submit resolutions to be voted on at its 2018 annual meeting. Exxon Mobil's latest move may prevent another episode like what happened in May, when some 62 percent of the company's shareholders—including the massive Vanguard mutual fund company—voted in favor of a resolution demanding that it publicly state how climate change is affecting its operations and bottom line.

Governor Fails To Halt Yellowwood Logging

December 20, 2017 Staff, IndianaForestAlliance.org Resist! Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment

Nearby residents witnessed logging trucks entering the Yellowwood State Forest Back Country Area today -- verifying that Governor Eric Holcomb is choosing to let the commercial logging of a 300-acre forest -- one of the most popular in the state for wilderness recreation -- go forward. “This is the people’s forest, not the loggers’” said Jeff Stant, executive director of the Indiana Forest Alliance. “It’s atrocious to sell off public forests this way, against the advice of scientists, economists, tourism leaders -- and against the will of thousands of citizens who have spoken out in favor of saving this forest.” “We’re not against responsible logging on private land,” he continued. “If the Department of Natural Resources is going to log public land, they should have a balanced policy, not a ‘log 97.5% of it’ policy.

Climate Change, Migration, And Homeland Security

December 18, 2017 By Kevin Gosztola Educate! Climate Change, Homeland Security, Immigration

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola interview journalist Todd Miller, author of Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security. It was published by City Lights Books in September and was praised by Bill McKibben, Christian Parenti, and Dahr Jamail, who has appeared on this podcast multiple times. Miller traveled to the Philippines, Honduras, Guatemala, the Mexico-Guatemala border, the United States-Mexico border, and Paris. There he observed and met individuals witnessing the escalating impacts of climate change on their communities. He also attended multiple expos or conventions, where people from the security-industrial complex spoke about how they are preparing for climate change—in order to control borders and make profits off future calamities.

“Block The Gates!” Lockdowns Continue Against LNG At Port

December 16, 2017 Staff, itsgoingdown.org Resist! Climate Change, LNG, Washington

As reported by The Stranger and Native Daily Network there was another lockdown at the LNG facility in Tacoma, situated on the ancestral lands of the Puyallup tribe. Native Daily Network posted multiple live-feeds of the lockdown, while The Stranger reported: “At around 6:30 this morning, three protesters locked themselves down to tripods blocking the gates of the site. Workers eventually found their way in to work, though, and when reached by phone, the protesters were in the process of taking the tripods down.” For some contextual recent history of resistance to this LNG storage facility, check out an interview with Climate First Responders that aired on The Final Straw. And make sure to check out the event page for the call to Block the Gates next Monday!

US Army Corps Of Engineers Approves Bayou Bridge Pipeline

December 16, 2017 Staff, ienearth.org Resist! Climate Change, Environment, Louisiana, Pipelines

LOUISIANA — Yesterday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted permits to Bayou Bridge, LLC, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, to construct a 162.5-mile crude oil pipeline from Lake Charles to St. James, Louisiana. The Army Corps of Engineers refused to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement for the project, despite pleas for such a study from communities directly impacted by the pipeline. In response to the Bayou Bridge permit approvals, leaders of organizations in the Stop Energy Transfer Partners Coalition released the following statements: Cherri Foytlin, Bold Louisiana: “To be honest, my hopes were never with the state and federal agencies who have consistently proven their lack of vision and scarcity of protection for the people and waters of this great state.

Study: Increased LNG Exports Spell Climate Trouble

December 16, 2017 Ellen M. Gilmer and Jenny Mandel, eenews.net Educate! Climate Change, Gas export, LNG

"There are good reasons for that: It's difficult. The analysis is not the easiest thing in the world. It takes time to develop systems and methods and develop cross-agency and cross-academia expertise in those areas," he added. "But really the implications from our paper are that the greenhouse gas impacts from exporting U.S. natural gas, if you're really looking at how it impacts things here at home and abroad, can be very, very bad." That's because large volumes of U.S. LNG may not actually replace dirtier sources. Instead, the study says, exports could simply add more fossil fuels to the mix for electricity, industry and other uses, while prolonging the lives of American coal-fired plants.

What Failed Civil Rights Campaign Can Teach Climate Activists

December 15, 2017 Cam Fenton, wagingnonviolence.org Strategize! Activism, Civil Rights, Climate Change, History

In early December, Canada’s National Energy Board gave Texas pipeline company Kinder Morgan permission to ignore local laws and permits while starting construction on its Trans-Mountain pipeline. Scheduled to ship nearly 900,000 barrels of tar sands per day from Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia by 2019, the project is a potential lightning rod for the climate movement. As someone with more than a decade involved in campaigns to stop tar sands expansion, I’ve been struggling with a simple question: How do we stop Kinder Morgan now that it’s been approved? On the one hand, there is a newly minted provincial government in British Columbia that took power with a promise to “use every tool” at its disposal to stop the project.

Investors Finally Facing Up To Climate Change

December 14, 2017 Frank Jordans, apnews.com Create! Capital, Climate Change, Finance, Investment

Over 200 companies have pledged greater transparency on reporting climate-related risks in their businesses as part of a voluntary program led by U.S. billionaire Michael Bloomberg. The former New York mayor and Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England and chairman of the Financial Stability Board, said Tuesday that the number of companies supporting the program had more than doubled since its recommendations were first published in June. The 237 companies, with a combined value of over $6.3 trillion, include construction firms, energy companies and financial institutions from 29 countries. Carney said the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures plans to report on its efforts when leaders of the Group of 20 leading industrialized and emerging economies meet in Argentina in a year.

In Kids’ Climate Lawsuit; Gov Effort To Dismiss Case

December 14, 2017 Nicholas Kusnetz, insideclimatenews.org Resist! Climate Change, Government, Lawsuit

The Trump administration's efforts to block a major climate change lawsuit that was brought on novel grounds by a group of young people appeared to suffer a setback Monday at a hearing before a federal appeals court. The lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, was filed in 2015 on behalf of 21 youths who are accusing the government of violating their constitutional rights by failing to address climate change and continuing to subsidize fossil fuels. A federal district judge earlier this year set a trial date for February. But in July, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals paused the case after the Justice Department invoked an unusual legal maneuver to try to block the lawsuit.

Two People Locked Themselves To Crane At Port Of Tacoma

December 13, 2017 Sydney Brownstone, thestranger.com Resist! Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, Port, Protests

Two protesters have locked themselves to a crane at the construction site of a Puget Sound Energy (PSE) liquefied natural gas facility at the Port of Tacoma this morning, according to activist group 350 Seattle. A spokesperson for the Port of Tacoma confirmed that Tacoma Police and the fire department have responded to the scene. Climate activists and the Puyallup Tribe have been protesting the facility for years. It sits on the tribe's ancestral land at the Port of Tacoma, between two stretches of the Puyallup reservation. Two years ago, the tribe filed a lawsuit against the City of Tacoma, PSE, and the Port of Tacoma, claiming that the project would impact tribal members' ability to fish in treaty waters.

Exxon To Disclose Climate Risks Under Pressure From Investors

December 13, 2017 John H. Cushman Jr., insideclimatenews.org Resist! Climate Change, Exxon, Investment

Under pressure from investors, prosecutors and global regulators, ExxonMobil Corp. agreed on Monday to strengthen its analysis and disclosure of the risks its core oil business faces from climate change and from government efforts to rein in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. That will require Exxon to face squarely the implications of reduced oil demand if the world makes good on the pledges of the Paris climate agreement to cut carbon emissions practically to zero fast enough to avoid the worst effects of global warming. In a one-paragraph filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the oil giant said it would stop resisting motions filed by dissident shareholders seeking this kind of risk disclosure.

Saving The Ecosystem With Wild Backyards

December 12, 2017 Sherri Mitchell and Rivera Sun, www.occupyradio.com Create! Climate Change, Food and Agriculture, New Economy

This week on Love (and Revolution) Radio, Sherri Mitchell and Rivera Sun speak with citizen scientist and master gardener Adrian Fisher about reconciliation ecology and how her neighborhood outside Chicago, IL used wild plant gardening to not only connect two wildlife preserves on either side of her, but also a bi-continental migration route for innumerable wild species.

BlackRock Wields Its $6 Trillion Club To Combat Climate Risks

December 11, 2017 Emily Chasan, bloomberg.com Educate! Activism, Banks, Climate Change, Divestment

BlackRock, along with investors such as UBS Asset Management and JPMorgan Chase & Co., is a participant in the task force led by Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg. The group concluded in June that companies affected by climate change should conduct scenario analyses and include those results in their financial reports. BlackRock sees this framework as “a means to achieve the comparability and consistency of reporting that is important to us as investors,” it said in the letter. The move is the latest by BlackRock on climate change after casting its first votes this year in favor of shareholder proposals asking companies such as Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. to provide more detail on the topic. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said in his annual letter to CEOs earlier this year that the New York-based firm would not be “infinitely patient” with companies on environmental and social issues that carry long-term risks.

A New Hedonism: A Post-Consumerism Vision

December 8, 2017 Kate Soper, thenextsystem.org Create! Climate Change, Consumerism

By Kate Soper for The Next System Project - But the shopping-mall culture is also in many ways bad even for those who live in affluent societies. What the economist, John Maynard Keynes, condemned as the pathology of monetary greed is now not only regarded as a normal response to our times but also an essential driver of national well-being. Its effect is to subordinate everyone to a time economy and work ethic that sees free time as a threat to human prosperity rather than a form in which it can be realized. Despite the huge gains in productivity, time scarcity, stress at work, and insecurity remain the dominant life experience of huge numbers of people. An existence devoted to the creation of ever more stuff, most of it unneeded other than to enhance corporate profits or to secure the reproduction of the consumerist economic infrastructure, leaves all too little time and energy for actually having a life. Indeed, it functions as a major constraint on the self-development and political awareness required to enjoy a fuller and freer life. Everything that should be central to human pleasure and well-being has become marginal, whether it be convivial time with family or friends, engagement in civic and political projects, the enjoyment of hobbies and educational activities, making music, reading, gardening, being in nature, or just idling.

Fossil Fuel Donors Shaped Anti-Climate Agenda Of Congressional Committee

December 7, 2017 Marianne Lavelle and David Hasemyer, insideclimatenews.org Educate! Climate Change, Congress, Fossil Fuels, Lobbying

By Marianne Lavelle and David Hasemyer for Inside Climate News - FREDERICKSBURG, Texas—It's midway through fall, and cold has yet to settle over the Eckhardt family orchard. So, Diane Eckhardt waits with rising apprehension. Cold is the switch that triggers the growing sequence that by summer has limbs sagging with ripe, juicy peaches. The reliable chill season in Texas Hill Country allowed Eckhardt's grandfather, Otto, to start the family business here in the 1930s. But last year, with temperatures the warmest since 1939, Eckhardt's trees produced just 10 percent of their usual yield. And the year before, warm weather reduced production between 60 and 70 percent. Now, Eckhardt worries not only about the next crop, but about the future of a business she hopes will be passed on to her niece and nephews. "We know climate change is happening," she said. But while the Eckhardts face that certainty, their congressman sows uncertainty, casting doubt on the consensus science that greenhouse gases are the dominant cause of rising global temperatures, and opposing government action to curb them. Sixteen-term Republican Lamar Smith has used his power as chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee for the past five years to do battle on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. Embracing the arguments of a small group of climate contrarians, Smith acknowledges that warming is happening but says more research is needed to determine the amount and causes, and whether it does more good than harm.

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