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Hundreds Converge For 44th Annual Earth First! Gathering

Walking up the path to the Kirkridge Retreat Center outside Bangor, Pennsylvania in early July, you may have sensed something was afoot. Cars with license plates from far-flung states lined the driveway and wild-haired twenty-somethings mingled with kids, tweens and adults in their 30s, 40s and beyond. A hand painted cardboard sign reading simply “EF!” would have directed you, with an arrow pointing to the activity. A blend of laughter, music, and fragments of conversations about climate catastrophe quickly sets the tone before you reach a folding table strewn with literature, hand sanitizer, masks and snacks. “Welcome,” a smiling volunteer would greet you. “Are you here for Earth First?”

Climate Disaster Survivors Call For Investigation Into Fossil Fuel Industry

More than 10,000 survivors and loved ones of survivors of “climate-driven disasters” have signed an open letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) urging an investigation into fossil fuel companies for “climate-related crimes.” Of the signatories, more than 1,000 were survivors of these disasters and more than 9,000 were loved ones. Public Citizen said they, along with Chesapeake Climate Action Network, delivered the letter to the DOJ. The letter comes at a time of increased public pressure against the fossil fuel industry and during which climate-related civil lawsuits have increased at an unprecedented pace, and have been mostly successful.

Fire Reveals How Oil Industry Environmental ‘Solution’ Spurs Climate Crisis

The trouble began at Piñon Midstream’s Dark Horse Treating Plant in Jal, New Mexico, on November 25, 2023, with an unexpected loud “pop” in the early afternoon, the company would later tell state regulators. A poisonous mix of flammable gasses hissed out from a pipeline feeding into the plant. Within a minute, a worker radioed in to the plant’s control room that a dense cloud of vapor had enveloped part of the plant. Within two minutes, Dark Horse was ablaze in what the company would later call an “intense and sustained fire.” Within 15 minutes, more pipes ripped open, and a towering fireball tore through the plant.

Rural ‘Buffer Ring’ Can Reduce Urban Heat Island Effect

Rural land cover surrounding a city has the potential to reduce the “urban heat island” (UHI) effect and cool the city centre by more than 0.5C, new research shows. While heatwaves around the world are becoming more frequent and intense because of human-caused warming, they are made even more severe in cities by the UHI effect, which traps heat in urban areas and keeps them warmer than their rural surroundings. The study, published in Nature Cities, analyses 20 years of data from 30 cities in China and finds that a ring of rural land around a city can bring the urban temperature down. A buffer ring that is at least half the city’s width can have the biggest cooling effect.

The Messy Middle Paths Through Climate Breakdown

In the escalating drama of climate breakdown — especially as we navigate the apparent crossing of the 1.5C warming threshold — a binary is emerging that wastes a huge amount of time, energy and passion, needlessly limiting our vision to confront and adapt to our situation at all levels of society: Are we (optimist) solutionists or (realist) doomers? As “optimists” we’re committed to the idea that it’s not too late to fix things (think ever steeper net zero pathways dependant on direct air capture). As “realists,” we’re committed to telling “the truth” of just how bad things are already (think cascading tipping points and trajectories towards Hothouse Earth).

DC Circuit Rules Against FERC Approval Of LNG And Pipeline Projects

On Tuesday, Aug. 6, the D.C. Circuit Court issued a decision that effectively cancels the previous approval of three harmful methane gas projects in South Texas by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), marking the first time a court has vacated FERC approval of an LNG terminal. In 2023, FERC reapproved Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and the Rio Bravo pipeline, despite widespread concerns for the harm the projects would cause to the surrounding communities and the climate. The Sierra Club, the City of Port Isabel, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, and Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera sued FERC for failing to adequately consider the environmental justice impacts and greenhouse gas emissions of the three projects, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Natural Gas Act.

Cry, The Beloved World

Here is a topic miles away from the 2024 elections, though it should not be. Its political salience is just about zero, but it concerns the future of life on Earth. I could be referring to the recent surge in spending on nuclear weapons, but the devastation I will write about is slower yet no less problematic. If you are of a certain age, you may remember the children’s book, The Wump World. It first appeared in 1970, the year of the first Earth Day. Its message was clear. The bountiful, bucolic world of the Wumps, with its lovely bumbershoot trees and plentiful grasses for grazing, was denuded and impoverished by the Pollutians, who had colonized the Wump’s planet because they had destroyed their own.

Why So Many Congestion Pricing Critics Change Their Tune

New York City’s plan to charge most vehicles $15 to enter downtown Manhattan would have eased traffic, cut pollution, and raised billions for mass transit. But Governor Kathy Hochul — in an 11th-hour reversal — placed congestion pricing on hold indefinitely, leaving a $15 billion gap in the city’s transit upgrade plans. Hochul, a Democrat, cited a slow economic recovery from the pandemic and the burden the tolls would place on low-income residents, but sources say she also feared upsetting swing district voters who could decide key elections this fall. Most people balk at the idea of paying more for anything, and congestion pricing plans are no exception.

Five More Just Stop Oil Activists Jailed

Six Just Stop Oil supporters have been sentenced today (Thursday 1 August) by Judge Collery at Basildon Crown Court – with five being jailed. They took action climbing gantries over the M25 motorway in November 2022, demanding the UK government immediately halts all licensing and consents for new fossil fuel exploration and extraction. Daniel Johnson, Paul Bell, Theresa Higginson, Gaie Delap, Paul Sousek, and George Simonson, pleaded guilty in April to the offence of ‘causing a public nuisance’, a statutory offence under the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. Gaie Delap and Paul Sousek each received 20 month sentences, whilst Paul Bell received 22 months.

Methane Emissions Worldwide Rising At Fastest Pace In Decades

According to a new study, global methane emissions are “rising rapidly” — at the fastest pace in decades — with immediate action needed to help curtail a dangerous intensification of the climate crisis. The study outlines three “imperatives” for reducing methane emissions, as well as a new tool to assist nations with optimizing cost-effective methods to reduce their methane emissions, an explainer from Frontiers said. The actions called for by the study’s authors include reversing methane emissions growth, aligning carbon dioxide and methane mitigation and optimizing policies and technologies for the abatement of methane at the global, national and sector levels.

Gatwick Is Being Hit By Just Stop Oil As Departures Threatened

Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted Gatwick departures at the airport. Just Stop Oil is working with groups internationally under the ‘Oil Kills’ banner to demand governments establish a fossil fuel treaty, to end the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by 2030. At around 8am on Monday 29 July, seven supporters of Just Stop Oil entered the Southern terminal at Gatwick and used suitcases with lock-on devices to block the Gatwick departures gates. The Oil Kills international uprising has been taking action at airports around the world – with Gatwick departures being the latest. As the Canary has documented, 21 groups across 12 countries have taken action at 17 airports so far.

Airport Disruption Entered Fourth Day; Starmer’s Government A Target

On Saturday 27 July, peaceful protests took place in at least six cities across six countries in support of Oil Kills – an international uprising to end oil, gas and coal by 2030. Airport disruption was a key feature, again – with more arrests amid blockades. However, in the UK things went up a gear – as activists targeted Keir Starmer’s new Labour Party government. Across the UK, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada, protesters are gathering to demand their governments commit to establishing a legally binding treaty to stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030 as well as supporting and financing poorer countries to make a fast, fair, and just transition.

China’s Lightning-Fast Renewable Triumphs

A few years ago, China’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and U.S. climate envoy John Kerry shook hands on a pledge to triple renewable energy by 2030. China took the challenge seriously, very seriously, it will meet its end-of-2030 emissions target this year (2014), six years early. In the blink of an eye, China is constructing wind and solar farms that are equivalent to building five large nuclear power stations per week! Yes, per week. They understand the multitude of risks of climate change, especially since it is happening in real time right in everybody’s face, and they’re doing something about it faster than the rest of the world combined.

South Africa Passes Its First Climate Change Act

South Africa has passed its first Climate Change Act, a sweeping law that will set limits for big greenhouse gas emitters and require that every town and city publish an adaptation plan with the objective of meeting the country’s carbon emissions reduction commitments in accordance with the Paris Agreement. South Africa is a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 190-plus members of which are parties to the 2016 Paris Agreement. President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Climate Change Bill into law. The new law establishes a national response to climate change, including actions for mitigation and adaptation, which constitute South Africa’s “fair contribution to the global climate change response,” a press release from the South African government said.

Climate Activists Score Major Win In Campaign To Electrify DC

Last month, Extinction Rebellion D.C. scored a major victory for the End Methane, Electrify D.C. campaign: the D.C. Public Service Commission dismissed corporate utility provider Washington Gas’ application for the third phase of their $12 billion fossil fuel pipeline replacement project dubbed Project Pipes. The commission also partially approved a petition to investigate Washington Gas’ leak reduction practices. This victory is a major milestone in the fight to shut down a fossil fuel project that would lock D.C. into decades of planet-warming emissions while poisoning the city’s residents, especially the communities that are most marginalized and underserved.
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