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climate crisis

Young People And Transition: Making Space At The Table

Young people today find themselves on the front line of a rapidly changing world. Whether actively engaged with climate issues or not, these issues will undoubtedly and profoundly shape their futures, quality of life and inner worlds. Witnessing the escalating environmental crisis unfold in real time alongside their personal growth and development, can make these challenges feel overwhelming. With 84% of young people aged 16-25 in the UK worried about climate change and 59% reporting that it affects their daily lives (The Lancet Planetary Health, 2020) it’s crucial that movements such as Transition strive to place young people at their heart, building supportive and empowering pathways to navigate these turbulent times together.

Our Fragile Infrastructure: Lessons From Hurricane Helene

Asheville, North Carolina is known for its historic architecture, vibrant arts scene and as a gateway to the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a favorite escape for “climate migrants” moving from California, Arizona, and other climate-challenged vicinities, until a “500 year flood” ravaged the city this fall. Hurricane Helene was a wakeup call not just for stricken North Carolina residents but for people across the country following their tragic stories in the media and in the podcasts now favored by young voters for news. “Preppers” well equipped with supplies watched in helpless disbelief as homes washed away in a wall of water and mud, taking emergency supplies in the storm.

Why The Climate Crisis Demands More Than Relentless Positivity

When the COP29 climate talks open in Azerbaijan next week, we’ll no doubt be told that we’re in an unprecedented and dangerous situation, that there’s little time left, and that we’re not moving in the right direction. The speeches will likely culminate in a general call for urgent action, emphasising the critical importance of maintaining hope. This anticipated opening speech already has a sense of déjà vu. Hasn’t it been time to act for decades? What makes each new speaker so hopeful that their call to action will be the one to finally be heeded? And exactly what action is called for?

COP16 Ends Without Consensus On Financing For Nature Conservation

The COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, ended in disappointment this weekend, with countries failing to determine how to raise $200 billion a year in funding for conservation by 2030, reported Reuters. Originally intended as a check-in on countries’ progress with meeting the goals of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), COP16 went into overtime Saturday as nations scrambled to reach a consensus while delegates dwindled along with hopes for a decisive conclusion. “I am both saddened and enraged by the non-outcome of COP16,” said Shilps Gautam, carbon removal financing firm Opna’s chief executive, as Reuters reported.

Who Should Be The Next Emperor Of The Violent Global Imperium?

As US voters go to the polls on November 5th, they need to remind themselves that when the US elects its next domestic president, it is also selecting the emperor of a violent, global imperium.  Choices made over sundry domestic issues have far reaching effects, far beyond local pocketbook or civil rights issues.  They determine who lives and dies across the planet, and how much pain, harm and suffering the rest of the world will have to bear. In this context, it's fair to ask, who is the lesser evil?   Trump or Harris? The answer, of course, is "neither".  Like infinity, when it comes to evil, there's not much use in finger-counting which is greater or lesser. 

The Globalized, Industrialized Food System Is Destroying The World

We can thank small farmers, environmentalists, academic researchers, and food and farming activists for advancing ecologically sound food production methods. Agroecology, holistic resource management, permaculture, and other methods can address many of the global food system’s worst impacts, including biodiversity loss, energy depletion, toxic pollution, food insecurity, and massive carbon emissions. These inspiring testaments to human ingenuity and goodwill have two things in common: They involve smaller-scale farms adapted to local conditions and depend more on human attention and care than energy and technology.

Escalating Climate Impacts Threaten Health Worldwide

Human-driven climate change is causing temperatures to rise to dangerous new heights, while worsening drought and impeding food security, according to the ninth Lancet Countdown report. The report by health experts and doctors warned that people all over the world are facing unparalleled health threats because of the climate crisis. “This year’s stocktake of the imminent health threats of climate inaction reveals the most concerning findings yet,” said Dr. Marina Romanello, executive director of the University College London-led Lancet Countdown, as The Guardian reported.

Waffle House Workers, At The Front Lines Of Disasters, Demand More

Disaster preparedness is as much a part of the Waffle House brand as its all-day breakfast offerings. The 24-hour diner chain — home of a utilitarian menu of generously smothered, covered, scattered and peppered hash browns, among other quick-serve favorites — is omnipresent throughout the Midwest and Southeast. Its iconic butter-yellow letters have welcomed many a weary traveler since its founding in 1955, and its reputation for reliability is far more than a marketing tactic. In 2011, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Craig Fugate created the ​“Waffle House Index” — a metric for measuring the severity of an oncoming storm.

Planet Will Warm As Much As 3.1°C Under Current Policies

Without greater action, the planet will warm as much as 3.1 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to the latest United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report: No more hot air … please!. In the coming round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), countries must commit to slashing their collective yearly greenhouse gas emissions by 42 percent by the end of the decade and by 57 percent by 2035, a press release from UNEP said. Otherwise, the annual report says, the chance of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average will disappear within a few years.

Lessons On Fighting For The Climate Under Authoritarianism

In 2013, in the devastating wake of Typhoon Haiyan, Yeb Saño began a two-week hunger fast. Saño, then a diplomat and the head of the Philippines delegation at the U.N. climate talks in Poland, had watched as one of the most powerful tropical storms in history obliterated his hometown of Tacloban. Just a few days after the typhoon, a weeping Saño declared to the delegates in Warsaw that he would not eat again until meaningful climate progress was made. But the fast, which Saño now also calls a hunger strike, was not just a political move.

Resilience And Regeneration, Disaster After Disaster

Long before the winds and the rain and the flooding, there was already so much healing work that needed doing, and some of it was already happening. That’s not really in question. Like the fungi beneath our feet, the work of regenerating, reconstituting and rebuilding never really stops, even in the aftermath of a hurricane or other disaster. But with every tragic deluge, the open wounds of carnage and destruction also open up new lines of sight for others to see who has been doing that work in their community — and then to either join them or bulldoze right over them.

Why All Hurricanes Should Be Named ‘Jim’

The devastation effectuated by Hurricane Helene represents yet another elucidation of a quintessential climate crisis that is right here and right now. It demonstrates that climate change is not a conclusion that awaits us, but a set of present day precarities taking and altering lives right now. According to initial assessments, Helene could cost U.S. taxpayers upwards of $175 billion , and of course, there is no way to quantify the estimated 230 lives that were taken, thus far, with the death toll expected to rise. Meanwhile, Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm, continued this season of carnage and calamity with a death toll of approximately 20 people and an estimated $50 billion in damages.

Chickpeas Could Become A Major Drought-Resistant Protein Source

A new study is highlighting chickpeas as a source protein for a potentially drought-stricken future brought on by climate change. The research, led by molecular biologist Wolfram Weckwerth from the University of Vienna, explored the benefits of 36 different chickpea genotypes as climate change impacts continue to threaten food security around the world. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, only around nine plant species make up 66% of total crop production. However, there are more than 6,000 edible plant species.

The First Gas Utility Sued For Climate Deception

For the first time, a gas utility could be on the hook for its role in deceiving the public about the climate crisis. Multnomah, Oregon, has added NW Natural — Oregon’s oldest and largest supplier of “natural” gas, also known as fossil or methane gas — to the list of defendants in a lawsuit that seeks to make fossil fuel companies pay $52 billion for their role in the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome. NW Natural “has routinely misrepresented” the climate harms of gas while undermining the energy transition “in an effort to frighten customers and discourage policy makers from using their authority to protect the public,” according to the county’s amended complaint.

The West Would Rather Burn The Planet Than Let China Shine

October 1 marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since its founding, China has made remarkable accomplishments in public health by addressing opium addiction, in the elimination of poverty and in the building of an eco-socialist society. Clearing the FOG speaks with K J Noh, an activist, author and political analyst specializing in Asia. Noh recently wrote "Your Mind Is A Battlefield: Decolonize It To Prevent Global Catastrophe!," which was published in Popular Resistance. Noh describes the Chinese approach of designing policies that benefit everyone, why the West, especially the United States, views China as a threat rather than a partner, and what people in the US can do to counter anti-China propaganda and prevent a global war with China.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

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Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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