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How The Fossil Fuel Industry Helps Spread Anti-Protest Laws Across US

Fossil fuel lobbyists coordinated with lawmakers behind the scenes and across state lines to push and shape laws that are escalating a crackdown on peaceful protests against oil and gas expansion, a new Guardian investigation reveals. Records obtained by the Guardian show that lobbyists working for major North American oil and gas companies were key architects of anti-protest laws that increase penalties and could lead to non-violent environmental and climate activists being imprisoned up to 10 years. Emails between fossil fuel lobbyists and lawmakers in Utah, West Virginia, Idaho and Ohio suggest a nationwide strategy to deter people frustrated by government failure to tackle the climate crisis from peacefully disrupting the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure by enacting tough laws with lengthy jail sentences.

Tyson Foods Sued In Latest Meatpacker ‘Greenwashing’ Claim

Tyson Foods is being sued by campaigners who claim the US meat major is making “unsubstantiated environmental claims” about its products – known colloquially as greenwashing. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) filed the suit under the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act, or CPPA, in D.C. Superior Court. The US arm of Brazilian meat giant JBS was similarly sued earlier this year. Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm brands owner Tyson has been accused of “capitalising on consumers’ interest in purchasing climate-friendly foods by falsely claiming it will be net-zero by 2050 and marketing its industrial beef products as ‘climate-smart’”.

The Case For Returning Disaster-Prone Areas Back To Nature

This week there were three wildfires burning within 100 miles of Los Angeles. Sadly, this isn’t breaking news; it’s the opening salvo of California’s new reality. Each year, wildfires trigger a predictable sequence of events: the fires burn, homeowners flee, firefighters battle the blazes often to catastrophic loss and, once the ash settles, people rush to rebuild grander homes, frequently in the exact same spots and typically directly or indirectly funded by taxpayer dollars. Despite the increase in frequency and intensity of wildfires and other natural disasters, people continue to be drawn to high-risk areas.

Earth Is Close To Passing Seven Of Nine Planetary Boundaries

Scientists have found that Earth may soon pass another planetary boundary, meaning it could be operating outside of the safe limits for seven of the nine defined planetary boundaries. The Planetary Health Check report, prepared by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), is a new assessment that determines the state of the planetary boundaries. For its first edition, the report found that Earth is near the boundary for ocean acidification. “Our updated diagnosis shows that vital organs of the Earth system are weakening, leading to a loss of resilience and rising risks of crossing tipping points,” said Levke Caesar, scientist at PIK and a lead author of the report.

Legal Challenges Against Rosebank Oil Field Given The Green Light

Rosebank will do nothing to lower energy bills, save jobs, or make our energy supply more secure. It will only make billions for oil giants, with the UK public footing the bill through billions in tax breaks. The previous government knew this - and approved the field anyway. We believe that the decision to approve Rosebank was not only a disaster for the climate, and morally and economically wrong, but unlawful.  Claims that drilling Rosebank is compatible with the UK’s obligations and a safe climate doesn't add up - and we will prove it in court. This is now a straight fight between a livable future and oil and gas industry profits. The UK government has already admitted the decision was unlawful.

Big Ag’s Road To Brazil

This week, as business and government leaders, investors and campaigners gather for New York Climate Week, DeSmog is relaunching its big agriculture series, which will scrutinise the power of food and farming companies. Agriculture used to play second fiddle to energy when it came to global warming, considered as a nice-to-have. But as global heating continues apace, emissions associated with food are rising fast. Nitrous oxide – a planet-heating gas nearly 300 times as potent as CO2 when measured over 100 years – is accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere at unprecedented levels. Levels of methane – another powerful greenhouse gas critical to reducing emissions – have soared since the start of the decade and are showing “no hint of decline”.

Study: The Economic Case For A Public Rail System

Public Rail Now is excited to announce their second research report in their campaign for public rail ownership. “From Margins to Growth: The Economic Case for a Public Rail System,” lays bare the economic facts for the current state of the US rail system is in a downward spiral, facts working railroaders have been espousing for decades. Public rail ownership has the potential to save up to $140 billion annually for US consumers, provide an estimated 180,000 new rail road jobs, avert $190 Billion in public health, environmental and fiscal cost, while helping to meet climate goals by avoiding 180 metric tonnes of carbon emissions.

Connecting The Dots Between Climate Destruction And Its Financial Backers

Standing on a mobile stage in a suburban Philadelphia park on July 3, Ugandan human rights activist Hillary Taylor poured a cup of dirt into a clay vase. “This soil represents all my communities in Uganda and Tanzania,” he said to a crowd of 300 people gathered near the global headquarters of Vanguard, the world’s largest fossil fuel investor. This was the start of a major day of action for Vanguard S.O.S. — the international campaign that’s calling for the powerful asset manager to deal with its climate change problem and invest in a livable future. Participants came from near and far to dramatize the connection between asset managers like Vanguard and the harm their investments cause frontline communities.

Fossil Fuel Companies Are Hijacking Our Universities

Elite universities in the United States — which conduct important climate research — are raking in millions from fossil fuel interests, potentially creating conflicts of interest. This is according to a collection of new reports compiled by student organizers and released by the student-led Campus Climate Network, as The Guardian reported. “Universities globally are often caught in a web of financial and research dependencies with the fossil fuel sector. These ties not only conflict with the ethics of academic independence but also hinder the progress of genuine climate research,” Campus Climate Network said on its website. One institution, Princeton University, seems to have actually owned an oil company — Petrotiger, named after its mascot — earning it millions of dollars, reported The Guardian.

Fall Of FERC Actions A Wild Success!

Washington, DC - Beyond Extreme Energy folks kicked things off at 6:00 am on Thursday, September 19, by hanging large banners across from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. At 7:00 am, a crew of elders from Third Act DMV and Beyond Extreme Energy used rocking chairs to blockade the driveway to FERC’s garage. They held banners reading “The Fall of FERC” and “US Courts: FERC is a Climate Denier.” The Federal Protective Service of the Department of Homeland Security arrived and asked the blockaders to leave. At 9:00 am, dozens of adults and kids from Gulf Coast communities in Louisiana and Texas rallied with their supporters outside FERC, demanding that commissioners listen to their concerns about FERC continuing to greenlight LNG export terminals, which are hugely polluting for frontline communities and for the climate.

Blue (MAGA) In Green

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to refute the sentiment that the mainstream environmental “movement” has lost its way, assuming that it ever had a clear one in the first place. This election cycle has illuminated the fact that this cadre of the larger non profit industrial apparatus has aligned itself more with a political party, the Democrats, than with the principles necessary to confront the quintessential climate crisis that’s edging the planet and requisite systems for survival to a junction of entropy. It must now be said that the abject intransigence of mainstream environmental groups poses a clear and present danger to climate and environmental justice that in some ways, it could be argued, rivals that of former President Trump.

Inside The International Uprising Disrupting Air Travel

A new international coalition is disrupting airports to make one demand: the adoption of a treaty to end fossil fuels by 2030. Under the banner Oil Kills, small groups of activists have occupied airport departure lounges, plane cabins, terminals, tarmacs and roads across three continents — and they aren’t done yet. Here are the numbers so far: 500 people, 31 airports, 22 groups, 166 arrests, 42 people on remand in prison — all in support of their one demand. The coalition formed when members of Extinction Rebellion, the A22 Network and Stay Grounded began reaching out to other groups globally. What resulted was an unprecedented alliance of civil resistance groups focused on the sustained disruption of airports — a key pillar of the fossil fuel economy.

Young People Will Save The World; We’re The Last Generation That Can

The past 20 years have been critical in the fight for bold and sustainable climate solutions. The next five years will be even more vital — and young people like me are fighting hard to make sure our leaders get it right. Research shows we have about five years left to avert global warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, the tipping point when even more severe climate disruptions could exacerbate hunger, conflict and drought worldwide. Climate change — long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil — impacts our livelihoods and our lives. It harms our health and well-being and threatens our access to vital resources, from water to food to housing.

Humanity Must Choose A New Path To Avoid Rapid Ecological Breakdown

Rapid City, S.D.—Humanity stands at a crossroads and must come together to realize dramatically different and supportive relationships with one another, the Earth, and all life on the planet, if we are to surmount cascading ecological and social crises now underway. That was the message of Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples, who welcomed hundreds of attendees to the 12th World Wilderness Congress convening the last week of August in the Black Hills, or Hé Sapa in the Lakota language. Though these gatherings, dedicated to assessing and often resetting global conservation work, date back to the 1970s, this is the first such congress being convened by a tribal authority.

Climate Lawsuits Against Fossil Fuel Companies Have Nearly Tripled

Washington, DC – 86 climate lawsuits have been filed against the world’s largest oil, gas, and coal producing corporations – including BP, Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies – with two in five cases involving claims for compensation for climate change damages linked to fossil fuels. The number of cases filed against fossil fuel companies each year has nearly tripled since the Paris Agreement was reached in 2015, according to a new report, titled Big Oil in Court – The latest trends in climate litigation against fossil fuel companies by Oil Change International and Zero Carbon Analytics. The analysis reveals the intensifying legal pressure on fossil fuel corporations responsible for 69% of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, the main driver of the climate crisis.

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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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