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Pesticide Industry ‘Hijacked’ Climate Stage At COP30

Syngenta and other pesticide companies used the COP30 climate conference in Brazil to promote programmes to recover damaged pastureland that campaigners fear will drive increased use of toxic chemicals. Trade groups hosted multiple events to promote a technique known as ‘degraded pasture recovery’, in which land that has been damaged by overgrazing or other forms of poor management is converted to grow soy, sugarcane, corn, or other crops.  Brazil says the approach will help reduce pressure on forests by opening up fresh tracts of arable land. The country has set a target to convert 40 million hectares of damaged pasture into production zones for food crops and biofuels over the next decade — an area almost twice the size of the UK.

More Than 300 Lobbyists For Industrial Agriculture Attend COP30

More than 300 lobbyists for food and farming organisations have participated at this year’s UN climate talks, known as COP30, taking place in the Brazilian Amazon, where agribusiness is the leading cause of deforestation, a new investigation has found. The number of lobbyists representing the interests of industrial cattle farming, commodity grains and pesticides is up 14 percent over last year’s summit in Baku — and is larger than the delegation of the world’s 10th largest economy, Canada, which brought 220 delegates to COP30 in Belém, according to the joint investigation between DeSmog and the Guardian. 

Major American LNG Exporters Habitually Break Air Pollution Laws

During the past five years, all seven of the fully operational LNG export terminals in the U.S. violated the Clean Air Act, America’s cornerstone law on air pollution, a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) finds. The report comes as the Trump administration has moved to accelerate the approval of new export terminals to sell more U.S. LNG around the world, particularly to Asia and Europe. Several major terminals rarely, if ever, managed to spend a full quarter in compliance with environmental laws over the past three years, the report found.

Proof Plastics Industry Knew Recycling Was False Solution In 1974

With international treaty negotiations aimed at addressing the plastic pollution crisis resuming in Switzerland this week, a new document reveals that one of the world’s largest plastic producers, DuPont, acknowledged as early as 1974 that recycling its plastic products was not possible.  This new discovery also comes against the backdrop of two pending lawsuits alleging that U.S. plastic producers have deceived the public about the feasibility of recycling since the 1980s. For decades, the plastics industry has publicly advocated recycling as a strategy for managing plastic waste. But the document, a letter written in May 1974 by Charles Brelsford McCoy, a president and board chairman of DuPont, represents the earliest evidence to date of a top-level industry insider admitting that many commonly used plastic products cannot be recycled due to their complex chemical structures.

Artificial Intelligence Furthers Environmental Racism In Black America

When one of my best friends (who is also a pastor) encouraged me to look into utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for ministry purposes, I was exhilarated. It seemed like a game-changer at my fingertips. I used it to make presentations and outline Bible studies, saving time on the tasks that often fill my days. The opportunities seemed endless, and the convenience was remarkable. Regular projects and tasks that I had poured effort into before could now be completed in mere seconds. Not only did I start utilizing it, but I started singing its praises as well to all who would listen.

US Gas Exporters Are Sweating Over Meeting Europe’s Pollution Standards

As Europe races toward a U.S. trade deal, lobbyists for America’s biggest natural gas exporters are pushing to carve a major loophole in the EU’s methane rules, using ongoing trade and tariff disputes in a campaign to weaken Europe’s climate standards. “It’s very clear that the industry and the State Department are putting a lot of pressure on the EU to just give us a pass on this methane rule and commit to our dirty LNG,” said Lorne Stockman, research co-director for Oil Change International and co-author of a new report detailing climate impacts from five U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. “And we certainly hope the EU does not buckle to that pressure. But it’s extremely concerning because there’s a lot at stake.”

This Small Texas Town Is Fighting Back Against Big Ammonia

Chris Carlton built his house in Ingleside, Texas in 2008, back when it was a sleepy fishing town. “We were this little pocket of paradise. This area was known for fishing long before it was known for petroleum.” Since then, more than a dozen oil and chemical facilities have sprung up along the coastline, drawn to the local area by access to Transatlantic shipping routes, the cheap supply of fossil fuels and lenient local regulators. Now, a new industry is rolling in – one with its sights firmly set on winning over the local community. In 2023, Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara teamed up with Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge, announcing plans to build the first ammonia plant in Ingleside.

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Would Subsidize The Billionaire Private Jet Class

The private jet lobby is pushing hard for a massive tax break for billionaires and centi-millionaires that use the most polluting form of transportation on the planet. Legislation rapidly moving through Congress, the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” — really a Big Ugly Grift (BUG) — includes a massive tax subsidy for private jet buyers. Instead of corporations deducting the purchase of their jets over several years of their useful life, the BUG includes 100 percent “bonus depreciation” in the year of purchase. For example, a corporation purchasing a $50 million private jet could potentially deduct the entire $50 million from their taxes in the year of the purchase, rather than spreading the deduction over many years. This amounts to a massive taxpayer subsidy, as ordinary taxpayers pick up the tab for the private jet industry and billionaire high flyers.

Feeling Abandoned, Community Contaminated By Toxic Train Decides ‘We Only Have Ourselves’

What happens to people in the months and years after a corporation worth billions creates an environmental catastrophe that disfigures their community? Myriad answers emerged a few weeks ago in a hotel conference room in Columbiana, Ohio, where eight people from the East Palestine, Ohio, area met with a Pittsburgh psychiatrist experienced in treating people who’ve endured traumatic events. One of the first to speak up was Lonnie Miller. She’s been open about discussing her family’s struggles since a Norfolk Southern train tumbled off a set of railroad tracks 1,200 feet from her home on Feb. 3, 2023.

Federal Leaders Are Failing On PFAs

The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back critical protections that ensure safe drinking water. These regulations help ensure that our water is free of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” an especially hazardous form of industrial chemicals that linger in the environment indefinitely. PFAS are damaging to human health at even the lowest doses. Exposure to PFAS can contribute to serious illnesses including kidney cancer, liver disease, thyroid disorders, or autoimmune disorders. There are no current treatments to remove PFAS from the body. Despite the evidence of these dire health risks, the administration is shirking their responsibility to protect people across the country from PFAS exposure.

Green Goals, Dirty Fuel: Europe’s Fertiliser Industry Bets On Shale

The coastal city of Freeport, Texas is a dense tangle of metal pipes, tanks and towers. Located 60 miles south of Houston, it’s home to a sprawling petrochemical complex – one of the largest and most polluting in the United States.    Among its facilities is a plant dedicated to the production of ammonia, a colourless compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, and a key ingredient in fertilisers widely used on industrial arable farms – including on fields of barley, wheat and maize across Europe. Chemicals giants Yara and BASF opened the “world-scale” factory to great fanfare in 2018, promising “cost-efficient” and “sustainable” ammonia production.

Health Groups Shun Advertisers Working For Fossil Fuel Companies

More than 30 medical organisations representing 12 million health professionals worldwide have pledged to boycott advertising and public relations agencies that work with the fossil fuel industry, citing the impacts of the climate crisis on human health. “Health organisations have great power that they can bring to bear in their hiring of advertising, marketing, and design companies by choosing to work only with agencies that do not take money from fossil fuel companies,” said Jeni Miller, global executive director of the Climate and Health Alliance, a consortium of more than 200 organisations that developed the initiative.

Where Spirits Weep Beneath The Snow: The Cry Against Arizona Snowbowl

On the western slope of Arizona’s highest landmark, Humphreys Peak, and approximately 4.8 miles from its 12,633-foot-tall summit, rests the skeleton of a 777-acre-wide ski resort. The Arizona Snowbowl, a piece of engineering made up of eight lifts that serve 61 runs, is beloved by some but resented by others. It’s been torn between these two sides since 1938, the year it first started serving skiers from Arizona and beyond on its groomed runs, tree-lined back bowls and terrain parks. Flagstaff meteorologist Mark Stubblefield has been riding the Snowbowl’s slopes almost every winter since 1987.

In Uncertain Times, The Port Of Oakland Goes Electric

The Port of Oakland’s surrounding Black communities have fought for decades for their right to cleaner air. Now that dream is within reach. In October 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the port a $322 million grant to transition its cargo handling operations to zero emissions. Matched by the port and local partners, the total investment will be close to half a billion dollars, all flowing into green, sustainable energy. This effort will reduce the more than 69,000 tons of yearly greenhouse gas — the equivalent of burning more than 160 Statues of Liberty’s weight in coal — emitted by drayage trucks, cranes, forklifts, and tractors.

Student Activists Pass Municipal Resolution To Make Polluters Pay

Northampton, MA. – Sunrise Movement activists at Smith College and local advocates passed a Climate Superfund Resolution in Northampton last Thursday. On Earth Day dozens rally in Amherst, calling on the Amherst Town Council and other municipalities in the Connecticut River Valley to join the call to make polluters pay. Thursday’s resolution in support of H.1014/S.588, “An Act to Establish a Climate Change Superfund”, was the first to pass in Western Massachusetts, following previous resolutions in Boston, Cambridge, Medford, and Malden. “I’ve watched my generation strike, resist, campaign, lose hope, and get back up again,” said Emma Coopersmith.
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