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Here’s Barack Obama, speaking in 2012...
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“My administration has approved dozens of new oil and gas pipelines over the last three years. And as long as I’m President, we’re going to keep on encouraging oil development and infrastructure.

“Under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. Over the last three years, I’ve directed my administration to open up millions of acres for gas and oil exploration across 23 different states.

“We’re opening up more than 75 percent of our potential oil resources offshore. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating rigs to a record high. We’ve added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the Earth and then some.”
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➡️ obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/t…

As I said above, when it comes to our climate and environment, we can't blame either the Democrats or the Republicans. We have to blame both. We have to blame capitalism.

#Politics #History #Economics #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

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From the Washington Post…
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The Biden administration has now outpaced the Trump administration in approving permits for drilling on public lands, and the United States is producing more oil than any country ever has. The unplanned fossil fuel boom reflects an uncomfortable truth for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris: It is difficult for any president to stop the spigot of U.S. oil production, a leading driver of both the economy and climate change.

“If you were to show someone who came from Mars the line of U.S. oil and gas production over the last 15 years, they probably would not be able to tell whether a Republican or Democrat was in the White House,” said Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.
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➡️ archive.ph/VnlWF

#Politics #History #Economics #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

It’s obvious that a second Trump administration will be worse in almost every conceivable way from what a Harris administration might have been.

But let's not fool ourselves into believing that a Harris victory would have been *good* for our climate and environment. We've been going in the wrong direction for at least 20 years under Presidents from both parties — and there's no reason to think that Kamala Harris would have charted a different course.

SEE ➡️ archive.ph/VnlWF

When it comes to our climate and environment, we can't blame either the Democrats or the Republicans. We have to blame both. We have to blame capitalism.

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#Politics #History #Economics #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

For me, the new approach of Apple with a little increase is even better for their environmental goal, as changing devices each year is a horror for the environment yet. People upgrading every 4 to 6 years will have this massive leap in technology.

So, where many see it as a downside, I see it as a company that finally gives up on forced upgrades each year to remain fully up to date.

#environment #apple #climate #carbonneutrality

Despite Biden's Promise to Protect Old Forests, His Administration Keeps Approving Plans to Cut Them Down
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Old-growth forests are key to slowing #climate change and to protecting endangered species. In #Oregon, logging in Bureau of Land Management-controlled areas has continued at a steady pace despite Biden’s promise to protect these forests.

#News #Biden #Environment #Sustainability #Forest #EndangeredSpecies #ClimateChange #Carbon #Trees

propub.li/3Z1BqDy

A Biden Effort to Protect Old Forests Hasn’t Curbed BLM Logging

In Oregon’s Coast Range, mature forests can absorb more carbon per acre than almost any other on the planet. Yet logging here continues at a steady pace, putting the environment at risk.

^ProPublica

The United Nations — founded by and controlled by the world’s most powerful capitalist countries — will NOT save us from climate and environmental collapse.

All we’ll ever get from them and our so-called leaders is a lot more “blah, blah, blah.” Words, not actions.

What our biosphere will get is more chemicals poisoning the land and sea, more plastic waste, more cars, more roads, more forests chopped down, and more droughts...
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The Amazon Basin is responsible for around 15% of all fresh water discharged into the oceans and 13% of the planet’s biodiversity. But the rivers in the world’s largest tropical rainforest are drying up. Their waters have dropped to record lows this year.

This is all happening, scientists warn, at a point when the biome has lost 18% of its forest cover, reducing its capacity to absorb and store carbon. The Amazon is now approaching the point of no return, while global temperatures are set to break the annual heat record for the second consecutive year.
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FULL STORY -- sumauma.com/en/infografico-o-t…

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

Not that any of us really want to read MORE bad news this week. But — this is the world we live in.

Turning away from it and closing our eyes does not change things. I believe it's important to know just where we stand and what we face so we can make the best choices in how we should live.

Also, note that this essay was published before this week's disastrous US election, which means that you can expect conditions warned about here to get even worse, sooner rather than later.
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In recent years, environmental warnings have become impossible to ignore. Humanity has pushed Earth far beyond its natural limits, launching it into a cascade of intertwined disasters that scientists now call the “polycrisis.” No longer a distant threat, this crisis is unfolding before us, destabilizing the foundations of ecosystems, economies, and communities worldwide.

While some hold out hope for a turnaround, the brutal truth is that we are too far gone. The trajectory is set, the damage done, and there is no miracle solution on the horizon. Our only option is to live through this polycrisis as best we can, facing an uncertain and increasingly harsh reality.

As temperatures climb, ecosystems crumble, and resource conflicts rise, it’s clear that our world will never be the same. For those of us with young families, our hopes are tempered by a haunting reality: the future we once dreamed of has shifted beyond reach. What remains is an obligation to understand the forces shaping this collapse, accept the inevitability of hardship, and try to adapt as the familiar falls away.
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The essay includes sections on climate change, biodiversity loss, economic and social erosion, and finally, "living through the polycrisis." I hope you'll find it helpful.

FULL ARTICLE -- archive.ph/MwljK
ALTERNATE LINK -- medium.com/edge-of-collapse/no…

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

Study showing how Australian Aboriginal people shaped the distribution of useful plants across their lands, dispersing them in more preferable areas, etc:

"The findings call into question our whole notions of what agriculture is," said Douglas Bird, study co-author and professor of anthropology at Penn State. "Rather than thinking about the difference between agricultural societies and hunter-gatherer societies as a matter of kind, we'd be better off thinking about it as a matter of degree—that people influence plants long before they engage in what we think of as farming."" - phys.org/news/2024-10-landscap…

Peoples who are used to living with the environment (instead of "against" it) understand that often the best interventions are the ones that are extremely subtle. In this case, the interventions were so subtle that they didn't fit into traditional western understandings of cultivation and agriculture.

So it's good to see this kind of subtle cultivation getting more recognized by science. There are many ways to live with the environment and to place the resources you need into places that are convenient for you and your people. The more that westerners can learn that, the more possibilities open up for how to live with the land.

#indigenous #australia #cultivation #agriculture #science #gardening #gardeningau #plants #nature #environment #ecology #anthropology

Landscape effects of hunter-gatherer practices reshape idea of agriculture

Some of the wild plants that grow across the Australian landscape may not be so wild, according to new research led by Penn State scientists.

^{Francisco Tutella (Phys.org)}

Blame Capitalism: for putting at risk not just your retirement savings but the entire fate of humanity.

theguardian.com/business/2024/…

#capitalism #neoliberalism #classwar #vulnerable #economics #bosses #workers #humanrights #environment #war #BlameCapitalism #livingwage #tax #taxburden #neoliberalism #trickledown #censorship #fossilfuels #mining #retirement

Private equity firms ploughing billions into fossil fuels, analysis reveals

US public sector workers’ retirement savings invested in projects that pump out a billion tonnes of emissions a year

^{Damien Gayle (The Guardian)}

The #Plastics Industry’s Wish List for a Second #Trump Administration
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Critics call it the plastics industry’s #Project2025. Tucked into a federal #recycling bill is a litany of regulatory rollbacks and other industry-friendly provisions that federal agencies under Donald Trump could adopt without congressional approval.

propub.li/3Uk7uA3

#News #Plastic #Environment #Sustainability #Government #USPolitics #Oil #Gas #Pollution #Climate #EPA

The Plastics Industry’s Wish List for a Second Trump Administration

Critics call it the plastics industry’s Project 2025. Tucked into a federal recycling bill is a litany of regulatory rollbacks and other industry-friendly provisions that federal agencies under Donald Trump could adopt without congressional approval.

^ProPublica

#FarRight Extremists Embrace #Environmentalism to Justify Violent Anti-Immigrant Beliefs
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Rather than reject #climate science like many on the right, some have followed the path laid out by environmentalist and white nationalist John Tanton, using concerns about population growth and scarce resources to rationalize their hateful agendas.

#News #Extremism #Science #WhiteNationalism #Environment

propub.li/3NvQgf6

Far-Right Extremists Embrace Environmentalism to Justify Violent Anti-Immigrant Beliefs

Rather than reject climate science like many on the right, some have followed the path laid out by environmentalist and white nationalist John Tanton, using concerns about population growth and scarce resources to rationalize their hateful agendas.

^ProPublica

“Our leaders’ determination to refuse to prepare for (or even acknowledge) the ongoing climate catastrophe is proof of the yawning gap between our ruling class and the average Texan.”

Last week: In the face of our leaders’ blatant disregard, short-lived outrage is not enough. It’s time for everyday Texans to take back their power. texasobserver.org/a-crisis-of-…

#environment #news #politics #USpol #Texas #ClimateChange #sustainability #energy #OilAndGas #GulfCoast #Houston

In Texas, a Crisis of Inaction Without Consequence

^{Colin Bogle (The Texas Observer)}

New today: Those in charge don’t even bother to hide how little they care anymore. Hurricane Beryl was the sort of freak occurrence that is sadly now a common facet of life in the era of anthropogenic climate change, as was the shameless breakdown of leadership we saw. texasobserver.org/a-crisis-of-…

#politics #USpol #news #environment #weather #ClimateChange #Republicans #Texas #GregAbbott

In Texas, a Crisis of Inaction Without Consequence

In the face of our leaders’ blatant disregard, short-lived outrage is not enough. It’s time for everyday Texans to take back their power.

^{Colin Bogle (The Texas Observer)}

What oil companies say: "We can use carbon capture and storage technology to help save the climate! All we need is billions of dollars more in government subsidies every year."

But in fact the whole thing is a scam, because "almost 80% of all the CO₂ captured by existing CCS installations has been reinjected into oil fields – to pump more oil." 🤦‍♂️

LEARN MORE ➡️ theconversation.com/fix-the-cl…

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual