Category: Environment

Record Oil Production as Earth Bakes

On February 2, multinational oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron both announced paying out record amounts to shareholders in 2023, indicating that both were extremely profitable. Even worse, both also announced that they had produced record amounts of gas in a single year! This news comes only shortly after numerous studies confirmed that 2023 was also […]

Climate Crisis In Panama Threatens To Choke The Global Poor

The Panama Canal, which has historically connected commerce from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is facing a potentially serious crisis. In normal times, roughly 5 percent of all seaborne trade of the entire world passes through the Panama Canal. The Canal is one of the most important choke points in global trade. However, a prolonged […]

The Climate Conferences of the Rich Will Not Save Us

On December 13, the 28th annual Conference of Parties (COP28) drew to a close marking the end of another negotiation for global action on climate catastrophe. The conference’s final agreement is filled with empty words, as it asks countries to transition “away from fossil fuels in energy systems.” The result is an agreement that makes […]

The COP28 Climate Conference is Part of the Problem

COP28 – the 28th annual meeting of the United Nations “Conference of the Parties” to discuss progress towards stopping the climate crisis, starts November 30. This year COP is being hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the 7th largest oil-producing country in the world – this is just the beginning of the farce that […]

Fossil Fuel Production Increases as Earth Burns

A new study by the Copernicus Climate Change Service calculates that 2023 will go down in history as the hottest year on record, and the hottest year in 125,000 years! Not only did the earth experience its hottest consecutive days ever this July, but this October has now been found to have been the warmest […]

Air Quality Nightmare in Delhi

Delhi, India, one of the largest cities in the world, was blanketed in the first week of November by some of its worst air quality ever. The city and its surroundings, a metro area home to nearly 28 million people, have become notorious in recent decades for their unhealthy air pollution, especially at least a […]

New Orleans: Global Heating is Poisoning the Mississippi River

The people of New Orleans and smaller communities along the Mississippi River are facing a ticking time bomb that could cost them their drinking water supply for months. Saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico is flowing up the Mississippi River, and if it does not stop, it will contaminate their water treatment plants in a […]

A World of Forced Migration Caused by the Capitalist System

Today, according to the United Nations, there are 110 million people in the world displaced from their homes. More than half of those people are internally displaced within their countries. The rest are refugees fleeing their home countries, or asylum seekers or people seeking other legal protections in other countries. This number only counts those […]

Cobalt Red Book Review: Bloodshed in the Congo’s Mines  

Author and expert on modern slavery, Siddharth Kara, exposes the treacherous living and working conditions of Congolese mining communities in Cobalt Red. He makes it clear that we cannot ignore the cruelty used to produce our everyday devices. Cobalt is essential to make rechargeable batteries for smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles Through heartbreaking testimonies and […]

California Sues Fossil Fuel Companies

The State of California has filed a lawsuit against several fossil fuel companies for their contribution to climate change, and for promoting climate disinformation. The lawsuit against Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute alleges that the defendants knew about the climate effects that fossil fuels would cause, and deliberately suppressed that information. […]

The March to End Fossil Fuels: Global Actions Confront the Climate Emergency

On Sunday, September 17, roughly 75,000 people flooded the streets of New York City for the largest demonstration for climate action in years. This was part of a global movement leading up to the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit. Over 500 actions were organized around the world as a global climate action week, with an […]

Broadside on the Climate Emergency (September 2023)

download as 11×17 .pdf Articles in this issue: We Are Facing an Environmental Catastrophe Don’t Blame Natural Disasters — Capitalism is Responsible! Climate Change — Today’s Reality Back to the Streets! The Climate Crisis: What Can We Do?

Don’t Blame Natural Disasters — Capitalism is Responsible!

The speed and severity of the disruption of the Earth’s ecosystems and the overall climate of the planet is due to human activity. This also means that we, as humans, have the ability to alter our decisions to prevent the destruction of our natural world — the only home we have. Scientists became aware of […]

We Are Facing an Environmental Catastrophe

A pink sun looming through the thick, burnt orange sky was a sight seen in nearly every corner of the U.S. over the past summer as wildfires spanned the majority of Canada, Alaska, the western U.S., and even Maui, HI. At the same time, unprecedented storms with historic rainfalls brought record-breaking flooding across North America. […]

The Climate Crisis: What Can We Do?

There are already millions around the world out in the streets demanding an end to the destruction of the environment. Faced with the environmental crisis that threatens their lives, millions of farmers, in India, Mexico, East Africa, and around the world have mobilized. And tens of millions of workers have demonstrated around the world against […]

Back to the Streets!

In 2019, millions of people flooded the streets in over 125 countries, united in our understanding that life and our natural world need to be saved from a human-enhanced catastrophe. One teenager in Sweden, Greta Thunberg, staged a school strike every Friday. Media coverage of her protest captured the imagination of people everywhere. Hundreds of […]

Climate Change — Today’s Reality

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, there are at least 20 million people who are forced from their homes because of severe climate changes each year. The people most impacted now live in the parts of the world that have been dominated, politically and economically, by the major capitalist powers. They are often the […]

Billion-Dollar Climate Disasters

We are only two-thirds through the calendar year, and 2023 has already broken the record for the number of billion-dollar weather disasters in the United States, with 23 such events to date. This year’s disasters whose costs exceeded $1 billion include a winter full of torrential rain and flooding in California, hundreds of tornadoes across […]

Leaflet: Climate Emergency (9/17)

What Will it Really Take to Stop Using Fossil Fuels People have already spent decades: Since the first Earth Day in the U.S. in 1970, the actions of millions of people have led to: But what’s the balance sheet? Over 50 years after the first Earth Day, millions of people continue to pour into the […]

Groundwater Depletion Threatens Food and Water Supply

A recent report by the New York Times analyzed the conditions of tens of thousands of aquifers that hold 90 percent of the groundwater used by towns, cities and states throughout the United States. It found that in the past decade, after 40 years of consistent decline, 40% of those aquifers were at all time […]

Heat Waves Make Work A Living Hell

It’s another year of record heat, as soaring temperatures have been sweeping across parts of the country, reaching over 120 degrees in many cities. But during these heat waves, workers have no real protection. Many workplaces don’t have air conditioning, and for those who work outside, there is no escape from the deadly heat. Also, […]

The Other Big Lie: Biden’s Climate Policy

Following his big 2020 campaign promises to protect the environment, Biden has done the opposite. And now, heading into the 2024 elections, he is once gain trying to appear as if his administration stands against climate destruction. Recently, Biden wanted to bump his ratings when he grabbed headlines for cancelling all leases approved by Trump […]

Climate Catastrophe: We are Approaching More Tipping Points

Deadly and destabilizing extreme heat, wildfires, floods, droughts, and storms are affecting more and more people each year, but climate scientists say there is still some hope to keep Earth habitable into the future. Immediate action to end fossil fuel use across the world and build a safe and sustainable planet is absolutely essential – […]

Montana Youth Demand “the Right to a Clean and Healthful Environment”

People living in Montana have the right to a “clean and healthful environment” according to Judge Kathy Seeley of the Montana District Court in Helena. This decision came after the judge spent a week listening to experts explain how fossil fuel-related pollution is the direct cause of the dangerous rise in temperatures around the world. […]

The Deadly Fire in Hawaii – A Profit-Driven Disaster

The death toll continues to rise from the fire that has ravaged the island of Maui in Hawaii. More than 90 deaths have been recorded so far, but the number is almost certain to rise. The fire is the worst so far in modern U.S. history, worse than the 2018 Camp fire in California which […]

Summer Heat: The Climate Crisis is Unfolding Before Our Eyes

This summer has seen record heatwaves across the U.S. and the rest of the world. For three consecutive days between July 4th and July 6th, the average global temperature was the hottest ever recorded in human history. Here in the U.S., many regions of the country are suffering the consequences of this record heat. In […]

Climate Change is Bringing Malaria to the U.S.

As the climate heats up, mosquitoes have more time to live and breed and expand their habitat, especially northward. So, we are beginning to see mosquito-carried diseases, such as malaria, in different parts of the world. Until recently, malaria has been most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and to a lesser extent in other equatorial and […]

Earth’s Hottest Day Ever – 3 Days in a Row!

Just a few days ago we published a short article describing the intense heatwaves gripping parts of the world. The information we shared was already terrifying, and a sign that capitalism has already pushed our planet far beyond some so-called tipping point. But between July 4 and July 6, it got even worse. For three […]

Heatwaves Spread Worldwide

This summer, many parts of our planet are suffering brutal heatwaves, bringing us face to face with the by-product of capitalist production for profit – climate disruption. In late May, Shanghai, China’s largest city, hit a high of 98 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius), the warmest recorded temperature in 100 years. This broke the previous […]

Flash Floods Will Be Worse Than Previously Predicted

Billions of dollars of federal infrastructure money could be wasted on projects that won’t be resilient enough in the face of the climate crisis. A report released by a climate nonprofit, First Street, details that the models engineers are using to predict future rainfall are outdated. First Street analyzed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration […]

Climate Crisis is Threatening Hot Sauce!

The hot sauce that everyone loves, Sriracha, is disappearing off the shelves and at restaurants, and is even being stolen from the few stores that still have some bottles left. What’s goin on? Temperatures have been soaring because of the climate crisis, with each new decade shattering the temperature records of the previous one. This […]

Several youth sue Montana government for ties to fossil fuel companies

This week a lawsuit against the state of Montana was filed by 16 young people against the state’s support of the fossil fuel industry. The young people are suing the state, claiming that the government must uphold their right to “maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment … for present and future generations,” which is […]

Insurance Companies Leave California, Citing Wildfires

Allstate and State Farm have announced that they are no longer selling new home insurance policies in California. This comes after an increase in destructive wildfires. The corporations had previously proposed increasing insurance premiums – even in areas of low wildfire risk – but were not allowed to do so by the state insurance commissioner, […]

As Smoke Covers East Coast Skies We Can’t Escape Climate Change

On Tuesday, June 6, the afternoon air in the New York City metro area was hazy with a slight smell of burning. On Wednesday, June 7, as the day wore on, that haze and smell became an ominous blanket that darkened the sky, then turned it a bright orange, and became noticeable in the eyes, […]

Ocean Heating Adds Urgency to Our Task

A new United Nations climate assessment report builds on previous reports to paint a picture of oceans continuing to heat up along with our global atmosphere. This is the latest in a series of reports that show a more rapid rate of increase in global ocean surface temperatures than previously expected. In the words of […]

Hottest Days Ever in Southeast Asia

Temperatures hit all-time recorded highs in early May in Vietnam and Laos. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, also reached a record high. Much of these three countries and the rest of Southeast Asia have also been blanketed with heavy smog. The combination of extreme heat and smog is deadly. Scientists say that this is the […]

The UC Berkeley Anthropology Library Occupation

For over two weeks now, University of California (UC) Berkeley students, faculty, and community members have occupied the George and Mary Foster Anthropology Library. The UC Berkeley administration has been trying for months to close three campus libraries: the Mathematics-Statistics Library, the Physics-Astronomy Library, and the Anthropology Library. Students in the Physics, Math, and especially […]

Biden Power Plant Proposal – Not Nearly Enough

Over the weekend news broke that the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration will, for the first time, attempt to directly limit the allowable emissions from the nation’s coal and gas fired power plants. To do so, they would be mandated by 2040 to either cut emissions outright or use carbon capture technology to keep “nearly all” carbon burn off from being released […]

Curtis Bay: A Community Fights against Deadly “Sacrifice Zone” in Baltimore

Across the Patapsco River from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor tourist district lie the former neighborhoods of Fairfield and Wagner’s Point. Throughout the 20th century, these tight-knit immigrant and Black communities were a target for the development of chemical and refining industries. Many decades of explosions, fires, and pollution from industries engulfing the area eventually led residents […]

Su sistema está destruyendo nuestro mundo

Desde 1970, el Día de la Tierra ha sido el día en que millones de personas en todo el mundo demuestran su preocupación por el medio ambiente. Hoy, en el Día de la Tierra, debemos pensar en la emergencia climática que amenaza toda la vida en todos los rincones del planeta. La emergencia climática es […]

Their System is Destroying Our World

Since 1970, Earth Day has been the day millions of people around the world demonstrate their concern for the environment. Today, on Earth Day, we must think of the climate emergency that threatens all life in every corner of the planet. The climate emergency is the direct result of the priorities of the global capitalist […]

50 Massive Tornadoes Destroy Communities in Two Days

Last week over 50 massive tornadoes swept across the southern and eastern parts of the U.S in two days, hitting some 10 states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Delaware and more. The tornadoes have left at least 32 people dead, hundreds injured, thousands made homeless and/or jobless, and hundreds of thousands remained without power for […]