Tag Archives: climate news

Hot Off the Wire — 4/03/2020

It’s for your own good.
You have to stop touching your face.

Opinion

Letters to the Editor | Bill Moyers editor
The Sleep of Reason — March 8, 2017

In our inaugural “letters to the editor,” Bill hears from a historian about the greatest horror to emerge from Trump’s actions thus far.

A Historian Speaks to the Current Moment — March 14, 2020
The wolves at the door

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 19: Leave washable cutlery and tableware at work for greener lunches
Take part: April 5–11, 2020

Regional Actions

#FridaysForFuture
in Port Angeles is suspending gatherings until further notice.
We will be ramping-up our #DigitalStrike efforts.

Greta Thunberg urges ‘#DigitalStrikeOnline ‘
rather than big crowds amid coronavirus outbreak

Tell the Trump administration it must put people over polluters

It is time to weigh in on the proposed Chehalis River Dam!
Please register today for the online public hearings April 2 and April 21

National Actions

Trump and Wheeler are exploiting this pandemic to make toxic pollution legal. Tell them this is unacceptable. — Sierra Club

Build your skills of virtual legislative lobbying
Join a webinar on Tuesday, March 31 at 5 pm PT

Local/Regional News

**Series:**
**Coronavirus and Cascadia**

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

Key readings about climate change and coronavirus

Writers and reporters offer insights on the comparisons between two urgent global problems — Yale Climate Connections

Coronavirus Halts Street Protests, but Climate Activists Have a Plan
— New York Times

Social Community Series Webinars — Strike With Us

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

Interview with magazine editor and filmmaker Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
— Burning Worlds | New York Times

Climate Voters Still Want More From Biden — New York Times

Judge Orders Environmental Review Of Controversial Dakota Access Pipeline — National Public Radio

Will you join me right now and urge Congress to oppose a bailout to the cruise industry? — Stand.earth

Climate in Politics

Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Find Opposition Within:
Staff Scientists

Federal scientists and lawyers, told to undo regulations that some have worked on for decades, have embedded data into technical documents that environmental lawyers are using to challenge the rollbacks.

Inspiration

*Nan Bray is an oceanographer and climate scientist*
*who has farmed superfine merinos near Oatlands since 2000*

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.
I’ll post them in coming Yarns.
Cheers, Nan

Category:
Burning Worlds

Hot Off the Wire — 3/21/2020

Flu Virus Resources

Opinion

Naomi Kiein — Senior Correspondent | The Intercept

“Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.” — Milton Friedman

Unpersuasive: | Knowable Magazine
Why arguing about climate change often doesn’t work

Subaru: Stop Helping the Trump Administration
Make Cars Less Efficient

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 17: Spring cleaning time! Donate old items instead of throwing them out

Take part: March 22–28, 2020

Engineers Found a Way to Generate Electricity From Thin Air

Elon Musk’s Battery Farm Is an Undeniable Success

It’s the bet that saved Australia tens of millions of dollars.

Regional Actions

**We are standing for mother Earth and humanity, especially for the youth inheriting this future.**

#FridaysForFuture in Port Angeles is suspending gatherings until further notice. We will be ramping-up our #DigitalStrike effort in coming days.

Greta Thunberg urges ‘#DigitalStrikeOnline ‘
rather than big crowds amid coronavirus outbreak

WHAT’S A CLIMATE ASSEMBLY?

Let’s have one
in Washington State!

Announcing the first-ever 350.org
Regional Conversation Series!
Monthly discussions around key organizing topics

From the League of Women Voters

FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE & ITS EFFECTS

2020 Legislative Session Wrap Up

Post-2020 Legislative Session
Call to Action

Bring Down the Dams to Save Salmon, Orcas
— Center for Biological Diversity

National Actions

Sign up now to join the
Climate Mobilization’s
Phone Team

Tell Trump: No bailouts for shale oil producers — Climate Hawks Vote

Tell Trump and the federal government: no bailouts for Big Oil and the fossil fuel industry — Stand.earth

Tell the Senate to invest in people, not polluters — 198 Methods

Tell Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to ban climate disinformation and fossil fuel greenwashing on the platform — Greenpeace

Will you join the Twitter storm and let your opposition to this tree-to-toilet pipeline be known? — Stand.earth

UCS is monitoring the COVID-19 situation daily and may modify our supporter communications as we do our best to balance progress on our shared priorities with the ongoing public health crisis. We encourage all our supporters to practice social distancing to the extent possible and have implemented several practices at UCS. Stay well.

Local/Regional News

Quileute Tribe Climate Action Planning – a wealth of references & resources

Rocky Mountain animals will move as the climate changes
These corridors could give them a safer path — The Washington Post

Sustainable Farms and Fields bill (SB 5947) passed the Washington State legislature!

“While we can’t hug, fist bump or
march together, now IS a good time
to dig in and learn more about the incredible people, achievements,
and challenges our movement is founded upon. .”

Weekly Announcements

Our state Senate failed. “. . . with inaction on another global crisis.”

Dammed to Extinction
is now available for streaming
on-line, for $4.99

National/International News

COVID-19 resource .Doc for US local groups — from 350.org
These resources were collected with the goal of best supporting the resilient network of 350 US groups during the emergence of COVID-19. This is a living doc intended for local groups to share within their organization and communities.

Stand.earth’s statement on COVID-19: Community care and climate action

The demise of the polar vortex
could spell weather surprises this spring

— The Washington Post

New Report Reveals Global Banks
Funneled $2.7 Trillion into Fossil Fuels
Since Paris Climate Agreement,
with Financing on the Rise Each Year

Our Sierra Forum: Defunding Climate Destruction will be postponed — Sierra Club

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Soil Solution
Policymakers, entrepreneurs and farmers are increasingly looking to soils in their fight to slow climate change
Out of Antarctica, churnings of climate change
The interplay of carbon dioxide, winds and Southern Ocean waters could be reaching an environmental tipping point
Why green energy finally makes economic sense
Solar and wind generators have suddenly become just as cheap as other ways to produce electric power
What makes food ‘local’?
An anthropologist looks at the myriad ways we link food to place — and whether it really could make a difference — Knowable Magazine

Inspiration

Untitled Poem

–Lynn Ungar 3/11/20

An Imagined Letter
from Covid-19 to Humans

Category:
Burning Worlds

Hot Off the Wire — Special Edition

Let’s Stand with the Wet’suwet’en for the Salish Sea

On March 15 from 12-2 there will be a rally in Port Angeles at the Coho ferry terminal in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en fight. The rally is an opportunity for indigenous and non-indigenous folks on the Peninsula to share songs, prayer, and drumming and show the Wet’suwet’en that we stand with them. We will also have fliers to give ferry riders so they know why we are there.
The contact for this action is Tyler Munk. (360)780-0573. Call or text, or email at starfish30@protonmail.com.

COVID-19 Information

Clallam County Department of
Health and Human Services

UW School of Public Health releases Q & A Video

EDGE’s disaster response expert, Nicole Errett, weighs in with advice about what to do and not to do in the face of the current novel coronavirus outbreak

Visualizing the History of Pandemics

Let’s just put COVID-19 under the microscope, so to speak
And what stocks are weathering the storm?
The Pandemic Economy — Visual Capitalist

The Dos and Don’ts of ‘Social Distancing’

Experts weigh in on whether you should cancel your dates,
dinner parties, and gym sessions — The Atlantic

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 12: Go meatless one day this week

Take part: Feb. 16–22, 2020

Regional Actions

Join us on #FridaysForFuture
Noon to 1:00 at the Port Angeles downtown fountain

Let’s put We The People back in democracy
Citizen Climate Assembly Washington
Although the legislative session is closing down today, a summit is something our Governor can and should organize (to at least be ready to go once the virus recedes), and Michael is sitting in the Governor’s office all day today to bring this message home.
Please add your own voice!

Local/Regional News

Weekly Announcements

Inspiration

Category:
Burning Worlds

Hot Off the Wire — 3/6/2020

What can I do about the spread of CoronaVirus?

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 15: Count the number of single-use plastic items you use this week

Take part: March 8–14, 2020

Regional Actions

Join us on #FridaysForFuture
Noon to 1:00 at the Port Angeles downtown fountain

FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE & ITS EFFECTS

Climate Change: *NEW UPDATES* Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enact measures to promote climate resiliency.

Energy: *NEW UPDATES* Advocate for clean and renewable sources.

Forests & Rivers: *NEW UPDATES* Protect our forests from wildfires and preserve as important carbon sinks. Protect our free-flowing rivers from dams, disturbance, and depletion.

Send the petition to your STATE elected officials:
Do even more to curb climate change — we do not have time to wait
— Climate Hawks Vote

Enough is enough. Send a letter to your state legislature demanding that they divest from fossil fuels — Stand.earth

National Actions

Climate Congress Campaign
National Launch Webinar March 10 — 350.org
The vision of 350.org’s new Climate Congress campaign is to help elect climate champions and push elected officials to take bolder climate action

Stop the Money Pipeline Coalition
How to Host an Action to #StoptheMoneyPipeline Webinar
Sunday, March 8 at 5:00 pm PT — 350.org
Stop the Money Pipeline April 23 organizing Toolkit

Leaders of the finance sector **remain under scrutiny**

Sierra Forum: Defund Climate Destruction

Date: Wednesday, March 18 | Time: 2:00 pm PT

Will you help us shine a light on the revolving door between climate criminals and Trump’s cabinet?

MISS YOUR TRAIN IN STYLE?

Demand that Lyft and Uber do better for our communities and the climate!

Lyft and Uber have both run car-promoting, anti-public transit ad campaigns.

Local/Regional News

On a scale of 0-14,
how familiar are you with the ocean acidification pHacts?!

Weekly Announcements

Help the 350.org Washington — Civic Action Team

National/International News

Arctic drilling operators can’t accurately pinpoint polar bear dens —
which means they can’t avoid destroying them — The Washington Post

Donate today to protect the Arctic Refuge from oil and gas development
— Alaska Wilderness League

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

A global ‘pollution pandemic’
Air pollution is killing more people than war, malaria or cigarettes

Inspiration

Galileo Fixes Everything is the third installment of a series on climate change that I’m writing for our local monthly newsletter

The image above is today’s satellite-derived sea surface temperature for the Indian Ocean, courtesy of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Category:
Burning Worlds

Hot Off the Wire — 2/28/2020

NEW — Raven Debriefs
RAVEN DeBriefs are conversations between Indigenous thinkers, legal experts, organizers and community leaders exploring the shifting legal landscape upon which moments of crisis — and opportunity — are built
Episode One : The Power of Music to ‘up the Auntie’ in us all

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 14: Ask a friend to join you in reducing your impact and acting on climate change
Take part: March 1–7, 2020

How to Raise Climate-Resilient Kids
— Yes Magazine

In the face of climate change, children need positive stress as well as compassion to maintain mental health and inform their responses

Electrification of heavy transport is critical to the energy transition
— Rocky Mountain Institute

Regional Actions

Join us on #FridaysForFuture
Noon to 1:00 at the Port Angeles downtown fountain

THE CHEHALIS AT A CROSSROADS: PLANS FOR A FLOOD CONTROL DAM THREATEN THE HEADWATERS

If a dam is built, the populations of spring and fall Chinook that spawn above the dam site may go extinct

Twin Harbors Waterkeeper

Chehalis dam would not address all major storms,
nor regular, shallow flooding
State Environmental Review Process

**CHEHALIS: A WATERSHED MOMENT** OFFICIAL PREVIEW

League of Women Voters

FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE & ITS EFFECTS

Climate Change: *NEW UPDATES* Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enact measures to promote climate resiliency.

Energy: *NEW UPDATES* Advocate for clean and renewable sources.

NATURAL RESOURCES: Protect and restore:
Forests & Rivers: *NEW UPDATES* Protect our forests from wildfires and preserve as important carbon sinks. Protect our free-flowing rivers from dams, disturbance, and depletion.

Water: *NEW UPDATES* and *ACTION ALERT* Protect the quality and quantity of our water supply.

Call for a Citizens’ Assembly on Climate
Will you encourage the Governor to announce an Assembly?

**Climate wins still possible in WA Legislature**

Please urge your legislators to pass the Climate Pollution Limits bill now!
— Climate Alliance

Urge your Washington state legislators to support these important bills now!
— NRDC Action Fund

It is time to address plastic pollution in Washington.
Urge Your Legislator to Pass The Reusable Bag Act — Puget SoundKeeper

National Actions

OCA has Endorsed the
National Fracking Ban Act

Comment on the gutting of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
— Sierra Club

Fight for Climate Congress 2020
Sign up now to join the webinar on March 10,
with a special message from Bill McKibben on how you can get involved in the fight for Climate Congress 2020!

Local/Regional News

SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALES & COLUMBIA/SNAKE RIVER CHINOOK: A REVIEW OF THE AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE
FEBRUARY 2020

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown endorses removal of four Snake River dams — The Oregonian

– Share your opinion with the Oregon Gov.
– Gov. Brown’s facebook page

Office of the Governor – 900 Court Street NAE, Suite 254 – Salem, OR 97301-4047 – Phone: 503-378-4582

TEDxBigSky
Dammed to Extinction
Michael Peterson & Steven Hawley

17 utilities, environmental groups ask NW governors to address lower Snake River issues — The Energy Activist

In observance of Billy Frank Jr. Day
Willie Frank III, Billy’s son, will speak on
– Saturday, March 7, 2020, at
– Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (QUUF),
– 2333 San Juan Avenue, Port Townsend at 7:00 pm.
Billy Frank Jr. Day, which was established by Washington State, November, 2015, when President Obama awarded Frank a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. The following month, the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge was renamed in Frank’s honor.
This event is free and open to the public

Jordan Cove LNG pipeline in Oregon was just dealt a major setback and is now delayed indefinitely

The $20 Billion Fronter mine shelved
amid escalating rail blockades
— National Post

Notice of Withdrawal of the
Frontier Oil Sands Project Application

Who’s banking the Coastal GasLink pipeline? — Rainforest Action Network

Weekly Announcements

Help the 350.org Washington — Civic Action Team

National/International News

JP Morgan economists warn
Climate Crisis is threat to human race

Leaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says Earth is on unsustainable trajectory
— The Guardian and also BBC News . . .

Please help pressure the remaining major U.S. banks to follow their lead.
— Alaska Wilderness League

How the Climate Crisis Is Making the Spread of Infectious Diseases Like Coronavirus More Common — DemocracyNow! interview

The Coronavirus and Carbon Emissions

Climate in Politics

The American Heartland Institute
is supporting climate change deniers in Germany with the goal of undermining climate protection measures
–Correctiv.org

How JPMorgan Chase
Became the Doomsday Bank
The financial giant is the fossil-fuel industry’s biggest lender. Protesters hope a national campaign of civil disobedience will force it to change course
By Bill McKibben

Want to hear more about how climate change is factoring into the election? Climate 2020 is the podcast for you.

Inspiration

Category:
Burning Worlds

Mapped: Visualizing
the True Size of Africa

Hot Off the Wire — 2/23/2020

Opinion

Our Common Enemy is Climate Change
— Bill Moyers

LETTER: Past Republican officials on current affairs — Peninsula Daily News

Money Is the Oxygen on Which the Fire of Global Warming Burns
What if the banking, asset-management, and insurance industries moved away from fossil fuels?

By Bill McKibben September 17, 2019

Solutions

Am I Registered?

Check Your Voter Registration Status

Australia: Climate Emergency Summit

The summit brought together over 2,000 intellectuals, private sector leaders, government officials, and organizers to explore how to facilitate an emergency-speed climate transition in Australia and across the globe.
By the numbers:

Total number of US declarations of Climate Emergency: 87, within 23 states.
Current active Climate Emergency campaigns in the US: 113.
Percent of Americans who believe that climate change is the most important issue facing society: 56%.
Percent of Americans experiencing “eco-anxiety”: 68%.
Number of young conservative American voters who say that climate change is an important issue: 77%.

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 13: Switch to electronic bill notifications and payment

Take part: Feb. 23–29, 2020

Solar Jobs Are Rising in 31 States. Here’s a Look at Utah

How much do you know about Natural Climate Solutions?
Take our quiz to find out!

Making the internet more energy efficient
— Chalmers University of Technology

Simulations Identify Missing Link to Determine Carbon in Deep Earth Reservoirs
— University of Chicago

Regional Actions

Now this is demonstrating in style

With better weather comes a lower carbon footprint. No snow tires for bicycles.

Join us on #FridaysForFuture
Noon to 1:00 at the Port Angeles downtown fountain

Next Sunday February 23rd at NOON we will meet in Port Townsend at the triangle near Chase Bank to support the Wet’suwet’en Nation

From the League of Women Voters

FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE & ITS EFFECTS

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pull-wellhead-to-tidewater.jpg — **This is a free webinar series**

National Actions

Urge your legislators to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act TODAY — Greenpeace

Will you take 2 minutes to voice your support for SB 5947 by calling Rep. Chapman (360-786-7916) today?
The Sustainable Farms and Fields grant program is an effective way to address climate change – Carbon Washington

Tell JPMorgan Chase: It’s time to clean up your act, starting from the very top — Sierra Club

Will you chip in today so we can raise enough to get this ad in front of politicians before it’s too late?
— Stand.earth

Local/Regional News

Carbon Footprint of Canada’s Oil Sands Is Larger Than Thought
— Inside Climate News

JPMorgan Chase’s PNW HQ in Seattle
is totally shut down by 100s of activists

Weekly Announcements

Help the 350.org Washington — Civic Action Team

National/International News

A risky expedition to study the ‘doomsday glacier’

15 Years after the Kyoto Protocol Went into Force, the Climate Crisis is Worse Than Ever — Newsweek

Methane is a hard-hitting greenhouse gas. Now scientists say we’ve dramatically underestimated how much we’re emitting — The Washington Post

NASA flights detect millions of Arctic methane hotspots
— Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A group of 16 US Senators just wrote to 11 major banks asking them to ban funding for oil and gas drilling or exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — Sierra Club

What JPMorgan Chase might do on fossils in 2020 — Rainforest Action Network

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Republican Climate Agenda
Solve global warming
without sacrificing coal, gas or oil

Climate in Politics

Climate Change Rises as a Public Priority
But It’s More partisan Than Ever — NY Times

Trump aims for New York in latest Salvo against clean energy
— Crain’s New York Business

Inspiration

A 9-Minute Lesson in Environmental Literacy

Seven Tidbits To Put Things in Perspective — Medium

Category:
Burning Worlds

Hot Off the Wire — 02/15/2020

Derek Kilmer in Port Angeles meetings
Twice TODAY!

Saturday at
10 am at Clallam Democrat Headquarters, 124 Front St, and at
1 pm at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center, 401 E 1st St

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 12: Go meatless one day this week
Take part: Feb. 16–22, 2020

Regional Actions

Join us on #FridaysForFuture
Noon to 1:00 at the Port Angeles downtown fountain

**Clean fuels vs. the dirty fuels monopoly** — Climate Solutions

Stakeholders Unite to Support Sustainable Farms and Fields bill (SB 5947)

From the League of Women Voters

FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE & ITS EFFECTS

Please email your legislators today to show support for the Healthy Habitats, Healthy Orcas bill (HB 2550) — Washington Environmental Council

Help the 350.org WA — Civic Action Team

Email your state legislators today: Support the Transportation For All bill!
— Washington Environmental Council

National Actions

**Report on Human Rights abuses by Fossil Fuel companies** — 350.org

Please urge Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to help fight climate change by cosponsoring the Clean Economy Act
— NRDC Action Fund

The world needs fossil-free climate talks.

It’s time to Ban Fossils from Climate Talks

DAY 1: Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22
DAY 2: Stop The Money Pipeline Day of Action; Thursday, April 23
DAY 3: Day of Political Action, Friday, April 24

Watch the short film Guardians of Life

Staring Joaquin Phoenix and produced with Amazon Watch and Extinction Rebellion

Add your voice and help us reach 3 million signatures, and call on Niel Jacobs to agree to a strong a Global Ocean Treaty at the UN
— Greenpeace

Local/Regional News

Olympic Climate Action will support the Fracking Ban Act now proposed in the U.S. Congress, House Bill S.3247 — 350.org

Weekly Announcements

Engineering with Nature
An Ode to Water, Wood and Stone

March 29 — Showing at the beautiful
KENNETH J. MINNAERT performing arts center
2011 Mottman Rd. SW Olympia, WA

National/International News

A Crisis Right Now: San Francisco and Manila — New York Times

Extinction Rebellion Capital Region occupied NY State Comptroller DiNapoli Office

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

What’s happening in Antarctica

How the Environmental Lawyer Who Won a Massive Judgment Against Chevron Lost Everything
Chevron, with $228 billion, has the funds to continue targeting Donziger for as long as it chooses

Inspiration

Grassroots Rising
A Call to Action on Climate, Farming, Food, and a Green New Deal

Dirt to Soil
One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture

This is the first in a series I’ve written on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.
I’ll post them in coming Yarns.
Cheers, Nan

Category:
Burning Worlds

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Unpersuasive: | Knowable MagazineWhy arguing about climate change often doesn’t work

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UW School of Public Health releases Q & A Video

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SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALES & COLUMBIA/SNAKE RIVER CHINOOK: A REVIEW OF THE AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FEBRUARY 2020

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Am I Registered?

Australia: Climate Emergency Summit

Climate Change Rises as a Public PriorityBut It’s More partisan Than Ever — NY Times

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Derek Kilmer in Port Angeles meetings Twice TODAY!

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Unpersuasive: | Knowable Magazine
Why arguing about climate change often doesn’t work

SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALES & COLUMBIA/SNAKE RIVER CHINOOK: A REVIEW OF THE AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE
FEBRUARY 2020

Climate Change Rises as a Public Priority
But It’s More partisan Than Ever — NY Times

Derek Kilmer in Port Angeles meetings
Twice TODAY!