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Energy economics
Economic CrisisEntire cities are now running out of water, while others are violently flooded with far too much of it. Wildfires, droughts, pestilence, famines: climate change is already making these disasters bigger, stronger and more frequent. And we’ve seen nothing yet. By the end of the century, there could be two billion climate refugees. Two billion. We are facing simply unprecedented levels of death, misery and collapse in already Dickensian living standards. Unless, of course, we take truly radical action.
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Climate change and the next left
EnvironmentClimate change is already happening. But the really bad news is that there’s very strong evidence that capitalism will deliver a future of catastrophic climate change that will have far-reaching effects around the world, especially in the imperialized countries of the Global South. There is a vast gap between the continuing growth of greenhouse gas emissions and the massive reductions of emissions are needed to prevent widespread catastrophes.
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We’re all getting played by Kinder Morgan
Canadian PoliticsIt is entirely possible that Kinder Morgan has already decided to cut its losses and walk away from the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) – and not for the reasons they are telling their shareholders or the public. It may well be that the May 31 deadline is merely for show, and the Texas-based corporation has already determined the project is not feasible both for economic reasons and due to profound Indigenous and popular opposition.
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Canada Moving to Exempt Majority of New Oilsands Projects From Federal Assessments
Canadian Politics“I would argue that the federal government has the constitutional power to deal with greenhouse gas emissions and they need to show some leadership if they’re going to purport to be acting in a way that’s consistent with their obligations under the Paris Agreement,” she said. “They need to exercise that jurisdiction to make sure that over the long term Canada’s greenhouse gases are not increasing but are decreasing and eventually reaching carbon neutrality.”
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First Nations Leaders Pledge to Block Pipeline Expansion
EnvironmentFrom the outset, Ottawa has faced opposition to carbon taxes from some provinces, which fear such market-based mechanisms will discourage private business investment. And mass popular opposition accompanied by the global downturn in resource prices has already led to TransCanada’s cancellation of its $15.7-billion Energy East project and Ottawa’s nixing of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline.
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Climate Change and the Struggle Against the Kinder Morgan Pipeline
EnvironmentPolitical activism around climate change, from Standing Rock to innumerable cities across North America, is growing. Another failed climate meeting in Marrakesh this month and the climate denialists surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump have given these struggles added urgency in themselves and in the solidarity linking them to other social justice struggles. No need to even invoke the necessity of an eco-socialist political project as it is where all alternatives are pointing.
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Paris Climate Goals Depend on Promoting Biodiversity
EnvironmentThe Paris Climate Agreement and several other United Nations (UN) pacts “all depend on the health and vitality of our natural environment in all its diversity and complexity,” said Dr. Anne Larigauderie, executive secretary of the UN-backed organization behind the report. “Acting to protect and promote biodiversity is at least as important to achieving these commitments and to human well-being as is the fight against global climate change.”
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Trudeau on the wrong side of environmental history in B.C.
Canadian PoliticsMeanwhile, Justin Trudeau is in court against First Nations to oppose their efforts to stop Kinder Morgan. He didn’t await the legal outcome before allowing work to begin on the expanded pipeline — or to start arresting people. Perhaps that’s because the prime minister is also on record declaring that Canada’s Indigenous peoples do not have a “veto” on resource projects in this country. At least that’s what he’s saying now.
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Memo to Jacobin: Ecomodernism is not ecosocialism
EnvironmentIs Jacobin becoming a voice for ecomodernism with a leftish veneer? I hope not, but the signs aren’t good. The first book in the new Jacobin Book Series, Four Futures, by Peter Frase, offers future scenarios based on science fiction movies and books: as Antony Galluzzo says in a review, this approach allows Frase to ignore “the technological, ecological, or social feasibility of [his] predictions.”
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Global Warming Stirs the Methane Monster
EnvironmentOn January 1st Arctic methane at 2,764 ppb spiked upwards into the atmosphere, which, according to Arctic News: “Was likely caused by methane hydrate destabilization in the sediments on the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean.” Once again, with emphasis, it’s January; it’s winter, and there’s little or no sunshine above the Arctic Circle. So, what gives? Why are alarming levels of methane spewing into the atmosphere?
