Bernie Sanders interview on Charlie Rose (11/2016)

Manufacturing Intellect

Published on Nov 15, 2016

Senator Bernie Sanders discusses Donald Trump’s victory in the election, the future of the Democratic party, and his upcoming book “Our Revolution.”

Tim Flannery on Climate Change, Paris, and The World in 2015

The Elephant

Published on Aug 18, 2015

Renowned Australian scientist Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers, and chief councillor at The Climate Council, speaks about where we are as a world in this critical year of 2015, the growing social movements battling climate change, and why right now “the fossil fuel industry is fighting for life”

From The Elephant podcast. For more conversations exploring the stories and questions of climate change visit www.elephantpodcast.org or subscribe in iTunes: http://bit.ly/elephantpod

Interviewer: Kevin Caners, Recorded May 2015.

Bill McKibben in Paris: Climate Action – Engaging the Next Generation

envirobeat

Published on Dec 6, 2015

Bill McKibben of 350.org joined several other speakers including Mark Jacobson to speak to young climate activists in Paris, Dec 5, 2015

COP21: Bill McKibben

Climate Home

Published on Dec 3, 2015

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, talks about fossil fuel divestment and Exxon at the UN climate change conference in Paris, COP21.

COP22: Exit US, enter new world order

• Closing report: COP22 closes with Trump plea
• Decisions in brief: what did COP22 achieve?
• New era beckons: US exits, China steps up
• 100% renewable: world’s poorest to go green
• 196 nations to Trump: don’t nix UN climate talks
• Next stop Fiji: Pacific Island to host 2017 summit
• India muffled: Delhi goes quiet as China roars
• Time for change: annual UN summits are not working

…(read more)

196 countries to Trump: UN must tackle climate change

News: Nations stand as one in Marrakech to reaffirm their commitment to the fight against climate change in the face of populism and division in America

Paris climate target slips away as Donald Trump rises

News: Faint hopes for a 1.5C global warming limit to rescue low-lying island states from rising seas have been shattered by the US election result, say scientists

Robert Reich’s First 100 Days Resistance Agenda | Alternet

Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue / Flickr
Covering the bases in the resistance against Trump, the alt-right, and the GOP’s inauguration.

By Robert Reich / RobertReich.org
November 19, 2016

Here’s the First 100 Days resistance agenda [with thanks to
Alan Webber]:

1. Get Democrats in the Congress and across the country to pledge to oppose Trump’s agenda. Prolong the process of approving choices, draw out hearings, stand up as sanctuary cities and states. Take a stand. Call your senator and your representative (phone calls are always better than writing). Your senator’s number: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/ [3]. Your representative’s number: http://www.house.gov/representatives/ [4].

2. March and demonstrate—in a coordinated, well-managed way. The “1 Million Women March” is already scheduled for the Inauguration—and will be executed with real skill. See: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/11/15/counter-trump-women-are-mobilizing-massive-march-washington [5]. There will be “sister” marches around the country—in LA and elsewhere. They need to be coordinated and orchestrated. And then? 1 Million Muslims? 1 Million Latinos? What would keep the momentum alive and keep the message going?

3. Boycott all Trump products, real estate, hotels, resorts, everything. And then boycott all stores (like Nordstrom) that carry merchandise from Trump family brands. See: http://www.racked.com/…/136239…/grabyourwallet-trump-boycott [6]. See also this Google document [7] on boycotting.

4. Letters to Editors: A national letter-writing campaign, from people all over the country, every walk of life and every level of society, from celebrities to sports heroes to grassroots Americans. In most papers, the Letters to the Editor section is the most-read part of the paper.

5. Op-Eds: A steady flow of arguments about the fallacies and dangers of Trump’s First 100 Day policies and initiatives, from name-brand thinkers and doers to ordinary folk writing for their city’s or community’s newspaper.

6. Social media: What about a new YouTube channel devoted to video testimonials about resisting Trump’s First 100 Day Agenda? Crowd-sourced ideas, themes and memes. Who wants to start it?

7. Website containing up-to-date daily bulletins on what actions people are planning around the country, and where, so others can join in. Techies, get organized.

8. Investigative journalism: We need investigative journalists to dig into the backgrounds of all of Trump’s appointees, in the White House, the Cabinet, ambassadors and judges.

9. Lawsuits: Our version of “Drill, baby, drill” is “Sue, baby, sue.” Throw sand in the gears. Lawyers, get organized.

…(read more).

Planet Earth Is the Real Loser of the 2016 Elections

Photo Credit: esfera / Shutterstock

At this fragile time, the environment is going to take some massive hits.

By Farron Cousins / DeSmogBlog
November 12, 2016

During the U.S. presidential debates, there was not one single question devoted to the topic of climate change. And it appears that the results from the election have only amplified the silence that Americans seem to have on the subject of the environment.

In a stunning turn of events, US voters elected conservative businessman Donald Trump as the next President of the United States. Trump will now become the only world leader to actively deny that climate change is real, which means that the environment is about to suffer an enormous blow.

And that’s not speculation — that is exactly what Donald Trump told Americans just days before the general election.

As Think Progress reported, Trump told supporters on October 26th that he would end the “wasteful” spending on climate action:

“I will also cancel all wasteful climate change spending from Obama-Clinton, including all global warming payments to the United Nations. These steps will save $100 billion over 8 years, and this money will be used to help rebuild the vital infrastructure, including water systems, in America’s inner cities.”

Technically, eliminating this $100 billion will never happen because the United States does not actually spend that much on climate actions or “payments to the UN,” but when combined with spending on renewable energy projects, the 8-year total would actually be roughly $100 billion.

This implies that Donald Trump is willing and ready to deprive these essential renewable projects of funding in order to double down on fossil fuels. His statement also shows that he will likely strip every penny of funding away from vital actions to protect our environment and help to save American citizens from the increasingly dangerous effects of climate change.

…(read more).

Trump in the White House: An Interview With Noam Chomsky

Chomsky has warned that the political climate in the U.S. is ripe for the rise of an authoritarian figure.

By C.J. Polychroniou, Noam Chomsky / AlterNet
November 20, 2016

The following excerpt is from the forthcoming book Optimism Over Despair on Capitalism, Empire, and Social Change by Noam Chomsky and C.J. Polychroniou from Haymarket Books. This interview is copyright 2016 Noam Chomsky and C.J. Polychroniou.

On Nov. 8, 2016, Donald Trump managed to pull the biggest upset in U.S. politics by tapping successfully into the anger of white voters and appealing to the lowest inclinations of people in a manner that would have probably impressed Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels himself.

But what exactly does Trump’s victory mean, and what can one expect from this megalomaniac when he takes the reins of power on Jan. 20, 2017? What is Trump’s political ideology, if any, and is “Trumpism” a movement? Will U.S. foreign policy be any different under a Trump administration?

Some years ago, public intellectual Noam Chomsky warned that the political climate in the U.S. was ripe for the rise of an authoritarian figure. Now, he shares his thoughts on the aftermath of this election, the moribund state of the U.S. political system and why Trump is a real threat to the world and the planet in general.

…(read more).