Biden’s Climate Rush 🌿 Climate Justice Undermined 🌿 Taxing the Rich
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Hi, Everyone!
I’m Amanda Magnani, a Brazilian (photo)journalist and OptOut News’ climate editor. Every other week, I bring you the most important climate news from our network–with an extra serving of decolonial perspectives. ✨🌿
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DONATE HERE!If you haven’t checked our latest Global South Corner yet, you can do so on our Instagram. This time, I spoke with Indigenous lawyer Ivo Makuxi about the so-called “Marco Temporal”, a legal thesis that threatens Indigenous rights to their ancestral lands, and about what that has to do with the climate crisis.
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As the presidential election nears, the Biden administration has been racing to approve as many climate rules as possible just in case he won’t be in office again in 2025. In April, announcements happened on a near-daily basis, Gas Outlook reports. Regulations included blocking oil and gas in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPRA); fuel-economy standards for passenger vehicles; funding for residential solar programmes; and requiring chemical companies to pay for the clean-up of PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals."
At the same time, however, red states are attempting to undermine climate justice. Republican attorneys filed a petition to stop the EPA from taking race into account in investigations of civil rights complaints to regulate pollution. For advocates, given that policies can, even if unwittingly, disproportionately affect demographic groups, this would strip the EPA of an important avenue for addressing climate injustices, Grist reports.
Meanwhile, by resorting to fracking, oil and gas companies across the U.S. are making some communities even more radioactive than Chernobyl. You can learn more about it in DeSmog’s interview with award-winning investigative journalist Justin Nobel, who exposed this situation in his new book Petroleum-238.
On a happier note, the time to tax the rich might have finally arrived. During the G20 summit in Washington D.C., Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo proposed a climate tax for global corporations and billionaires. The money, set to be used for climate adaptation, would be sent directly to the individuals on the front line of the climate crisis in the most affected countries, Heated reports.
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And More:
🛢 "U.S. oil and gas production is booming. So are the industry’s donations to its GOP allies,” by Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
🛢 “How Biden’s clean energy plan transformed our home, and our legacy,” by AZ Mirror.
🛢 "Discounting Carbon Gain to Prevent Water Loss Today,” by EOS.
🛢 "When Extreme Drought Becomes Commonplace,” by EOS.
🛢 "The Climate Crisis Is Already Transforming the Family,” by The New Republic.
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Decolonizing Climate Change
🌱 “From Australia to the Arctic, young Indigenous changemakers speak out,” by Grist.
🌱 “Can these far northern First Nations protect the world’s Breathing Lands?” by The Narwhal.
🌱 “Environmental Justice Through a Trans Lens,” by TransLash Podcast.
🌱 “$500 million for solar energy for tribal families,” by Source NM.
🌱 "'Just Energy Partnerships’ Are Failing,” by Jacobin.
🌱 “How the Miccosukee Tribe plans to stop oil drilling in the Everglades once and for all,” by Grist.
🌱 “Offset Schemes Failing to Benefit Forest Communities, Report Finds,” by Yale Environment 360.
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Around the World
🇮 “Gas flaring in Iraq: BP faces legal action over death of young man,” by Gas Outlook.
🇴 “‘Think like activists, act as engineers,’ says BP petroleum engineer at Oman energy show,” by Gas Outlook.
🇵 “Palestine’s Jordan River Drained of Water and Livelihood,” by Atmos.
🇳 “Landslides from the record-breaking 2023 storms in Auckland, New Zealand,” by Yale Environment 360.
🇿 “How One South African Community Stopped Shell Oil in Its Tracks,” by DeSmog.
🇨 “The Indigenous Communities on the Frontlines of Colombia’s Water Crisis,” by Atmos.
🇬 “BP and Shell ‘Shaped’ UK Carbon Tax Proposals, Private Emails Show,” by DeSmog.
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To Lighten Your Heart
🌱 “As the climate changes, cities scramble to find trees that will survive,” by Grist.
🌱 “The Guardians of Earth’s Most Grotesque Flowers,” by Atmos.
🌱 “Sound of Whale Song Signals Antarctic Blue Whales May Be Making a Comeback,” by Yale Environment 360.
🌱 “Can’t install your own solar panels? Some areas let you join a community project.” by Wisconsin Examiner.
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Before you go, if you want to learn how to talk about the climate crisis at your family’s Sunday dinner table, check out DeSmog’s piece “A Vaccine for Climate Misinformation”.
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That’s all for now, folks! If you have any questions or suggestions, hit me up at amanda@optout.news.
Obrigada and have a great week!
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