Category: Uncategorized
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The Ascendance of Trump Makes Broad-Based Climate Action Essential—and Achievable
On December 5, former vice president Al Gore met with Donald and Ivanka Trump in an effort to convince the president-elect that he should not gut federal policies and agreements dealing with climate change. Three days later, actor Leonardo DiCaprio also paid the Trump duo a visit, urging them to help build a green,…
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Review: Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System by Ian Angus
Reviewed by Kim Scipes. Ian Angus’ book tries to do three things: (1) establish the reality that we’re in a completely new geologic time period (the Anthropocene), and argues that this means that activities of human beings threaten the continued existence of life on this planet; (2) demonstrate that these changes have been brought about…
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If there’s a World War II-style climate mobilization, it has to go all the way—and then some
As global warming has surged this year, so too has America's ambition for heroic climate action. Politicians, economists, and activists have been looking to America's astonishing mobilization for World War II as a model for victory in the twenty-first century's great climate emergency. This spring, Senator Bernie Sanders called for a World War…
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¡Carmelo Ruiz, Presente!
All of us on the Green Social Thought editorial board were terribly saddened to learn of the sudden passing of our friend, comrade and former editorial board member Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero during the afternoon of Tuesday, September 6th. Carmelo apparently had a sudden, fatal heart attack while at work in his home city of San Juan,…
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Clean, Green, Class War: Bill McKibben’s Misguided War Against Climate Change
Across the USA, people from all types of backgrounds marinate for hours each day in the glow of nationalistic and militaristic news reports and entertainment. From the reverence directed toward its historical wars, to the imaginary wars featured in the entertainment industry, to the virtual wars of drone strikes (which blend politics and entertainment into…
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Nuclear energy dangerous to your wallet, not only the environment
The ongoing environmental disaster at Fukushima is a grim enough reminder of the dangers of nuclear power, but nuclear does not make sense economically, either. The entire industry would not exist without massive government subsidies. Quite an insult: Subsidies prop up an industry that points a dagger at the heart of the communities…
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(Incomplete) Chronology of Puerto Rico’s political ecology
1959- Founding of the pro-independence organization Movimiento Pro Independencia (MPI) and its newspaper Claridad. 1964-66- The local press informs that the government plans to approve strip mining projects. The MPI and the autonomist group Vanguardia Popular present environmental objections. The debate around mining marks the birth of the modern ecology movement in Puerto Rico.…
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Universal, Single-Payer Disaster Insurance: A Necessity in the Greenhouse Era
Serious problems in the nation’s flood insurance program have received heavy media coverage over the past three months. But flood insurance, like any insurance that covers a single type of (un)natural disaster, is burdened with inherent contradictions that always threaten to scuttle the system. The root of the problem is that the only people who…