#RegulatoryCapture: A bill that would have tripled the fines paid by oil refineries for emitting #toxicpollutants, like those released last year in Martinez stalled. Western States #Petroleum Association a powerful #corporate #fossilfuel #lobbying group has spent millions to influence #policy decisions by the #California #Legislature and state officials over the past half decade.

#BusinessAsUsual #WhatClimateEmergency #healthybottomline

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/09/11/oil-lobby-pressure-dooms-state-bill-aimed-at-curbing-refinery-pollution/

This is not planet Earth as we found it. The world we’ve known all our lives is vanishing in front of our eyes.

Human civilization was built upon the certainty of a stable, predictable climate allowing consistently reliable agriculture producing decade after decade of steady economic growth and allowing huge, thriving coastal cities.

But now we're seeing what happens when human industry pumps a *trillion* tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in only a few decades, when we warm the oceans to levels never seen in human history, and when we threaten the survival of everything that makes our lives possible.

The past is gone. Continue to hope and work for the best, but *prepare* for the worst.

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #CO2 #Emissions

The annual wildfire season in Canada is coming to an end. Or, anyway, it *should* be by now.

But 2023 is unlike any other year. As of yesterday, there were more than 900 fires still burning, over half of them out of control.

Look at the area burned in the second graph below. The damage to wildlife is literally incalculable. Greenhouse gas emissions from all of these fires is off the charts.

Sure, some reply guy will tell you that forest fires are normal and natural and necessary. But not like this. What we’re seeing this year is an *unnatural* catastrophe caused by human industry, by the oil companies, their financiers, and the governments that support and subsidize them.

It’s a crime. It’s ecocide. And you know what? To them, it’s just Business As Usual.

#Canada #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

It's time for another week of BUSINESS AS USUAL, sponsored this time by Toyota, Comcast, and the U.S. military-industrial complex.

🎶 "Keep driving, keep flying, keep shopping, keep buying!
We've got this, everything's fine." 🎶 😃

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

"Green Growth" will not stop climate change. It will only continue to make things worse.

And there is no such thing as "sustainable" capitalism. That is simply an impossibility.

Let's learn more...
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With global temperatures soaring to record highs, it might be worthwhile to check in on the progress of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden one year ago.

Passage of the act was met with accolades. Mainstream environmentalists declared it a “game changer” and a “seismic shift.”

But are we actually on track to avert climate catastrophe? How much money is being spent, and where is it being targeted? Are there trends we can identify at this early stage? To state the obvious, time is not on our side, and an assessment of where we stand in terms of benchmarks and emissions is crucial.

Arguably, the sector where the IRA has had the most immediate impact is the manufacturing of electric vehicles, identified as a primary goal towards “decarbonizing” the transportation system.

For example, Ford Motor Company, whose profit last year was more than $23 billion, was given 9 billion taxpayer dollars to build an electric vehicle factory in Tennessee. Even with the substandard wages they will pay their workers in that “right-to-work” state, Ford claimed it needed this “incentive” to compete with Chinese auto manufacturers.

Setting aside the corporate-friendly way the law encourages the build-out of this new industry, can anyone really believe it is “green”? Is there any accounting for the embedded emissions, not to mention the overall ecological impact, involved in replacing 275 million private vehicles with shiny new electric ones?

Already 52 new mining and manufacturing projects have been announced — with $56 billion in investment proposed.
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The article goes on to examine other #greenwashing initiatives, like direct air capture and so-called green hydrogen, along with the push for even more consumer-driven economic growth.

FULL STORY -- https://systemchangenotclimatechange.org/article/let-a-million-evs-bloom-the-ira-one-year-later/

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

NO TENNIS ON A DEAD PLANET
“Tennis-as-usual won’t be possible on a planet in which humanity fails to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. If activists don’t disrupt these games, the climate will." –Extinction Rebellion NYC

Protester glues feet to floor, delaying U.S. Open match for 49 minutes

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/disturbance-stops-play-us-open-match-gauff-muchova-rcna103997

The U.S. Tennis Association said there were four protesters in all, including one who “affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl."

#climatecrisis #disrupt #businessasusual #worldboils #shutitdown #endcapitalism

@pbharristoo @allstartrek
Buncha damn lazy baby gazers!
#AllStarTrek #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #BusinessAsUsual

#AllStarTrek Oh, #StevenBurkoff is guest starring, nice!👍
#StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #BusinessAsUsual

Gaila is such a slimy character—I love it!
#AllStarTrek @allstartrek #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #BusinessAsUsual

Smashed records - An unmistakable rising trend in global temperatures

“Breaking heat records has become the norm in 2023. Global warming continues because we have not stopped burning fossil fuels. It is that simple."
Dr Friederike Otto, at Imperial College London

“There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” Report by leading climate scientists

“2023 is the year that climate records were not just broken but smashed. Extreme weather events are now common and getting worse every year – this is a wake-up call to international leaders that we must rapidly reduce carbon emissions now.” Prof Mark Maslin, at University College London

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/06/summer-of-2023-hottest-recorded-in-wake-up-call-to-cut-carbon-emissions
#FossilFuels #coal #disasters #BusinessAsUsual

The #environmental Kuznets curve in reverse might stand as a general #metaphor: since conditions for accessing cheap and disciplined #labour power tend to be bound up with expanding #BusinessAsUsual, comparatively high #carbon intensity and increased #transport, #capital will shoot its arrows upwards and backwards, towards the summit of #degradation.- Andreas Malm, Fossil Capital: The Rise Of Steam Power and The Roots Of Global Warming. Verso 2016, page 410.

(Are you getting tired of this show yet, or are you still enjoying it?)

It's time for another week of BUSINESS AS USUAL, sponsored this time by ExxonMobil, Apple, and General Motors.

🎶 "Keep driving, keep flying, keep shopping, keep buying!
We've got this, everything's fine." 🎶 😃

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

>Texas coaches charged with not reporting sexual assaults because suspect was a ‘good player’: cops https://nypost.com/2023/08/30/texas-coaches-didnt-report-sex-abuser-because-shes-a-good-player-cops/

#TexasFriendly #BusinessAsUsual #corruption #schools #education

Imagine the worst villain in the scariest horror movie. Then imagine something even worse — that’s the oil industry, which fully intends to be around for the next “60, 70, or 80 years.”

They are murderers, openly declaring their aim to continue with Business As Usual until they destroy Earth’s biosphere.

READ THIS -- https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/110967616115278082

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #Greenwashing #BusinessAsUsual

Oil companies are lying to us. But they're not the only ones.

Governments which provide bogus "carbon credits" to polluters are also lying to us, and so is the financial industry that markets these phony "investments."
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A popular method for reducing carbon emissions may be little more than “hot air,” a new study has found.

In past years, financial markets have done increasingly brisk business in “voluntary carbon offsets,” projects that ostensibly capture greenhouse gas emissions — or prevent them from being released into the atmosphere.

One of the leading forms of offsets — used by many leading corporations — is “forest carbon offsets.” Under such programs, companies subsidize forests which absorb the equivalent of the companies’ carbon emissions as they grow — at least in theory.

The study published Thursday in Science offers strong evidence that the theory doesn’t live up to the practice.
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Carbon offsets are a scam, a fraud, nothing more than an dishonest and criminal excuse for the fossil fuel industry to carry on with Business As Usual.

FULL STORY -- https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/4169871-a-leading-corporate-strategy-for-battling-climate-change-is-hot-air-study-finds/

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Greenwashing

You may want to take a seat on the fainting couch before reading this, because I regret to inform you that . . . oil companies are LYING to us!!
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A new analysis of the activities of twelve major fossil fuel giants shows that the companies are misleading the public about their emission-reduction commitments while raking in record profits from fossil fuels, which are driving catastrophic extreme weather events across the globe.

In a report published Wednesday, Greenpeace examines the decarbonization pledges, investments, and profits of six global fossil fuel giants — including Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies — and six European oil companies.

The results indicate that in 2022 close to 93% of the oil giants' investments on average went to keeping the companies on the "fossil oil and gas path" while just 7.3% were aimed at promoting "low-carbon solutions" and sustainable production.

Kuba Gogolewski, a finance campaigner at Greenpeace, said that "as the world endures unprecedented heat waves, deadly floods, and escalating storms, Big Oil clings to its destructive business model and continues to fuel the climate crisis."

"Instead of providing desperately needed clean energy, they feed us greenwashing garbage," Gogolewski added. "Big Oil's unwillingness to implement real change is a crime against the climate and future generations. Governments need to stop enabling fossil fuel companies, heavily regulate them, and plan our fossil fuel phase-out now. They will never change on their own."
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Yes, that is the point. They will *never* change on their own.

FULL STORY -- https://www.commondreams.org/news/oil-company-emissions

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Greenwashing

A ‘Paris Agreement for nature?

Sydney will be the host for the first Global N a t u r e P o s i t i v e Summit in early October 2024. It is is concerned with the financialisation of biodiversity ecosystems.

"The “Nature Positive” agenda promotes the financialisation of nature – that there is a monetary value to nature, that this dollar figure could define all that nature means to us, and that we can start trading plots of nature like tokens and feeding into an ecosystem service that only benefits some people, in particular economies. The decision makers for all of this would be the exact same industry players and politicians who are destroying nature for profit now."

“Nature Positive” would be a bag of tricks for them to d i s t r a c t, d e f e r , and o b s c u r e their harm for nature: “destroying your forest is okay, because we’re not destroying someone else’s.” This is not only greenwashing, it is dangerous."
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/57395/what-wrong-nature-positive/

"The Global Biodiversity Framework agreed to by 196 countries at the United Nations biodiversity conference last year was described as the ‘Paris agreement for nature’. It set a target of US$200 billion per year of funding to be spent on nature repair by 2030...The Summit will highlight how clear and consistent rules will enable businesses to invest in and measure projects that repair nature."
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/sydney-to-host-worlds-first-global-nature-positive-summit

https://www.themandarin.com.au/228749-nature-repair-policy-will-be-focus-of-major-summit-in-sydney-in-2024/
“Turning the tide like this, from nature destruction to nature repair, will require a mighty global effort, Plibersek said."

#biodiversity #destruction #nature #Sydney #greenwashing #spin #forests #StopLogging #NativeForest #NSW #NaturePositive #EcosystemService #ecosystems #CashCow #biodiversity #BusinessAsUsual

Da série #AlteraçõesClimáticas e o #BusinessAsUsual

Worth the wait!

Any guesses on "who" the #indian #firm is and, "what" the expose is going to be?

Anyways, no matter what, we can be sure it would be #businessasusual in #india, given the "compliasant" #sebi and other "investigative" #agencies!

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/hindenburg-2-0-george-soros-backed-group-plans-expose-on-indian-firms-report-101692897468703.html

Taras Grescoe (@straphanger) writes about the problem of too many cars, be they electric or ICE.

Too many is too many, either way.
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HEADLINE: There are Too Many Damn Cars!

SNARKY SUBHEAD: Except, of Course, for the One You Happen to Own.

It’s something that almost everybody is willing to accept, a statement that’s about as controversial as “The Rent Is Too Damn High.” There are too many cars on the road. As we all know, they cause pollution and sprawl, and kill people. They also lead to congestion, which makes you late for work, school, or the doctor’s appointment. (Remember, though, you aren’t stuck in traffic — you *are* traffic.)

We, and the planet, would be better off if there were fewer cars on the road, and more people could get around by transit, bicycle, wheelchair, or by foot. And, intellectually at least, people seem to understand the link between tailpipe emissions and global heating.

Yet when somebody dares to connect the dots and points out that if we really want to reduce emissions, we might actually have to reduce the number of vehicles on the road — starting, like, yesterday — all hell breaks loose.

I’ve gone on the record as being extremely skeptical about a society-wide transition to electric vehicles. I think it’s just lazy, more-of-the-same thinking, a classic technofix that allows governments to swap one car for another (heavier, more costly) car, and one that does nothing to diminish sprawl, congestion, and road deaths...
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FULL ARTICLE -- https://straphanger.substack.com/p/there-are-too-many-damn-cars

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #WarOnCars #BanCars