greenwashing

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 29, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• IEA report says fossil fuels killing three million people a year - By Tim Buckley, REnew Economy, June 27, 2016
• It’s Not Just Crimes Against Nature, It’s Crimes Against People - By Terry Odendahl, EcoWatch, June 22, 2016
• Why some of America’s richest people are living in the middle of nowhere - By Kim Soffen, Washington Post, June 22, 2016
• Scale of climate damages "could dwarf tobacco lawsuits" - By Megan Darby, Climate Change News, June 21, 2016
• Why Mining Corporations Love Trade Deals - By Ben Beachy, Huffington Post, June 21, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Brexiters, Climate Deniers and Trump: A Small World - By ClimateDenierRoundup, Daily Kos, June 27, 2016
• A Brief History of Fossil-Fuelled Climate Denial - By John Cook, The University of Queensland, June 23, 2016
• Australia’s big energy switch: from coal and gas to wind and solar - By Giles Parkinson, Deseret News, June 23, 2016
• How IOGCC Spawned the Lawsuit That Just Overturned BLM Fracking Regulations on Public Lands - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 23, 2016
• U.S. coal giant owed money to Canadian climate change deniers - By Charles Mandel, National Observer, June 16th 2016
• Exxon, Koch Ties May Help Explain Rep. Lamar Smith's Probing Request of "Exxon Knew" Environmental Groups - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 21, 2016
• Oil-Funded Groups Have Spent $2.7 Million To Defeat California Candidates Who Want Climate Action - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, June 21, 2016
• Proposal Sparks Monumental Debate At The Grand Canyon - By Doug Puppel, KNPR, June 21, 2016
• Buzz Kill: How the Pesticide Industry Blocks Bee Protections Nationwide - By Tiffany Finck-Haynes and Christopher D. Cook, EcoWatch, June 20, 2016
• Groups demand federal probe into Utah role in coal port - By Brian Maffley, Salt Lake Tribune, June 20, 2016; [related]: Groups write U.S. Attorney General asking for investigation of coal shipping terminal deal - By Ben Lockhart, Deseret News, June 20, 2016
• Koch Front Groups Are Defending ExxonMobil’s Anti-Science Campaigns - By Connor Gibson, Greenpeace, June 20, 2016
• Western States Petroleum Association wins the prestigious “Scummy” Award - By Dan Bacher, Red, Green, and Blue, June 18, 2016
• Hot Mess: How Radioactive Fracking Waste Wound Up Near Homes And Schools - By Glynis Board, Ohio Valley Resource, June 17, 2016
• Peabody Coal’s Unprecedented Support for Climate Denial - By Aliya Haq, NRDC, June 17, 2016
• Exxon Has No Free Speech Rights to Commit Fraud, say Climate Groups - By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, June 17, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Berta Cáceres's name was on Honduran military hitlist, says former soldier - By Nina Lakhani, The Guardian, June 21, 2016; [related]: Appeal to the world's free people: UAWC condemns the killing of Berta Cáceres - By Union of Agricultural Work Committees, La Via Campesina, June 22, 2016
• 185 Environmental Activists Across 16 Countries Were Killed in 2015 - By Emily J. Gertz, EcoWatch, June 20, 2016; [related]: 2015 Deadliest Year for Environmentalists on Record, Finds Report - By staff, Yale Environment 360, June 20, 2016 

Greenwashers:

• Obama Administration Approved Gulf Fracking During Deepwater Horizon Disaster - By Mike Ludwig, Truthout, June 24, 2016
• Some questions for WWF about its partnership with logging company Rougier in Cameroon - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 22, 2016
• FCA charges five people with £2.75 million boiler room scam, including Michael Nascimento and Jeannine Lewis - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 21, 2016
• Fracking, the Failure of Mainstream Greens and the Corporate Control of U.S. Energy Policy - By Mark Hand, CounterPunch, June 22, 2016 

Disaster Capitalism:

• Railroad blamed for fiery oil train derailment along Columbia River Gorge - By KATU News and Matthew Brown and Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press, KOMO News, June 23, 2016

Other News:

• Sacramento Judge Rules Delta Plan Is "Invalid" - By Dan Bacher, Indybay, June 23, 2016; [related]: C-WIN, Senator Lois Wolk Praise Judge's Decision To Toss Delta Plan - By Dan Bacher, Daily Kos, June 24, 2016
• Movie Review: There’s a Vast Cowspiracy about Climate Change - By Doug Boucher, Union Concerned Scientists, June 10, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 21, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• TISA 'free trade' deal to force draconian social, environmental, financial deregulation - By Pete Dolack, The Ecologist, June 17, 2016
• Oil Train Tank Cars Are Getting Safer But What About The Tracks? - By Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting, June 15, 2016
• UK fracking policy founded on scientific fraud, misrepresentation and prevarication - By Nick Cowern, The Ecologist, June 15, 2016
• Goldman Sachs Just Ate Denmark for Breakfast - By Jonas Schmidt Hansen, Occupy.Com, June 13, 2016
• My Dishwasher Is What’s Wrong With Capitalism - By Peter Dreier, LA Progressive, June 13, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Denialist Blogger Anthony Watts Posts Error Strewn “Aerial Survey” of Climate Scientists’ Homes - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, June 19, 2016
• Exxon Sues MA Attorney General In Retaliatory Attempt To Intimidate ‘Exxon Knew’ Climate Accountability Movement - By Brendan DeMelle, DeSmog Blog, June 16, 2016; [related]: Exxon Sues Second Attorney General In Response To Fraud Investigation - By Sydney Pereira, Think Progress, June 17, 2016
• Were Historical Pictures of Great Barrier Reef Degradation Really Misused, as The Australian Newspaper Claimed? - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, June 16, 2016
• Conservative Funders of Climate Denial Are Quietly Spending Millions To Generate More Partisan Journalism - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, June 15, 2016
• Court Documents Show Peabody Energy Funded Dozens of Climate Denial Groups - By Climate Denier Roundup, EcoWatch, June 14, 2016; [related]: Dirty money bought one coal company a whole lot of denial - By Katie Herzog, Grist, June 14, 2016
• GOP ‘Conservationist’ Running For Senate Has Ties To Companies That Pollute The Environment - By Alejandro Davila Fragoso and Josh Israel, Think Progress, June 14, 2016
• Wall Street Journal Runs Ad Trashing WSJ’s Climate Science Denial - By Joe Romm, Think Progress, June 14, 2016; [related]: Wall Street Journal publishes call for climate action...for cash money - By Katie Herzog, Grist, June 14, 2016
• World’s Biggest Banks Are Driving Climate Change, Pumping Billions Into Extreme Fossil Fuels - By Rainforest Action Network, EcoWatch, June 14, 2016; [related]: Shorting the Climate: Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2016 - By Collin Rees, Oil Change International, June 15, 2016; [and]: Green Climate Fund partners condemned for fossil fuel funding - By Ed King, Climate Change News, June 14, 2016
• The Lie That “China Wins” if the TPP Kangaroo Tribunals are Stopped - By William K. Black, New Economic Perspectives, June 5, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Record number of environmental activists murdered in 2015 - By Megan Darby, Climate Change News, June 20, 2016
• Peaceful protest under attack in Sweden’s climate test - By Melanie Mattauch, 350.org, June 16, 2016
• One Indian killed in Brazil, five wounded as tribal community attacked - By staff, Survival International, June 15, 2016
• Will outrage over recent murders help Honduran environmental activists achieve their goal? - By Victoria Molina, Ensia, June 13, 2016

Greenwashers:

• From the chaos of REDD-plus towards the Bonn Challenge’s maze - By Yvette Aguilar, REDD Monitor, June 17, 2016
• Change The System; Not The Climate - By Asoka Bandarage, The Ecologist, June 16, 2016
• World Bank on REDD in the Democratic Republic of Congo: “Rome wasn’t built in a day” - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 15, 2016; [related]: World Bank on REDD: “We have made great achievements in 2015 and we’re now focussing on implementation” - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 14, 2016  

Disaster Capitalism:

• Deleting the Real Story Behind the Great Canada Fire - By Paul Street, CounterPunch, June 16, 2016; [related]: Gas Stations Close as Fire Rages Near Alberta Oil Sands - By Jan Lee, The Triple Pundit, June 14, 2016 

Other News:

• The human cost of privatization-MARTA Outsourcing Mobility Leaving Workers and Riders Behind - By staff, ATU, June 16, 2016
• Superbugs to kill 10 million a year by 2050 - By James Plested, Red Flag, May 31, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 14, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• In Louisiana Shrimping Communities, Globalization's Effects Imperil US Fishers - By Michael Stein, Truthout, June 12, 2016; [related]: Africatown Supporters Travel to Washington DC in Search of Environmental Justice - By Joe Womack, Bridge the Gulf, June 12, 2016 
• Bridging the Trust Gap in Energy Justice Battles - By Mark Hand, CounterPunch, June 10, 2016
• After Keystone XL: TransCanada Building North American Fracked Gas Pipeline Empire - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 9, 2016
• The Book the Fracking Industry Doesn’t Want You to Read - By Wenonah Hauter, EcoWatch, June 7, 2016
• ‘Free Trade’ Will Kill Progress on Climate Change, 450 Groups Warn Congress - By Nika Knight, Common Dreams, June 6, 2016
• For Oil Industry, Clean Air Fight Was Dress Rehearsal for Climate Denial - By Neela Banerjee, David Hasemyer, and Lisa Song, InsideClimate News, June 6, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Biggest US coal company funded dozens of groups questioning climate change - By Suzanne Goldenberg and Helena Bengtsson, The Guardian, June 13, 2016 [related]: Court Documents Show Coal Giant Peabody Energy Funded Dozens Of Climate Denial Groups - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, June 13, 2016
• Internal Documents Reveal How MSNBC Show Worked To Promote Fracking - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 13, 2016
• Meet the climate sceptics backing the Brexit campaign - By Ed King, Climate Change News, June 13, 2016
• Fox in Hen House: Online Auctions For Oil and Gas Leases On Public Lands May Be Industry-Owned and Run - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 10, 2016
• How a Senator Turned Exxon Lobbyist Limits Access to His Public University-Based Archives - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 10, 2016
• EU energy chiefs favouring fossil fuel lobbyists, says report - By Megan Darby, Climate Change News, June 9, 2016
• Green PR Firm Secretly Working for Oil and Petrochemical Industry - By Eric de Place and Nick Abraham, Sightline Institute, June 9, 2016
• Revealed: The Brussels Breakfast Lobby Group Exxon and BP Don’t Want You To Know They’re Part Of - By Kyla Mandel, DeSmog UK, June 9, 2016
• The Australian Newspaper Misrepresents Science In Great Barrier Reef Bleaching Editorial, Says Scientist It Quoted - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, June 7, 2016
• This lobbyist denied climate change for ExxonMobil. Now he’ll do it for Trump - By Melissa Cronin, Grist, June 7, 2016
• Peabody's Outlier Gang Couldn't Shoot Straight In Minnesota Carbon Case, Judge Rebuffs Happer, Lindzen, Spencer, Mendelsohn, Bezdek - By John Mashey, DeSmog Blog, June 7, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Earth Minute: Anne Petermann on “Guardian of the Forests” Movement in Mexico - By staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, June 8, 2016
• Indigenous Forest Defender Illegally Jailed in Mexico - By Rick Kearns, Indian Country Today, June 3, 2016

Greenwashers:

• The thirst for the sea: lack of water and new extractivist markets - Translated by Pietro Casati, Theory Without Borders, June 13, 2016
• CA Officials Want To Allow Oil Industry To Dump Toxic Waste Into Aquifers, Exempt Them From Federal Protection - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, June 12, 2016
• Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the REDD+ Ngoyla-Mintom project in Cameroon - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 10, 2016
• WWF scandal (part 7): WWF teams up with loggers rather than indigenous peoples in Cameroon - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 7, 2016
• Timber Regulating Timber - By Will Parrish, Anderson Valley Advertiser, June 1, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• The role of climate change in the Syria crisis: how the media got it wrong - By Alex Randall, New Internationalist, June 10, 2016
• 777 days later, Congress hasn’t lifted a finger for Flint - By Katie Herzog, Grist, June 10, 2016; [related]: Flint: The conditions for riots - By Justin King, The Fifth Column, June 2, 2016
• ‘They Did Everything They Could Have Done’: The Tragedy Of The Oregon Oil Derailment - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, June 8, 2016
• Union Pacific Apologizes for “Inconvenience” as Oil Drips Onto Tracks and Trains Resume after Explosion - By Mike M, Portland Rising Tide, June 8, 2016
• Fukushima: Worse Than a Disaster - By Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch, June 7, 2016

Other News:

• Privatizing Public Services: A Free-Market Fiasco - By Gregory N. Heires, The New Crossroads, June 12, 2016
• The Great Unraveling: Oil, Gas and the Future of Colorado - By Philip Doe, CounterPunch, June 8, 2016
• Texas consumers pay more in deregulated electricity markets, study says - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, June 8, 2016
• The fight against TTIP is not over ‘till it’s over - By Tony Burke, Left Foot Forward, June 6, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 7, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• The Legacy of the Obama Administration: An Interview With Noam Chomsky - By C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout, June 2, 2016
• Ecuador: power from below amidst great adversity - By CROAR, ROARMag, June 1, 2016
• Boom: North America's Explosive Oil-by-Rail Problem - By Marcus Stern and Sebastian Jones, InsideClimate News, June 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Former FERC Official Hired By Company With $1.8 Million Stake In Spectra Energy Pipeline Project He Had Reviewed - By Itai Vardi, DeSmog Blog, June 6, 2016
• Attorney Generals Investigating ExxonMobil Refuse Congress - By Michael Virtanen, Associated Press, June 5, 2016; [related]: 'Illegitimate' Request Denied: GOP Gets Middle Finger for #ExxonKnew Ploy - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, June 1, 2016 
• Follow the Money: Republican Attorneys General Attack on the Clean Power Plan - By Americans United for Change, EcoWatch, June 3, 2016
• IOGCC Representatives Spout Climate Denial at ExxonMobil-Funded Meeting - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 2, 2016 
• Introducing America Rising Squared, U.S. Republicans' "Creepy" New Assault on Climate Action - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, May 31, 2016
• IPA renews call to abolish ARENA. But does it know why? - By Giles Parkinson, REnew Economy, May 27, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Mining, money and murder on the South African coast - By Richard, London Mining Network, June 5, 2016
• Hillary, Honduras, and the Murder of My Friend Berta - By Porfirio Quintano, Counterpunch, May 30, 2016; [related]: Global Action “Justice for Berta Caceres”: June 15, 2016 - By COPINH, World Rainforest Movement, June 5, 2016; [and]: Correspondence with the World Bank Regarding Berta Cáceres and Large Dams - By staff, World Rainforest Movement, May 15, 2016 

Greenwashers:

• British banks backing coal - By Richard, London Mining Network, June 5, 2016
• An email trail of a carbon credit scam (part 2). Featuring 360 Invest Group, Carbon-ex, and Colemans-CTTS - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 3, 2016
• The virtual economy of REDD: Conflicts of interest, hot air, and dodgy baselines - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 2, 2016
• Obama Administration Approves Resumption of Offshore Fracking in California -  By Dan Bacher, Daily Kos, May 28, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• Europe’s floods come as no surprise - By Alex Kirby, Climate News Network, June 5, 2016
• Luck Rides The Rails: Another Near Miss with an "Insane" Bakken Oil Bomb Train - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, June 5, 2016; [related]: Fire Chief: “Its Insane” to Ship Bakken Crude by Rail -  By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, June 5, 2016; [and]: Mosier Fire Chief Calls Shipping Bakken Crude Oil By Rail 'Insane' - By Amelia Templeton, Oregon Public Broadcasting, June 4, 2016
• Fort McMurray residents rally together as families, workers return to 'devastated' city -  By Teuila Fuatai, Rabble.Ca, June 3, 2016; [related]: Thousands of oilsands workers losing pay from Alberta wildfires - By Gordon Kent, Edmonton Journal, May 21, 2016

Other News:

• Peru: Chancayanos Vow Resistance to Port’s Construction - By Conflictos Mineros, Earth First! Newswire, June 5, 2016
• Victory in Guatemala for People Against Mining - By Conflictos Mineros, Earth First! Newswire, June 5, 2016
• Credibility of Brazil’s Interim President Collapses as He Receives 8-Year Ban on Running for Office - By Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept, June 3, 2016
• Mexico: No Compromise Against Airport and Highway Construction - By Palabras Rebeldes, Earth First! Newswire, June 1, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 31, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• It Is Time to Phase Out 9 Unnecessary Oil and Gas Tax Breaks - By staff, Center for American Progress, May 26, 2016
• Planetary Crisis: We are not all in this together - By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism, May 25, 2016
• Interview: Shell Must be ‘Held Accountable to the Future Now’ Says Indigenous Delegate from the Gulf of Mexico - By Kyla Mandel, DeSmog UK, May 24, 2016; [related]: Gulf Coast Activist Crashes Shell Meeting to Decry Destruction of Her Home - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, May 24, 2016
• Oil profits, pipelines and the human cost of regulatory capture - By Bruce Campbell, Rabble.Ca, May 24, 2016
• Burned By Slow Government Response To A Polluter, Residents Mistrust Cleanup Efforts - By Larry Buhl, DeSmog Blog, May 22, 2016 

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Coalition’s great big climate hoax turns to outright denial - By Giles Parkinson, REnew Economy, May 27, 2016; [related]: Australia scrubbed from UN climate change report after government intervention - By Michael Slezak, The Guardian, May 26, 2016; [and]: Australian Government censors UNESCO report on Great Barrier Reef #ReefGate - By Jeff Englart, Storify, May 27, 2016
• Koch Controversy at George Mason University: Student Abandons Economics Major - By Connor Gibson, DeSmog Blog, May 27, 2016
• Top Obama Energy Official Says Administration Rejects “Keep It In The Ground” As Climate Strategy - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, May 26, 2016
• CO Oil and Gas Industry Raises $6 Million To Fight Ballot Measures - By Dan Boyce, Inside Energy, May 25, 2016
• Exxon "Chose to Mislead": Granddaughter of Former Exxon Climate Scientist - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, May 25, 2016; [related]: Granddaughter of Exxon Scientist Confronts CEO over Oil Giant’s Decision to Fund Climate Lies - Anna Kalinsky interviewed by Nermeen Shaikh and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, May 26, 2016
• All Vision and No Strategy? Shell Says No Thanks to a Better Life with a Healthy Planet - By Juliet Phillips, DeSmog UK, May 24, 2016
• Brazil minister ousted after secret tape reveals plot to topple President Rousseff - By Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, May 23, 2016; [related]: Wall Street’s New Man in Brazil: The Forces Behind Dilma Rousseff’s Impeachment - By José L. Flores, Counterpunch, May 26, 2016; [and]: The MST, Brazil's Biggest Social Movement, Promises to 'Intensify' Land Occupations in Fight Against Coup - By staff, Telesur, May 25, 2016; [and]: Brazil’s impeachment crisis is bad news for climate change - By André Guimarães and Stephan Schwartzman, Grist, May 27, 2016; [also]: This Confirms It was a Coup: Brazil Crisis Deepens as Evidence Mounts of Plot to Oust Dilma Rousseff - Maria Luisa Mendonça interviewed by Juan González and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, May 27, 2016
• Climate denial arguments fail a blind test  - By Dana Nuccitelli, The Guardian, May 23, 2016
• Houston Chronicle Business Columnist Calls for Exxon Climate Denial Investigation, Slams Paxton, Cites DeSmog Research - By Brendan DeMelle, DeSmog Blog, May 23, 2016
• Let's give up the climate change charade: Exxon won't change its stripes - By Bill McKibben, The Guardian, May 20, 2016; [related]: Bill McKibben on Exxon, the Power of Divestment, and Being Targeted by Shadowy Right-Wing Group - Bill McKibben interviewed by Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now, May 26, 2016
• Momentum Builds in California to Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable for Climate Science Misinformation - By Jason Barbose, Union of Concerned Scientists, May 18, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Cove Point Defender Convicted of Making False Statement to Police - By Anne Meador, DCMedia Group, May 27, 2016
• In Honduras, USAID Was in Bed with Berta Cáceres’ Accused Killers - By Gloria Jimenez, Counterpunch, May 27, 2016; [related]: Obama Urged to Stop Funding Honduran Military as Questions Grow over US Role in Berta Cáceres’ Death - Annie Bird interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, May 24, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 25, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• We have met the wrong enemy - By KC Golden, Climate Solutions, May 22, 2016
• Corporate media isn't reporting on climate change. And it's killing us - By Nick Fillmore, Rabble.Ca, May 19, 2016
• US Government's Own Report Shows Toxic TPP "Not Worth Passing" - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, May 19, 2016
• A signal of super-fires to come - By Nicole Colson, Socialist Worker, May 18, 2016
• Only Six Years After BP Oil Disaster, Gulf Coast Is Faced With New Drilling - By Kate Stringer, Yes!, May 10, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Exposed: Spectra-Funded Group Lobbied for FERC Commissioner's Reappointment, Then FERC Approved Spectra’s Gas Pipelines - By Itai Vardi, DeSmog Blog, May 20, 2016
• 13 House Reps Sent Letters to 17 Attorneys General and 8 NGOs Defending Exxon - By Annie Leonard, EcoWatch, May 20, 2016; [related]: Fossil Fuel Industry-Funded Attorneys General Try to Block Exxon Climate Fraud Probe - By Elliott Negin, EcoWatch, May 20, 2016; [and]: New York Attorney General To House Republicans: Are You Kidding? - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, May 20, 2016; [and]: Texas Thinks The Investigation Into Exxon Is ‘Ridiculous’ - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, May 17, 2016; [and] Texas, Alabama Attorneys General Join Exxon's Battle Against Climate Probe - By David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News, May 16, 2016
• EELI’s Anti-EPA Suit Uses 'Exhibit A’ from Tobacco's RICO Loss - By ClimateDenierRoundup, Daily Kos, May 19, 2016
• Here’s One Way The Media Confuses The Public About Climate Change - By Joe Romm, Think Progress, May 19, 2016
• Malice at Malheur: the Movement to Privatize America’s Public Lands - By William deBuys, Counterpunch, May 19, 2016
• Kochs' Grassroots Leadership Academy Training Astroturf Army - By Mary Bottari, PR Watch, May 16, 2016
• National Research Council GMO Study Compromised by Industry Ties - By Wenonah Hauter, EcoWatch, May 16, 2016
• Prominent Oceans Scientist Fails to Disclose Funding From Fishing Industry - By Zachary Davies Boren, Truthout, May 16, 2016
• The Politics of Fertilizer and the Exxons of Agriculture - By Grain, In These Times, April 28, 2016

Greenwashers:

• Greenpeace activists scale British Museum to protest BP sponsorship - By Adam Vaughan, The Guardian, May 19, 2016
• The Humane Society and the Greenwashing of the TPP - By Richard Foster, Counterpunch, May 19, 2016
• Monsanto and the Poisoning of Europe - By Colin Todhunter, Counterpunch, May 18, 2016
• Set up for failure and corporate profit? The rotten core of the Green Deal - By Sue Roberts, The Ecologist, May 18, 2016

By Jonathan Latham, PhD - The Ecologist, May 20, 2016

Piecemeal, and at long last, chemical manufacturers have begun removing the endocrine-disrupting plastic bisphenol-A (BPA) from products they sell.

Sunoco no longer sells BPA for products that might be used by children under three. France has a national ban on BPA food packaging. The EU has banned BPA from baby bottles.

These bans and associated product withdrawals are the result of epic scientific research and some intensive environmental campaigning. But in truth these restrictions are not victories for human health. Nor are they even losses for the chemical industry.

For one thing, the chemical industry now profits from selling premium-priced BPA-free products. These are usually made with the chemical substitute BPS, which current research suggests is even more of a health hazard than BPA. But since BPS is far less studied, it will likely take many years to build a sufficient case for a new ban.

But the true scandal of BPA is that such sagas have been repeated many times. Time and again, synthetic chemicals have been banned or withdrawn only to be replaced by others that are equally harmful, and sometimes are worse.

Neonicotinoids, which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) credits with creating a global ecological catastrophe, are modern replacements for long-targeted organophosphate pesticides. Organophosphates had previously supplanted DDT and the other organochlorine pesticides from whose effects many bird species are only now recovering.

The same is likely to happen with glyphosate - whose authorisation the EU notably failed to renew yesterday. If the EU does ban the herbicide in the next few months, the most likely outcome by far is that farmers will reach for another bottle. They will only spray 2,4-D, dicamba and glufosinate (phosphinothricin) instead.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 17, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• Capitalism cannot solve the climate crisis - By Bill Onasch, Socialist Action, May 15, 2016
• Life and Death in a Time of Rising Shutoffs - By Caitlin Munchick, CounterPunch, May 13, 2016
• Taking on the Sacred Cow of Big “Green” Energy - By Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, CounterPunch, May 13, 2016
• The ExxonMobil refinery that exploded in L.A. last year is up and running again - By Aura Bogado, Grist, May 12, 2016
• New BLM Logging Plan Would Generate More Economic Harm than Good - By John Talberth, Center For Sustainable Economy, May 10, 2016
• Mining a Heart of Gold? Slave Wages and Humanitarianism in Africa - By Yves Engler, CounterPunch, May 9, 2016
• Panhandling and Pandering in Our National Parks - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, May 9, 2016
• Orthodox Economics and the Science of Climate Change - By Mariano Torras, Monthly Review, May 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Client Alert: Law Firms Tell Fossil Fuel Companies They Could Be Next in "ExxonKnew" Probe  - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, May 15, 2016
• Think Facts Matter? Try Attending a Friends of Science Event Headlined by Ezra Levant - By James Wilt, DeSmog Canada, May 15, 2016
• Proof That Koch-Backed Professors Are Using Universities To Spread Right-Wing Policies - By Casey Quinlan, Think Progress, May 13, 2016; [related]: Meet the Ayn Rand Enthusiast Whose Private College Empire Reaps a Fortune From the Government - By Sarah Lazare, Alternet, May 9, 2016
• Forecasting Failure - By Greg Muttitt, David Turnbull and Lorne Stockman, Oil Change International, May 12, 2016
• "You Have Been Fooled": AGU Reopens Exxon Sponsorship Review After Stinging Letter From Sen. Whitehouse and Rep. Lieu - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, May 12, 2016
• Coal made its best case against climate change, and lost - By staff, Skeptical Science, May 11, 2016
• Exxon's Lawyer in Climate Science Probe Has History Helping Big Tobacco and NFL Defend Against Health Claims - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, May 10, 2016
• This Election Inspired a John Grisham Novel: Now It Just Got Even Weirder - By Pema Levy, Mother Jones, May 9, 2016
• "We Were Booming and Now We're Dead" — How Nevada's Solar Industry Bright Spot Turned Dark - By Larry Buhl, DeSmog Blog, May 9, 2016
• ALEC Appoints New Chair to Climate Denial Task Force - By Jamie Corey, PR Watch, May 6, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 9, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists*:

Lead Stories:

• Major oil sands producers scale back output, shut down as wildfire rages - By Jeff Lewis and Shawn McCarthy, Toronto Globe and Mail, May 4, 2016; [related] Mass Evacuation as 'Apocalyptic' Inferno Engulfs Canadian Tar Sands City - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, May 4, 2016
• Break Free: Largest Civil Disobedience In Environmental Movement History - By Break Free Coalition, Popular Resistance, May 3, 2016
• 'Today Marks the End of TTIP': Greenpeace Leak Exposes Corporate Takeover - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, May 2, 2016
• How to Create an "Ecology of Change" by Combining Movement Uprisings With Long-Term Organizing - By Mark Karlin, Truthout, May 1, 2016
• The welfare of workers should be our primary concern… - By Gary Herman, Union Solidarity International, April 27, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Break Free 2016 - May 2016
• Convergence In Support of Eco-Prisoners & Against Toxic Prisons - June 11-13, 2016
• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution - July 24, 2016, Philadelphia | #CleanEnergyMarch
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Legalizing Direct Action in Pennsylvania [video] - By Richard Mellor, Facts For Working People, May 7, 2016
• A Growing and WINNING Climate Movement - By Lena Moffitt, Sierra Club, May 2, 2016
• NUHW joins the No Coal In Oakland movement - By Staff, National Union of Healthcare Workers, April 18, 2016 
  

Just Transition:

• AGL: Energy transition can happen “almost overnight” - By Giles Parkinson, REnew Economy, May 5, 2016
• David Suzuki: Divest from Damage and Invest in a Healthier Future - By David Suzuki, DeSmog Blog, May 4, 2016
• Coalfield political theater masks path to progress - By Ken Ward Jr, Charleston Gazette-Mail, May 3, 2016
• May Day in Oslo - By Jonathan Neale, Global Climate Jobs, May 2, 2016
• Taking a bigger Leap when it comes to building green - By Matthew Adams and Melinda Zytaruk, Rabble.Ca, May 2, 2016
• Waste Done Right - By Ruth Tyson, Energy Justice Network, May 1, 2016
• We Are Mother Earth’s Red Line: Frontline Communities Lead The Climate Justice Fight Beyond The Paris Agreement - By It Takes Roots To Weather The Storm, The Leap, April 29, 2016
• World Tree to Reverse Climate Change through Earth-Repair - By Jordan Fink and Daniel Lerch, KBOO, March 23, 2016 

Bread and Roses:

• Boycott Supporters Speak Out for Food & Farmworkers Justice this May Day - By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, May 6, 2016
• Wendy’s Boycott actions heat up as Month of Outrage winds down! - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, May 6, 2016
• Environmental Disaster in Chile: Chiloe En Crisis - By Erin Gallagher, Revolution News, May 5, 2016; [relateed] Chile: Fisherman Barricade Chiloe Island; Protest Government Response to Red Tide Crisis - By Erin Gallagher, Revolution News, May 4, 2016
• Familias Unidas at May Day Events Throughout the State of Washington - By Staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, May 5, 2016
• Intervention by La Via Campesina at the ‘30th FAO Regional Conference for Europe and Central Asia’, in Turkey - By Adnan Çobanoğlu, La Via Campesina, May 5, 2016
• Interview with Wendy Cruz on the challenges for the advance of Agrarian Reform - By Wendy Cruz, La Via Campesina, May 4, 2016
• 160+ Farm and Food Groups Ask Congress to Reject TPP, Stand Up for Independent Farmers and Ranchers - By staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, May 2, 2016
• The Little-Known Farmworkers Who Sparked the Biggest Labor Movement In U.S. History - By Alexa Strabuk, Yes!, May 1, 2016
• Trabajadores agrícolas en Bellingham (WA) llaman a boicotear Driscoll’s - By Por Niñx Salvaje, SubVersiones, April 29, 2016
• What’s a Carbon Farmer? How California Ranchers Use Dirt to Tackle Climate Change - By Sally Neas, Yes!, April 29, 2016
• Familias Unidas and Allies Keep Up the Pressure for Contract Negotiation with Sakuma Brothers Farms, Washington State - By Debi Covert-Bowlds, Farm Worker Ministry-Northwest, April 27, 2016
• Farm Workers Are Taking On Poor Pay And Conditions — And Winning - By Joseph Erbentraut, Huffington Post, April 27, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 3, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists*:

Lead Stories:

• Heatwaves will hit workers’ health in warming world, warns UN - By Arthur Neslen, Climate Change News, April 28, 2016
• Rail workers dispute lobby group’s take on Lac Mégantic disaster - By Grant Robertson, Toronto Globe and Mail, April 28, 2016; [related] As Lac-Mégantic proved, braking procedures matter - By Ron Kaminkow, Toronto Globe and Mail, April 28, 2016
• Fossil Capital: the rise of steam power and the roots of global warming - By Irma Allen, The Ecologist, April 27, 2016
• Loservilles and Ghost Dance - By George Wuerthner, Counterpunch, April 26, 2016
• Misunderstanding the Leap, critics fall flat - By Christopher Majka, Rabble.Ca, April 26, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Break Free 2016 - May 2016
• Convergence In Support of Eco-Prisoners & Against Toxic Prisons - June 11-13, 2016
• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution - July 24, 2016, Philadelphia | #CleanEnergyMarch
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Northern Arizona U. Students Launch Sit-In as Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement Sweeps Country - Michaela Mujica-Steiner and Karina Gonzalez by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, April 29, 2016
• Reclaim the power! Progress towards a fossil-free UK - By Guy Shrubsole, The Ecologist, April 29, 2016
  

Just Transition:

• Solidarity Sunday celebrates community resistance to opencast coal mining - By Staff, Reclaim the Power, May 1, 2016
• Devil capitalism sending us to hell - By Gary Engler, The New Commune-ist Manifesto, April 29, 2016
• USW response to 350.org’s ‘Break Free from Fossil Fuel’ actions targeting oil refineries - By Staff, United Steelworkers, April 26, 2016; [counterpoint] Can the Climate Movement Break Free From the 'Jobs vs. Environment' Debate? - By Kate Aronoff, Common Dreams, April 30, 2016; [related] Using the “Public Trust” to Frame “Break Free From Fossil Fuels” Actions - By Jeremy Brecher and David Solnit, Labor Network for Sustainability, April 29, 2016
• Benefits of Community Energy in Canada - By Elizabeth Perry, Work and Climate Change Report, April 24, 2016
• Demanding a Just Transition for Peabody Coal Workers - By Elizabeth Perry, Work and Climate Change Report, April 24, 2016
• Employment in Canadian Clean Tech and U.S. Clean Energy - By Elizabeth Perry, Work and Climate Change Report, April 24, 2016
• The Leap Manifesto is a path to jobs and justice - By Crystal Lameman, Toronto Globe and Mail, April 22, 2016
• Comment: Switched On London launch bid for new municipal energy company - By Archie Davies, Greenpeace Energy Desk, April 21, 2016
• As Oil Jobs Dry Up, Workers Turn to Solar Sector - By Lynn Cook, Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• March For Dignity International Workers Day - By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, April 28, 2016
• National boycott of Wendy’s spreads westward during Month of Outrage… - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, April 28, 2016
• Peasants in Asia give inputs to ‘UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants & Other People Working in Rural Areas’ - By staff, La Via Campesina, April 28, 2016
• Migrant agricultural workers dreaming a better future - By Scott Neigh, Rabble.Ca, April 27, 2016
• Farm Defenders Occupy the Gill Tract Again to Halt Construction Indefinitely - By staff, Earth First! Newswire, April 26, 2016
• Back to the future: Wendy’s shows 20th century disdain for consumers’ intelligence with 21st century marketing push… - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, April 25, 2016
• Food Products Industry and their Supply Chains - By Elizabeth Perry, Work and Climate Change Report, April 25, 2016
• Student Activists Confront PepsiCo Executive on Conflict Palm Oil - By Jessica Serrante, The Understory, April 25, 2016