Monthly Archives: May 2024

Amid Record Heat, Florida Meteorologist Rips GOP ‘Don’t Say Climate Change’ Law

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Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

WTVJ meteorologist Steve McLaughlin stands before a graphic showing record average global temperatures during a May 19, 2024 broadcast.
 (Photo: WTVJ screen grab)

“We implore you to please do your research and know that there are candidates that believe in climate change and that there are solutions, and there are candidates that don’t.”

Amid what’s shaping up to be the hottest May on record in Miami, one local South Florida TV meteorologist recently slammed new Republican legislation prohibiting the mention of climate change in state law and implored Floridians to vote for candidates who “believe in climate change” and solutions to the planetary emergency.

The new law, signed last week by Republican Gov. DeSantis, also deprioritizes climate considerations in policy decisions, promotes fossil fuel infrastructure development, and bans the installation of wind turbines in state waters. While signing the bill, the failed 2024 GOP presidential contender said Florida was “restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots.”

As South Floridians suffered record-breaking temperatures and a heat index that made it feel as hot as 110°F on Saturday, WTVJ meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin stood before a graphic showing that April was the 11th straight hottest month on record globally and said that Florida’s government is “starting to roll back really important climate change legislation and really important climate change language.”

This, despite the “record heat, record flooding, record rain, record insurance rates, and the corals are dying all around the state” in recent years, MacLaughlin continued. “The entire world is looking to Florida to lead in climate change and our government is saying that climate change is no longer the priority it once was.”

While not mentioning DeSantis by name, MacLaughlin said: “Please keep in mind the most powerful climate change solution is the one you already have in the palm of your hand: the right to vote… We implore you to please do your research and know that there are candidates that believe in climate change and that there are solutions, and there are candidates that don’t.”

The so-called “Don’t Say Climate Change” law signed by DeSantis is but the latest salvo in the right-wing governor’s “war on woke” that includes rolling back LGBTQ+, student, migrant, reproductive, protest, First Amendment, and other rights and protections.

As the planetary emergency fuels hotter, more dangerous weather in Florida, DeSantis has also attacked the state’s workers by signing a law prohibiting local governments from requiring employers to provide water breaks and other cooling measures.

“Workers in Florida will die in the Florida heat as a result of Gov. DeSantis’ signing this bill,” Public Citizen worker health and safety advocate Juley Fulcher said after the governor signed the law last month. “Denying any worker access to water or shade in the heat of summer is inhumane and cruel, yet Florida just allowed employers to do exactly that.”

Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingAmid Record Heat, Florida Meteorologist Rips GOP ‘Don’t Say Climate Change’ Law

ISRAEL LOBBY FUNDED A THIRD OF CONSERVATIVE MPS

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-a-third-of-conservative-mps/

Lobby groups funded trips to Israel for Sue-Ellen ‘Suella’ Braverman. (Photo: Imageplotter / Alamy)

Exclusive: Tory politicians have accepted over £430,000 from Israel lobby groups and made 187 trips to the country.

  • Suella Braverman received largest contribution for her visit to Israel this year

Some 126 of the Tory party’s 344 MPs have accepted funding from pro-Israel lobby groups, Declassified has found. 

The revelation comes as Rishi Sunak calls a general election in which his unequivocal backing of Israel could cost the party votes.

The value of the donations or hospitality amounts to over £430,000, with the organisations paying for sitting Conservative MPs to visit Israel on 187 occasions.

Some of those trips also involved visits to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a small number were co-sponsored by groups which do not form part of the Israel lobby.

The main funder is Conservative Friends of Israel, a parliamentary group which does not disclose its own sources of funding. 

Other notable donors include the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange, and the European Leadership Network.

Thirteen Tory politicians have accepted over £50,000 in total to travel to Israel since 7 October, including for “solidarity” missions.

Friends of Israel

Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) is a pro-Israel lobby group set up in 1974 by Michael Fidler, a Tory politician described in one biography as having political views “reminiscent of the philosophy of Enoch Powell”.

The organisation has long standing links with the Israeli state, and is “beginning to resemble the Westminster outpost for Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud coalition”, according to veteran journalist Peter Oborne.

Around 80 percent of Tory MPs are members of CFI. Over the past decade, it has taken more MPs on overseas trips than any other political donor in Britain.

Publicly available data reviewed by Declassified shows that CFI has funded 118 sitting Tory MPs to travel to Israel on 160 occasions, providing over £330,000 towards the visits.

Those MPs include deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, home secretary James Cleverly, and justice secretary Alex Chalk, prior to their appointment to the cabinet.

Some 22 of those CFI-led visits have been subsidised by the Israeli foreign ministry to the tune of over £8,000 in total.

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Article continues at https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-a-third-of-conservative-mps/

Continue ReadingISRAEL LOBBY FUNDED A THIRD OF CONSERVATIVE MPS

DWP under investigation by equalities regulator over treatment of disabled people

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/dwp-under-investigation-by-equalities-regulator-over-treatment-of-disabled-people/

EHRC ‘extremely worried’ about the treatment of disabled benefits claimants by the government department

An investigation has been launched into whether the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) broke equality law over its treatment of disabled benefits claimants. 

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is investigating a suspicion that the department failed to make reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities or long-term mental health conditions when carrying out benefit health assessments. 

A further probe will be carried out into whether the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ was compliant with equality commitments when developing, implementing and monitoring policy guidance into health assessments. 

The regulator first started looking into the department after a group of MPs recommended in 2021 an investigation into the deaths of vulnerable claimants, including by suicide, between 2008 and 2020. 

Following this, the EHRC found further action was required and has now decided to pursue a formal investigation, the first of its kind into a government department. 

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Article continues at https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/dwp-under-investigation-by-equalities-regulator-over-treatment-of-disabled-people/

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Could the global cost of climate change really be six times worse than thought?

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/features/could-the-global-cost-of-climate-change-really-be-six-times-worse-than-thought/?cf-view

Landscape of the North Pole where climate change has caused melting ice caps. Photo: Mongkolchon Akesin/Shutterstock.

A paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that each degree of global heating could reduce global GDP by 12%.

A new paper written for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) suggests that the global economic cost of climate change could be around six times higher than previous estimations.

The paper, written by Northwestern economics professor Diego Känzig and Harvard economics professor Adrien Bilal, suggests that every one degree of atmospheric warming reduces global GDP by 12%.

It uses global heating data cross-referenced against aggregated national GDPs to come to a higher figure. The authors believe that this model provides a more complete picture, as many of the shocks, including extreme wind and precipitation, are affected by global conditions rather than localised heating.

It also places the social cost of carbon (SCC) at over $1,000/tCO2. This global measure estimates the economic damage caused by every tonne of carbon emitted and has historically been set far lower. According to the authors, their own calculations would only place the SCC at $151/tCO2 if evaluating local rather than global temperature shocks.

What does this mean for global economies?

The findings of this paper are clearly worrying as they suggest the threat to markets posed by climate change is significantly higher than previously quantifiable. The authors of the paper describe the impacts of a 1°C as “of the same magnitude as the growth impacts that typically occur after severe banking or financial crises,” and the long-term impacts of climate change as “comparable to the economic damage caused by fighting a war domestically and permanently [italics theirs].”

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Article continues at https://www.energymonitor.ai/features/could-the-global-cost-of-climate-change-really-be-six-times-worse-than-thought/?cf-view

Continue ReadingCould the global cost of climate change really be six times worse than thought?

Shell is suing Greenpeace for a peaceful protest.

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https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/shell-suing-greenpeace-legal-fund/

Shell is suing Greenpeace – threatening a multi million dollar lawsuit and a protest ban. We need your help to fight in court.

Earlier this year, six Greenpeace International activists managed to board and occupy a moving Shell oil platform. The platform was making its way towards the North Sea to unlock new oil wells.

Our demand was clear: Shell must stop drilling for new oil and gas, and start paying up for causing decades of climate damage.

The protest continued for 13 days and almost 4,000km. During this time, Shell reported record annual profits of nearly $40bn. But they won’t pay a penny towards fixing the climate chaos they’ve caused.

Like so many of us, the activists who occupied Shells’ platform all experience the climate crisis in different ways – from rising energy bills and flooding to heatwaves and typhoons. This protest took the fight for climate justice straight to Shell, in a way they couldn’t ignore. Standing with millions of people worldwide, who are losing their lives, loved ones and homes to climate breakdown caused by fossil fuel giants.

Well, we got Shell’s attention. Now they’re suing Greenpeace UK and Greenpeace International, threatening a multi million dollar lawsuit and a protest ban.

These bullying tactics threaten the global fight for climate justice. Will you help us stand up to Shell and donate today to the Stop Shell Appeal?

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Article continues at https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/shell-suing-greenpeace-legal-fund/

Continue ReadingShell is suing Greenpeace for a peaceful protest.