Climate Change Archives - Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo https://ministeriohda.com/category/climate-change/ Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo Wed, 06 May 2020 01:07:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/ministeriohda.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/MINISTERIO-LOGO-SOLO.png?fit=27%2C32&ssl=1 Climate Change Archives - Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo https://ministeriohda.com/category/climate-change/ 32 32 210091787 Expanding the Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline Would Put Water and Climate At Risk https://ministeriohda.com/expanding-the-line-3-tar-sands-pipeline-would-put-water-and-climate-at-risk/ Wed, 06 May 2020 01:07:31 +0000 https://caridad.vamtam.com/?p=20268 Trump lost big in court last Friday when a federal judge in Alaska threw out his plan to open up the Arctic Ocean to more oil drilling. Trump lost big...

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Trump lost big in court last Friday when a federal judge in Alaska threw out his plan to open up the Arctic Ocean to more oil drilling.

Trump lost big in court last Friday. A federal judge in Alaska threw out his plan to open up the Arctic Ocean to more oil drilling. Trump was hoping no one would notice the fact that the Arctic had already been permanently protected from drilling by President Obama, but a coalition of environmental and Alaska Native groups, including Greenpeace, took him to court and won! This ruling is a vindication of your hard-fought activism to protect the Arctic and roll back the expansion of the oil industry — and it shows that Trump, for all his bluster and crazy tweets, has to respect the rule of law. Here’s how we got here.

Saying No to Shell

The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, and oil and gas companies have cynically tried to take advantage of the region’s melting ice to search for new places to drill. In 2015, Royal Dutch Shell made a play to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea, north of Alaska. Not only would this have been a disaster for the climate, but an oil spill in the Arctic would be impossible to clean up. Not to mention that Shell’s history of screw-ups and mistakes didn’t exactly inspire confidence. Greenpeace and the climate movement rose up to say #ShellNo. People piled into kayaks and canoes to confront Shell’s drilling rig, the Polar Pioneer, in Seattle.

Obama Protects the Arctic Ocean

Building on this momentum, thousands of people called on President Obama to use his legal authority to make the U.S. Arctic Ocean off limits from future oil drilling. In late 2016, Obama took action to permanently protect all of the Chukchi Sea and the vast majority of the Beaufort Sea — as well as a number of biologically important undersea canyons in the Atlantic.This was a big victory for the people-powered climate movement, signalling that the relentless expansion of the oil industry into new areas was finally at an end.But then Trump happened.

The Trump Twist

Trump came into office calling climate change a hoax and giving handouts to dirty energy companies. His plan to open up nearly every U.S. coastline to more oil and gas drilling was extremely unpopular, and in the case of the Arctic Ocean, it outright ignored the fact that Obama had already ruled out future leasing there.

Trump’s new offshore oil plan called for lease sales in the Beaufort Sea starting in 2019 and the Chukchi Sea in 2020. In response, Greenpeace joined with other groups in a lawsuit to challenge the plan in court. Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council led the litigation, representing Greenpeace along with Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, League of Conservation Voters, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.

The key issue was that when Congress enacted the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), it gave the president authority to withdraw areas from oil and gas leasing, but made no mention of revoking previous withdrawals.

John Doe Tweet
That’s an act that only Congress itself can take. Judge Sharon Gleason agreed with this analysis, and as she stated in her ruling, Obama’s withdrawals “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress.” The government may appeal this ruling, but for now this is a big victory for the climate.

The post Expanding the Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline Would Put Water and Climate At Risk appeared first on Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo.

]]> 20268 What Should We Know About Wildfires in California https://ministeriohda.com/what-should-we-know-about-wildfires-in-california/ Wed, 06 May 2020 01:06:32 +0000 https://caridad.vamtam.com/?p=20264 This year has already broken records As California enters an already historic and devastating wildfire season, little attention has been given to the issues that can make wildfires bigger, faster,...

The post What Should We Know About Wildfires in California appeared first on Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo.

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This year has already broken records

As California enters an already historic and devastating wildfire season, little attention has been given to the issues that can make wildfires bigger, faster, and more dangerous to people and our nation’s treasured wildlands. Here’s a look at what’s behind the occurrence of forest and wildland fires today.

This year has already broken records, with the largest wildfire in the state’s history just one of many fires burning simultaneously through more than 2.5 million acres and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate their homes — all during a global pandemic where air quality and the ability to shelter-in-place are of critical importance to COVID-19 outcomes. In 2018, the Camp Fire in Northern California became the most deadly fire in the state’s recorded history. That same year, destructive fires burned in Southern California – the Woolsey and Hill fires engulfed iconic areas of Malibu and West Hills, leaving dozens dead, hundreds missing, and thousands of structures destroyed.

Some politicians and corporations spread misinformation and false solutions

Dramatic media stories tend to highlight what’s currently happening with firefighting efforts, but little attention is spent looking at the vast number of issues that influence wildfire behavior and how they impact people and our nation’s treasured wildlands.

Worse, some politicians and corporations spread misinformation and false solutions when fires burn in an attempt to capitalize on these emergency situations and push an anti-environmental agenda. Trump and his Department of the Interior have long parroted talking points from a logging industry that is trying to gut environmental safeguards and increase taxpayer subsidized logging on public lands.

The following list is not a specific analysis of current or recent events, but rather a wider look at trends impacting the occurrence of both forest and wildland fires today.

Obama Protects the Arctic Ocean

Building on this momentum, thousands of people called on President Obama to use his legal authority to make the U.S. Arctic Ocean off limits from future oil drilling. In late 2016, Obama took action to permanently protect all of the Chukchi Sea and the vast majority of the Beaufort Sea — as well as a number of biologically important undersea canyons in the Atlantic.This was a big victory for the people-powered climate movement, signalling that the relentless expansion of the oil industry into new areas was finally at an end.But then Trump happened.

The Trump Twist

Trump came into office calling climate change a hoax and giving handouts to dirty energy companies. His plan to open up nearly every U.S. coastline to more oil and gas drilling was extremely unpopular, and in the case of the Arctic Ocean, it outright ignored the fact that Obama had already ruled out future leasing there.

Trump’s new offshore oil plan called for lease sales in the Beaufort Sea starting in 2019 and the Chukchi Sea in 2020. In response, Greenpeace joined with other groups in a lawsuit to challenge the plan in court. Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council led the litigation, representing Greenpeace along with Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, League of Conservation Voters, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.

The key issue was that when Congress enacted the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), it gave the president authority to withdraw areas from oil and gas leasing, but made no mention of revoking previous withdrawals.

John Doe Tweet
That’s an act that only Congress itself can take. Judge Sharon Gleason agreed with this analysis, and as she stated in her ruling, Obama’s withdrawals “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress.” The government may appeal this ruling, but for now this is a big victory for the climate.

The post What Should We Know About Wildfires in California appeared first on Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo.

]]> 20264 10 Things You Need to Know About the Students Skipping School to Fight Climate Change https://ministeriohda.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-students-skipping-school-to-fight-climate-change/ Wed, 06 May 2020 01:04:24 +0000 https://caridad.vamtam.com/?p=20256 “Adults — if you feel uncomfortable now, you’re going to feel uncomfortable for a while. Because we’re never going to back down.” Isra Hirsi just turned 16 years old. To...

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“Adults — if you feel uncomfortable now, you’re going to feel uncomfortable for a while. Because we’re never going to back down.”

Isra Hirsi just turned 16 years old. To celebrate, she came home from school and spent three hours on conference calls.

Isra, a student at South High School in Minneapolis, is one of thousands of students around the world planning a massive Youth Climate Strike for March 15. With a few weeks to go, there are already strikes planned for 47 countries and almost all 50 states. Isra is one of three organizers who are bringing the movement — inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s weekly climate strikes — to the United States.

I caught up with Isra to talk about her work as a student organizer and why she’s done waiting for adults to save her generation from the climate crisis.

You’re not exactly new at this. How did you get started in organizing?

The crisis in Flint, Michigan in 2014 flipped the switch for me. I remember being in middle school seeing on TV that kids were getting lead poisoning not that far away from me, in communities that looked like mine. I just thought it was horrible.

Now here we have the Line 3 pipeline, and I’ve been doing a lot of Line 3 work. All of these things are happening right around me so I know I can do something about it.

I caught up with Isra to talk about her work as a student organizer and why she’s done waiting for adults to save her generation from the climate crisis.

How did you get involved in the student strike movement?

The idea to bring the movement to the United States came from Haven Coleman. I got involved because Haven DM’ed me on Instagram and told me she was organizing this and wanted me to organize my state. I was like, “Hey is anyone actually helping you do this nationally?” and she said no. So I was like, “cool, I’ll help you!”

The Trump Twist

Trump came into office calling climate change a hoax and giving handouts to dirty energy companies. His plan to open up nearly every U.S. coastline to more oil and gas drilling was extremely unpopular, and in the case of the Arctic Ocean, it outright ignored the fact that Obama had already ruled out future leasing there.

Trump’s new offshore oil plan called for lease sales in the Beaufort Sea starting in 2019 and the Chukchi Sea in 2020. In response, Greenpeace joined with other groups in a lawsuit to challenge the plan in court. Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council led the litigation, representing Greenpeace along with Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, League of Conservation Voters, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.

The key issue was that when Congress enacted the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), it gave the president authority to withdraw areas from oil and gas leasing, but made no mention of revoking previous withdrawals.

John Doe Tweet
That’s an act that only Congress itself can take. Judge Sharon Gleason agreed with this analysis, and as she stated in her ruling, Obama’s withdrawals “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress.” The government may appeal this ruling, but for now this is a big victory for the climate.

The post 10 Things You Need to Know About the Students Skipping School to Fight Climate Change appeared first on Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo.

]]> 20256 What if we treated our oceans like they matter? https://ministeriohda.com/what-if-we-treated-our-oceans-like-they-matter/ Wed, 06 May 2020 01:03:01 +0000 https://caridad.vamtam.com/?p=20252 The seas provide half of our oxygen, and food for a billion people. Let’s give them the protection they deserve. Under the restless surface of our seas, hundreds of miles...

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The seas provide half of our oxygen, and food for a billion people. Let’s give them the protection they deserve.

Under the restless surface of our seas, hundreds of miles from land, there’s a world of giants and hunters; ancient lifeforms and lost cities.

These waters beyond national borders are home to creatures even more varied than in the tropical rainforests. They contain the highest and longest mountain range anywhere on our planet, and trenches deep enough to hold Mount Everest. They’re the highways for whales, turtles, albatross and tuna on their cross-planet migrations.

The oceans produce half of our oxygen

The oceans produce half of our oxygen, and food for a billion people. And because they soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide, they’re also one of our best defenses against climate change. Our fate is bound to the fate of our oceans. If they don’t make it, we don’t either.
If the rescue plan goes ahead, it’ll be one of the biggest conservation efforts in human history, creating millions of square kilometers of new protected areas.

Here’s the problem: at the moment, there’s no way to create new sanctuaries outside countries’ national waters. We can’t protect these huge areas of the ocean without an international agreement on how this protection would work.

Governments have started work on a UN Ocean Treaty, and if they get it right it’ll give us the tools we need to make these sanctuaries happen.

Obama Protects the Arctic Ocean

Building on this momentum, thousands of people called on President Obama to use his legal authority to make the U.S. Arctic Ocean off limits from future oil drilling. In late 2016, Obama took action to permanently protect all of the Chukchi Sea and the vast majority of the Beaufort Sea — as well as a number of biologically important undersea canyons in the Atlantic.This was a big victory for the people-powered climate movement, signalling that the relentless expansion of the oil industry into new areas was finally at an end.But then Trump happened.

Ocean Sanctuaries Work

Trump came into office calling climate change a hoax and giving handouts to dirty energy companies. His plan to open up nearly every U.S. coastline to more oil and gas drilling was extremely unpopular, and in the case of the Arctic Ocean, it outright ignored the fact that Obama had already ruled out future leasing there.

Trump’s new offshore oil plan called for lease sales in the Beaufort Sea starting in 2019 and the Chukchi Sea in 2020. In response, Greenpeace joined with other groups in a lawsuit to challenge the plan in court. Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council led the litigation, representing Greenpeace along with Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, League of Conservation Voters, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.

The key issue was that when Congress enacted the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), it gave the president authority to withdraw areas from oil and gas leasing, but made no mention of revoking previous withdrawals.

John Doe Tweet
That’s an act that only Congress itself can take. Judge Sharon Gleason agreed with this analysis, and as she stated in her ruling, Obama’s withdrawals “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress.” The government may appeal this ruling, but for now this is a big victory for the climate.

The post What if we treated our oceans like they matter? appeared first on Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo.

]]> 20252 Court Defeat for Trump Is a Win for the Arctic https://ministeriohda.com/court-defeat-for-trump-is-a-win-for-the-arctic-court-defeat-for-trump-is-a-win-for-the-arctic/ Wed, 06 May 2020 00:42:34 +0000 https://caridad.vamtam.com/?p=20248 Trump lost big in court last Friday when a federal judge in Alaska threw out his plan to open up the Arctic Ocean to more oil drilling. Trump lost big...

The post Court Defeat for Trump Is a Win for the Arctic appeared first on Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo.

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Trump lost big in court last Friday when a federal judge in Alaska threw out his plan to open up the Arctic Ocean to more oil drilling.

Trump lost big in court last Friday. A federal judge in Alaska threw out his plan to open up the Arctic Ocean to more oil drilling. Trump was hoping no one would notice the fact that the Arctic had already been permanently protected from drilling by President Obama, but a coalition of environmental and Alaska Native groups, including Greenpeace, took him to court and won! This ruling is a vindication of your hard-fought activism to protect the Arctic and roll back the expansion of the oil industry — and it shows that Trump, for all his bluster and crazy tweets, has to respect the rule of law. Here’s how we got here.

Saying No to Shell

The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, and oil and gas companies have cynically tried to take advantage of the region’s melting ice to search for new places to drill. In 2015, Royal Dutch Shell made a play to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea, north of Alaska. Not only would this have been a disaster for the climate, but an oil spill in the Arctic would be impossible to clean up. Not to mention that Shell’s history of screw-ups and mistakes didn’t exactly inspire confidence. Greenpeace and the climate movement rose up to say #ShellNo. People piled into kayaks and canoes to confront Shell’s drilling rig, the Polar Pioneer, in Seattle.

Obama Protects the Arctic Ocean

Building on this momentum, thousands of people called on President Obama to use his legal authority to make the U.S. Arctic Ocean off limits from future oil drilling. In late 2016, Obama took action to permanently protect all of the Chukchi Sea and the vast majority of the Beaufort Sea — as well as a number of biologically important undersea canyons in the Atlantic.This was a big victory for the people-powered climate movement, signalling that the relentless expansion of the oil industry into new areas was finally at an end.But then Trump happened.

The Trump Twist

Trump came into office calling climate change a hoax and giving handouts to dirty energy companies. His plan to open up nearly every U.S. coastline to more oil and gas drilling was extremely unpopular, and in the case of the Arctic Ocean, it outright ignored the fact that Obama had already ruled out future leasing there.

Trump’s new offshore oil plan called for lease sales in the Beaufort Sea starting in 2019 and the Chukchi Sea in 2020. In response, Greenpeace joined with other groups in a lawsuit to challenge the plan in court. Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council led the litigation, representing Greenpeace along with Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, League of Conservation Voters, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.

The key issue was that when Congress enacted the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), it gave the president authority to withdraw areas from oil and gas leasing, but made no mention of revoking previous withdrawals.

John Doe Tweet
That’s an act that only Congress itself can take. Judge Sharon Gleason agreed with this analysis, and as she stated in her ruling, Obama’s withdrawals “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress.” The government may appeal this ruling, but for now this is a big victory for the climate.

The post Court Defeat for Trump Is a Win for the Arctic appeared first on Ministerio Hijos del Altisimo.

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