Category Archives: Climate Change

Climate Change, ExxonMobil, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Rex Tillerson, Trump

NYT: In Rebuke of Trump, Tillerson Says Lies Are a Threat to Democracy

Repost from the New York Times
[Editorial comment by Marilyn Bardet: “How ironic! For years, Exxon promulgated lies, denying or casting doubt on any scientific research that pointed to humans’ contribution…to climate change, despite the fact that Exxon funded its own independent research on climate that confirmed the very thing the company denied!  Go figure.  So, Tillerson’s statements now are rather astounding— almost bespeaking a conversion or ‘mea culpa’. He’s certainly not wrong that the lies now being told by Trump and Co. thwart the existence of any semblance of democracy.”  — Marilyn Bardet]

In Rebuke of Trump, Tillerson Says Lies Are a Threat to Democracy

Rex W. Tillerson, the former secretary of state, in March. Credit Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press
By Gardiner Harris, May 16, 2018

WASHINGTON — In what appeared to be a rebuke of President Trump, former Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson warned on Wednesday that American democracy is threatened by a “growing crisis in ethics and integrity.”

“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom,” he said in a commencement address at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va.

Even small falsehoods and exaggerations are problematic, Mr. Tillerson said. (Mr. Trump is prone to both.)

“When we as people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth even on what may seem the most trivial matters, we go wobbly on America,” Mr. Tillerson said.

“If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society and among our leaders in both the public and private sector — and regrettably at times even the nonprofit sector — then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years,” Mr. Tillerson warned.

The former Eagle Scout — who often cited a commitment to respect, integrity and accountability as the guideposts of his life and leadership — has been in near-seclusion at his Texas ranch since he was fired by tweet in March, just hours after returning from a trip through Africa. He had agreed to deliver the V.M.I. commencement address before he was fired.

Climate action, Climate activists, Climate Change, Global warming, Juliana v. the United States, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Legal action

These Teens Just Won a Victory Over the Trump Administration in Court

Repost from Mother Jones
[Editor: For more on this story, see Our Children’s Trust, and Climate Liability News.  – RS]

The plaintiffs are arguing that the government’s actions have caused climate change which violates their constitutional rights.

By Amy Thomson, Apr.  13, 2018 3:44 PM
Eighteen of the 21 kids and young adults suing Trump, their lawyers, and supporters pose for a photo outside the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. | Amy Thomson

“We the people are ready to leave,” sang a small choir of climate activists in downtown San Francisco, “’cause the White House makin’ it hard to breathe.” 

That was the rallying cry in support of the 21 plaintiffs, ages 22 and younger, who are suing the federal government for causing climate change damages and thereby violating their constitutional rights. Last year, on December 11, a crowd of around 100 people gathered across the street from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco where oral arguments were being heard as the government defendants tried to argue the case should not go to trial.

But the court ruled in favor of the young plaintiffs last month, and on Thursday, a US magistrate judge set a trial date for October 29 in Eugene, Ore.   Continue reading These Teens Just Won a Victory Over the Trump Administration in Court →

Climate Change, Climate change denial, Global warming, Greenhouse gas emissions, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Oil industry knew, Shell Oil

Here is what #Shell Knew about Climate Change in the 1980s

Repost from DeSmogBlog
[Editor: Here’s the link to the original 1988 Shell internal document.  ALSO, see previous stories 2015-2016.  – RS]

Here is what #Shell Knew about Climate Change in the 1980s

By Mat Hope • Wednesday, April 4, 2018 – 23:15
Cover pages of a Shell internal document

Shell knew climate change was going to be big, was going to be bad, and that its products were responsible for global warming all the way back in the 1980s, a tranche of new documents reveal.

Documents unearthed by Jelmer Mommers of De Correspondent, published today on Climate Files, a project of the Climate Investigations Center, show intense interest in climate change internally at Shell.

The documents date back to 1988, meaning Shell was doing climate change research before the UN’s scientific authority on the issue, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was established.

Here’s a quick run through of a 1988 document entitled, ‘The Greenhouse Effect’. Continue reading Here is what #Shell Knew about Climate Change in the 1980s →

Climate Change, Climate change denial, COP21 Climate Conference Paris, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Scott Pruitt, US Environmental Protection Agency

NRDC: It’s Time to Fire Scott Pruitt

Repost from Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

It’s Time to Fire Scott Pruitt

Expert Blog, by Rhea Suh, March 29, 2018 Rhea Suh 
The EPA administrator is a threat to the environment and our health.
Susan Walsh/AP

What’s in a silver dollar? Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb? What’s the purpose of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?

Some questions answer themselves, but EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt gets the easiest one completely wrong. He’s made it his job to protect polluters and put the environment at risk.

It’s not the agency’s mission that needs changing―it’s the administrator. Scott Pruitt’s got to go.

That’s not a position NRDC takes lightly. We’ve disagreed with EPA administrators before. Pruitt, though, is intent on making the agency fail. That’s why we’ve joined with other environmental advocacy groups to call on President Trump to replace Pruitt with someone who’ll protect the people, not the polluters. Continue reading NRDC: It’s Time to Fire Scott Pruitt →