When we fund wars and fossil fuel subsidies instead of green jobs and disaster recovery, we punish those who can least afford it. ( Otherwords.org ) – This year’s hurricane season has been devastating. Hurricane Helene left a trail of wreckage across the Southeast and Appalachia, where over 230 people have died so far. Barely […]
The Troubling Message of Biden’s Trip to Saudi Arabia
( Foreign Policy in Focus) – President Biden has set out on his travels to Saudi Arabia. The implications of the trip for the intertwined issues of human rights and energy policy are dire. The Saudi Arabia visit represents a 180-degree turn for Biden, who once called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” while campaigning for president. […]
The Climate Case for Taxing Wealth
by Basav Sen and Bob Lord | – ( Inequality.org) – On April 25, Twitter’s board of directors announced an agreement to sell the company to Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, for $44 billion. That sounds like a lot of money. But Musk can afford it. One recent estimate of the Musk fortune puts […]
Pushing Back on ‘Soft Climate Denial’
( Otherwords.org) – The Biden administration claims to “believe the science” on climate, but its actions need to catch up with its words. By Basav Sen | April 20, 2022 In early April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a global scientific body, issued yet another dire report. They warned that we have barely […]
How to Truly ‘Build Back Better’ on Climate
This commentary was jointly produced by In These Times and Foreign Policy In Focus. ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The infrastructure and budget reconciliation bills moving through Congress are a mixed bag when it comes to health care, income support programs, and the care economy. On climate and environmental issues, however, they are not […]
How the Big Oil – Dictator Complex Threatens our Planet
( Foreign Policy in Focus) – This March, the leading global consulting firm IHS Markit held its CERAWeek conference, billed as the “world’s premier energy event” bringing together the “Who’s Who list of the global energy industry.” The conference’s keynote speaker and recipient of the Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award was Indian Prime Minister […]
How Big Oil is Buying our Representatives to Criminalize Environmental Protests
( Otherwords.org) – More communities are standing up to pipelines. The fossil fuel industry wants to make that a felony. By Basav Sen | December 2, 2020 A few years ago, massive protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock changed the popular narrative about what climate activism looked like. The protests made clear […]
This Is a Climate Emergency. We Need More Than Half-Measures from Democrats
By Basav Sen | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – From derechos in Iowa to dueling hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, 2020 is promising to be an election year shot through with climate disasters. Even now, raging wildfires have spawned apocalyptic landscapes from Washington State on down to the Bay Area. In style and […]
Americans want an End to Fossil Fuels, but Corporate Media won’t Tell You So
The Washington Post downplayed the most hopeful findings of their own poll on climate action, so we highlighted those findings for them.