By BILL ONASCH This year’s Earth Day, hosted by the UN, was staged to be all about climate change. The chosen venue came attached with some historical irony. The land for the New York City complex housing the United Nations Headquarters was donated by John D. Rockefeller. His father started him off as a director of … Continue reading Capitalism cannot solve the climate crisis
By CHRISTINE MARIE A Dec. 12 rally and march for Jobs, Justice, Climate in Boston constituted the first coordinated effort by New England 350.org chapters to build concrete relationships with economic justice and social justice organizations. New England 350 developed a partnership with several key Boston-based unions and immigrant rights organizations, gathered the endorsements of … Continue reading Boston climate march built solidarity
BY JEFF MACKLER OAKLAND, Calif.—Organized by a broad coalition of environmental, social justice, labor, antiwar, anti-racist, and faith-based groups across Northern California, some 3000 mobilized on Saturday, Nov. 21, to demand immediate action to stop and reverse global warming and associated climate-change-influenced catastrophes. The mobilization was part of the worldwide effort to protest the Nov. … Continue reading Bay Area protests Paris climate talks
By BILL ONASCH The world market for cars and trucks is booming. So are profits in most of the industry. Unionized auto workers in the U.S. have been properly focused the past few months on contract negotiations with General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler that determine their wages, benefits, and working conditions for the next … Continue reading Just transition on the road through Paris
By CARL SACK On Nov. 6, U.S. President Barack Obama formally denied TransCanada’s application for approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The 1200-mile-long pipeline would have carried heavy crude oil (called bitumen) from tar-sands mines in northern Alberta, Canada, across the U.S. Great Plains states to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast. Tar-sands oil … Continue reading Climate movement defeats XL pipeline
By CHRISTINE FRANK The New York Times recently reported that even if all nations were to achieve their current greenhouse gas reduction pledges (it is doubtful they actually have the will to do so), a disastrous level of planetary warming of 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit would still take place by the century's end—which is to … Continue reading Climate activists call for end to fossil fuels
By BILL ONASCH > Socialist Action members in Minneapolis write: “On Saturday, Oct. 10, over 400 enthusiastic participants joined a rally and march on U.S. bank in Northeast Minneapolis. U.S. Bank has actively lobbied against fair wages and treatment for workers and simultaneously financed dirty industries. The concurrent exploitation of workers and the earth is … Continue reading Labor Briefing
By CARL SACK An estimated 400,000 people took to the streets of Manhattan on Sept. 21 for the largest single climate change protest to date. The People’s Climate March, which took place two days before a one-day United Nations Climate Summit, was about twice as large as organizers had expected. There were so many present … Continue reading 400,000 March Against Climate Change
