Published on
Thursday, December 12, 2019
"If the livestock sector were to continue with business as usual," experts warn, "this sector alone would account for 49% of the emissions budget for 1.5°C by 2030."
Jessica Corbett, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/12/move-over-peak-oil-scientists-say-peak-livestock-must-arrive-decade-limit-global
In an open letter to The Lancet Planetary Health journal Wednesday, a group of scientists called for setting a date to reach "peak livestock" production and pursuing dramatic efforts to restore vegetation in the next decade to curb planet-heating emissions, increase natural carbon sequestration, and avert climate catastrophe.
Referencing the primary temperature rise targets of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the letter says that "continued growth of the livestock sector increases the risk of exceeding emissions budgets consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C and 2°C, limits the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through restoring native vegetation, and threatens remaining natural carbon sinks where land could be converted to livestock production."
Specifically, the scientists warn that "if the livestock sector were to continue with business as usual, this sector alone would account for 49% of the emissions budget for 1.5°C by 2030, requiring other sectors to reduce emissions beyond a realistic or planned level."
Helen Harwatt, a fellow at Harvard Law School and lead author of the letter, has previously published research on the necessity of driving down meat and dairy consumption to achieve global climate goals.
"Countries should be looking for peak livestock within the next 10 years," Harwatt told The Guardian Thursday. "This is because we need steep and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, as we are reaching dangerous temperature tipping points."
The letter, which lists four other scientists as co-authors and over 50 (pdf) signatories, details four measures that the scientists believe high-income and middle-income countries should implement from 2020 onward to combat the climate crisis:
First, declare a timeframe for peak livestock—i.e., livestock production from each species would not continue to increase from this point forward.
Second, within the livestock sector, identify the largest emissions sources or the largest land occupiers, or both, and set appropriate reduction targets for production. This process would be repeated sequentially, to set reduction targets for the next largest emitter or land occupier.
Third, within a reconfiguration of the agriculture sector, apply a best available food strategy to diversify food production by replacing livestock with foods that simultaneously minimize environmental burdens and maximize public health benefits—mainly pulses (including beans, peas, and lentils), grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
Fourth, when grazing land is not required or is unsuitable for horticulture or arable production, adopt a natural climate solutions approach where possible, to repurpose land as a carbon sink by restoring native vegetation cover to its maximum carbon sequestration potential with additional benefits to biodiversity.
Experts and activists have increasing pushed for pursuing natural solutions to battle climate and ecological breakdown—including with a bold campaign that launched in April. In a video released in September that featured teen activist Greta Thunberg, writer and campaign leader George Monbiot explained that "mangroves, peatbogs, jungles, marshes, seabeds, kelp forests, swamps, coral reefs, they take carbon out of the air and lock it away. Nature is a tool we can use to repair our broken climate."
The scientists behind the new letter acknowledge that their suggestions don't comprehensively cover climate mitigation actions related to agriculture, but they assert that their four key recommendations "are necessary to adhere to the equity component of the Paris agreement, and are considered part of a suite of measures that are needed across all sectors to reduce the risk of reaching temperature levels beyond the Paris goals."
Harwatt said that "we're fully aware that our call requires large-scale change across society and isn't something that can be achieved overnight or without challenges," while also noting that she has observed a recent rise in plant-based offerings.
In January, as Common Dreams reported, the EAT-Lancet Commission called for a "global agricultural revolution" and urged people around the world to adopt a "planetary health diet" to both address the current food system's devastating impacts on the environment as well as mass malnutrition.
University of Aberdeen professor Pete Smith, a signatory of the new letter and a senior author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's August report on land use and the climate crisis, pointed out that "ruminant meat is 10 to 100 times more damaging to the climate than plant-based food."
"As a planet, we need to transition away from a dependence on livestock, just as we need to to transition away from fossil fuels, if we are to have any chance of hitting the goals of the Paris climate agreement," Smith told The Guardian. "Livestock numbers need to peak very soon and thereafter decline substantially."
"Given the urgency of the climate emergency, this will need to be over the coming decade for sure," he added. "But the transition will need to be managed fairly to allow citizens to change diets and for farmers, producers and agri-food chains to diversify. In poor countries, where over 800 million people are still undernourished, priorities obviously differ."
The letter came just ahead of the conclusion of the United Nations Climate Conference in Madrid, which is set to wrap up on Friday. The COP 25 summit has brought together government representatives from around the world to discuss their efforts to combat the climate crisis, including national commitments under the Paris accord.
Monday, December 16, 2019
After House Progressives Make Move to 'Flex Our Muscles,' Pelosi Backs Down on Drug Pricing Bill
Published on
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Common Dreams
"Our movement is STRONG."
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
26 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/11/after-house-progressives-make-move-flex-our-muscles-pelosi-backs-down-drug-pricing
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, faced with a united front of progressive Democrats pushing back against a drug pricing bill seen as insufficient, blinked on Tuesday and handed her party's left flank a rare victory.
"This is what happens when progressives in Congress, backed by the grassroots, use their power to push for real change," political advocacy group Indivisible said on Twitter.
The legislation now doubles the number of drugs whose prices will be negotiated under the plan from 25 to 50 in the second year of implementation and bans price-gouging on drug pricing for 150 million Americans with private healthcare plans, according to the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC).
Pelosi, a California Democrat, relented on keeping progressive amendments out of H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, after the CPC made clear it would stop the bill in committee and not let it reach the floor unless lefty fixes were allowed.
"We need to flex our muscles," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told reporters as the compromise was still being hammered out.
According to Politico, the bill advanced Tuesday night:
The House Rules Committee later Tuesday night approved, 8-3, the rule that sets up debate on the bill, putting it on track for floor consideration. The panel also permitted a separate vote on Republicans’ bill, a measure GOP lawmakers have championed this week as a bipartisan alternative.
Progressives in Congress welcomed the deal.
"This is a huge win, and it shows what we can do when we stick together and all push hard for the American people," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chair of the CPC and author of one of the amendments reinserted into the bill, said in a statement.
Progressive advocacy group Social Security Works executive director Alex Lawson, in a statement, celebrated the win.
"Big Pharma has been revealed as a paper tiger, and they should be running scared," said Lawson.
While the bill has next to no chance of passage in the Republican-controlled Senate‚ the message sent by progressives to House leadership is clear, tweeted American Prospect journalist David Dayen, who wrote about the conflict between Pelosi and the CPC with The Intercept's Ryan Grim on Monday.
"The key here is more about how progressives forced Pelosi to the table," Dayen said. "She wanted to ignore them entirely."
However, Dayen added, the result is far from perfect.
"There is one good win and one OK win," Dayen said. "The uninsured still get no help as far as I can tell."
As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, House progressives had the suppport of 2020 Democratic preisdential candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Masss.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
"I support their efforts," Sanders tweeted of the CPC's position on the bill Monday.
Pocan, the CPC co-chair, said on Twitter that the compromise from House leadership proves that the progressive wing of the Democratic party is ascendant.
"Our movement is STRONG," said Pocan.
'Astonishing Moral Cowardice': Sanders and Khanna Denounce $738 Billion Bipartisan Pentagon Giveaway
Published on
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Common Dreams
"This bill does nothing to rein in out-of-control military spending, prevent unconstitutional war against Iran, limit the poisoning of Americans' drinking water, or end the obscenity of innocent children in Yemen being killed by U.S. bombs."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/10/astonishing-moral-cowardice-sanders-and-khanna-denounce-738-billion-bipartisan
After House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement Monday on a massive annual military spending measure, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna condemned the bipartisan compromise as "a bill of astonishing moral cowardice" that will hand the Pentagon $738 billion in 2020 while doing nothing to end U.S. complicity in Saudi Arabia's assault on Yemen.
The two progressives noted that the tens of billions of dollars in additional Pentagon spending under the 2020 NDAA would be "more than enough to fund tuition-free public college across America.""Congress should have used this National Defense Authorization Act to stop our endless wars," Sanders and Khanna said in a joint statement late Monday. "Instead, this bill does nothing to rein in out-of-control military spending, prevent unconstitutional war against Iran, limit the poisoning of Americans' drinking water, or end the obscenity of innocent children in Yemen being killed by U.S. bombs."
Sanders and Khanna added:
Voters would be appalled to know that instead of seizing the opportunity to end illegal U.S. participation in the horrific Saudi-led bombings of Yemen, Congress will continue to fund Trump's unconstitutional war, which threatens to kill 24 million Yemenis facing starvation and disease. Americans will be furious to learn that Congress refused to protect Americans from being poisoned by toxic PFAS chemicals polluting their drinking water.
Every member of Congress should vote against this measure. There is no pressing reason for Congress to shower Trump, his Saudi friends, and the Pentagon contractors of the military-industrial complex with this $738-billion taxpayer giveaway right now. We owe it to the American people to go back to the drawing board. Congress must say no.
As Common Dreams reported last month, Sanders and Khanna led an effort to include amendments to the NDAA that would cut off U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's bombings in Yemen, which have fueled the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
House-backed provisions to stop Trump from attacking Iran and reverse the president's transgender military ban were also cut out of the final version of the 2020 NDAA.But during negotiations with the Senate, the House agreed to strike from the final NDAA a provision that would have suspended the sale of U.S. air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for one year. No other amendments to end U.S. complicity in Yemen were included in the measure, which could receive a vote in the House as soon as Wednesday.
The House did agree to create a "Space Force"—a move long supported by Trump—in exchange for 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal workers.
Joe Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, said "it looks like the House got completely rolled on every single policy issue."
"The bill left the House authorizing a ton of money plus important restrictions on nuclear weapons and war policy. Comes back with all the money and zero policy," Cirincione tweeted late Monday. "I support parental leave for federal workers but, seriously, this is a domestic policy issue. What is it doing on a Pentagon spending bill? Was this the leadership's call? They have a lot of explaining to do on why they caved on every single national security policy. Looks weak."
Win Without War policy director Kate Kizer said the final NDAA shows "Dems can't negotiate themselves out of a paper bag."
"This is nothing more than a massive giveaway to the Saudi and Emirati governments, corporate interests, and the military-industrial complex," Kizer said. "Any member worth their salt must vote no."
Glacial melt creates Andes time bomb
December 16th, 2019, by Kieran Cooke
The speed of glacial melt in parts of Latin America is threatening water supplies – and life and limb in cities downstream.
LONDON, 16 December, 2019 – Rising regional temperatures in the Andes and the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean, off Latin America’s west coast, are driving the mountains’ glacial melt to alarming new speeds.
Long-term water supplies to many millions of people are under threat. Capital cities like Lima in Peru and La Paz in Bolivia, largely dependent on water from glacier melt flows, face an uncertain future.
The prospects for agriculture – a mainstay of the economies of countries in the region – will be imperilled as land dries up.
There is another, potentially lethal consequence of the melting of the Andes’ glaciers. In 1941, large chunks of ice breaking off a glacier and falling into Lake Palcacocha, more than 4,500 metres up in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range in the Peruvian Andes, are said to have triggered what’s known as a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF).
“As temperatures in the region continue to rise, the danger level increases”
The sudden influx of ice caused the lake to burst, its waters racing down a canyon to burst another glacial lake below and then on to flood the city of Huarez, more than 20 kilometres away. It’s estimated that more than 4,000 people – about a third of the city’s population at the time – were killed.
Rising temperatures caused by climate change in mountain ranges around the world are leading to an ever-increasing number of GLOF incidents. Mountainous countries like Peru and Nepal, in the Himalayas, are particularly vulnerable to the sudden flooding caused when glacial lakes burst.
In the aftermath of the 1941 flood, a dam was built on Lake Palcacocha: at first the lake slowly refilled, but in recent years the process accelerated due to increased temperatures and more glacial melt.
Flexible pipes have been used to siphon waters off from the lake but experts say it’s only a matter of time before Lake Palcacocha again bursts its banks. The dam, they say, will be swept away. The consequences would be devastating as a wave up to 30 metres tall is unleashed.
Increased population
The city of Huarez has become a big tourist destination and its population has grown to more than 120,000. Large numbers of farmers have moved onto lands below Lake Palcacocha. Mine workers are also active in the area, searching for valuable minerals in ground uncovered by the melting of the glaciers.
Various safety measures are being installed. After years of wrangling and bureaucratic delays, a flood early warning system is about to be activated in the area.
Installation of the system has also been subject to sabotage by local farmers who say that the introduction of the technology has somehow interfered with natural weather patterns.
Monitoring systems have improved – with often daily glacial avalanches being recorded. Inaigem, the national research institute on glaciers and mountain ecosystems, provides a live video of Lake Palcacocha water flows. But as temperatures in the region continue to rise, the danger level increases. – Climate News Network
The speed of glacial melt in parts of Latin America is threatening water supplies – and life and limb in cities downstream.
LONDON, 16 December, 2019 – Rising regional temperatures in the Andes and the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean, off Latin America’s west coast, are driving the mountains’ glacial melt to alarming new speeds.
Long-term water supplies to many millions of people are under threat. Capital cities like Lima in Peru and La Paz in Bolivia, largely dependent on water from glacier melt flows, face an uncertain future.
The prospects for agriculture – a mainstay of the economies of countries in the region – will be imperilled as land dries up.
There is another, potentially lethal consequence of the melting of the Andes’ glaciers. In 1941, large chunks of ice breaking off a glacier and falling into Lake Palcacocha, more than 4,500 metres up in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range in the Peruvian Andes, are said to have triggered what’s known as a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF).
“As temperatures in the region continue to rise, the danger level increases”
The sudden influx of ice caused the lake to burst, its waters racing down a canyon to burst another glacial lake below and then on to flood the city of Huarez, more than 20 kilometres away. It’s estimated that more than 4,000 people – about a third of the city’s population at the time – were killed.
Rising temperatures caused by climate change in mountain ranges around the world are leading to an ever-increasing number of GLOF incidents. Mountainous countries like Peru and Nepal, in the Himalayas, are particularly vulnerable to the sudden flooding caused when glacial lakes burst.
In the aftermath of the 1941 flood, a dam was built on Lake Palcacocha: at first the lake slowly refilled, but in recent years the process accelerated due to increased temperatures and more glacial melt.
Flexible pipes have been used to siphon waters off from the lake but experts say it’s only a matter of time before Lake Palcacocha again bursts its banks. The dam, they say, will be swept away. The consequences would be devastating as a wave up to 30 metres tall is unleashed.
Increased population
The city of Huarez has become a big tourist destination and its population has grown to more than 120,000. Large numbers of farmers have moved onto lands below Lake Palcacocha. Mine workers are also active in the area, searching for valuable minerals in ground uncovered by the melting of the glaciers.
Various safety measures are being installed. After years of wrangling and bureaucratic delays, a flood early warning system is about to be activated in the area.
Installation of the system has also been subject to sabotage by local farmers who say that the introduction of the technology has somehow interfered with natural weather patterns.
Monitoring systems have improved – with often daily glacial avalanches being recorded. Inaigem, the national research institute on glaciers and mountain ecosystems, provides a live video of Lake Palcacocha water flows. But as temperatures in the region continue to rise, the danger level increases. – Climate News Network
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