"A trio of reports released ahead of next month’s COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan all show that the existing national policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions under the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement will heat the planet by close to 3 degrees Celsius by 2100, as warming has accelerated in the past few years."
"Water firms “passed” thousands of pollution tests under a self-monitoring regime … yet the tests were never even conducted, the Observer can reveal. The water firms’ own operational data for sewage plants across the country reveals how outflows of effluent had stopped – in some cases for just a few hours – on days that samples were supposed to be taken."
"Kamala Harris calls global warming an “existential threat.” Donald Trump dismisses it as a “scam.”"
"On the campaign trail and in interviews, Trump has suggested that if he regains the White House, he will exact vengeance on news outlets that anger him. More specifically, Trump has pledged to toss reporters in jail and strip major television networks of their broadcast licenses as retribution for coverage he didn't like."
"President Joe Biden on Friday formally apologized to Native Americans for the “sin” of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a “blot on American history” in his first presidential visit to Indian Country."
The displacement of populations by climate impacts, while not a new phenomenon in human history, is worsening in the face of global warming’s extreme weather patterns. Yet the extensive international regime to aid refugees doesn’t cover those migrating due to flooding, drought, natural disasters or climate change. Backgrounder considers the implications and how nations will respond to the new realities.
"The once-mighty river is barely a trickle through much of West Texas. Scientists and advocates say local initiatives could be scaled up to restore flows to the river."
"With tales of sharks, whales and water dumping, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is targeting environmental agencies and rules."
"For the first time under President Joe Biden, a federal permit for a new lithium mine has been approved for a Nevada project essential to his clean energy agenda, despite conservationists’ vows to sue over the plan, which they say will drive an endangered wildflower to extinction."
"Republican incumbent Christi Craddick has raised upwards of $10 million in her campaign for a third term on the Railroad Commission of Texas. Her campaign focuses on fighting federal regulations and what she calls “radical anti-oil protesters.”"
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