[posted by Brigham A. McCown on Forbes, November 21, 2017] The long delayed Keystone XL Pipeline project came a step closer to becoming a reality this week after the Nebraska Public Service Commission voted to approve the line, albeit with a strange twist. The commission failed to adopt the proposed corridor, leaving many to question the commission’s real motives. Keystone XL’s “preferred route” had been the subject of several federal...

[posted by Marked Leon Goldberg on UN Dispatch, October 27, 2017] Pollution is not just a nuisance. It can kill people–and by the millions. It also keeps countries worst affected by it poorer and unequal. A new study from The Lancet describes the severe, planetary-scale, harm caused by pollution. Some nine million people around the world die each year from pollution related causes. This is three times more deaths than AIDS,...

[posted on DW.com, November 13, 2017] Climate change activists on Monday hailed a German court’s decision to proceed with a Peruvian farmer’s case against German energy company RWE. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court in the German town of Hamm found that Saul Luciano Lliuya’s allegations that RWE’s contributions to global warming were threatening his hometown of Huaraz had merit. Luciano argues...

[From 350.org, for dissemination] Today, 350.org’s most ambitious plan yet will be laid out. We’re launching a new Fossil Free campaign in early 2018 and we’ll be broadcasting live from directly within the COP23 UN climate talks in Germany to give you a sneak preview. 350.org have been on the ground all week alongside the Pacific Climate Warriors and thousands of people demanding an end to the age of fossil fuels and real commitments...

[posted by Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura on The New York Times, October 28, 2017] GISENYI, Rwanda — They are sometimes tucked into bras, hidden in underwear or coiled tightly around a smuggler’s arms. They’re not narcotics or even the illegally mined gold and diamonds that frequently make it across the border into Rwanda. But they are, at least in the eyes of Egide Mberabagabo, a watchful border guard, every bit as nefarious. The offending...

[By Kate Cahoon and Fenton Lutunatabua with the 350.org team in Bonn] As dawn rose yesterday morning, the Pacific Climate Warriors gathered in Manheim village in the heart of the Rhineland, one of Germany’s biggest coal-producing areas. Manheim is due to be consumed by an enormous, expanding open-pit coal mine, and the local villagers joined the Pacific Warriors in holding a beautiful, traditional Fijian ceremony, “to seek permission...