This article was written by BYROBERT HUNZIKER and originally published in CounterPunch on OCTOBER 20, 2020. Robert offers the reader multiple sources of evidence regarding the nature of large-scale permafrost thawing including the impact of the release of greenhouse gases and the potential for a feedback loop.

Large-Scale Permafrost Thawing

Twenty-five percent (25%) of the Northern Hemisphere is permafrost. By all appearances, it is melting well beyond natural background rates, in fact, substantially!

This writing was written by Deep Green Resistance cadre in December 2018 and is published here in English for the first time.

Message To the French People

In the past weeks we have seen an uprising of the people. Macron and his cronies in the L’Assemblee have gone too far again. The average people in France are living a precarious life. We are poor, we are sick, and we are tired of the bosses and the politicians, the little dictators.

The article was written by Bong S. Sarmiento and published by Mongabay on 19 October 2020. Sarmiento describes the impact of a court decision to uphold a ban on a particularly destructive form of mining.

• A court has upheld a ban on open-pit mining in the Philippine province of South Cotabato, home to the largest known untapped deposits of copper and gold in Southeast Asia.
• The ruling is the latest setback for Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI), which holds the mining permit, coming on the heels of the municipality where the deposits are located scrapping its development permit in August.
• Supporters of SMI lodged a petition in January 2019 seeking an injunction against the mining ban that has been in place since 2010.
• But the court ruled the ban is consistent with prevailing laws and regulations, including the Philippine Constitution, in a decision widely hailed by environmental, religious and Indigenous rights advocates.

SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines — A court in the Philippines has dealt another setback to the company looking to mine Southeast Asia’s largest untapped deposits of copper and gold, ruling to uphold a ban on the type of destructive mining being proposed.

Resistance Radio - Guest: Joan Maloof

In this episode of resistance radio Derrick interviews Joan Maloof, who is a Professor Emeritus of biology and environmental studies at Salisbury University.

Joan founded the Old-Growth Forest Network to preserve, protect and promote the country’s few remaining stands of old-growth forest.

Joan spends her time lecturing, writing, visiting forests, assisting private landowners, and supporting local groups trying to protect community forests from development. She is the author of four books about trees and forests.

(Unceded Yintah / Secwepemcúĺecw Territories): Coastal Gaslink pipeline in Wet’suwet’en territory and Trans Mountain Pipeline in Secwepemc territory are both currently preparing to drill under our clear rivers, from which we have drawn sustenance since time immemorial. In the past few days we have seen Indigenous women interrupted during ceremonies in both territories, and arrests and incarcerations in Secwepemc territories, for enacting their sacred responsibilities.

The Trans Mountain Pipeline weaves through over 900 rivers and creeks, threatening both Secwepemcetkwe (Thompson) and Fraser River systems. The North Thompson is connected to the Adams River, a vital spawning habitat for chinook, coho, and pink salmon, and home to one of the most important sockeye runs in the world. Any leakage would immediately threaten the pacific salmon who spawn in the Secwepemcetkwe (Thompson) and Fraser River basins.

Where do you draw the line? What is the threshold at which you will fight for the living planet? And how shall we fight?

This November 22nd, join Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Chris Hedges, organizers from around the world, and guests for a special 4-hour live streaming event, Drawing the Line: Stopping the Murder of the Planet starting at 1pm Pacific time and hosted by Deep Green Resistance.

Event Program

This event will introduce you to on-the-ground campaigns being waged around the planet, introduce various strategies for effective organizing, rebut false solutions through readings of the forthcoming book Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It, and discuss philosophy of resistance. There will be opportunities to ask questions and participate in dialogue during the event.

Our planet is dying. Earth is being killed, and we know the reason for it – industrial civilization. We need to resist the destruction, protect our land and life, and replace the toxic culture with land-based, just and sustainable forms. We need radical, alternative Communities.

Communities That Protect And Resist: CPR.

Such communities provide a fundamental unit of opposition, based on shared interests and identity, and/or a common landbase. Our resistance will be best served by wielding the power available to united collectives committed to each living members and all classes. The planet needs Protectors, Community Builders, and Community Leaders who commit to building cohesive collectives to resist toxicity and destruction and protect land and life.

The Valve Turners is a label given to, and claimed by, environmental activists who take direct action against the fossil fuel industry by illegally turning emergency shut-off valves to close oil pipelines. Valve Turners have sought to use the necessity defense in court, arguing that they were obligated to act in the face of the imminent threat of climate change to which oil pipelines contribute. In some cases, they have invoked Indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights.

In this piece (cross-posted from Counterpunch), Cesar Chelala connects the increase in rapes with the sex-based violence women face in India.

by Cesar Chelala / Counterpunch

It is difficult to reconcile India’s rapid economic and technological development with brutal practices that, in many cases, lead to the death of women and girls. Repeated incidents of gang rape in India are not isolated, but reflect widespread gender and caste discrimination in the country. Today, rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India.

While increasing poverty pushes millions of children to backbreaking labor in mining and agriculture, the net worth of U.S. billionaires alone has surged by $931 billion since the coronavirus pandemic began, illustrating how the economic system (and more broadly, civilization) capitalizes on crisis and misery.

“Good time to remember that a number of free market economists defend child labor as being a good thing.”

Kenny Stancil / Common Dreams

As the Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding economic upheaval threaten to push up to 150 million people into extreme poverty by 2021, in-depth reporting Thursday from the Associated Press showed that the coronavirus crisis is also undermining two decades of gains against child labor in the developing world, where an entire generation of impoverished children lacking access to safe education opportunities are being driven by economic necessity to work alongside their parents or in place of unemployed caretakers.