Today's Liberal News

“Please Open Your Hearts”: Kenyan Activist Elizabeth Wathuti Urges Leaders to Act on Climate Crisis

Youth activists are taking to the streets outside the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow to demand world leaders do more to avert a climate catastrophe. The protest is being organized by Fridays for Future, an international movement of students which grew out of Greta Thunberg’s climate strike outside the Swedish parliament in 2018. We hear from Elizabeth Wathuti of Kenya.

Ben Crump on the Start of Trials for Kyle Rittenhouse & the Killers of Ahmaud Arbery

Only one Black juror, along with 11 white jurors, has been selected to hear the murder trial of three white men who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man who was jogging through the suburbs of Brunswick, Georgia. The defendants — Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, as well as their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan — claim they were attempting a citizen’s arrest when they chased and killed Arbery.

Frightened white woman tries to explain what’s scary about school lessons on racism, fails badly

No matter how worthless a white person’s opinion is, the media will eventually seek it out. On a recent episode of CBS News Originals’ Reverb series, the network sent a reporter to find out what the fuck is up with critical race theory.

Because we white folk are apparently the snowflakiest hominids in the history of bipedalism, the media feel compelled to take our pulse from time to time (i.e., always).

As their union vote looms, these Amazon distribution center workers are looking to make history

by Lakshmi Gandhi

This story was originally published at Prism.

Last week, activists and organizers from Amazon’s Staten Island distribution center traveled to their regional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) office to deliver the signatures needed to formally request a vote to form a union. Shortly after the signatures were delivered, Natalie Monarrez noticed an instant change in the moods of her coworkers.

This Week in Statehouse Action: Whiplash edition

Hey, how are you?

I know Tuesday night might have been kinda rough.

To say that Election Day 2021 didn’t turn out the way Democrats and progressives hoped is … a bit of an understatement.

Are you confused? Bummed? Scared? Ambivalent? Numb? Apathetic? In a glass case of emotion?

Well, no matter where you are right now, I’ve got something for you.

Floating Wind Farms Are About to Transform the Oceans

Photographs by Paccarik OrueAlla Weinstein did not invent the floating wind turbine. This is something she wanted to make clear early in our Zoom call, as if she were worried I’d give her too much credit. “I don’t need to invent. There are plenty of inventions,” she said. “But a lot of inventions die on the grapevine if they aren’t carried through.” What Weinstein does is carry them through.For that, she does want credit.

We’re Gonna Need Another Space Telescope

For most of us, today is just Thursday. For astronomers, it’s practically a holy day. Today is an event that comes only once a decade, and it’s of cosmic importance—literally. Today, a special committee has revealed the priorities for the next decade of American astronomy, like a synod giving word from on high.

The Atlantic Promotes Krystle Champagne-Norwood to Executive Producer of Events Division AtlanticLIVE

The Atlantic is announcing the promotion of Krystle Champagne-Norwood to executive producer of AtlanticLIVE. As the editorial leader of the LIVE team, Champagne-Norwood will develop the editorial vision for The Atlantic’s events and will find new avenues for journalistic expression through this work. She has been with The Atlantic since 2019 and in that time has shaped dozens of its most high-profile events, including the recently completed Atlantic Festival.

How a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Can Guide a Global Just Transition & Emission Cuts

We speak with Harjeet Singh, senior adviser with the Climate Action Network, who is at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow. Activists like Singh are pressuring world leaders to join the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would supplement the Paris Agreement by directly targeting the fossil fuel industry and outlining clear actions that every country could take to drastically decrease carbon emissions.

Meet the Climate Lawyer Who Helped Write 2015 Paris Agreement & Superglued Herself at Shell’s U.K. HQ

We speak to Farhana Yamin, one of the most prominent climate lawyers in Britain, who has been deeply involved in international climate negotiations for decades, including the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, and has also engaged in direct action to effect change. Yamin is currently working with the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group that represents 48 of the countries most threatened by the climate crisis, at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow.

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed on Climate Risk & Surviving Assassination Attempt

We speak to Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the low-lying island nation of the Maldives, at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow. Nasheed is one of the world’s leading climate advocates, who once held a cabinet meeting underwater to bring attention to the threat of global warming, pledged to make the Maldives the first carbon-neutral country and installed solar panels on the roof of his presidential residence.