In response to the Thursday arrest of two local activists as "part of a coordinated attack on those who defend democracy and challenge the petrochemical industry," environmentalists in Louisiana have launched the Defend Democracy Alliance.
In response to the Thursday arrest of two local activists as “part of a coordinated attack on those who defend democracy and challenge the petrochemical industry,” environmentalists in Louisiana have launched the Defend Democracy Alliance. (Photo: Louisiana Bucket Brigade/Twitter)

It’s Time to Nationalize the Fossil Fuel Industry he COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the economy provides a golden opportunity for creating a fairer, more just and sustainable world as it shatters long-held assumptions about the economic and political order. Its impact on the energy industry in particular can boost support for tackling the existential threat of global warming by raising the prospect of nationalizing and eventually dismantling fossil fuel producing companies, a position argued passionately by one of the world’s leading progressive economists, Robert Pollin, distinguished professor of economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. By C.J. Polychroniou

America’s Water Crisis: Key Findings: the Guardian’s Water Poverty Investigation in 12 US Cities For many Americans across the US, water bills are becoming unaffordable. That poses a threat to health, housing and families Water is essential to life. Yet running water is becoming unaffordable across the US, in cities large and small. Water bills weigh heavily on many Americans as utilities hike up prices to pay for environmental clean-ups, infrastructure upgrades and climate emergency defenses to deal with floods and droughts. Federal funding for America’s ageing water system has plummeted, and as a result a growing number of households are unable to afford to pay their bills; millions of homes are being disconnected or put into foreclosure every year. By Nina Lakhani and Juweek Adolphe