The Guardian
We can all do our bit to tackle the climate crisis | Letters
Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist, has tapped into a global passion for change from the outdated, exploitative system to a holistic and responsible one (Thunberg tells US Congress: ‘I want you to take real action on climate’, 19 September). The industrial paradigm separates materials from their histories. Forests may have been torn down, lakes polluted, people and animals displaced, but the consumer doesn’t know this. Society has taught us that it is essential to have the latest product and not to question where it came from or who was hurt in the process. The need for change has to be now.
Sometimes it is hard to know what to do. People have been led by consumerism for so long that it is difficult to see that there is another way, but there are many practical things we can do, such as: don’t fly unless absolutely necessary; eat less meat and dairy; plant a tree; create a garden with shrubs and flowers that will attract wildlife; line-dry clothes; unplug electronic devices; turn lights off when not needed; drive less; grow your own vegetables or eat local produce; don’t buy fast fashion; ask where products have come from.
Continue reading...Hundreds of Australian academics declare support for climate rebellion
Open letter says the Australian government’s inaction on the climate crisis requires civil disobedience in response
More than 250 academics at Australian universities say the federal government’s inaction on the climate crisis requires civil disobedience in response and they feel a “moral duty” to rebel and “defend life itself”.
In an open letter, professors, researchers and lecturers from more than a dozen institutions have declared support for the Extinction Rebellion movement and its global week of non-violent civil disobedience in October.
Continue reading...Nuclear energy: Nationals MPs welcome AWU support for domestic industry
Union to tell parliamentary committee it’s ‘ludicrous’ to export uranium but not benefit from the energy source at home
Nationals MPs have welcomed support from the Australian Workers’ Union for a domestic nuclear industry, as the union calls on progressives not to reject a “zero carbon compromise”.
A House of Representatives committee chaired by Barnaby Joyce will hear from the union during a roundtable discussion in Sydney on Friday, before MPs visit the Lucas Heights nuclear facility for a site visit.
Continue reading...US and Canada have lost more than one in four birds since 1970
Three billion birds have been lost across diverse groups and habitats, in what researchers describe as a ‘wake-up call’
The US and Canada have lost more than one in four birds – a total of three billion – since 1970, culminating in what scientists who published a new study are calling a “widespread ecological crisis”.
Researchers observed a 29% decline in bird populations across diverse groups and habitats – from songbirds such as meadowlarks to long-distance migratory birds such as swallows and backyard birds like sparrows.
Continue reading...Global climate strike: how you can get involved
Millions will take to the streets in global climate crisis protests from 20 to 27 September
The global climate strike kicks off on Friday and will ripple across the world in more than 4,000 locations, the start of a weeklong movement to train international attention on the climate emergency. It’s the latest of a succession of strikes on Fridays led by schoolchildren – but this time adults are invited to join in.
Continue reading...'The crisis is already here': young strikers facing climate apartheid
Young activists call for north-south solidarity to tackle climate emergency that threatens to exacerbate inequality and conflict
Carbon footprints do not get much smaller than those of young Nigerians like Oladosu Adenike. Living in a country with the world’s most extreme poverty, she has had neither the years nor the money to rack up anything more than a fraction of the gargantuan climate debt of the average elderly European or American.
Yet, in the decades ahead, it is post-millennials in the global south like her who are almost certain to suffer greater hardships, as extreme weather and what has been termed “climate apartheid” amplify existing problems of inequality, food shortages, crimes and conflict.
Continue reading...Met police plan to impose restrictions for global climate protest
Force says it will arrest those who break rules in London, as millions worldwide prepare to demonstrate
The police are planning to impose restrictions on the global climate strike in London on Friday, warning that anyone who does not comply risks arrest.
The event in London is part of what is expected to be the biggest mobilisation around the climate crisis the world has seen, with millions taking to the streets in demonstrations and strikes in cities on every continent except Antarctica.
Continue reading...Campaigners urge UN to endorse global fracking ban
Emma Thompson and Mark Ruffalo among signatories of open letter to secretary general
A global campaign backed by 450 activist groups and celebrities, including actors Emma Thompson and Mark Ruffalo, is calling on the UN to endorse a global end to fracking before the industry torpedoes efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
The open letter to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, includes signatures from individuals representing global environmental movements, universities and faith groups.
Continue reading...Burger King is giving up on free plastic toys for kids – when will others follow?
Environmental campaigners say plastic giveaways are disastrous – but will the fast-food chain’s move be the start of something?
Plastic is the wonder product of the last century: durable, flexible, versatile and cheap to produce. It is also catnip to small children, to whom it can be used to sell anything from fast food to extravagantly priced magazines; typically a few sheets of newsprint with a tiny water pistol.
But if parents think they are expensive, so may children in the future. “These toys are nothing but future landfill; the legacy our children will inherit,” says Sian Sutherland, the co-founder of A Plastic Planet, a group campaigning against pollution. “Fast-fix plastic toys are used for moments and exist for centuries.”
Continue reading...Trade unions around the world support global climate strike
Adults, businesses and trade unions asked to join youth climate campaign
Trade unions representing hundreds of millions of people around the world have come out in support of what is expected to be the biggest climate mobilisation the world has ever seen.
The global climate strike on Friday is set to see thousands of walkouts and demonstrations in cities on every continent except Antarctica.
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot make short film on climate crisis – video
Environmental activists Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot have helped produce a short film highlighting the need to protect, restore and use nature to tackle the climate crisis.
Living ecosystems like forests, mangroves, swamps and seabeds can pull enormous quantities of carbon from the air and store them safely, but natural climate solutions currently receive only 2% of the funding spent on cutting emissions.
The film’s director, Tom Mustill of Gripping Films, said: 'We tried to make the film have the tiniest environmental impact possible. We took trains to Sweden to interview Greta, charged our hybrid car at George’s house, used green energy to power the edit and recycled archive footage rather than shooting new.'
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg: ‘We are ignoring natural climate solutions’
Film by Swedish activist and Guardian journalist George Monbiot says nature must be used to repair broken climate
The protection and restoration of living ecosystems such as forests, mangroves and seagrass meadows can repair the planet’s broken climate but are being overlooked, Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot have warned in a new short film.
Natural climate solutions could remove huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as plants grow. But these methods receive only 2% of the funding spent on cutting emissions, say the climate activists.
Continue reading...Labor lashes drought envoy Barnaby Joyce for failing to produce report
Opposition says the lack of a final report from Scott Morrison’s special envoy shows the process has been a ‘joke’
Labor has lashed Barnaby Joyce for failing to produce a report on the drought after he was made special envoy for assistance and recovery by the prime minister, Scott Morrison.
The shadow agriculture minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, who sought details of any report completed by Joyce through a production of documents order in parliament, said that the lack of a final report from the former Nationals leader showed the process had been a “joke”.
Continue reading...The Art of Activism: buy a sustainable print and tote bag to support Friends of the Earth
The Guardian has partnered with Friends of the Earth and theprintspace to host a month-long fundraiser and art exhibition – The Art of Activism – featuring pre-eminent activists like Katharine Hamnett, Greta Thunberg and Turner prize-winning artists such as Jeremy Deller.
Fifteen artworks from the exhibition have been curated exclusively for the Guardian Print Shop. You can buy a print or a limited edition Katharine Hamnett tote bag to support the campaign, with more than half of the profits going to Friends of the Earth
· Buy your exclusive print and limited edition tote bag here
Continue reading...Reef protection laws pass despite industry attacks on their scientific basis
Queensland’s government will limit the agricultural pollution harming the Great Barrier Reef
The Queensland government has passed new regulations to limit agricultural pollution damaging the Great Barrier Reef in the face of a hostile campaign that has sought to discredit consensus science.
On Tuesday the state made relatively minor commitments to agricultural groups, including an undertaking not to vary new limits for farm sediment and chemical runoff into reef catchments for at least five years.
Continue reading...Extreme survivors: Greenland's hardy wildlife under threat from global heating
They may be adapted to one of the harshest environments on the planet, but Greenland’s animals and plants are increasingly vulnerable
All photographs by Carsten Egevang
Continue reading...Biodiversity touches every aspect of our lives – so why has its loss been ignored?
From our environment to our economies, our security to our societies, biodiversity is vital. But preserving it will require transformative change
The evidence is unequivocal: biodiversity, important in its own right and essential for current and future generations, is being destroyed by human activities at a rate unprecedented in human history.
Governments around the world recognised this at the Earth summit in Brazil in 1992 and established the Convention on Biological Diversity to protect and conserve biodiversity. But the situation has become more and more dire. I have chaired or co-chaired three international assessments on the state of knowledge of biodiversity, and all have repeated the same message – we are destroying it at an alarming rate. Each time we have called for action, only to be largely ignored.
Continue reading...Torres Strait islanders invite Scott Morrison to see climate crisis first hand
Islanders, whose homes already face inundation, have complained to the UN over Australia’s lack of action on climate change
Torres Strait islanders “embarrassed” by Scott Morrison’s appearance at last month’s Pacific Islands Forum will request he visit their region to view the impacts of climate change.
Warraber man Kabay Tamu, representing a group of islanders who have complained to the United Nations about climate-based human rights breaches, will deliver the invitation to Australia’s delegation at the UN climate summit in New York next week.
Continue reading...Fukushima disaster: Japanese power company chiefs cleared of negligence
Three executives at Tepco acquitted, marking the end of the only criminal action over the disaster
Three former executives at the company that runs the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been acquitted of failing to prevent the March 2011 nuclear meltdown, in the only criminal action resulting from the disaster.
Tsunehisa Katsumata, a former chairman of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) and former vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro, had apologised for the triple meltdown at the plant, but said they could not have foreseen the massive tsunami that triggered the disaster.
Continue reading...Farmers attacked on danger chemicals – archive, 19 September 1979
19 September 1979: A Royal Commission report warns of the ‘unnecessarily extravagant use of pesticides’
Farmers and Whitehall officials are too complacent over the effects of pesticides, according to a report published yesterday by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.
The unnecessarily extravagant use of pesticides, is deliberately encouraged, says the report. Many farmers considered themselves to occupy a privileged position, assuming that what was good for agriculture was automatically good for the environment.
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