from Plane Stupid On the 26th of November, just three days before the COP21 climate conference in Paris was due to start, three Plane Stupid activists blocked the main road access tunnel to Heathrow’s terminals 1, 2 and 3. This reportedly caused a traffic tailback several miles long as police directed inbound vehicles to one lane of the outbound tunnel. Our early entry for the#ClimateGames sent a clear message to the UK government that expanding aviation is a no-go for the climate; were it to go ahead the UK would undoubtedly miss its emissions targets as set out under the 2008 Climate Change Act. Continue reading “Activists block Heathrow Tunnel: Airports to be ‘Biggest Climate Wrecker””
Hypocrisy: Despite media hype CO2 levels still increase every year, fossil fuel subsidies are higher than ever, and no country has yet banned any company from extracting fossil fuels Creative Commons:
by Tierney Smith As corporate anti-climate behaviour comes under increasing scrutiny from law-enforcers, media and public, a new report highlights the conflict of interest between the Paris climate summit’s aims and the polluting actions of the companies bankrolling it.
‘Fueling the Fire – The corporate sponsors bankrolling COP21’ reveals how Engie, EDF, Suez Environnement and BNP Paribas together own more than 46 coal-fired power plants, and are investing in oil sands exploration in Canada and fracking for shale gas in the UK.
Between 2005 and 2014 the corporation provided half of the total financial support (€15.5 billion) from French banks to the coal industry.
The same fossil fuel corporation have also been involved in attempt to deny science and deceive the public about climate change – often hiding behind lobbying organisations to do so – and have interfered with the UNFCCC, according to the report.
Patti Lynn, executive director of Corporate Accountability International said:
Inviting some of the world’s biggest polluters to pay for the COP is akin to hiring a fox to guard a hen house. We must eliminate this conflict of interest before COPs become corporate tradeshows for false market-based solutions.
EDF, for example, has been working alongside Shell, ExxonMobil and other to block renewable deployment in Europe via the BusinessEurope lobby group.
At the same time, BNP Paribas is one of the largest coal financiers in France as well as a financial backer of Canada’s tar sands extraction, and Engie, formerly GDF Suez, emits over 131 megatons of CO2 each year and has worked to aggressively expand it investments in fracked gas.
Célia Gautier, policy advisor at Climate Action Network France said:
Despite recent announcements to stop new coal projects, Engie still owns 30 dirty coal power plants worldwide. Gas and coal are the company’s main energy sources; renewables account for just 4 per cent of its energy mix (excluding large dams). On top of this, Engie is planning to sell some of its coal power plants instead of closing them down. The French state is directly responsible for Engie’s greenwashing activities as it owns 33 per cent of its shares and accepted to put them in their list of COP21 sponsors.
With the breadth and depth of such companies’ fossil fuel assets made clear, their attempts at blocking climate action common knowledge, and the public helping throw the spotlight on climate Pinocchios, the game is up.
The UN can ensure the “fox” is nowhere near the “hen house” at next week’s climate summit in Paris and in future climate policy-making by kicking polluters out just big tobacco was kicked out of health talks a decade
Policemen fight with activists during a protest ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference at the place de la Republique, in Paris, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015. More than 140 world leaders are gathering around Paris for high-stakes climate talks that start Monday, and activists are holding marches and protests around the world to urge them to reach a strong agreement to slow global warming. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
Photos From The First Day of the Global Climate March That Bring Us Hope
The biggest U.N. climate conference of the decade starts in Paris on Monday, and hundreds of thousands of people around the world are marching for action.
60,000 peopled turned out in Melbourne for Australia’s largest climate march ever. It was being lead by amazing young indigenous people from Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network. This is an incredible way to start a weekend of action:
Folks in Cairo, Egypt needed two selfie sticks taped together to capture this photo:
Photo Credit: التحرك الشعبى من أجل المناخ و البيئة
We’re not just fighting for the next generation — the next generation is joining the fight:
It’s time to keep fossil fuels in the ground and transition to renewable energy — and folks across the world are not shying away from saying it:
In Tokyo, Japan (Photo Credit: Hiroshi Okamoto):
In Samoa:
In Nepal:
And in Wellington, New Zealand:
Frontline communities are not staying silent — this weekend, they are fighting for survival:
Tuvalu Climate March
Dhaka, Bangladesh
photo: Maruf Hossain
“Mina (in front) is dressed in a contemporary mix traditional attire from the Highlands Region of Papua New Guinea. Due to climate change – what used to be fertile lands up in the highlands is now suffering from severe drought. PNG will not be silent anymore. We are standing in solidarity with the world!”
Photo Credit: Dagia. Aka
What is a movement without singing? We’re marching to our own beat this weekend:
We are ready for the solution. In fact, we’re already building it. Here’s a photo from Tokelau, the first nation in the world to go 100% renewable:
Activists protest against French authorities using emergency law to ban demonstrations at the Place de la Republique in Paris. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA
At least 24 climate activists have been put under house arrest by French police, accused of flouting a ban on organising protests during next week’s Paris climate summit, the Guardian has learned.
One legal adviser to the activists said many officers raided his Paris apartment and occupied three floors and a staircase in his block.
French authorities did not respond to requests for comment but lawyers said that the warrants were issued under state of emergency laws, imposed after the terror attacks that killed 130 people earlier this month.
The author and climate change campaigner, Naomi Klein, accused French authorities of “a gross abuse of power that risks turning the summit into a farce”.
“Climate summits are not photo opportunities to boost the popularity of politicians,” she told the Guardian. “Given the stakes of the climate crisis, they are by their nature highly contested. That is democracy, messy as it may be. The French government, under cover of anti-terrorism laws, seems to be trying to avoid this, shamefully banning peaceful demonstrations and using emergency powers to pre-emptively detain key activists.” Continue reading “Paris Climate Activists Put under House Arrest Using Emergency Laws”
Jon Queally, Common DreamsAhead of international climate talks which are about to begin in Paris, an international coalition of NGOs, political figures and civil society groups on Thursday demanded French President François Hollande lift the ban on protests and marches despite recent violence. The groups say the French government cannot proclaim a “commitment to democracy and freedom” while simultaneously suspending “democracy and freedom.”
Climate activists march in Paris in 2014. On Thursday, a coalition of international NGOs and individual climate activists have demanded that France lift its imposed bans on large protest for the COP21 talks. Photo credit: YouTube screenshot
In a letter addressed to Hollande, which has also taken the form of an online petition that anyone can sign, the climate justice leaders expressed understanding for how the recent violence in Paris—also mirrored in attacks in Beirut, Ankara, Bamako and over the skies of Egypt—has made the security situation tense, but indicated the effort to shut down large scale protests is both short-sighted and counter-productive.
“People from all over the world are flocking to Paris to have their voices heard on one of the most urgent challenges of our lifetime—the threat of climate change,” said Nick Dearden, head of the UK-based Global Justice Now, which is spearheading the effort to lift the imposed ban. “It is essential that there is robust participation from civil society during the climate talks and that world leaders are held accountable for how they engage with the issue.”
As the letter to Hollande states plainly: “We urge you to reconsider the decision to prohibit the demonstrations in Paris. We understand the need to keep citizens safe, including those mobilizing on climate change. It must be possible to find a way to do this short of banning our demonstrations. Many other mass events and gatherings continue to happen in Paris on a daily basis.”
Dearden continued by saying that one of the clear aims of terrorists who “carrying out atrocities like we have seen in Paris is to attempt to disrupt and derail how ordinary people go about their lives.” Given the absolute urgency of addressing the global climate crisis, the letter sent to Hollande suggests the stakes are simply too high to submit political space during these crucial international talks.
“The French authorities have said that ‘life must go one’ with regards to public occasions like football matches,” continued Dearden, “and we call on President Hollande to use similar logic in standing strong against these attacks by allowing people the fundamental right to protest on crucially important issues like climate change during the UN talks.”
Following the announcement that major protests would be significantly curbed or cancelled—including a large march and demonstration planned for Nov. 29— the largest environmental groups and event organizers have been scrambling to adjust their plans. Though almost all groups have expressed desire and willingness to incorporate changes to ensure the safety of all participants, it has been hard for many to shake the suspicion that officials in France have used the opportunity of the Paris attacks to squelch the participation of civil society during the UN Conference of the Parties (COP21) talks.
“The French authorities are using the shock of the Nov. 13 killings to cancel demonstrations throughout the country, even in small cities where no terrorist threat is plausible,” said Thomas Coutrot, a spokesperson for Attac France, one of the key organizations planning the Paris demonstrations. “Do they want to keep us silent in the face of the results of COP21 and its probable failure to tackle effectively climate change? Attac and its partners will be pushing hard to ensure our voices are not silenced.”
In an op-ed last week by Naomi Klein, who also signed Thursday letter to Hollande, the Canadian author and activist explain the multiple reasons why the banning of protests in Paris is so disturbing. In addition to the overt silencing of the very people who are threatened most by climate change, namely the poor and the powerless of the global south, Klein argues that the symbolism of banning protest is also key:
“Climate change is a moral crisis because every time governments of wealthy nations fail to act, it sends a message that we in the global north are putting our immediate comfort and economic security ahead of the suffering and survival of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people on Earth. The decision to ban the most important spaces where the voices of climate-impacted people would have been heard is a dramatic expression of this profoundly unethical abuse of power: once again, a wealthy western country is putting security for elites ahead of the interests of those fighting for survival. Once again, the message is: our security is non-negotiable, yours is up for grabs.”
As many have argued in recent weeks, the effort to battle human-caused climate change is deeply linked with the violence and desperation that has become so pervasive in the world. And as the letter states, “A peaceful world can only be built on equality, solidarity and sustainability. We must be able to say this in Paris.”
And its underlying message: The more the better. The louder the better.
The destruction of the large Spanish renewables sector, ordered by premier Mariano Rajoy, joins him to the club of top climate criminals, alongside David Cameron of the UK, Narendra Modi of India, and Recep Erdogan of Turkey.
Now that Climate disaster is a proven and accepted scientific reality we can begin to apportion direct blame for crimes being committed. It makes no difference if there is a delay of decades between a genocidal action and its consequences, if for example someone for personal profit hides a bomb in your house with a timer to go off in 10 years, he is still a killer, as are the club of top climate criminals. Continue reading “Climate Criminals Rajoy, Cameron, Modi, Erdogan to face Charges”
Ya se ve andando por las calles de Europa los primeros de millones de refugiados de las guerras causados en parte por el Cambio Climático.
El CO2 adicional que se acumula en nuestra atmósfera por el sabotaje del sector de renovables por el gobierno del PP en España será al menos 40.000.000 toneladas hasta 2016, según cálculos aproximados con datos de laRed Eléctrica de España.
Con los avances continuos en la ciencia del Cambio Climático estos números pueden ser traducidos dentro de poco en números de humanos muertos en el futuro y cantidades de pérdidas en ecosistemas vitales. Así que ya podemos empezar a asignar la culpa, no importa si hay una demora de décadas entre el crimen y su desenlace. Por ejemplo si alguien pone una bomba en tu casa para ganar dinero, es igualmente un asesino, aunque se pone con un temporizador de 10 años.
Parece mentira hoy, pero si hay un colapso climático, y parece cada vez más inevitable, los criminales principales serán llevados a la justicia, incluyendo líderes actuales de España como Mariano Rajoy. Puede pasar algo similar en el Reino Unido, donde el gobierno liderado por David Cameron está parando la industria renovable, además que Narendra Modi de la India, y Recep Erdogan en Turquía. Continue reading “‘Criminales Climáticos como Rajoy o Cameron, serán ajusticiados’. “
On the 26th of November, just three days before the COP21 climate conference in Paris was due to start, three Plane Stupid activists blocked the main road access tunnel to Heathrow’s terminals 1, 2 and 3. This reportedly caused a traffic tailback several miles long as police directed inbound vehicles to one lane of the outbound tunnel. 
Our early entry for the#ClimateGames sent a clear message to the UK government that expanding aviation is a no-go for the climate; were it to go ahead the UK would undoubtedly miss its emissions targets as set out under the 2008 Climate Change Act. Continue reading “Activists block Heathrow Tunnel: Airports to be ‘Biggest Climate Wrecker””
The Free 
