… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: Climate Emergency

  • The Weather Outside Is Frightful. So Is Labour’s Climate Forecast

    Spread the love

    https://novaramedia.com/2026/10/26/the-weather-outside-is-frightful-so-is-labours-climate-forecast/

    People protest against the Jackdaw gas field. Rod Harbinson/Reuters

    Drill now, apologise later.

    …

    Three days of back-to-back storms – Austen on Friday, followed immediately by Boelo – caused flooding, power cuts for almost 83,000 households and travel chaos across swathes of the UK. Winds of over 80mph were recorded, roads were blocked and flood waters surged in apocalyptic scenes. Two men were killed by falling trees. 

    After a summer of extreme temperatures, drought and a food production crisis, with more than 2,800 excess deaths due to consecutive heatwaves in May and June alone, you’d think the government might be taking a more muscular approach to the climate emergency.

    But just days before the UK was plunged into killer-storm territory, Andy Burnham’s government approved new North Sea drilling in the form of the Jackdaw gas field. 

    Climate experts are clear: no new oil and gas fields are compatible with keeping global heating around the 1.5°C mark. Jackdaw and the as-yet-unapproved Rosebank oil field, the two new North Sea projects previously halted in the courts over their climate impact, are not an exception. 

    …

    And congratulations might be in order for the climate-wreckers once again, with Whitehall ‘sources’ briefing on Saturday night that Burnham and chancellor John Healey are set to “defy eco-zealot Ed Miliband” and approve Rosebank, despite energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh insisting she’s the only one who can make the final decision. 

    …

    https://novaramedia.com/2026/10/26/the-weather-outside-is-frightful-so-is-labours-climate-forecast/

    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he's delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election - don't want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.

  • UK spending on ‘fairytale’ carbon capture tech is a national embarrassment, chancellor told

    Spread the love

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/27/chris-packham-chancellor-scrap-spending-fairytale-carbon-capture-budget

    The then energy secretary Ed Miliband (second from left) at the Acorn project in Aberdeenshire, one of the CCS projects due to receive government funding, in summer last year. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

    Chris Packham says £24bn earmarked for projects with ‘ludicrously uncertain results’ should be redirected to help lower bills and cut emissions

    Campaigners are calling on the chancellor to cut the government’s £24bn spending plans for “fairytale” carbon capture technologies in favour of funding green schemes that can reliably cut emissions and lower energy bills.

    The environmentalist Chris Packham is leading an 11th-hour appeal for the Treasury to use this week’s budget to scale back the government’s “exorbitantly expensive” support for carbon capture, which is now more than the planned spending for the US, the EU, Norway and Japan combined.

    He said it was a “national embarrassment” that the government had earmarked £24bn to support a series of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects developed by big oil companies, including BP and the Norwegian state oil company Equinor, and urged ministers to “put things right”.

    “CCS is a tech fairytale,” the naturalist and broadcaster said. “It should be a national embarrassment that the UK is pumping more taxpayer money into it than any other country in the world. This budget is a chance to put things right.”

    …

    Packham called on the government to safeguard funding promises “that empower households to lower bills” rather than “bankrolling exorbitantly expensive projects with ludicrously uncertain results”.

    …

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/27/chris-packham-chancellor-scrap-spending-fairytale-carbon-capture-budget

    The great carbon capture con: behold the wasted billions Burnham could claw back: George Monbiot

    dizzy: It’s totally ridiculous that the government is wasting, throwing away so much money on CCS. It’s fantastic total nonsense promoted by the fossil-fuel industry so that they can carry on polluting.

    The government also wastes so much money in other ways subsidising the fossil-fuel industry – an industry that is totally loaded, awash with money profiteering from destroying the planet. This UK government is close to giving away North Sea resources since tax incomes are minimal, almost non-existant. There are so many tax loopholes / subsidies for fossil fuel companies to destroy the planet.

    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he's delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election - don't want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.

  • Burnham in danger of sleepwalking into climate disaster, say campaigners

    Spread the love

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/27/burnham-sleepwalking-climate-disaster-campaigners

    Climate campaigners in London earlier this month protesting against the possible approval of drilling at the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA

    Letter to PM argues series of wrong choices on North Sea oil, Heathrow, EVs and heat pumps will scupper net zero plans

    Andy Burnham will “sleepwalk” into climate disaster if he fails to get a grip on a series of important policies whose combined impact could scupper plans to reach net zero, campaigners have said.

    Big decisions on North Sea drilling, the expansion of Heathrow airport, electric vehicles (EVs) and grants for heat pumps are awaiting decisions from ministers.

    But they should be considered in the context of their cumulative impacts rather than be taken separately by different government departments, according to Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (FoE) in a letter to the prime minister.

    Taken together, the emissions resulting from approving drilling at the Rosebank oilfield, expanding Heathrow airport, watering down the UK’s EV targets and cutting heat pump grants would be 402m tonnes of CO2 over the next 25 years, the letter says.

    The emissions would be greater than those of 106 coal plants running for a year, more than enough to prevent the UK meeting its carbon budgets and net zero.

    Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace, said: “The Burnham government is facing a series of big decisions over the next few months that could define its legacy on climate. This administration seems to get the urgency of cutting the emissions causing deadly heatwaves and droughts, but there’s a real risk they could still sleepwalk into reversing the strong progress the UK has made so far.”

    …

    Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/27/burnham-sleepwalking-climate-disaster-campaigners

    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he's delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election - don't want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.

  • Super-rich get ‘double dividend’ from causes and costs of climate crisis, report finds

    Spread the love

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/27/super-rich-double-dividend-climate-crisis-oxfam

    Oxfam says investing by rich in disaster recovery widens inequality and gives incentive to delay climate action

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/27/super-rich-double-dividend-climate-crisis-oxfam

    The richest 0.1% have reportedly contributed by 125 times more than the average person to extreme heat events, through their investments and lifestyles such as the use of private jets. Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

    The world’s wealthiest people are not just profiting from the polluting causes of climate breakdown, they are also increasingly cashing in on the catastrophic consequences, according to a study by Oxfam.

    The global equality organisation has found that the richest 0.1% of the world’s population are heavily invested in disaster preparedness, recovery and reconstruction – a market that is projected to grow from $70bn to $92bn a year by 2029.

    This gives the planet’s wealthiest and most powerful people a “double dividend” from the climate crisis and, more alarmingly, an incentive to delay or disrupt action to solve the problem, the NGO says.

    It also worsens global inequality as those least responsible for global heating end up having to pay those most responsible in terms of higher food prices, repairing homes damaged by extreme weather or relocating to other areas.

    Jean McLean, Oxfam’s chief influencing officer, accused billionaires of turning chaos into profit. “The super-rich benefit at both ends of the crisis: first, through continued investment in polluting industries, and second, through investment in the booming ‘adaptation economy’ – recovery and rebuilding services are sold back to a warming world,” she said.

    …

    Continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/27/super-rich-double-dividend-climate-crisis-oxfam

    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he's delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election - don't want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.

  • Heat killed ‘staggering’ 50,000 people in Europe’s cities this summer, scientists warn

    Spread the love

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/23/heat-killed-staggering-50000-people-european-cities-this-summer-experts

    Hot days pushed vulnerable bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevented them from recovering. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty

    People succumbed to heat at highest rates in Malta, Italy and Hungary, with health issues, loneliness and poverty exacerbating toll

    Heat killed a record 50,000 people in European cities this summer, new research suggests, with scientists blaming climate breakdown for two in every three of the deaths.

    Morgues and funeral homes filled with bodies from June to August as the heat added by planet-baking pollution cut short an extra 32,000 lives in urban areas, the researchers found. Hot days pushed vulnerable bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevented them from recovering.

    The “staggering” death toll, modelled using historical relationships between heat and health in 854 cities, was the worst on record, the study found. Hot weather marked by relentless heatwaves killed nearly twice as many people as it did in each of the two next most dangerous years.

    “In some sense, the absolute numbers of the heat-related deaths estimated across the 854 urban areas are indeed staggering,” said Malcolm Mistry, a climate and health scientist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who co-authored the study. “But perhaps what is even more alarming is the proportion of these deaths that we attribute to anthropogenic climate change.”

    The share of deaths due to climate breakdown has risen from about 40% at the start of the century to 65% this summer, the study found.

    …

    Continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/23/heat-killed-staggering-50000-people-european-cities-this-summer-experts