… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: politics

  • COP26 New summary day 3

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    I’m reaching a few conclusions about COP26. It isn’t serious about addressing climate change because governments are sucking up to the filthy rich and powerful. That’s what refusing to address aviation is about, all the private jets and Bezos and actors appearing. Aviation appears to be a good target for climate activism, it’s hugely damaging and far more likely to get public support. I’ll be going to my local airport on Saturday.

    In UK and worldwide we need to elect some Greens or e.g. nationalist parties, with strong green policies. It’s happening anyway, Bristol is likely to elect some Green MPs at the next election. The Greens are taking votes from Labour and hopefully people will realise that the current Labour party is undeclared Tory and anti-democratic in party actions, Stalinist really. [ed: Stalinist as an insult: authoritarian dictatorship with a total disregard of others’ perpectives, crushing and destroying people.] It’s a shame that the elections are so far away in 2024.

    The Brexit dark money lobby has a new target – climate change action

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    Officially the UK government has committed to Net Zero by 2050, but behind the scenes an organised, well-funded opposition to climate change action is growing on the Conservative Right. And many of those at the vanguard – and their tactics – come straight from the veterans of Brexit.

    A classic example of this appeared in The Telegraph this week: the day before the Budget, it reported a YouGov survey that found a majority of the British public “want a referendum on Boris Johnson’s net zero plans” by the next general election – a majority of those who expressed a preference, that is.

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    Perhaps it’s because I spent so long looking at the dark money behind Brexit, but the first thing I thought while reading The Telegraph’s story was: “Who has paid a professional pollster to carry out a survey on a question nobody is asking?”

    The answer is something called Car26.org. This, The Telegraph informed its readers, is a “new campaign group calling for a referendum on net zero proposals and a pause in eco regulations until such a ballot is held”.

    Yep, you read that right. No climate change mitigation policies until a referendum on Net Zero. Sound familiar?

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    The taxpayer-funded European Research Group of Conservative MPs – which played a starring role in the UK’s exit from the EU – has largely morphed into the Net Zero Scrutiny Group. The Global Warming Policy Foundation — which long promoted climate change denialism — has been relaunched as Net Zero Watch. Wycombe MP Steve Baker, the “Brexit hardman”, is a leading light in both.

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    Boris Johnson races back from COP 26 on private jet to meet climate change sceptic pal

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    Hours after telling world leaders in Glasgow to stop “quilting the earth in an invisible and suffocating blanket of CO2”, Mr Johnson controversially hopped on board a chartered private plane.

    His spokesman defended the decision saying: “It is important that the prime minister is able to move around the country and we have obviously faced significant time restraints.”

    A No 10 spokesperson said: “All travel decisions are made with consideration for security and time restraints.

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    Boris Johnson’s luxury private plane habit laid bare as he spends £216k on flights

    ‘I was jailed for protesting against climate change but Johnson refuses responsibility’

    As world leaders come together this week at COP26, I write this from a cell in Wandsworth Prison where I am serving a 12-month sentence for a peaceful climate protest, after climbing on an aeroplane during Extinction Rebellion’s October Rebellion in 2019.

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    ‘Reality check’: Global CO2 emissions shooting back to record levels

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    The world’s “carbon budget” is the total emissions allowed to retain a 50% chance of keeping global temperature rise below 1.5C, but analysis shows this will be blown in 11 years if the current rate of emissions continues.

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    COP26 protests in Glasgow see five people arrested by police

    Police have made five arrests as hundreds of climate activists marched through Glasgow as part of demonstrations around the Cop26 summit.

    The protest was one of several in Glasgow on Wednesday, as the Cop26 summit discussed the financial system.

    Police Scotland said on Wednesday evening that five arrests had been made.

    Two of the arrests took place after a number of officers were sprayed with paint. Cans of spray paint were also seized.

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    COP26 Glasgow: Greta Thunberg and 58,000 activists expected

    More than 58,000 activists including Greta Thunberg are set to protest in two COP26 rallies in Glasgow this weekend. 

    It wasn’t just fancy world leaders and smug glossy fossil fuel parasites attending Cop26

    First Dog on the Moon

  • COP26: CLIMATE ACTIVISTS TO TARGET 10 UK AIRPORTS THIS WEEKEND TO PROTEST EXPANSION

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    https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/cop26-airport-expansion-protests-uk-b1950499.html

    Climate activists will target 10 UK airports this weekend to protest proposed expansion.

    Campaigners are planning to protest at Bristol, Doncaster-Sheffield, Gatwick, Glasgow, Leeds-Bradford, London-City, Luton, Liverpool, Manchester and Southampton airports from 11am on Saturday.

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    [Hypocritical P]oliticians have consistently refused to endorse any reduction in flights, or any restraint on further aviation growth.

    Speaking ahead of a UN climate conference earlier this year, MP Rachel Maclean – the minister in charge of government policy on the future of transport and decarbonisation – said flying was one of the things that “make life worth living” and that the government would not place any restrictions on the aviation industry.

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    Airlines are increasingly committing to becoming “greener” by using technology such as Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) – however, these will account for 10 per cent of aviation fuel, at most, by 2030, and SAFs emit at least as much CO2 inflight as conventional kerosene.

  • COP26 News Summary day 1

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    COP26: Nicola Sturgeon catches up with activist Greta Thunberg

    NICOLA Sturgeon has said the “voices of young people” must be heard loudly after meeting with climate campaigners Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate this morning at Cop26.

    Scotland’s First Minister said the “next few days should not be comfortable for leaders, the responsibility to act must be felt”.

    Sturgeon was photographed with the two young activists bumping elbows inside the blue zone at COP26, before she was due to speak on a panel about the role of states and regions in fighting climate change.

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    What happened at Cop26 today – day one at a glance

    A summary of the main developments on the first day of the UN climate summit in Glasgow

    Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior sails under Erskine Bridge

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    The ship had hoped to dock opposite the summit venue, but stopped at the King George V dock at Shieldhall.

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    Sinn Fein launches ‘green energy’ document at Cop26 to help tackle climate emergency

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    “The COP26 summit is an important opportunity to send a clear message on the actions that will need to be taken by governments to tackle the climate emergency,” she said.

    “Today at the summit, attended by world leaders, Sinn Féin have launched a document on green energy and tackling the climate emergency.

    “Just like the Covid19 pandemic, climate change doesn’t recognise borders and we need an all-Ireland approach,” Ms O’Neill added.

    “We must secure a fair transition to a low carbon economy and increase support for rural communities and family farms.

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    Boris even manages to turn up late to the last-chance saloon John Crace

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    Johnson is something of a late convert to the reality of climate change. We know that and he knows that. He’s even admitted it was only when he got to Downing Street and academics walked him through the science that the penny really dropped. So you might have thought the prime minister would have chosen to play it fairly straight in welcoming everyone to Glasgow. Just thank them all for coming and make them aware of the responsibility they carry for saving the planet.

    Only Boris just can’t do serious. He needs the attention. He needs the laughs. So he started what should have been a plea to world leaders to put aside their self-interest and work constructively together with a reference to James Bond. If he’d stopped at that, he might have got away with it. But Bertie Booster is compulsively needy. So the rest of his short speech was peppered with bad gags. Cows farting. Boris possibly still being prime minister in 2060 when he’s 94. Further references to not everyone being able to look like James Bond.

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    Boris Johnson will travel home from Cop26 by private plane

    Boris Johnson is flying back from the Cop26 climate conference on a private plane rather than the train after spending two days warning world leaders to reduce their emissions.

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    Queen tells Cop26 in video address it’s ‘time for action’ on climate

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    In her message, recorded after she announced she would be unable to attend the conference due to medical advice to rest, she added: “Of course, the benefits of such actions will not be there to enjoy for all of us here today: we none of us will live forever. But we are doing this not for ourselves but for our children and our children’s children, and those who will follow in their footsteps.”

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  • COP26 News Summary day 0

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    Sir David Attenborough’s call to arms for ambitious nature recovery at COP26

    Sir David Attenborough has today appeared in a new video calling for “bold action” at COP26 to help nature recover.

    In the short film, released by The Wildlife Trusts to coincide with the start of the global climate summit, Sir David highlights the role of wildlife in addressing the climate emergency.

    He says: “Nature has extraordinary powers to lock up carbon dioxide; to provide clean air and water; to help protect us from flooding and extreme weather; and to provide the food which sustains us.”

    But Sir David comments on the decline of wildlife, saying that nature has reached “breaking point”.

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    COP26: Rainbow Warrior plots a course for Glasgow in defiance of river ban

    Greenpeace said it had been warned by port authorities not to sail up the River Clyde to the global climate conference, but added the vessel would still attempt the journey.

    If the voyage is successful, the four youth activists on the Rainbow Warrior plan to meet fellow members of the Fridays for Future climate strike movement on Monday afternoon outside the summit to deliver their message.

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    Nicola Sturgeon on Cop26: There are turning points in human history. This must be one of them

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    The stakes could hardly be higher. The consequences of the world failing to agree on the action needed are potentially catastrophic. Already we are seeing the devastating effects of the climate crisis.

    Those impacts are no longer distant or theoretical. They are being experienced now. Just this year we have witnessed wildfires in Greece, massive flooding in Nigeria and Uganda, a food crisis in Madagascar – as well as devastating flooding in western Europe.

    The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could not have been clearer about the necessity of action. Compared to pre-industrial times, global temperatures have already risen by more than one degree on average.

    And, as the UN Secretary General made clear last month, the definite promises made by member states at that stage – assuming they were all delivered – were sufficient only to keep temperature increases to 2.7°C. He said that would create a “hellscape” on earth.

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    Humanity faces ‘stark choice’, UN chief warns at COP26 opening

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    At the formal opening of the conference, Patricia Espinosa, UN climate chief, told delegates that humankind was at a “pivotal point in history”.

    The message was wholeheartedly endorsed by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who said she “couldn’t agree more”.

    The summit kicks off this weekend before world leaders attend the summit for an official opening ceremony on Monday.

    Speaking to delegates earlier, Epinosa warned: “Humanity faces stark but clear choices. We either choose to achieve rapid and large-scale reductions of limiting emissions to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C or we accept that humanity faces a bleak future on this planet.”

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    Last seven years hottest on record, UN experts say as Cop26 kicks off

    The last seven years have been the hottest on record – with sea levels rising to new highs and climate-related destructive weather extremes in 2021, UN experts have said.

    In its annual state of the global climate report launched as the UN Cop26 summit gets under way, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said that 2021 is likely to have been the fifth to seventh hottest year on record.

    While it is not quite as hot as some recent years, due to a “La Nina” weather phenomenon in the Pacific – which has a cooling affect on global temperatures, it still averaged 1.09C above pre-industrial levels, the WMO said.

    The last seven years since 2015, when countries secured the Paris Agreement to curb temperature rises to 1.5C or well below 2C to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, have been the hottest in records dating back to 1850.

    And the UK’s Met Office warned the world’s temperature has reached an average exceeding 1C above pre-industrial levels for the past two decades, the first time a 20-year period has been at that level since the records began.

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    Extinction Rebellion march through Edinburgh in COP26 protest

    Extinction Rebellion activists marched through Edinburgh in solidarity with protests taking place across the world during the COP26 climate summit.

    The demonstrators walked from George IV Bridge, Bank Street, North Bank Street, Market Street, Jeffrey Street and Canongate to reach the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood at about 1pm.

    A rally was then held, with short speeches by representatives from charities and action groups addressing issues contributing to the climate crisis.

    Participant Mike Grant, 61, from Rosewell, Midlothian, said: “I am marching today to make clear to those gathering for Cop26 that the people demand far bolder and far faster action now.

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    Children’s hospital staff arrive at Cop26 after 800km cycle journey

    A group of cyclists who work in children’s hospitals and as medical bosses arrived at Cop26 after cycling 800km (500 miles).

    The 39 activists, members of Ride For Their Lives, cycled from London to Glasgow to raise awareness of the health damages air pollution can cause, particularly in children.

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    The group have carried with them the Healthy Climate Prescription letter, a document signed by organisations representing 45 million health professionals around the world.

    The letter says “the climate crisis is the single biggest health threat facing humanity”, with air pollution at the top of the list of deadly impacts.

    It calls for a rapid and just transition away from fossil fuels, the cause of both problems.

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    Scapegoating China over climate change is craven – and inaccurate

    FORMER business secretary Alok Sharma, Boris Johnson’s appointee to chair Cop26, sought to put China in the dock today with his widely publicised comments “we expected more” — hardly the best way to win consensus ahead of a critically important conference.

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    There are two issues here. One is truth. The other is the contrast of approach between two different social systems.

    In terms of carbon emissions per head, China today stands at 7.3 tonnes and the US at more than double that at 15.2.

    More striking, however, is the speed of China’s development of zero-carbon technologies. In 2016 the EU generated 101 gigawatt of solar power and China 78.

    Today the figures are reversed: China 204 and EU 134. Equally with wind power. In 2014 the EU generated 128 gigawatt and China 114. Today China produces 281 and the EU 201.

    And in terms of relevant technologies China is well ahead. It produces 80 per cent of the world’s solar panels. It has over two-thirds of the world’s high-speed electric trains. It has as almost as many electric cars as the US and the EU combined — and 57 percent of its Belt and Road energy investments are for renewables as against 28 per cent two years ago.

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  • INSULATE BRITAIN Be Impossible, Demand the Realistic

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    Well done Insulate Britain. I have been considering organising an action locally in solidarity, risking imprisonment as you do. I think that I would do some simple criminal damage to increase my effectiveness rather than sit about waiting to be arrested – it’s surprising what you can achieve with some simple hand tools.

    People are going to be increasingly willing to take action and risk imprisonment as the climate crisis is not properly addressed. It takes very few to insist and achieve no more business as usual.

    XXX

    dizzy deep

    INSULATE BRITAIN Be Impossible, Demand the Realistic Charlie Waterhouse

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    Stopping traffic is nothing. Roadworks stop traffic every day, as do accidents. Floods are now stopping traffic regularly. The response from the Government and right-wing media shows us that we are doing the right thing. Prince Charles’ intervention, saying that he understands people’s frustrations as well as the problems tells us we are doing the right thing. 

    And now is the time to do the right thing; to get off the fence; to really face up to what is happening. 

    The Government has a choice: it can actually do something about the crises we face or it can stick its head in the sand, criminalising those who are clamouring for change along the way.

    And you have a choice too: keep your fingers tightly crossed, say your prayers, and hope against hope that someone else will come and save you. Or you can do your bit and be the ancestor your future family desperately needs. 

    “The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary,” observes the author Ursula K Le Guin.

    It will take fewer of us than we think to turn ‘annoying’ into ‘revolutionary’; imagination into paradigm shift. But tomorrow is too late. Be Impossible, Demand the Realistic.