Wednesday, 31 October 2018

ABC Story: Scientists are playing Fortnite to talk to kids about climate change

Spread the word by gaming

"It’s a strange mix, but by creating the ClimateFortnite Twitch channel Henri is hoping to use the games popularity to explain global warming and climate policy to a wider audience.

He’s not going it alone, there’s other scientists either playing with him or just hanging around to answer the questions thrown out by viewers. Scientists like Chris, a masters student at Boston University, who is on hand to field a question about the Paris climate agreement thrown out at the start of one game."

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"I get a lot of kids who are scared about what climate change means for their future, they come on and like being able to ask their question directly to an expert."

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Tuesday, 30 October 2018

BBC video: Why we're heading for climate catastrophe?

Published October 8, 2018

A damning report from the the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has put the world on the path to a 'climate catastrophe' as global warming nears 3C. As scientists say global warming must be limited to 1.5 C, we investigate if it's too late to turn back.

The Humanist Report video: We Have 12 Years to Act on Climate Change, IPCC Report Finds

Published on Oct 11, 2018

SFTP Magazine: Geoengineering and Environmental Capitalism

Geoengineering and Environmental Capitalism

Extractive Industries in the Era of Climate Change

by Linda Schneider

Special Issue, Summer 2018

“If, as history shows, fantasies of weather and climate control have chiefly served commercial and military interests, why should we expect the future to be different?”
—James Fleming, Fixing the Sky¹

"After decades of lurking in the shadows of secretive military research, geoengineering has recently resurfaced in conversations about climate change and crept into the mainstream of international climate policy.² A small group of climate scientists, elite policy advisers and industry representatives from high-polluting countries in the Global North are increasingly vocal about their support for geoengineering—large-scale technological interventions in the climate system—as a means to weaken or suppress some of the symptoms of climate change."

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"A Climate “Technofix”

Geoengineering is an attempt to solve the problem of climate change—a social, political, and ecological crisis—through large-scale technological projects. This “technofix“ mentality lends itself to a systematic disregard of risk, adverse impacts, and unintended side-effects associated with unproven technologies. Side effects are particularly threatening to strained natural ecosystems and economically or ecologically vulnerable populations."

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"The world does not need more technological quick fixes. We need a rapid phaseout of global coal, oil, and gas production and a rapid deconstruction of fossil fuel infrastructure. We need a shift to one hundred percent decentralised renewable energy production and supply from solar and wind. We have exciting, sustainable alternatives to the current status quo: a global transition towards peasant agroecology would produce significantly lower emissions than conventional industrial agriculture and simultaneously pave the way for food sovereignty.¹⁹"

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PBS News: IPCC report a dire warning of climate heating

Unless we immediately reduce the burning of coal and oil and gas that drive up global temperatures, a new UN report warns the world will suffer tremendous consequences as early as 2040.

October 8, 2018

The Guardian article: Australia urged to model economic effects of 1.5C and 2C climate increases

"Progressive thinktanks and investor groups want the Australian government to model the economic effects climate change will have on Australia under 1.5C and 2C warming scenarios.

This week the new Treasury secretary, Phil Gaetjens, told a Senate estimates hearing the department had done no modelling that compared the difference in economic impacts of 1.5C of warming and 2C.

“We do not do modelling on that,” Gaetjens said. “There wouldn’t be any information in a quantitative sense that I could provide at the moment.”

Sunday, 28 October 2018

Global Research Article: Who Is Guilty of Climate Crimes?

Climate Crime Exposed

" ..... Not surprisingly, the authors’ focus is primarily on the fossil fuel corporations–who are engaged in an elaborate, multi-billion dollar misinformation campaign — and on the governments who have subsidized them and colluded with them through inaction. These are the key perpetrators of the largest human rights violation in history.

It was fascinating, and sickening, to learn more about how the climate-denial machine actually works, such as the Heartland Institute mailing a climate-denying DVD to 200,000 high school science teachers. The description of the Koch brothers’ activities was particularly staggering:

wildfire

"Studies have shown for years now that wildfires are only becoming more common over time. It’s been a difficult thing to research, historically speaking, because of the myriad of variables and influences that conspire to create situations like the ongoing Mendocino Complex Fire in California. This fire is already the worst in the state’s recorded history and has consumed more than 305,000 acres, adding to a seasonal total of well over 820,000 acres lost to fires."

07 Sep 2018

"But there is, unfortunately, a stubborn misunderstanding in the collective unconsciousness when it comes to just how vulnerable the environment’s patterns are to human activities. There is also an almost total lack of a common understanding of how wildfires relate to climate change."

IPD Article: Denials Down Under: Climate Change and Health

Who are the climate criminals?

"The Morrison Government, hived off from such concerns, is more focused on immediate, existential goals." ....

... "The note of the (IPCC) report is one of manageable mitigation, shot through with a measured fatalism: “Limiting global warming to 1.5ºC would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” While admitting that, “Some impacts may be long-lasting and irreversible, such as the loss of some ecosystems (high confidence)” stabilising temperatures at 1.5ºC would at least draw a ring around the catastrophe. “The avoided climate change impacts on sustainable development, eradication of poverty and reducing inequalities would be greater if global warming were limited to 1.5ºC rather than 2ºC, if mitigation and adaptation synergies were maximised while trade-offs are minimised (high confidence).”

For the Morrison government, these words, admittedly technical and dry, are the stuff another galaxy, pressed to the outer reaches of the cosmos. The IPCC report did not, according to the prime minister, “provide recommendations to Australia,” leaving his government to pursue policies to “ensure electricity prices are lower.”

25 Oct 2018

IPD Article: The Criminal Dimension of Climate Change

A new book titled Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival, by Dr. Peter Carter and Dr. Elizabeth Woodworth, with a forward by the leading climate scientist Professor James Hansen outlines the criminality of those who actively promote the continuing emission of carbon gases into the atmosphere with full knowledge of the consequences, including the breakdown of the large ice sheets, sea level rise and intensification of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods and fires around the world.

The book highlights the collusion of a large part of the media with climate change denial and cover ups, stating: “There is no benign explanation for a full media blackout of a significant global development that was heralded by the United Nations Secretary-General. This blackout goes far beyond ignorance or negligence. It is a willful obstruction of public knowledge of the extraordinary extent of global efforts to combat the greatest existential threat of all time by changing business-as-usual. We define this willful, methodical blocking of vital survival information as an unprecedented crime against life on the planet.”

03 Jan 2018

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Greens Slam NSW for Voting Against Developing a Climate Plan at COAG

NSW Energy Minister Don Harwin has voted against an ACT Government motion at the COAG Energy Council for a national emissions reduction scheme for the electricity sector, despite State Parliament debating numerous motions criticising the government for its lack of energy policy and emissions reduction strategy this week.

Labor backing of Liberal coal plan outrageous: Bandt

No New Coal

Greens climate change and energy spokesperson Adam Bandt MP today slammed revelations from Labor that they would allow the construction or refurbishment of coal-fired power stations if the contracts were signed under the Liberals before the election. Mr Bandt also attacked Labor’s apparent confirmation that they would revive the zombie NEG to be their climate and energy policy for the electricity sector.
“Labor will have blood on their hands if they honour a contract to build a new coal-fired power station,” said Mr Bandt.

Stop the Climate Criminals says Adam Bandt Australian Government MP

Why is this important?

Coal will hurt you. In fact, it is hurting millions of people right around the world. Coal kills.

This year, in winter, bushfires have scorched this country. 100% of NSW is in drought. The Arctic Circle is on fire.

The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has given up on climate action. They've proven that they are incapable of enacting a coherent, effective climate policy.

The only option left for our planet is to KICK. THIS. MOB. OUT.

Join us.

Original site

European Commission News: Global Commission on Adaptation launched in The Hague

"A new Global Commission on Adaptation, aimed at enhancing the political visibility of adapting to climate change, was officially launched today at a high-level event in The Hague.

The Global Commission, an unprecedented and timely international initiative on adaptation, will also focus on solutions, catalysing the global adaptation movement and accelerating action. It will be overseen by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva."

"The Global Commission on Adaptation intends to demonstrate that adapting to climate change is not only necessary, but also improves human well-being and leads to better and more sustainable economic development and security. And moreover, that the costs of adapting are lower than those economies will face if they continue with a business-as-usual approach."

16/10/2018

Read the original EC News article

FCA News Report: New report highlights climate change challenge, calls for government plan for the bush

More than 3000 farmers are calling for a national plan for regional Australia and climate change, following the release of a report outside Parliament House in Canberra today.

The Rural Futures Report*, released by Farmers for Climate Action and The Next Economy, sets out a vision for a vibrant and sustainable regional Australia. It comes out of extensive discussions with experts, farmers and rural Australians.

Read the original FCA article

16 October 2018.

ABC Story: Why Australian company directors have started caring about climate change

Photo: Investor pressure on climate change .. (ABC TV)

"For the first time Australian company directors have nominated climate change as the number one issue they want the federal government to address in the long term, according to a survey of more than 1,200 company directors.

The Australian Institute of Company Directors' (AICD) biannual Director Sentiment Index — based on a survey of 1,252 public and private company directors undertaken between September 13 and 27 — shows directors are heeding warnings from regulators about the risks of climate change and the fact that they may, in future, be held liable for failing to act."

Read the original ABC story

Tuesday, 23 October 2018

Children Face Unique Health Risks Due To Climate Change: by Climate Reality

The medical profession has sounded the alarm on the potential health risks of climate change. And one demographic in particularly is vulnerable to the threats arising from a warming planet. Climate change disproportionately affects children. A recent paper in the Pediatrics journal estimates that children will bear 88% of the burden of climate-related disease.

When the world gets warmer, the results impact real people’s lives. It’s a truth that too often gets lost amid data points and science jargon, late-breaking news, and heated political handwringing. But we must not let it.

Real people just like you (and us!) are suffering right now because of our changing climate. And some of us are unfairly impacted more than others.

Those with modest incomes. The elderly. And worst of all, children.

Read the original article

Saturday, 20 October 2018

Climate Council News: Australia’s greenhouse gas pollution levels have risen

It’s a small win, but we’ll take it.
Just this month, we let you know that the current Federal Government was up to its same old tricks... censoring climate data that should have been released months ago.

When the data was finally released it showed that Australia’s greenhouse gas pollution levels have risen, yet again - for three years in a row. Australians deserve to know about this, because emissions must start trending downwards - immediately, and rapidly - if we’re serious about climate change action.

We Want Climate Action Now