Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot make short film on the climate crisis

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.'

Subscribe to Guardian News on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/guardianwiressub Support the Guardian ► https://support.theguardian.com/contr... #naturenow #climatecrisis #gretathunberg CREDITS Narrators: Greta Thunberg & George Monbiot Director: Tom Mustill Producer: Triangle Monday DoP & Editor: Fergus Dingle Sound: Shaman Media GFX: Paraic Mcgloughlin Online: Bram De Jonghe Picture Post: Special Treats Productions Mix: Mcasso Music Audio Post: Tom Martin NCS Guidance: Charlie Lat Music: Rone / InFiné Music The Independent film by Gripping Films(Tom Mustill) was supported by: Conservation International Food and Land Use Coalition Gower St With guidance from Nature4Climate Natural Climate Solutions www.grippingfilms.com FIND OUT MORE: #naturenow www.naturalclimate.solutions Today in Focus podcast ► https://www.theguardian.com/news/seri... The Guardian YouTube network: The Guardian ► http://www.youtube.com/theguardian Owen Jones talks ► http://bit.ly/subsowenjones Guardian Football ► http://is.gd/guardianfootball Guardian Sport ► http://bit.ly/GDNsport Guardian Culture ► http://is.gd/guardianculture

"This fictional short story is set in 2068

"This fictional short story is part of our Speculative Journalism Issue, where we imagine stories from a West under climate stress in 2068."

' “Now I understand that the feeling was shame — shame and anger. I think that is really why I’ve done what I’ve done, and I don’t need a pardon for it. When the courts started making arrests, police were grabbing guys, like, every other day. In Sweden or Australia or Canada — all these exotic places I had only ever seen on television or in my magazines — these guys were driving around in expensive cars with their families and living in climate-controlled buildings with hydroponic crops and expensive bottled water like nothing was happening. Like the world was OK. And when they went into hiding? That’s when I joined up. I wanted to help grab these assholes, but I settled for dynamiting (Bureau of Indian Affairs) offices." '

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It’s Time To Start Prosecuting Climate Criminals: Ecosystem Marketplace

by Reinhold Gallmetzer
 

Countries around the world are implementing new laws and developing new mechanisms to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, while while several organizations have filed civil suits to force government action. But one mechanism has been sorely under-utilized: namely, prosecuting climate scofflaws as criminals under laws that already exist, argues Reinhold Gallmetzer of the International Criminal Court.

This story initially appeared in the UNEP magazine “Our Planet”


Criminal justice can help achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change as part of an integrated approach from governments, private businesses, finance, science, civil society and others.

A significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions results from, or is associated with, conduct that violates existing criminal law. Those caused by deforestation and forest degradation are one striking example: a World Bank study on forest crimes found that up to 90 per cent of logging in key producer tropical countries is illegal and involves criminal activity. In addition, INTERPOL’s guide on carbon trading crime shows how fraud undermines the carbon market, an essential mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Even when emissions are not directly based on criminal conduct, they may be associated with crimes – such as corruption, trade violations, financial crimes or fraud – committed, for instance, in the context of extracting or trading fossil fuels or timber. Moreover, if there is a concrete causal link between a specific source of emissions and a harmful consequence – such as serious injury to body or physical health or the destruction of property – this may constitute a crime. All these offences can be collectively referred to as climate crimes.

Climate crimes are under-prosecuted due to: a misconception that their prosecution has an uncertain legal basis; the low priority given to them; and their under-reporting in the first place. Yet none of these reasons should stand in the way of significantly scaling up the prosecution of climate crimes. That would repress and deter criminal conduct that facilitates greenhouse gas emissions, and thereby help achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

Law enforcement authorities are already equipped with the necessary legal tools to prosecute climate crimes effectively. Many legal systems punish environmental crimes such as illegal deforestation or pollution, which may allow direct prosecution of greenhouse gas-emitting activities. Prosecutors may also examine the broader context in which emissions occur, as well as their consequences, and target them indirectly by focussing on crimes commonly associated with, or resulting from, emissions, such as corruption, financial crimes or destruction of property.

Read the complete Ecosystem Marketplace article 

See also: http://www.climatecrimeanalysis.org/priority-prosecution.html

Our leaders are ignoring global warming to the point of criminal negligence. It's unforgivable : The Guardian

"The problem – and it’s an existential threat both profound and perverse – is that those who lead us and have power over our shared destiny are ignoring global warming to the point of criminal negligence. Worse than that, their policies, language, patronal obligations and acts of bad faith are poisoning us, training citizens to accept the prospect of inexorable loss, unstoppable chaos, certain doom. Business as usual is robbing people of hope, white-anting the promise of change. That’s not just delinquent, it’s unforgivable."

"It’s time to make sharp demands of our representatives, time to remove those who refuse to act in our common interest, time to elect people with courage, ingenuity and discipline, people who’ll sacrifice pride, privilege and even perks for the sake of something sacred. Because there’s something bigger at stake here than culture wars and the mediocrity of so-called common-sense. It’s the soil under our feet, the water we drink, the air we breathe."

Read the complete Tim Winton article in The Guardian

Related: 

Climate change: Sir David Attenborough warns of 'catastrophe': BBC

Want to Build a Stronger Climate Movement? Integrate. :NexusMedia

"Dr. Robert Bullard, a professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University in Houston, believes that big green groups need to do more to support environmental justice groups, which treat pollution not as an isolated problem, but as part of a larger constellation of issues that includes poverty, discrimination and political marginalization."

"We saw that in Hurricane Katrina when we didn’t take care of the levees in the lowest-income communities. That’s obvious to many communities on the ground who are facing the ravages of climate right now. For them, it’s not a debate. It’s not theory. It’s real. For workers who work outside, they know it’s getting hotter. They know it’s more difficult to work outside, and they know that if it’s too hot to work, or if it’s raining every day, they can’t do their job, and they’re losing money. It’s not a matter of whether or not climate change is real. They know it’s real."

Read the original Nexus story 

Related: 

The World's Poor are Hurt Not Helped by Fossil Fuel Subsidies

 

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