Tag Archives: Asia

‘What the Climate Emergency Looks Like’: Extreme Heat Busts Records Across Asia

Sweltering temperatures have devastated numerous Asian countries this month, eliciting demands for lifesaving climate action.

By Kenny Stancil. Published 4-19-2023 by Common Dreams

The European model shows temperatures across Southeast Asia rising well above normal Monday. Image: WeatherBell.com

Hundreds of millions of people throughout Asia are suffering Wednesday as a deadly heatwave turbocharged by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis continues to pummel large swaths of the continent, with little relief in sight—reigniting calls for immediate action to slash greenhouse gas pollution.

Record-high temperatures have been observed in several Asian countries this month, including at 109 weather stations across 12 Chinese provinces on Monday. Scorching heat in India, meanwhile, has killed more than a dozen people and forced school closures this week.

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Outlook ‘Grim’ Halfway Through Global Biodiversity Summit, Climate Groups Warn

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“If Global North countries don’t compromise, the consequences will be dire,” said Greenpeace. “One million species are at risk of extinction, threatening the web of life that holds our planet together.”

By Julia Conley. Published 12-15-2022 by Common Dreams

Primary Forest Alliance at COP15 on December 7, 2022. Photo: UN Biodiversity/flickr/CC

Disagreements over financing biodiversity protection, the piracy of natural resources, and commitments to protect at least 30% of the Earth’s land and water by 2030 are some of the top sticking points at the United Nations’ global biodiversity summit in Montreal, which is set to wrap up in just four days.

Following a walkout early Wednesday by developing nations outraged over the Global North’s opposition to creating a biodiversity fund, one anonymous negotiator at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) wrote in The Guardian that the summit is at risk of amounting to more of what climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has called “blah blah blah.” Continue reading →

90% of Marine Species Face Extinction Under Emissions Status Quo: Study

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While the research predicts “a potentially bleak future for many marine species,” the authors say it “also measures how much our oceans and the life within them stand to benefit from both climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

By Julia Conley Published 8-22-2022 by Common Dreams

Various fish including bigscale soldierfish / ‘ū’ū (Myripristis berndti), Moorish idols / kihikihi (Zanclus cornutus), and a masked angelfish (Genicanthus personatus) swim in a small outcropping of coral on a reef in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Photo: Andrew Gray for NOAA/flickr/CC

A new study details the disastrous consequences that would result for marine life across the world’s oceans if current levels of fossil fuel emissions are maintained, with up to 90% of ocean species facing extinction.

Daniel Boyce, a research scientist at Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia, Canada, led the study examining 35,000 species of marine flora and fauna as well as bacteria and protozoans, devising a new analytical tool called the Climate Risk Index for Biodiversity (CRIB). Continue reading →

‘Off the Scale’: Warmer Arctic Ocean Fueling Climate Feedback Loop Faster Than Previously Known

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“This is one of the scariest reports I have ever seen,” said one climate scientist in response to new study.

By Jon Queally Published 6-15-2022 by Common Dreams

The Barents Sea is an area of the Arctic Ocean, located in the north of Norway and Russia. Named after the Dutch navigator Willem Barents. Photo: Richard Mortel/flickr/CC

New scientific research published Wednesday shows the waters in the North Barents Sea are warming at a rate that is much more rapid than most climate models have predicted, with worrying implications about feedback loops for the larger Arctic region and far beyond.

Extending between the north coast of Norway and Russia in the eastern Arctic Ocean, the North Barents Sea has been warming at a rate nearly seven times that of the global average, the study shows. The researchers used temperature data over four decades to determine that the trends in the region—the “fastest warming place known on Earth“—should be seen as an “early warning” of what could happen elsewhere. Continue reading →

Climate Emergency May Displace 216 Million Within Countries by 2050: World Bank

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“The Groundswell report is a stark reminder of the human toll of climate change, particularly on the world’s poorest—those who are contributing the least to its causes.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 9-13-2021

Floods in Himachal Pradesh, India, July 2021, Photo: NDRF/FloodList

Underscoring the necessity of immediate and sweeping action to take on the climate emergency, a World Bank report revealed Monday that 216 million people across six global regions could be forced to move within their countries by midcentury.

Groundswell Part 2: Acting on Internal Climate Migration includes analyses for East Asia and the Pacific, North Africa, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, building on a modeling approach from a 2018 report that covered Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Continue reading →

Pressure Campaign Kicks Off in US to Force Big Pharma and Biden to End Vaccine Apartheid

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The absence of a WTO patent waiver, say public health advocates, “means we won’t end the pandemic, millions of people will die, and the global economy will suffer.”

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 4-22-2021

“Pfizer has spent the past year making billions of dollars in profits while people continue to die from Covid-19,” tweeted Health GAP on April 22, 2021. “It’s time to #FreeTheVaccine so the whole world has access to these life-saving vaccines!” (Photo: Twitter screengrab via Health GAP)

As vast global inequalities in access to Covid-19 vaccines exacerbate the ongoing pandemic, a coalition of progressive groups in the U.S. kicked off a week of action Thursday to urge President Joe Biden to support a temporary suspension of patent protections and to pressure pharmaceutical corporations to share technology in order to maximize the worldwide production of life-saving doses.

In the coming days, public health campaigners will gather at the headquarters of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson in an attempt to push the major drugmakers to share relevant technology through the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 Technology Access Pool. Continue reading →

A Month Ahead of Global Climate Strike, Thousands Pledge to Attend Rallies Across Planet to ‘Turn Up the Political Heat’ and Demand Action

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“Time is running out. This decade is our last chance to stop the destruction of our people and our planet… This is why we strike.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 8-20-2019

Photo taken at the Global Climate Strike in London on Friday 15th March 2019. Next month, thousands of people from all over the world plan to rally to mark the one-year anniversary of the climate strike movement, which teenaged advocate Greta Thunberg began last year. Photo: Garry Knight/flickr

Organizers behind the global climate strike movement—from teenage students to adults who have fought for climate action for decades—on Tuesday called on all people who want to halt the climate crisis to join the worldwide action on September 20.

350.org, one of dozens of international, national, and local groups organizing the strike, announced Tuesday that with a month to go before the demonstration, thousands of people have already signed up to take part in the strike and the Week of Action that’s planned for the days that follow. Continue reading →

‘This Is Not Normal’: Record-Smashing European Heat Wave Sparks Demands to Combat Climate Emergency

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“The climate is changing. Use your voice, wallet, and votes to fight it.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-25-2019

Heat records were smashed across Western Europe on Thursday. (Image: Copernicus Emergency Management Service)

Following days of warnings from meteorologists, temperatures soared to historic highs throughout Western Europe Thursday, eliciting impassioned demands for governments to take more ambitious action to combat the climate crisis.

Heat records were shattered Thursday in regions of Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Continue reading →

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The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: Asia

‘What the Climate Emergency Looks Like’: Extreme Heat Busts Records Across Asia

Sweltering temperatures have devastated numerous Asian countries this month, eliciting demands for lifesaving climate action.

90% of Marine Species Face Extinction Under Emissions Status Quo: Study

While the research predicts “a potentially bleak future for many marine species,” the authors say it “also measures how much our oceans and the life within them stand to benefit from both climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

‘Off the Scale’: Warmer Arctic Ocean Fueling Climate Feedback Loop Faster Than Previously Known

“This is one of the scariest reports I have ever seen,” said one climate scientist in response to new study.

Climate Emergency May Displace 216 Million Within Countries by 2050: World Bank

“The Groundswell report is a stark reminder of the human toll of climate change, particularly on the world’s poorest—those who are contributing the least to its causes.”

‘This Is Not Normal’: Record-Smashing European Heat Wave Sparks Demands to Combat Climate Emergency

“The climate is changing. Use your voice, wallet, and votes to fight it.”