Tag Archives: Climate Change

‘Shooting the Messenger’: German Police Target Climate Group Last Generation in Nationwide Raid

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“When will they raid the lobby structures and seize the government’s fossil fuel money?” the group wrote in response to the raids.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 5-24-2023 by Common Dreams

Last Generation road blocks at Berlin Central station (2022) Photo: Stefan Müller/flickr/CC

German police on Wednesday raided the climate activist group Letzte Generation, or Last Generation, seized accounts, and shut down its website.

Last Generation is an Extinction Rebellion-style group that uses direct-action tactics such as blocking traffic, shutting off oil pipelines, or dousing a Monet in mashed potatoes to call for more ambitious climate policies. The raids were part of an investigation into seven members of the group for “forming or supporting a criminal organization,” the Prosecutor General’s Office in Munich said in a statement reported by CNN.

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‘Very, Very Scary’: Intensifying Cyclone Mocha Takes Aim at World’s Largest Refugee Camp

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“This is a near worst-case scenario for one of the most storm surge flood vulnerable regions in the world,” one scientist warned. “I hate to say it but we’re looking at a potential mass casualty event.”

By Kenny Stancil Published 5-12-2023 by Common Dreams

View of the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development/flickr/CC

Officials in Bangladesh and Myanmar are preparing Friday to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people as a tropical storm turbocharged by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis strengthens in the Bay of Bengal.

Cyclone Mocha is forecast to intensify further before making landfall on Sunday between western Myanmar and the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, home to the world’s largest refugee camp. Roughly 1 million Rohingya people forced to flee Myanmar amid the country’s ongoing genocide against them live in the highly exposed district.

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Amid Soaring Poverty and Hunger, Amnesty Demands ‘Universal Social Protection’ Worldwide

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“We cannot continue to look away as inequality soars, and those struggling are left to suffer,” said Amnesty International’s secretary-general.

By Jake Johnson. Published 5-10-2023 by Common Dreams

An urban slum in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Photo: United Nations/flickr/CC

With global poverty and hunger rising amid the intertwining crises of war, public health emergencies, and climate change, Amnesty International on Wednesday issued an urgent call for governments worldwide to implement universal social protections to ensure that healthcare, childcare, pensions, disability payments, and other benefits are available to all who need them.

Noting that many popular uprisings and mass protests across the globe in recent years have been fueled by economic and social concerns, Amnesty lamented that governments have turned to “repression and unnecessary and excessive use of force” against struggling demonstrators instead of addressing their core concerns, such as high food prices and paltry wages.

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‘Bad News’: Unexpected Melting of Greenland Glacier Could Double Sea-Level Rise Projections

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The way that the Petermann Glacier in Northwest Greenland is melting indicates that current models are too conservative.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 5-8-2023 by Common Dreams

In the center of this NASA photograph taken in 2012, Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland gradually moves toward the ocean, with large segments breaking off and drifting away as icebergs. Researchers at UCI and NASA JPL used satellite data from three European missions to learn how warm ocean water is causing the migration of the glacier’s grounding line, leading to its rapid deterioration. (Photo: NASA)

A glacier in the north of Greenland is melting faster and in a different way than scientists previously thought, and this has troubling implications for the future speed of global sea-level rise.

The new discovery was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday. The scientists found that warming ocean water had melted a cavity in the bottom of Petermann Glacier taller than the Washington Monument, as The Associated Press reported. If other glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica behave the same way, it could double predictions for how quickly the burning of fossil fuels will melt ice and raise sea levels.

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‘Incredibly Alarming’: Peaceful Protests Not Fit For a King

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‘We’re now living in a dystopian nightmare’

By Common Dreams. Published 5-6-2023

Protesters from climate protest group ‘Just Stop Oil’ are arrested by police officers close to where Britain’s King Charles III and Britain’s Camilla, Queen Consort were crowned at Westminster Abbey in central London on May 6, 2023. Photo: Just Stop Oil/Twitter

Thousands of King Charles III’s subjects protested against the monarchy Saturday in London — and heavy-handed police detained many of them for “suspicion of breaching the peace.”

Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Police tweeted that they would have an “extremely low tolerance” of those seeking to “undermine” King Charles III’s coronation day.

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Hundreds of Students Launch May of Occupations to End Fossil Fuels

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Activists hope the rest of society will join in resisting business-as-usual and the fossil economy’s death drive, the way the people of France joined the students who organized in May 1968.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 5-2-2023 by Common Dreams

Youth climate activists in Uganda call for an end to fossil fuels on April 29, 2023. (Photo: End Fossil: Occupy!)

Hundreds of students occupied their schools and universities on Tuesday as part of a global movement to disrupt educational institutions this May and push for an end to the fossil fuel economy.

The activists—mobilizing under the banner of End Fossil: Occupy!— say they take inspiration from the Parisian students of May 1968, whose protests led to one of the largest general strikes in French history.

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US Supreme Court’s Blow to Big Oil ‘Should Open the Floodgates for More Lawsuits’

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“The high court’s decision is a major victory for communities across the country that are fighting to hold Big Oil accountable and make them pay for the climate damages they knowingly caused,” said one advocate.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 4-24-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Felton Davis/flickr/CC

Campaigners and frontline communities celebrated Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear five appeals from major fossil fuel companies hoping to shift climate liability cases from state to federal court, where polluters are more likely to prevail.

“Big Oil companies have been desperate to avoid trials in state courts, where they will be forced to defend their climate lies in front of juries, and today the Supreme Court declined to bail them out,” said Center for Climate Integrity president Richard Wiles.

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Tapping Into Warehouse Roof Solar Potential Could Power Entire US Cities

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“If we want to create a clean energy future, we should look first to the already-built environment that could host the tools we need,” said one expert. “Warehouse rooftops provide a perfect opportunity.”

By Kenny Stancil. Published 4-21-2023 by Common Dreams

“The big, flat, and sun-kissed rooftops of America’s warehouses are perfect places to put solar panels,” says one researcher. (Photo: Solect)

Installing solar panels on the roofs of warehouses and distribution centers around the United States could generate enough clean electricity to power every household in every state’s most populous city, according to a report published Thursday by Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group.

“What the world needs now is rooftop solar, which produces inexpensive clean energy, averts harmful pollution, and preserves open space,” Susan Rakov, chair of Environment America Research & Policy Center’s clean energy program and managing director of Frontier Group, said in a statement.

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Memo Exposes Renewable Energy Trade Group’s Close Ties to Fossil Fuel Industry

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“Despite its name, American Clean Power is yet another fossil fuel lobbying group trying to trick people into believing its greenwashing,” said one campaigner. “Any political leader who claims to care about the planet’s future should shun this organization.”

By Kenny Stancil. Published 4-20-2023 by Common Dreams

​American Clean Power CEO Jason Grumet and Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) at Clean Power on the Hill on April 18 2023. Photo: ​American Clean Power/Twitter

The American Clean Power Association has been billed as “the nation’s top renewable energy trade group,” but lurking beneath its green luster is a dirty reality.

That’s according to the Revolving Door Project, which published a memo on Thursday to expose what is calls ACP’s “close ties to the fossil fuel industry and an ‘all of the above’ energy agenda that allows for massive new fossil fuel development and environmental damage, as long as clean energy also benefits.”

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

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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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