Tag Archives: Global Warming

COP29 puts world on course for more extreme weather – and more deaths

Summit proves change won’t come until floods and wildfires are killing tens of thousands in rich Global North cities

By Paul Rogers. Published 11-25-2024 by openDemocracy

While COP29 in Baku narrowly avoided collapsing, its results were bitterly disappointing for delegations from across the Global South, who ended up with barely a quarter of the annual $1.3trn of support they were seeking by 2035 to respond to climate breakdown.

Quite apart from other factors, more than 1,500 pro-carbon lobbyists worked hard to limit progress and ensure that burning oil, gas and coal at profit continues for as long as possible whatever the global consequences. After all, the world’s fossil fuel industries rake in around a trillion dollars in profits a year.

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Thousands March in London to Demand End of Fossil Fuels and Gaza Genocide

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“We won’t stop until political leaders divest from war and destruction—and invest in a just, ecological, and equitable transition,” said one campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 11-16-2024 by Common Dreams

*Activists march in London to demand an end to fossil fuels and militarism on November 16, 2024. Photo: Denise Baker*

Thousands of climate justice advocates took to the streets of London on Saturday to demand the U.K. government “end its reliance on fossil fuels, commit to paying climate reparations, and end its complicity in the genocide in Gaza.”

Organizers said more than 60 groups—including Extinction Rebellion, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Amnesty International U.K., Palestine Solidarity Campaign, War on Want, and Just Stop Oil—took part in the March for Global Climate Justice. The demonstration took place amid yet another shambolic United Nations Climate Change Conference and as Israeli forces continue a war on Gaza that U.N. experts this week called “consistent with the characteristics of genocide.”

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2024 ‘Virtually Certain’ to Be Hottest Year on Record: EU Climate Agency

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A new report contained “the bleakest news possible, especially with a climate denier U.S. president in office for the next four years,” said one climate scientist.

By Julia Conley. Published 11-7-2024 by Common Dreams

*© Friedrich Haag / Wikimedia Commons / “Visitors at the 2024 Easter fire in Rottorf, 2024 03 30” / CC BY-SA 4.0*

A day after U.S. voters elected climate-denying Republican Donald Trump in the presidential race, soon ushering in an administration that is sure to expand fossil fuel drilling, the European Union’s Earth observation agency announced that 2024 is “virtually certain” to be the hottest year on record and to hit a worrying temperature milestone.

The year is expected to be the first on record in which the temperature is more than 1.5°C hotter than before the Industrial Revolution, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS). The Paris climate agreement of 2015 urged countries to curb greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of limiting planetary heating to 1.5°C by the end of the century.

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‘We’re Playing With Fire’: World on Track for ‘Catastrophic’ 3.1°C of Warming

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“Closing the emissions gap means closing the ambition gap, the implementation gap, and the finance gap,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. “Starting at COP29.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-24-2024 by Common Dreams

*Carbon emissions and haze are seen near factories and a power plant. (Photo: Pixabay/Creative Commons)*

The world’s nations must commit to dramatically slashing greenhouse gas emissions in the near future or risk a “catastrophic” rise in global average temperatures, a key United Nations climate report published Thursday warned.

“It is still technically possible to meet the 1.5°C goal” set out in the Paris agreement, “but only with a G20-led massive global mobilization to cut all greenhouse gas emissions, starting today,” the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) said in a summary of its annual Emissions Gap Report.

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Study Warns of ‘Irreversible Impacts’ From Overshooting 1.5°C, Even Temporarily

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“Only by doing much more in this critical decade to bring emissions down and peak temperatures as low as possible, can we effectively limit damages.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 10-9-2024 by Common Dreams

*One prediction of where rising sea levels will end up at Cottesloe Beach, Perth Western Australia.. Photo: go_greener_oz/flickr/CC*

Just over a month away from the next United Nations climate summit, a study out Wednesday warns that heating the planet beyond a key temperature threshold of the Paris agreement—even temporarily—could cause “irreversible impacts.”

The 2015 agreement aims to limit global temperature rise this century to 1.5ºC, relative to preindustrial levels.

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Concerns Raised About Toxic Exposure in Aftermath of Helene Floodwaters

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“All of these rivers should be treated as hazmat sites,” a local official in western North Carolina said.

By Edward Carver. Published 10-5-2024 by Common Dreams

*Flooded area resulting from Hurricane Helene. Photo: Florida Fish and Wildlife/flickr/CC*

Local officials, academic researchers, and volunteer responders have raised concerns about chemical and biological contamination brought by the floodwaters of Hurricane Helene in the southeastern U.S. last week, which potentially threaten the safety not only of drinking water but also the quality of soil—leading experts to call for tighter regulations on stored pollutants.

Helene struck Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 26 and swept through a number of states in the days that followed. Most of the damage came from extreme rainfall that triggered flooding. The storm killed at least 232 people.

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Supreme Court Issues Rare—Temporary—Wins for EPA With Methane, Mercury Rulings

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“The Supreme Court has sensibly rejected two efforts by industry to halt critical safeguards,” an advocate said.

By Edward Carver. Published 10-4-2024 by Common Dreams

*Gas flare in La Porte TX. Photo: Roy Luck/flickr/CC*

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected two industry-backed petitions to issue injunctions on new Biden administration rules for methane and mercury in a rare, if temporary, victory for the environment at the nation’s top court, which normally rules in favor of industry interests.

The two cases deal with rules issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—one to limit methane gas emitted by oil and gas companies, and the other to limit mercury emissions at coal-fired power plants.

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Climate Movement Says ‘Hurricane Helene Must Be a Wake-Up Call’

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“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is exactly when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-29-2024 by Common Dreams

*Flood waters reach almost to the roof of this building in Biltmore Forest, North Carolina. Photo: Josh Griffith/X*

As emergency crews have worked through the weekend to rescue people and restore essential services across several southeastern U.S. states, green groups in recent days have pointed to the death and damage from Hurricane Helene as just the latest evidence of the need for sweeping action on the climate emergency.

Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds in Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday, then left a path of destruction across hundreds of miles of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. As of early Sunday, at least 64 people are confirmed dead—including at least two people in Virginia—though that figure is expected to rise.

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Hurricane Helene power outages leave millions in the dark – history shows poorer areas often wait longest for electricity to be restored

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By Chuanyi Ji, Georgia Institute of Technology and Scott C. Ganz, Georgetown University. Published 9-27-2024 by The Conversation

*Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Florida. Photo: NOAA*

Hurricane Helene left more than 4 million homes and businesses in the dark across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas after hitting Florida’s Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 storm late on Sept. 26, 2024. As Helene’s rains moved inland, and mountain rivers caused devastating flooding, officials warned that fixing downed utility lines and restoring power would take days in some areas.

Electricity is essential to just about everyone – rich and poor, old and young. Yet, when severe storms strike, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities often wait longest to recover.

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‘Simply Unacceptable’: Nearly 200 Environmental Defenders Killed in 2023

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“Activists and their communities are essential in efforts to prevent and remedy harms caused by climate damaging industries,” one campaigner said. “We cannot afford to, nor should we tolerate, losing any more lives.”

By Olivia Rosane. Published 9-10-2024 by Common Dreams

*Manuel Teran, who was shot and killed by a Georgia State Trooper. Photo: Gabe Eisen*

Almost 200 people were killed in 2023 for attempting to protect their lands and communities from ecological devastation, Global Witness revealed Tuesday.

This raises the total number of environmental defenders killed between 2012—when Global Witness began publishing its annual reports—and 2023 to 2,106.

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: Global Warming

2024 ‘Virtually Certain’ to Be Hottest Year on Record: EU Climate Agency

A new report contained “the bleakest news possible, especially with a climate denier U.S. president in office for the next four years,” said one climate scientist.

‘We’re Playing With Fire’: World on Track for ‘Catastrophic’ 3.1°C of Warming

“Closing the emissions gap means closing the ambition gap, the implementation gap, and the finance gap,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. “Starting at COP29.”

Summit proves change won’t come until floods and wildfires are killing tens of thousands in rich Global North cities

“We won’t stop until political leaders divest from war and destruction—and invest in a just, ecological, and equitable transition,” said one campaigner.

A new report contained “the bleakest news possible, especially with a climate denier U.S. president in office for the next four years,” said one climate scientist.

“Closing the emissions gap means closing the ambition gap, the implementation gap, and the finance gap,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. “Starting at COP29.”

“Only by doing much more in this critical decade to bring emissions down and peak temperatures as low as possible, can we effectively limit damages.”

“All of these rivers should be treated as hazmat sites,” a local official in western North Carolina said.

“The Supreme Court has sensibly rejected two efforts by industry to halt critical safeguards,” an advocate said.

“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is *exactly* when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.

“Activists and their communities are essential in efforts to prevent and remedy harms caused by climate damaging industries,” one campaigner said. “We cannot afford to, nor should we tolerate, losing any more lives.”

“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is exactly when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.