Climate change - politics and activism

[Kim O'Hara]

Speaking of greedy lying bastards ...

The stunning hypocrisy of JP Morgan and CEO Jamie Dimon on climate change

JPMorgan Chase and its chief executive Jamie Dimon claim to be strong supporters of climate action and the Paris climate accord. But in reality, they are “the world’s worst banker of climate change” according to a major new analysis.

Just this week, the company launched a wildly misleading attack on the Green New Deal, asserting that its goals of rapidly decarbonizing the U.S. economy “are not in the realm of the possible.”

According to a report by the Sierra Club and other leading environmental groups, however, JPMorgan Chase has provided a staggering $196 billion dollars in financing for fossil fuels and fossil fuel expansion since the December 2015 Paris Agreement, in which 200 nations unanimously agreed to leave most fossil fuels in the ground ...

https://thinkprogress.org/stunning-hypo ... d2ecfbbbd/


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Something to think about and to share.


Kim

what-we-do.jpg (47.7 KiB) Viewed 1267 times

[Kim O'Hara]

John Kerry is on a mission to hold Trump accountable on climate change

Former Secretary of State John Kerry, the man who negotiated and signed the landmark Paris climate accord on behalf of the United States, is working on a new initiative that will seek to punish President Trump and other politicians for failing to combat climate change.

“Regrettably, President Trump has eliminated American leadership and replaced it [with] know-nothing denial,” Kerry said in an interview Thursday.

He lambasted the president’s pledge to pull the U.S. out of the Paris deal and called the administration’s moves to undo Obama-era pollution-cutting regulations “criminal, basically.”

Kerry said he was working with former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and others to develop a new international initiative to hold politicians accountable for undermining the fight against climate change.

The primary solution to climate change, Kerry said, is clear: to transform the energy system so that it no longer relies on carbon-emitting fossil fuels. And that task is becoming easier as renewable technologies improve.

“The biggest single thing that is lacking today is political accountability,” Kerry said. “People can mock the concept of climate change with impunity and there is no cost to pay. That’s got to stop.”

https://www.latimes.com/local/californi ... story.html


Kim

[Dan74]

George Monbiot calls for civil disobedience:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... mBvz-g-85s

[Kim O'Hara]

George Monbiot calls for civil disobedience:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... mBvz-g-85s

I'm reluctant to advocate illegal activity, let alone violence, but it may come to that. We've had years - decades - of peaceful protests, and The Establishment (for want of a better term) has not only ignored calls for it to act, it has denied the need for action.
Time is now getting very short, and progress has been so slow that we need really big changes, really quickly. What should we do? Escalate, if possible.

Here's one small example - https://7news.com.au/news/sa/sa-parliam ... ed-c-61862

A group of activists self-described as 'mostly grandparents' has been dragged from the South Australian parliament after staging a protest on Monday afternoon.

The activists, known as Extinction Rebellion, occupied the House of Assembly for around an hour, telling stories of their grandchildren and the lives they believe will face them as a product of what they call a "climate catastrophe".

Police were called to forcibly remove the group after they refused to leave the floor. ...

The School Strike for Climate is another - https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/support-us


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Extinction Rebellion are ramping up their actions in London and elsewhere -

Protesters target Jeremy Corbyn on day three of Extinction Rebellion

Demonstrators also hit rail network as number of arrests across week rises to 400

More than 100 people were arrested on Wednesday in the climate protests that have caused major disruption in central London, Scotland Yard said, taking the total number of arrests to almost 400.

Activists stepped up the demonstrations on their third day, targeting the capital’s rail network and the home of the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Traders in the West End warned that the protests, which have seen protesters block four London landmarks for the past three days, had already cost them tens of millions of pounds.
More than 400 arrested at Extinction Rebellion protests in London
Read more

The first estimate of the financial impact of the so-called climate rebellion came as activists targeted London’s rail network. Just after 11am, three people glued themselves to a train at Canary Wharf station, causing delays on the Docklands Light Railway. ...

The events in London are part of an international “climate rebellion” organised by the UK-based Extinction Rebellion. Protests had taken place or were planned in 80 cities across 33 countries, from India to Australia, and around Europe and the US. In The Hague , activists occupied the international criminal court building on Tuesday. ...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... s-carriage


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

'Appalling' policy inaction draws former UN climate leader into [Australia's] federal election campaign

The United Nations' former climate change czar has intervened in the Australian election, publicly backing four female independent candidates and calling out "appalling inaction in Canberra" on climate change.

Christiana Figueres led the UN's global negotiating process that culminated in the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, and is now a climate leader at the World Bank.

She has thrown her support behind Zali Steggall, who is standing against former prime minister Tony Abbott in the NSW seat of Warringah, Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps, Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie and the MP for Chisholm, Julia Banks, who resigned from the Liberal Party and is contesting the nearby seat of Flinders as an independent.

Ms Figueres said the four women "set out strong policy platforms and longer-term vision for what it would take for Australia to take its rightful place as a leader in the global fight against climate change"...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-07/ ... g/11088336

It's great that she has spoken out, sad that she had to.


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Greenpeace asked the 2020 candidates how they’ll act on the climate crisis if they become president. Here’s what they said… or didn’t say. ...

https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/climate2020/

... and the bottom line? Inslee ranked in first place, ahead of Sanders and Booker.


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Meanwhile, South of the Border ...

In a scathing rebuke to the elite capitalists and politicians who largely control the global economic and energy systems, Mexico's newly-appointed environment secretary on Wednesday pointed a stern finger at the "parasitic and predatory neoliberals" for being the key culprits behind the planetary climate crisis.

As the Mexico News Daily reports, the public comments by Secretary Víctor Manuel Toledo Manzur were his first since his appointment by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador earlier this week and seen as a direct challenge to previous Mexican governments which sacrificed the nation's environment to the interests of industry.

"Human beings are not responsible for global warming, as a superficial environmentalism and uncritical science would like to tell us," said Toledo. "The responsible are a parasitic and predatory minority, and that minority has a name: neoliberalism."

According to the News Daily, Toledo vowed "to 'take back' the Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (Semarnat), which he said had been controlled by 'merchants from the automotive sector,' and involve citizens in policy making.

He also vowed to put ecological and human concerns above the demands of capitalism and industrial powerbrokers.

"We can defend life, or we can continue destroying it in the name of the market, technology, progress, development, economic growth, etc.," he said. ...

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/ ... liberalism


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has written to Greta Thunberg to express his deep appreciation for her efforts to raise awareness of the climate crisis that faces us all.

“It is very encouraging to see how you have inspired other young people to join you in speaking out,” he wrote. “You are waking people up to the scientific consensus and the urgency to act on it.

“I am also an ardent supporter of environmental protection. We humans are the only species with the power to destroy the earth as we know it. Yet, if we have the capacity to destroy the earth, so, too, do we have the capacity to protect it.

“It is encouraging to see how you have opened the eyes of the world to the urgency to protect our planet, our only home. At the same time, you have inspired so many young brothers and sisters to join this movement.”

His Holiness ended his letter by offering his wholehearted support for Ms Thunberg’s efforts with his prayers and good wishes.

https://www.dalailama.com/news/2019/sup ... ate-crisis


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Lobbying Against Key US Climate Regulation 'Cost Society $60 Billion,' Study Finds

Political lobbying in the U.S. that helped block the progress of proposed climate regulation a decade ago led to a social cost of $60 billion, according to a new study.

Environmental economists Dr. Kyle Meng and Dr. Ashwin Rode have produced what they believe is the first attempt to quantify the toll such anti-climate lobbying efforts take on society.

The pair say their work reveals the power firms can have in curtailing government action on climate change, in the face of “overwhelming evidence” that its social benefits outweigh the costs, which range from reduced farming yields to lower GDP. ...

https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/06/03/l ... 60-billion


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Europe’s leaders are about to decide whether to END carbon pollution completely! But dirty energy blockers like Poland are trying to derail the plan, and it’s up to us to show EU leaders like French President Macron and German Chancellor Merkel there’s massive public support for 100% clean energy to tackle the climate crisis. ...

Under the Paris climate deal we fought so hard for, countries are required to develop new plans to meet a goal to end carbon pollution by the middle of the century. The EU’s will be one of the first plans to be published -- and experts say it will set the tone for other plans all over the world.

Nearly 4 million of us have added our names to the call for 100% clean energy and zero carbon pollution! And we just went all out to face down the far-right in Europe so we’d have opportunities like this one. Now we need to take it! Send a message now, and let’s show Europe they have massive backing to face down the polluters, and bring an end to dirty climate pollution!

Sign the petition - https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/100_clean_sam_eu/


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Here's a great individual contribution -

Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Auctions Off 126 Guitars and Raises $21 Million for Climate Change Battle

Earlier this week, legendary Pink Floyd guitarist and songwriter David Gilmour auctioned off dozens of his guitars – and he sold them all so he could donate the proceeds to charity.

In total, Gilmour auctioned off 126 of his guitars at Christie’s, raking in a whopping total of $21 million ...

The English rock star says that he will be donating every penny of the auction’s sales to environmental nonprofit ClientEarth.

“The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible,” tweeted Gilmour.

“We need a civilized world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung.”

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/david-g ... 6-guitars/


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Have you got climate zombies?

They might pop up in your social media feed, or manifest in comments under climate change news online. They might even appear at your Christmas lunch. And they're rife in some media outlets — they often come out after dark.

They're the cases against climate science that were buried years ago, yet somehow, refuse to die.

"It's the Milankovitch cycles", "CO2 is good for plants anyway", "What have the scientists ever done for us?"

You might have even been infected yourself. It's no surprise really, a multi-billion dollar campaign funded by the likes of Donors Trust, Donors Capital Fund, Koch-affiliated foundations, and parts of the fossil fuel industry has been animating these damned corpses since the '80s.

So consider this your own handy guide for killing the undead. Or at least a shield for deflecting their relentless pursuit of brains.

Good luck out there.

We may as well start at the top, with the CO2-doesn't-cause-warming zombie. ...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/201 ... d/11291724

Share it with anyone who needs it.


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Conversion experience -

Frank Luntz, the GOP’s message master, calls for climate action

Frank Luntz’s up-close encounter with our increasingly wild weather came at 3:15 a.m. one morning, when the GOP master messenger woke up to his phone blaring an emergency evacuation warning. Luntz saw flames outside his bedroom window. The famous pollster’s home in Los Angeles was in the path of the Skirball Fire, one of the many wildfires that destroyed parts of Southern California in December 2017.

Luntz, whose advice helped Republicans hold power for years and also keep their heads in the sand when it comes to climate change, cited the fire as an example of the climate crisis made personal. He’s the same political consultant who convinced conservatives to rebrand the “estate tax” as the “death tax.” He crafted talking points for the Koch brothers and reportedly convinced the Trump administration to talk about “border security” to drum up support for building a border wall.

But the reality of climate change is increasingly too hard to ignore. “The courageous firefighters of L.A., they saved my home, but others aren’t so lucky,” he said as he recounted the tale during a Senate testimony on Thursday. “Rising sea levels, melting ice caps, tornadoes, and hurricanes more ferocious than ever. It is happening.”

https://grist.org/article/the-gops-most ... te-action/





All sarcasm aside, we need this. Desperately.


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

John Kerry in Australia -

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has implored policymakers to consider the jobs being created by the transition to renewable energy not just those lost as the fossil fuel industry declined.

In a speech in Melbourne on Tuesday, where he also questioned the wisdom of the Adani coal mine development in Queensland, Mr Kerry said solar energy could create "millions upon millions of jobs" pointing to the sector's surging performance in the United States.

"Nobody's talking about making people unemployed, we're talking about transitioning to better jobs. (The) fastest growing job in the United States of America today - solar power technician. Second fastest growing job in America today - wind power turbine technician," he said, quoting official statistics.

"There are 300,000 solar workers in America today, there are somewhere around 50,000 doing anything with coal," he said. ...

After the speech Mr Kerry told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that he was surprised that the Adani coal mine was being built.

"We shouldn't be building huge coal infrastructure going forward. We need to be much more creative and much more disposed to push the curve on the other alternatives," he said.

He said he understood that the coal mine had created considerable division in Australia and he understood why.

Asked about the role of jobs attached to coal mining Mr Kerry said it was not "a jobs or else" question.

"It isn't going to do you any good to pretend you're going to have great jobs for the long term with coal when in fact it's going to be supplanted, it is not a fuel of the future, and it's going to cost you a lot more to undo the damages that come from climate change than it is to make the adjustment. A great deal more," he said.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/enviro ... 52nhc.html


Kim

[Kim O'Hara]

Franzen is surprisingly good on accepting the grim reality:

All-out war on climate change made sense only as long as it was winnable. Once you accept that we’ve lost it, other kinds of action take on greater meaning. Preparing for fires and floods and refugees is a directly pertinent example. But the impending catastrophe heightens the urgency of almost any world-improving action. In times of increasing chaos, people seek protection in tribalism and armed force, rather than in the rule of law, and our best defense against this kind of dystopia is to maintain functioning democracies, functioning legal systems, functioning communities. In this respect, any movement toward a more just and civil society can now be considered a meaningful climate action. Securing fair elections is a climate action. Combatting extreme wealth inequality is a climate action. Shutting down the hate machines on social media is a climate action. Instituting humane immigration policy, advocating for racial and gender equality, promoting respect for laws and their enforcement, supporting a free and independent press, ridding the country of assault weapons—these are all meaningful climate actions. To survive rising temperatures, every system, whether of the natural world or of the human world, will need to be as strong and healthy as we can make it.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultu ... pretending


Kim

[perkele]

Franzen is surprisingly good on accepting the grim reality:

All-out war on climate change made sense only as long as it was winnable. Once you accept that we’ve lost it, other kinds of action take on greater meaning. Preparing for fires and floods and refugees is a directly pertinent example. But the impending catastrophe heightens the urgency of almost any world-improving action. In times of increasing chaos, people seek protection in tribalism and armed force, rather than in the rule of law, and our best defense against this kind of dystopia is to maintain functioning democracies, functioning legal systems, functioning communities. In this respect, any movement toward a more just and civil society can now be considered a meaningful climate action. Securing fair elections is a climate action. Combatting extreme wealth inequality is a climate action. Shutting down the hate machines on social media is a climate action. Instituting humane immigration policy, advocating for racial and gender equality, promoting respect for laws and their enforcement, supporting a free and independent press, ridding the country of assault weapons—these are all meaningful climate actions. To survive rising temperatures, every system, whether of the natural world or of the human world, will need to be as strong and healthy as we can make it.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultu ... pretending


Kim

That's just nonsensical bullshit.

[Kim O'Hara]

That's just nonsensical bullshit.

You will have to give us reasons for to back up that comment or we are quite likely to think your comment is just nonsensical bullshit.


Kim

[SethRich]

Greetings Kim,

Without wanting to answer on behalf of perkele, it may very well be the case that there are legitimate concerns that the so-called climate "chaos" being predicted is just fear-mongering designed to usher in a new era of global socialism - a trojan horse if you will. If you take the following sentence for example, most of this is just open borders globalism and (economic and cultural) Marxism in drag.

Combatting extreme wealth inequality is a climate action. Shutting down the hate machines on social media is a climate action. Instituting humane immigration policy, advocating for racial and gender equality, promoting respect for laws and their enforcement, supporting a free and independent press, ridding the country of assault weapons - these are all meaningful climate actions

If a group of people are desperate to impose a "solution" on we the people, then we the people first need to be sold on the "problem". Yet, people are becoming increasingly suspicious about what they're shovelling... indeed, some might regard it as "nonsensical bullshit", especially as it deviates further from peer-reviewed science and strays into left-wing political propaganda.

As such, if someone wishes to be a climate advocate, they would be better advised to say things a climatologist would agree with, rather than spout authoritarian dogma that George Soros and Mao Tse Tung might rejoice in (e.g. Green New Deal).

Kind regards.