By Andrea Diaz, CNN

 

Greenpeace activists build an "oil pipeline" next to a cutout of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

(CNN)Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was greeted in London on Wednesday with a 98-foot fake pipeline meant to challenge his support of a controversial oil pipeline in his country.

The stunt, which blocked the main entrance to the Canadian High Commission, was orchestrated by Greenpeace activists who oppose a multibillion-dollar pipeline planned in western Canada across indigenous lands.

The Trans Mountain expansion, approved in 2016, will help oil companies reach new markets by expanding the capacity of North America's only pipeline with access to the West Coast, and it will nearly triple the number of oil tankers traveling the shared waters between Canada and Washington state.

FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Nuclear Reactors, Bankrupting Their Owners, Closing Early

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/06/nuclear-reactors-bankrupting-their-owners-closing-early/

by JOHN LAFORGE

Photo by Nuclear Regulatory Commission | CC BY 2.0

On January 22, FirstEnergy Corporation announced that its faulty and nearly-self-destructed Davis-Besse power reactor east of Toledo, Ohio, will be closed well before its license expires. But the shutdown is not because the reactor represents reckless endangerment of public health and safety. FirseEnergy was fine with that. No, the old rattle trap can’t cover its costs any more, not with the electricity market dominated by cheaper natural gas, and renewable wind and solar.

Scientists Warn of Permanent Drought for 25% of Earth By 2050 If Paris Goals Not Reached

“Only Our Youth Can Save the Planet” – Kumi Naidoo

By Pascal LaureynReprint |      |  Print | Send by email

Kumi Naidoo

SUVA, Fiji, Dec 20 2017 (IPS) - “Today’s youth should think of new solutions for old problems like climate change and social injustice.”

That’s the strong message of the South African activist Kumi Naidoo. The former executive director of Greenpeace says young people need to be more innovative and visionary, “because the solutions of my generation have failed.”

After battling apartheid in South Africa, Kumi Naidoo led numerous global campaigns to protect
human rights.

Among other organizations, he headed CIVICUS, an alliance for citizen participation. It was at the International Civil Society Week (ICSW), organized by CIVICUS in Fiji in December, that Naidoo spoke out on youth and innovation.

“My advise for young people is: don’t put any faith in the current leaders. They are the biggest bunch of losers you are going to find. Because they are unwilling to accept that they have got us into this mess,” says Naidoo.

“Basically, we are using old solutions that have never worked in the past anyway,” Naidoo contin-ues.

Joan Russow PhD

Global Compliance Research Project 

At COP 21, Ban Ki Moon, in Paris, urged states to negotiate with

a global vision not with national vested interests (a paraphrase of statement at 

Cop21 press conference)

A global vision  would be to address article 2 of the UNFCCC and at a

minimum the following: (i) to immediately end all subsidies for fossil fuel, 

(ii) to calculate the carbon budget for each state,(iii) to divest in fossil fuels

 and to reinvest and invest in renewable energy, (iv) to conserve sinks

-such as old growth forests and bogs, to strengthen conservation of  biodiversity,

 (v) to abandon false solutions such as nuclear, geo-engineering and biofuels

which would all violate principles within the UNFCCC

 (vi) to compensate for historical emissions, and (vi) to institute a fair and just

transition for workers affected negatively by the new vision. (vii) to promote nature

based solutions and socially equitable and environmentally sound energy such as solar,

wind, tidal, and geothermal, (viii) end the exemption for miitary contribution to

greenhouse gas emissions, and (ix) reallocate the military budget and transfer the funds to address climate change

nn

Damian Carrington Environment editor Friday 22 September 2017 12.23 BST First published on Thursday 21 September 2017 19.00 BSTThe assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is false, according to a chief scientific adviser to the UK government.

Damning assessment by one of the UK’s chief scientific advisers says global regulations have ignored the impacts of ‘dosing whole landscapes’ and must change

https://www.techgadgetcentral.com/2017/09/11/chinas-ban-on-fossil-fuel-cars-is-futile-instead-we-need-to-radically-rethink-our-cities/

Yet another country announces their intention to end the sale of fossil fuel cars. First it was France, then the United Kingdom and now it is China. Bloomberg has reportedthat the Chinese authorities have been looking a timeline for phasing out the sale of fossil fuel vehicles according to the Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Xin Guobin. On paper this move should be significant. China is one of the World’s largest automobile markets with over 28 million vehicles sold last year.  China is in line with an industry that is rapidly improving electric cars and many will see the news as positive. The problem with China’s ban on fossil fuel cars is that it doesn’t do anything to solve the root cause of air pollution in its cities. It grabs headlines but instead China, England and France should be focusing on rethinking how we use our cities.