Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week...
LAST WEDNESDAY, over 300 demonstrators at COP25 in Madrid — this year’s 14-day U.N. climate talks, the group’s longest ever — watched from the courtyard of a conference center as a metal wall rose up seemingly out of nowhere, locking civil society observers literally out in the cold. Moments earlier, some had had their entry badges snatched off them by U.N. guards in skirmishes outside the main plenary hall before they were cordoned off. Security prevented them from speaking even to the press; all civil society observers had been barred from entering the conference center. With access to the venue now blocked, protesters marched out the back entrance, where they were greeted by Spanish police.
The protest was intended to call out the widespread lack of ambition coming from some of the world’s biggest emitters of heat-trapping greenhouse gasses, calling on countries in the “global north” to provide support for climate mitigation, adaptation, and recovery, plus excise loopholes that would give polluters a way out to keep on with business as usual. Demonstrators’ credentials were restored a few hours later, but the talks had done little to address their concerns. By Saturday afternoon — two days after talks were set to end — there was little agreement as to what would come out of them. “There is no one issue that is completely resolved,” Harjeet Singh, who leads up global climate work for ActionAid, told me. By the end of the closing plenary the next day, most major issues had been punted to future meetings. Even U.N. Secretary General António Guterres expressed his dissatisfaction on Twitter.
“There is no doubt: rich countries have been blocking progress across the board,” Singh said.
Rich Nations, After Driving Climate Disaster, Block All Progress At U.N. Talks by Kate Aronoff, The Intercept, Dec 18, 2019
"Our Prime Minister has a moral obligation to protect the citizens who elected him, and those who didn’t. He should play a constructive role in the ongoing climate negotiations, and so help with that task of emissions reduction. Were he to do so, Australia’s actions could help inspire the world to cut emissions hard and fast.
"Nobody can now deny the reality of climate change. We’ve all seen, felt and breathed it. And we know that the conditions that we and our children face in the future are likely to be far more severe than those experienced this summer.
"Catastrophic conditions should not be the norm. The politicians and polluting industries that remain unwilling to assist with the urgent task of reducing greenhouse gas pollution must be held to account for lives lost and environments devastated. How much closer to their doorstep does the fire have to burn?"
How much closer to their doors must the fire burn? It's immoral not to connect the dots, Opinion by Tim Flannery, Sydney Morning Herald, Dec 20, 2019
Click here to access the entire opinion piece as posted on the Sydney Morning Herald website.
Hat tip to the Stop Climate Science Denial Facebook page.
Hat tip to the Stop Climate Science Denial Facebook page.
Posted by John Hartz on Sunday, 22 December, 2019
 |
The Skeptical Science website by Skeptical Science is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. |