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The Guardian Climate Change
Firefighters were elated after a federal bill provided them support for cancer. Then came ‘a slap in the face’
A 2022 law gave wildland firefighters with ‘presumptive cancer coverage’, but the list of ailments left out a range of cancers affecting women
Riva Duncan was overjoyed when Congress in 2022 approved better support for federal wildland firefighters during their cancer battles. As a retired fire officer of the US Forest Service (USFS), Duncan had spent years fighting for the friends and colleagues who disproportionately fell ill.
The 2022 law gave firefighters so-called “presumptive cancer coverage” – meaning they were eligible for workers compensation and the process to receive federal financial support for disability and death was streamlined. Finally, she thought, firefighters wouldn’t have to prove cancer and other illnesses, including lung and heart diseases, had derived from their hazardous and carcinogenic work to receive needed funds.
Continue reading...‘I can’t stop now’: Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ law forces climate activist into exile – video
Climate activist Nyombi Morris became outspoken about LGBTQ+ rights after his sister was outed as a lesbian and expelled from school. Last year, Uganda passed a new law that imposes up to 20 years in prison for 'recruitment, promotion and funding' of same-sex 'activities', and life imprisonment or the death penalty for certain same-sex acts. After Morris received an anonymous call threatening to rape and arrest him if he did not stop 'promoting homosexuality', the 26-year-old went into hiding for a few weeks and then, with the help of the Uganda-based human rights group Defend Defenders, fled to Denmark where he has applied for asylum.
Continue reading...‘I can’t stop now’: Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ law forces climate activist into exile
Already targeted for opposing the EACOP oil pipeline, claims that he was gay forced Nyombi Morris to flee
When an anonymous caller threatened to rape and arrest Nyombi Morris if he did not stop “promoting homosexuality”, he knew he had to flee Uganda. The 26-year-old climate activist, who had become outspoken about LGBTQ+ rights after his sister was revealed as a lesbian and expelled from school last year, has faced a fierce backlash for his advocacy.
And things only got worse after his environmental non-profit organisation, Earth Volunteers, began collaborating with LGBTQ+ groups to support young people who identified as gay and were at risk of persecution.
Continue reading...Butterflywatch: Gatekeepers spread north to take up residence in Scotland
Widespread in England, it joins other species to have expanded range in recent years due to climate change
It may have been a fairly awful summer for butterflies but Scotland continues to enjoy some pleasant lepidopteran surprises, thanks to global heating.
Its list of resident species increased by one this year when the gatekeeper, never officially recorded north of the border in the past century, was spotted in several locations. Meanwhile, the elusive white-letter hairstreak, which was only recorded for the first time close to the River Tweed in 2017, has now been found in Dundee, more than 60 miles farther north.
Continue reading...Mount Fuji snowless for longest time on record after sweltering Japan summer
As of 29 October, the iconic mountain was still without snow, marking the longest period since records began 130 years ago
Japan’s Mount Fuji remained snowless on Tuesday, marking the latest date that its slopes have been bare since records began 130 years ago, the country’s weather agency said.
The volcano’s snowcap begins forming on 2 October on average, and last year snow was first detected there on 5 October.
Continue reading...Rescues as torrential rain brings flash flooding to Spain – video
Several people have died, an official said, and at least seven people are missing after torrential rain caused flash floods in southern and eastern Spain, shutting roads and high-speed train connections. Raging flood waters swept through the town of Letur in the east, pushing cars through the streets. State weather agency AEMET declared a red alert in the Valencia region and the second-highest level of alert in parts of Andalusia.
Continue reading...I used to conserve artworks. Now I am in prison for taking climate action | Margaret Reid
It was my dream job. But what’s the point of preserving masterpieces for a future being destroyed by fossil fuel companies?
- Margaret Reid is currently on remand for taking action with Just Stop Oil
I used to be part of the art world but I just can’t stomach it any more. Now I’m in prison, and it suits my conscience better. Back in the 1980s, art was my life. Aged 16, I fell head over heels for painting and could imagine nothing better than spending my life working in museums.
Looking back almost 40 years, I see my younger self, starstruck in Paris. I’m staring up with awe at Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa and greedily gobbling up the story of how it scandalised the art world. That sickening green cadaver that almost fell out of the frame had me weeping with admiration. Of course it shocked the critics. They hated the grisly truth: the emaciated corpse that was a direct challenge to government corruption and incompetence.
Margaret Reid is a former museum professional currently on remand for taking action with Just Stop Oil
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Continue reading...Climate crisis caused half of European heat deaths in 2022, says study
Researchers found 38,000 fewer people – 10 times number of murders – would have died if atmosphere was not clogged with greenhouse pollutants
Climate breakdown caused more than half of the 68,000 heat deaths during the scorching European summer of 2022, a study has found.
Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) found 38,000 fewer people would have died from heat if humans had not clogged the atmosphere with pollutants that act like a greenhouse and bake the planet. The death toll is about 10 times greater than the number of people murdered in Europe that year.
Continue reading...NSW police fight to stop Newcastle port ‘protestival’ in second court challenge to protests in a month
Rising Tide event would involve thousands of paddling climate activists blocking coal exports
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The New South Wales police force is challenging a planned protest through the supreme court for the second time this month – this time an event in Newcastle calling for climate action.
The November protest is organised by Rising Tide and known as the “People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port”. It would involve thousands of activists paddling into the Port of Newcastle on kayaks and rafts to stop coal exports from leaving Newcastle for 50 hours.
Continue reading...Apparently fake social media accounts boost Azerbaijan before Cop29
Exclusive: Linked accounts on X push petrostate’s posts about climate summit and drown out criticism
Scores of apparently fake social media accounts are boosting Azerbaijan’s hosting of the Cop29 climate summit, an investigation has revealed.
The accounts were mostly set up after July, at which time seven of the top 10 most engaged posts using the hashtags #COP29 and #COP29Azerbaijan were critical of Azerbaijan’s role in the conflict with Armenia, using hashtags such as #stopgreenwashgenocide. By September this had changed, with all of the top 10 most engaged posts coming from the official Cop29 Azerbaijan account.
Continue reading...Polar bears are back in Britain. But should they really be living here?
In 2000, only one of these Arctic beasts was resident in the UK. Now there are 16. Is there any benefit to captivity for this climate-ravaged species?
A small boy calls out the sights as the train speeds through the Suffolk countryside from London Liverpool Street.
“Tractor. Church. Pigs. Polar bear! Dad! A polar bear!”
Sailors visit the polar bear enclosure at London zoo in 1930. Below: a bear at Dudley Zoo in Worcestershire, 1937 (left), and Brumas, the first baby polar bear to be successfully reared in the UK, at London Zoo in 1950. Photographs: Fox/Getty Images; Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Continue reading...Let’s be clear, Peter Dutton’s energy plan is more focused on coal and gas than it is on nuclear power | Adam Morton
It seems reasonable to call the Coalition’s policy what it primarily is: a proposal to expand fossil fuels
Some news you may not have clocked last week while the focus was on important things like a royal tour: 44 of the world’s top climate scientists, including four decorated Australian professors, released an open letter warning that ocean circulation in the Atlantic is at serious risk of collapse sooner than was previously understood.
They said a string of studies suggested the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body backed by nearly 200 countries, had greatly underestimated the possibility that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation – or Amoc, a system of ocean currents that brings heat into the northern Atlantic west of Britain and Ireland – could in the next few decades reach a point at which its breakdown was inevitable. The cause? Rising greenhouse gas emissions.
Continue reading...Whitehaven Coal faces rare shareholder action over mining plans and CEO’s $7m bonus
Australian miner paying ‘massive bonuses’ for ‘steamrolling ahead with an outdated and unacceptably risky coal growth strategy’, activists say
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Whitehaven Coal, one of Australia’s biggest coal producers, faces a rare “second strike” from shareholders this week as climate activists seek to draw attention to the miner’s plans to ramp up volumes and resulting carbon emissions.
The ASX-listed company received a 41% vote against its executives’ remuneration report at last year’s annual general meeting. A vote of at least 25% at this year’s AGM on Wednesday would force a motion to spill Whitehaven’s board.
Continue reading...Planet-heating pollutants in atmosphere hit record levels in 2023
Carbon dioxide concentration has increased by more than 10% in just two decades, reports World Meteorological Organization
The concentration of planet-heating pollutants clogging the atmosphere hit record levels in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said.
It found carbon dioxide is accumulating faster than at any time in human history, with concentrations having risen by more than 10% in just two decades.
Continue reading...Miscarriages due to climate crisis a ‘blind spot’ in action plans – report
The harm to babies and mothers is one of the warnings being sent to Cop29 decision-makers by leading scientists
Miscarriages, premature babies and harm to mothers caused by the climate crisis are a “blind spot” in action plans, according to a report aimed at the decision-makers who will attend the Cop29 summit in November.
Potential collapse of the Amazon rainforest, vital Atlantic Ocean currents and essential infrastructure in cities are also among the dangers cited by an international group of 80 leading scientists from 45 countries. The report collects the latest insights from physical and social science to inform the negotiations at the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan.
Continue reading...Santos sued by its own shareholder in world-first greenwashing case
Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility alleges Santos’s plan to reach net zero by 2040 is ‘little more than a series of speculations’
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A world-first greenwashing case that seeks to hold oil and gas company Santos accountable for its net zero commitments began in the federal court today, brought by one of its own shareholders, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR).
The organisation claims Santos did not have a proper basis for saying it had a clear pathway to reduce emissions by 26% to 30% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2040, which constituted misleading or deceptive conduct in breach of Australian corporate and consumer laws.
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Continue reading...Scientists have discovered that Earth’s carbon sinks are not really carbon sinking at the moment | First Dog on the Moon
Is that good? What does that even mean?
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Carbon emissions of richest 1% increase hunger, poverty and deaths, says Oxfam
Consumption of world’s wealthiest people also making it increasingly difficult to limit global heating to 1.5C
The high carbon emissions of the world’s richest 1% are worsening hunger, poverty and excess deaths, a report has found.
Owing to luxury yachts, private jets and investments in polluting industries, the consumption of the world’s wealthiest people is also making it increasingly difficult to limit global heating to 1.5C.
Continue reading...Corporations using ‘ineffectual’ carbon offsets are slowing path to ‘real zero’, more than 60 climate scientists say
Pledge signed by scientists from nine countries reflects concerns that offsets generated from forest-related projects may not have reduced emissions
Carbon offsets used by corporations around the world to lower their reportable greenhouse gas emissions are “ineffectual” and “hindering the energy transition”, according to more than 60 leading climate change scientists.
A pledge signed by scientists from nine countries, including the UK, US and Australia, said the “only path that can prevent further escalation of climate impacts” was “real zero” and not “net zero”.
Continue reading...If fossil fuel dependency is a global addiction, climate activists are prophets trying to save us from our stupor | Tim Winton
Legions of young people are getting organised, skilling up, raising their voices and placing their bodies in the path of those who profit from our addiction
Not long before the Nazis murdered him, the Lutheran pastor and resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “the ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children”.
That moral challenge is timeless. But with the climate emergency upon us, it has an unsettling new edge, and with that in mind, I’ve been preoccupied lately by the underappreciated power of solidarity.
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