Total fire bans declared across SA ahead of catastrophic conditions on Wednesday

A total fire ban has been declared for South Australia on Tuesday ahead of catastrophic conditions expected on Wednesday.

Fire reached close to Port Lincoln last week
in SA's first major bushfire for the season.

It is one of the first times the Country Fire Service (CFS) has declared a pre-emptive fire ban 24 hours before a hot and windy day, the agency's head said.

"It's pretty unusual that we take a precautionary fire ban and I hope that people will realise we've done so in response to the severity of the conditions which are forecasted for Wednesday," CFS chief officer Mark Jones said.

Read the ABC News story by Eugene Boisvert - “Total fire bans declared across SA ahead of catastrophic conditions on Wednesday.”

Notes form a remarkable political moment for climate change

On Wednesday, the British House of Commons, led by the Conservative Party, voted to declare that the planet was in a “climate emergency.” The day before, a CNN poll found that, in the United States, Democratic voters care more about climate change than about any other issue in the upcoming Presidential election: more than health care, more than gun control, more than free college, more than impeaching the President. Having followed the issue closely since I wrote my first book about climate change, thirty years ago, I think I can say that we’re in a remarkable moment, when, after years of languishing, climate concern is suddenly and explosively rising to the top of the political agenda. Maybe, though not certainly, it is rising fast enough that we’ll get real action.

Much of central London was shut down for a week by
 a group called Extinction Rebellion, which camped in
the streets, Occupy-style.

This is not, in fact, the first climate moment: there have been a few times during the past three decades when it appeared as if our political leaders might seriously engage with the issue. The first was in 1988, when the NASA scientist Jim Hansen’s testimony to Congress took the problem public. People were shocked to learn that the Mississippi River was so drought-diminished that barge traffic had slowed; Time named “Endangered Earth” its Planet of the Year; George H. W. Bush, running for President against Michael Dukakis, promised to battle the greenhouse effect with “the White House effect.”

Read the story from The New Yorker by Bill McKibben - “Notes form a remarkable political moment for climate change.”

ASOS hold a conference for sustainable fashion

ASOS held a sustainability conference on Wednesday with over 90 of the biggest brands in the fashion industry in attendance.

ASOS held a sustainability conference on Wednesday
 with more than 90 of the biggest brands in the fashion
 industry in attendance.

The purpose of the event, entitled The Future of Fashion: Transformation through Collaboration, was to discuss key issues facing the fashion industry and to ensure a more sustainable future.

Brands that attended the London-based event included Levi’s, Adidas, Boohoo, Miss Selfridge, Nike and Fred Perry. This gave them the opportunity to collaborate with each other to ensure that new measures are put in place to combat the worsening effects of the textile industry.

Nick Beighton, ASOS CEO, said: “We believe the future of fashion is ever-changing, unpredictable but most of all incredibly exciting. By working together, we believe we can deliver a systemic shift in the way our industry addresses key ethical trade and sustainability challenges and proactively design a future we all believe in.”

Read the Climate Action story by Rachel Cooper - “ASOS hold a conference for sustainable fashion.”

East Coast Shatters Temperature Records, Offering Preview to a Warming World

There are records—like Wednesday being the earliest 80-degree day in Washington, D.C., history—and then there are the eye-popping effects of those records, like seeing people wearing T-shirts on the streets of Portland, Maine, in February.

Thermometers registered record highs across the eastern
U.S. in mid-February. The map shows temperatures in
 degrees Fahrenheit on Feb. 21, 2018, at 1 p.m. EST.

However you measure it, Feb. 20-21, 2018, were days for the books—days when the records fell as quickly as the thermometer rose, days that gave a glimpse into the wacky weather that the new era of climate change brings.

"What we have is a large-scale pattern that wouldn't be too uncommon in the spring," said meteorologist Patrick Burke of the National Weather Service. "But it's a little bit unusual to see it set up this way in February—and set up with such persistence.”

Read the Inside Climate News story by Sabrina Shankman - “East Coast Shatters Temperature Records, Offering Preview to a Warming World.”

Seattle sues Trump administration over ‘sanctuary cities’ order

Seattle is suing the federal government over President Donald Trump’s executive order cracking down on so-called “sanctuary cities,” Mayor Ed Murray said Wednesday.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray says the city is suing
the federal government, arguing that President
Donald Trump’s executive order on “sanctuary
cities” violates the Constitution.

The announcement comes two days after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Department of Justice would turn up the pressure and withhold grants from “sanctuary” jurisdictions for not doing more to help the Trump administration capture and deport people living in the U.S. illegally.

The president is waging “war on cities,” Murray said during Wednesday’s announcement of the lawsuit.

Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order said certain cities and other local governments “willfully violate federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States.”

Read Daniel Beekman’s story in The Seattle Times - “Seattle sues Trump administration over ‘sanctuary cities’ order.”

Former Greens leader Bob Brown to launch alliance to oppose Adani coalmine

The former Greens leader Bob Brown will launch a new alliance of 13 environmental groups opposed to Adani’s Carmichael coalmine on Wednesday in Canberra.

The former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown
says the Adani coalmine will be the most
dangerous in Australia’s history and increase
carbon pollution when it needs to be cut. 

The Stop Adani Alliance will lobby against the coalmine in northern Queensland, citing new polling that shows three-quarters of Australians oppose subsidies for the mine when told the government plans to loan its owners $1bn.

The alliance’s declaration argues the mine will “fuel catastrophic climate change” because burning 2.3bn tonnes of coal from the mine over 60 years of operation would create 4.6bn tonnes of carbon dioxide. It states the project would “trash Indigenous rights”, citing the fact Adani does not have the consent of the Wangan and Jagalingou people.

Read the story on The Guardian - “Former Greens leader Bob Brown to launch alliance to oppose Adani coalmine.”