57,000 Germans want Siemens to quit Adani mine over climate

Munich: Climate activists have protested outside Siemens offices across Germany demanding that the conglomerate end its participation in the controversial Adani mining project in Australia, where raging bushfires have been met with calls to tackle climate change.

An activist wears takes the message to Siemens in Munich, Germany, on Friday.

The demonstrations, organised by the German branch of the Fridays for Future environmental youth movement, took place in several German cities, including Munich, where the firm is headquartered.

Protesters said they handed over a petition signed by 57,000 people during the hundreds-strong Munich demonstration on Friday, German time.

Read the story from The Age by Christof Ruehrmair - “57,000 Germans want Siemens to quit Adani mine over climate.”

COP25: Anger Over Lack of Action for Vulnerable States as Climate Talks Conclude

Climate activists have found plenty to be angry about at this year’s UN climate talks, which are scheduled to conclude in Madrid tonight. From youth groups to indigenous people, civil society has been more riled than in previous years, as the disconnect grows between momentum on the streets and the slow progress of the negotiations.

“It’s like two parallel worlds,” says Sara Shaw, part of the Friends of the Earth International delegation at the meeting, known as COP25. “It’s so stark, the contrast between climate breakdown, the potential of massive expansion of fossil fuels, using markets to game the system, the access polluters have to these talks when civil society is really marginalised. I think it’s just coming together in a huge amount of frustration at the injustice of it all.”

While the UN climate talks have always been an opportunity for activists to express their displeasure – there were hunger strikes in 2013, for instance, following a typhoon in the Philippines – civil society groups have been particularly united in their frustration at the process this year, which culminated in activists being forcibly barred from the venue on Wednesday.

Read the story from Desmog by Sophie Yeo - “COP25: Anger Over Lack of Action for Vulnerable States as Climate Talks Conclude.”

Mining protesters to be 'as disruptive as possible' in second day

Police have used capsicum spray on climate activists who are picketing a major mining conference in Melbourne and have so far arrested more than 20 people, including two for animal cruelty.

Environmental protesters clash with Police outside the
Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre on Tuesday.
Hundreds of climate protesters have converged on a
Melbourne conference centre in a bid to stop an
international mining conference from going ahead.

An injured police officer has been taken to hospital for treatment.One woman at the scene was treated by paramedics. She lay on the ground with her leg wrapped in a splint, while paramedics also put a neck brace on her.

Another protester said the woman had been pushed by an officer and trampled by a horse.

Read the story from The Age by Rachel Eddie - “Mining protesters to be 'as disruptive as possible' in second day.”

How climate change got labeled a ‘crisis’.

Al Gore made two cameos on the acclaimed NBC sitcom "30 Rock," showing up to assist the fictionalized version of the TV network in its hapless attempts to go green. He used a phrase that's become intimately familiar to climate activists in recent months.

Former Vice President Al Gore speaking at the World
Economic Forum annual meeting earlier this year.

"If we're going solve the climate crisis, we've got to change more than the lightbulbs and the windows. We've got to change the laws and the policies through collective political action on a large scale," the former vice president said in one 2009 appearance, before telling Kenneth the NBC page that it was "an old African proverb that I made up."

Although Gore's character was a spoof (he ended each appearance by exclaiming that "a whale is in trouble" and scrambling off screen), he was reiterating an argument he famously made in "An Inconvenient Truth" in 2006: Climate change is a global crisis.

Before it was adopted as a rallying cry for House Democrats and progressive groups, Gore had been promoting the phrase "climate crisis" for years.

Read the E&E News story by Nick Sobczyk - “How climate change got labeled a ‘crisis’."

‘Biggest compliment yet': Greta Thunberg welcomes oil chief's 'greatest threat' label

Greta Thunberg and other climate activists have said it is a badge of honour that the head of the world’s most powerful oil cartel believes their campaign may be the “greatest threat” to the fossil fuel industry.

Greta Thunberg tweeted: ‘Thank you! Our biggest
 compliment yet!’ in response to Mohammed
Barkindo’s comments.

The criticism of striking students by the trillion-dollar Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) highlights the growing reputational concerns of oil companies as public protests intensify along with extreme weather.

Mohammed Barkindo, the secretary general of Opec, said there was a growing mass mobilisation of world opinion against oil, which was “beginning to … dictate policies and corporate decisions, including investment in the industry”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Jonathon Watts - “‘Biggest compliment yet': Greta Thunberg welcomes oil chief's 'greatest threat' label.”

Commentary: Ivanka Trump could be the most powerful first lady ever

Ivanka Trump - the "First Daughter"
gives climate activists some hope.

Most climate activists around the world lament the rise of Donald Trump in becoming America’s president-elect.

They fear, rightly, for what impact he, and his administration, will have on world-wide efforts to mitigate and control climate change.

As dark and depressing as Trump may appear, there appears to be some glimmer of hope with his daughter, Ivanka, who seems somewhat more sensitive to the nation’s environmental concerns and by extension those of the world.

The Chicago Tribune muses here about First Ladies and First Daughters and the role they have played in past administrations.

Read the Chicago Tribune story – “Commentary: Ivanka Trump could be the most powerful first lady ever.”

Australia, welcome to your new climate change policy

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson visited the Great Barrier Reef a fortnight ago, with two of her fellow senators – Malcolm "I respect the Jews" Roberts, a man whose climate change denial is so intricate you need a PhD to understand it; and poor Brian Burston, who didn't join his colleagues for a snorkel because they couldn't find a wetsuit to fit him.

It appears no invitation was extended to fellow One Nation senator Rod Culleton, who is enjoying his legal adventures far too much for his leader's liking. They left the limelight-hogger back down south.

Finally the spotlight was back where it should be – on Hanson, who donned a wetsuit, inspected the coral in the waters off Great Keppel Island, and declared the reef ship-shape.

She could see no bleached coral, and the water, alleged by climate activists to be too hot, felt exactly as warm as it should.

Read Jacqueline Maley’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Australia, welcome to your new climate change policy.”

John Cook discusses the 'consensus on consensus'

John Cook - a friend of
Beneath the Wisteria.

Climate activists frequently bump into people who don’t know about climate change, consider it a scientific matter of no import to them, or retreat to refuting it as a myth and something about which the only consensus is among those advocating its existence.

A Climate Communication Fellow for the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, John Cook, who is also a critical part of the “Skeptical Science” website, has thought deeply about this matter for many years.

On the website he says: “Expert consensus is a powerful thing. People know we don’t have the time or capacity to learn about everything, and so we frequently defer to the conclusions of experts.

“It’s why we visit doctors when we’re ill. The same is true of climate change: most people defer to the expert consensus of climate scientists. Crucially, as we note in our paper:

Public perception of the scientific consensus has been found to be a gateway belief, affecting other climate beliefs and attitudes including policy support.

“That’s why those who oppose taking action to curb climate change have engaged in a misinformation campaign to deny the existence of the expert consensus. They’ve been largely successful, as the public badly underestimate the expert consensus, in what we call the ‘consensus gap.’ Only 16% of Americans realize that the consensus is above 90%,” he says.

Check out what, John Cook has to say on his website, Skeptical Science - “Consensus on Consensus.”

Civil disobedience is the only reasonable way to deal with the 'responsible men'

Civil disobedience is for some the only reasonable way through which to counter the “responsible men” who are driving the business as usual world and worsening circumstances that are evolving to seriously disrupt the world’s climate system.

The idea of civil disobedience may well be attractive to some, but it is not without its consequences; outcomes that can be devastating for those involved and end up on the wrong side of the law.

The Climate Disobedience Centre offers some advice in the story - “The Climate Necessity Defense: A Legal Tool for Climate Activists.”

People power, good sense and the courts change the game in Holland

P

eople power bound by sheer good sense and backed by the authority of the court system has had a landmark success for Dutch climate activists.

But it hasn’t been just for the people of Holland, the success for the Urgenda NGO is reverberating around the world.

Together with 900 citizens the Urgenda Foundation filed the Climate Case against the Dutch Government just last month the NGO won a lawsuit against the Dutch State, forcing it to take more measures against climate change.

In what was something of a break with tradition, bought about by the shorter than expected Test being played in England, John Cleary, who normally host a religious show on the ABC “Sunday Nights”, turned his attention to climate change and interviewed a representative of Urgenda.

Listen to the ABC interview here.

Revatalize and rehabilitate your spirits in just six minutes

C

Naomi Klein calls for economic justice
and climate change action.

limate activists are tough people, they have to be, but sometimes the relentless crusade of the business as usual brigade can cause even the hardiest of characters to wilt.

Spend just less than six minutes to watch this video and have your batteries recharged and your spirit rehabilitated.

Read the Guardian story and watch the video - “Toronto march to merge economic justice and climate action – video”.

The Guardian says, “A mobilization calling for a “new economy that works for people and the planet” will bring together unions, environmentalists, anti-poverty organizations, farmers, faith groups, Indigenous peoples and others on July 5 in Toronto, according to a video about the March for Jobs, Justice & the Climate.”

Check out the Victorian Climate Action Calendar

Climate activists are a disparate group – so many people are doing so much in so many places that it is impossible to keep abreast of everything.

However, one source of useful information is the “The Victorian Climate Action Calendar”.

The freshly updated calendar has a list of just a few things now happening in Victoria.