35,000 Protestors in Berlin Call for Agricultural Revolution

Organizers said 35,000 people marched through the streets of the German capital on Saturday to say they're "fed up" with industrial agriculture and call for a transformation to a system that instead supports the welfare of the environment, animals and rural farmers.

Demonstrators participate in a protest march over
agricultural policy on Jan. 19 in Berlin, Germany. 

Many held placards reading "Eating is political" at the action in Berlin, which coincided with the so-called "Green Week" agricultural fair.

The protest also featured a procession of 170 farmers driving tractors to the rally at the Brandenburg Gate.

Read the story from EcoWatch by Andrea Germanos - “35,000 Protestors in Berlin Call for Agricultural Revolution.”

Protesters march as UN climate talks hit fossil fuel snag

Katowice: Thousands of people from around the world have marched through the southern Polish city that's hosting this year's UN climate talks, demanding that their governments take tougher action to curb global warming.

A climate activist at the March for Climate in a protest
against global warming in Katowice, Poland, on Saturday.

Protesters included farmers from Latin America, environmentalists from Asia, students from the United States and families from Europe, many of whom said climate change is already affecting their lives.

Read the story by Frank Jordans from The Sydney Morning Herald - “Protesters march as UN climate talks hit fossil fuel snag.”

A lump of coal - metaphor for a wretched year for Malcolm Turnbull

The moment that summed up the political year 2017 for me came in the first sitting week when treasurer Scott Morrison marched into parliament brandishing a lump of coal.

 ‘The marriage equality vote was a step forward for the nation,
but the process was expensive and needlessly divisive, the
May federal budget was rightly portrayed as Labor-lite, while
 a bank royal commission has been imposed on a reluctant government’

“This is coal – don’t be afraid, don’t be scared”, the treasurer cried out maniacally, before passing it along his front bench where Barnaby Joyce proceeded to fondle it like Gollum his precious ring.

The coal stunt was a none-too-subtle attempt to shift the focus of energy policy away from the imperative of transitioning to a renewable future by opening a new wave of investment in fossil fuels.

The premeditated stunt locked the Coalition in behind a coal lobby that had been running a coordinated campaign to besmirch renewables since an extreme weather event had led to blackouts in South Australia in late 2016.

The lump of coal act was also the final surrender by a prime minister who had built a public persona around his determination to take meaningful action on climate change.

Read the opinion piece by Peter Lewis on The Guardian - “A lump of coal - metaphor for a wretched year for Malcolm Turnbull.”