activism – Page 2 – Desdemona Despair

Proportion of climate survey respondents in Norway who expressed they were concerned or unconcerned about climate change, 2017-2021. Respondents ranked how concerned they were about climate change on a scale from 1 to 4. Since 2017, nearly 3000 young people aged 17 to 20 participated in the survey. Graphic: Haugseth, et al., 2022 / Sociology

December 21, 2022

Greta Thunberg effect evident among Norwegian youth – Thunberg says she’s ready to hand over megaphone – “We should also listen to reports and experiences from people who are most affected by the climate crisis”

By Ingebjørg Hestvik 9 December 2022 (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) – Since 2017, nearly 3000 young people aged 17 to 20 have shared in their own words what they consider important in Norwegian society, and whom they regard as good role models. The survey showed a clear shift in Norwegian youth in autumn […]

A person wearing a carved wooden mask takes part with other people in a march during COP15, the two-week U.N. Biodiversity summit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 10 December 2022. Photo: Christinne Muschi / REUTERS

December 10, 2022

Activists dressed as birds and trees rally for nature at COP15 in Montreal – “We see what is happening and it is clearly not sufficient compared to our ambitions and our priorities”

By Gloria Dickie 10 December 2022 MONTREAL (Reuters) – Hundreds of people on Saturday braved sub-zero temperatures to march the streets of Montreal, the host city of this year’s U.N. biodiversity summit, demanding a strong new deal to protect nature worldwide. Wearing costumes to look like birds, trees, and caribou, activists said the COP15 summit could fail […]

U.S. President Joe Biden departs after speaking at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, 11 November 2022, at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Photo: Alex Brandon / AP Photo

November 20, 2022

COP27 ends in tears and frustration – Reactions from participants – “The world will not thank us”

By Camilla Hodgson 20 November 2022 Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt (Financial Times) – Choking back his emotions, Tuvalu finance minister Seve Paeniu held up a photo of five youth delegates from his country and expressed his “deep regret and disappointment” that COP27 had been a “missed opportunity”. More than 80 countries had supported a proposal to […]

Delegates applaud as COP27 president Sameh Shoukry delivers a statement during the closing plenary at the climate summit in Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday, 19 November 2022. Photo: Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

November 20, 2022

The big takeaway from COP27? These climate conferences just aren’t working – “It really does beggar belief, that in the course of 27 COPs, there has never been a formal agreement to reduce the world’s fossil fuel use”

By Bill McGuire 20 November 2022 (The Guardian) – In the end, the recent shenanigans at the COP27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh at least ended up making modest progress on loss and damage: high-emissions nations agreeing to pay those countries bearing the brunt of climate mayhem that they had little to do with bringing about. But, yet […]

An activist holds a sign showing Earth with a fever and an oral thermometer at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), in Sharm El-Sheikh, 19 November 2022. Photo: Sedat Suna / EPA

November 20, 2022

The 1.5C climate goal died at COP27, but hope must not – “It is mindboggling that countries did not muster the courage to call for phasing down fossil fuels”

By Damian Carrington 20 November 2022 (The Guardian) – When the history of the climate crisis is written, in whatever world awaits us, COP27 will be seen as the moment when the dream of keeping global heating below 1.5C died. Does that mean giving up? Absolutely not. The 1.5C target is not a threshold beyond which hope […]

Nakeeyat Dramani Sam holds up a placard at an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 18 November 2022. Photo: Mohamed Abd El Ghany / REUTERS

November 19, 2022

COP27 nears breakthrough on climate finance in scramble for final deal – “We’d rather have no decision than a bad decision”

By Kate Abnett, Shadia Nasralla, and Gloria Dickie 19 November 2022 SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – Negotiators at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt neared a breakthrough deal on Saturday for a fund to help poor countries being ravaged by the impacts of global warming but remained locked over how to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions driving […]

Gail Zawacki at the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City, 23 September 2011. She carries a sign that reads, “Industrial civilization is murdering our Earth”. Photo: Gail Zawacki

June 18, 2022

The Diva of Doom: Remembering the late, great Gail Zawacki – “In the end, what matters more than time?”

By James Galasyn 18 June 2022 (Desdemona Despair) – I was greatly saddened this week to read an email from climate activist Richard Pauli informing me that Gail Zawacki, the “Diva of Doom”, passed away on 9 June 2022. The community of environmental activists has lost one of its most eloquent and entertaining voices. She […]

Climate activists Elizabeth Wathuti of Kenya, Vanessa Nakate of Uganda and Helena Gualinga of Ecuador attend the climate protest alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, 26 May 2022. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum took place in Davos from May 22 until May 26, 2022. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka / AP Photo

May 29, 2022

At Davos, climate activists say major issues ignored – “Many people here are disconnected from the reality. They are in a bubble. They are in their own world.”

By Peter Prengaman 26 May 2022 DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) – At a small plaza in Davos, a picturesque Swiss town in the middle of the Alps, about 50 climate activists gathered on Thursday to bring attention to issues they said were largely ignored during this week’s World Economic Forum meeting. They said more attention needed […]

ITV Host Richard Madeley and student activist Miranda Whelehan on “Good Morning Britain” on Monday, 11 April 2022. Whelehan was there on behalf of “Just Stop Oil”, an activist group that has been engaging in direct action by blockading oil terminals and demanding that the UK government ends all new oil licenses, exploration, and consent in the North Sea. Madeley, the host, criticized the group by saying, “But you’d accept, wouldn’t you, that it’s a very complicated discussion to be had, it’s a very complicated thing. And this ‘Just Stop Oil’ slogan is very playground-ish isn’t it? It’s very Vicky Pollard, quite childish.” Observers were quick to point out the parallels with the film “Don’t Look Up”. Photo: ITV

April 18, 2022

Miranda Whelehan: I went on TV to explain “Just Stop Oil” – and it became a parody of “Don’t Look Up”

By Miranda Whelehan 13 April 2022 (The Guardian) – I hadn’t seen the 2021 satirical film Don’t Look Up when I went on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday. I was there on behalf of Just Stop Oil – a group that has been engaging in direct action by blockading oil terminals. We’re demanding that the UK government ends all new oil […]

Anti-solar supporters pose for a portrait at the Johnson County BOCC public hearing on the solar amendments recommended by the Planning Commission in Olathe, Kansas, U.S., 4 April 2022. Photo: Arin Yoon / REUTERS

April 9, 2022

U.S. solar expansion stalled by rural land-use protests – “It’s pretty obvious that, if there’s a climate urgency, we’re not behaving that way”

By Nichola Groom 7 April 2022 (Reuters) – The Solar Star project in California is among the largest solar energy facilities in the world, boasting 1.7 million panels spread over 3,000 acres north of Los Angeles. Its gargantuan scale points to an uncomfortable fact for the industry: a natural gas power plant 100 miles south […]