My personal motivations for participating in movement-building stem from a steady process of feeling empowered through collective action with climate justice organizers. I wish to share my experience to help illustrate the profound impact that I believe climate justice organizing is having in Canada and how it is developing a resilient, creative,
Continue readingTag: COP17
350 or bust: It’s Time To Be Conscientious Objectors To The War On Our Children’s Future
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada and the only Green MP in our parliament, didn’t mince words about the Harper government’s betrayal of our children in her December 19th blog posting: As we all prepare for the holidays, it is customary to look back at the year
Continue reading350 or bust: Citizens Climate Lobby: Progress in Durban On Climate, But We Mustn’t Wait To Act
Citizens Climate Lobby Canada released this response to the recent Durban climate negotiations and the announcement yesterday by Environment Minister Peter Kent that Canada is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol: While it is encouraging that a path forward now exists for an international agreement on climate change, the deal
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: BREAKING: Canada Pulls Out of Kyoto Protocol
TarSandsLeaf.jpg Canada is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, the cornerstone of international climate negotiations, in the wake of the failed COP17 climate talks in Durban. Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent announced Canada's bail-out of Kyoto as he returned from Durban. The Kyoto Protocol was ratified by Canada in 2002, when
Continue reading350 or bust: Dr. Seuss On U.N. Climate Talks: “On Wednesday My Chicken Laid Eggs That Were Fried”
Dr. Seuss was always an accurate as well as entertaining observer of human nature. Marcus Brigstoke and the other funny folks at the British radio comedy “The Now Show” pay homage to him in their take on the 2009 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen. It will make you laugh and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Youth Delegate Anjali Appadurai Speaks Truth to Power at Conclusion of COP17 in Durban
Perhaps the most powerful speech made in all of COP17 at Durban came at the very end, a statement by Anjali Appadurai, a student at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, who addressed the conference on behalf of the youth delegates. Her scornful depiction of the utter failure of the
Continue reading350 or bust: Durban: Setting The Stage For Climate Chaos
Today’s guest blogger is friend of 350orbust Graham Saunders, who gives us his perspective on the U.N. climate negotiations in Durban: The Kyoto Agreement to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases became toast at the recent world meetings in Durban, South Africa. Yes, there are some damage control with statements
Continue reading350 or bust: Canada At Durban Climate Talks: Talking Green, Walking Dirty
Fresh from Ani’s blog, this video of the large crowd of people have gathered outside the negotiations room at COP17 to stand with Africa as the negotiations come to a close: Here are other recent posts from Ani, with her observations of COP17: Talking green, walking dirty: a snapshot of
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Small Island States Fear "Annihilation" From Failed Climate Negotiations, Protests Mark COP17 Closing Hours
Karl Hood, Grenada's Minister of Foreign Affairs and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), responded to a question from veteran ABC correspondent Bill Blakemore about the fact that climate scientists believe it is impossible to keep global warming below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels: "If they're saying that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Will Durban Climate Talks Leave Us On the Wrong Side of History?
floods-in-kennedy-road.jpg Guest post by Heather Libby of TckTckTck.org, originally published on Huffington Post. Whatever happens, the next 48 hours will change the world. The Durban climate negotiations dance on a wire. Sway but a little, and everything falls. For the past ten days scientists, politicians, faith leaders, health leaders, artists and unions
Continue reading350 or bust: Some Honesty At Durban Climate Conference: Youth Told “No One Is Listening To You”
Willard Metzger is the General Secretary of Mennonite Church Canada and blogs at Church Guy. He is well acquainted with the suffering that climate change is already inflicting on the most vulnerable among us, as the former Director-Church Relation of World Vision Canada and the author of Thanking God With
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: U.S. 2020 climate treaty proposal isn’t a delay—it’s a death sentence
Ed note: Originally published by our friends at Grist.org. by Jamie Henn of 350.org The U.N. climate talks desperately need a crisis. For the last 10 days, negotiations here in Durban, South Africa, have made little progress on the fundamental challenge these talks were set up to confront: how the world
Continue reading350 or bust: Durban: Youth Turn Their Backs In Response To Canadian Government’s Disregard For Their Future
Here’s another post from Ani, part of the Canadian Youth Delegation in Durban, South Africa where the 10 days of U.N. climate negotiations have less than 48 hours to go, and no agreement is in sight. Here is her account of the recent action by some of the other members
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Sky Is Falling! Climate Deniers Parachute Into COP17 In Durban
Screen shot 2011-12-07 at 12.14.09 AM.png What’s that falling from the sky? A bird? A plane? No! It’s just crazy climate denier Christopher “Lord" Monckton! Apparently trying to one-up himself after the "Hitler Youth" debacle in Copenhagen in 2009. Monckton and his compatriots from the climate-denying, pollution-loving Committee For A
Continue reading350 or bust: U.S. Navy: Climate Change Is A National Security Threat
Here are some more voices from Durban, as the UN climate negotiations continue to the end of the week: Rear Admiral David Titley, Oceanographer and Navigator of the US Navy, discusses climate change at the COP17 UN Climate Talks: **** Wondering what’s going on at the Durban talks? Here’s COP17
Continue reading350 or bust: Canada’s Pollution Peddlers Arrive At COP17 in Durban
It’s a busy time for a climate activist; the updates from COP17 are coming in fast and furious, particularly from Canadians as the Canadian Minister of the Environment Peter Kent and his delegation arrived yesterday. Here are some of the articles that were in my inbox this morning: Mardi Tindal,
Continue reading350 or bust: Durban: “Down With Canada”
Concerned citizens from around Africa and the globe have gathered in Durban South Africa to “Occupy Cop17″, as hopes for a global agreement to address the climate crisis fades. As part of Occupy COP17, participants chanted “down with Canada” outside the official U.N. negotiations. It makes me so ashamed of
Continue reading350 or bust: It’s Official: Canada Breaks International Law, Withdraws From Kyoto Protocol
From the Globe and Mail: Environment Minister Peter Kent says Canada is finished with the Kyoto Protocol. Speaking in a teleconference from an international climate-change summit in South Africa, Mr. Kent said Monday Canada will not make a second commitment to Kyoto, which would run from 2013 to 2017. The
Continue reading350 or bust: COP17: Politicians, Get Your Head Out Of The Sands And Lead!
Our eyes on the ground of the Durban climate conference, Ani, updates us from Day 6 of COP17. To read more, visit Ani’s blog at YouthDelegateManitoba.wordpress.com: I could spend my time writing this blog about a draft text for the Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention, which has been circulated
Continue readingDude, Where’s Our Climate Policy?
The Durban Climate Conference hasn’t even begun yet and already Canada is getting flack for it’s poor reputation on the environment. What do you expect though from an environment minister who didn’t even know what Ozone was up until a week ago (let’s be fair, he’s only been on the job since
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