Climate scientists long thought Antarctica’s interior may not be very sensitive to warming, but our research, published this week, shows a dramatic change. Over the past 30 years, the south pole has been one of the fastest-changing places on Earth, warming more than three times more rapidly than the rest of the world.

Guardian 30th June 2020 read more »

iNews 29th June 2020 read more »

JOHN Swinney must ensure that the current environmental emergency detailed in an important article by Mike Small is at the top of the curriculum when full-time teaching resumes (It will take more than a return to business as usual to save the planet, June 28). Thirty years hence, only by young minds altering their priorities will they have any chance of living on a sustainable planet. Changing the mindset of present world leaders, tax evaders, economists, bankers, land users and the general public may depend on their receiving a dose of the danger first hand. What form it will take may well be dramatic.

The National 28th June 2020 read more »

It’ll take more than return to business as usual to save planet. The media failure around reporting climate breakdown is long-standing, and was key to the demand of Extinction Rebellion, especially focused on public broadcasters: tell the truth. Nor is it surprising in terms of human behaviour. How can we be expected to focus on the larger abstract notion of “climate change” when we are (very much) focused on the tangible virus that might kill us and our family?

The National 28th June 2020 read more »

Environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg has hit out at world leaders for wanting to be pictured with her to “look good”. The 17-year-old became a global star thanks to her activism, and gave a powerful speech at the United Nations climate change summit in September in which she told world leaders: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words … how dare you!” As part of a series she has made about her campaigning for Swedish radio during the coronavirus lockdown, Thunberg revealed that the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, had queued up to have a “selfie” with the teenager at the international gathering in New York. On the radio programme, she was critical of the way high-ranking figures had behaved after her UN appearance. She said: “Presidents, prime ministers, kings and princesses came and wanted to talk to me. “They saw me and suddenly saw the chance that they could take a photo with me for their Instagram account. Then the hashtag #savetheplanet. “It seemed as if they had forgotten for a moment to be ashamed that their generation had let future generations down.”

Guardian 27th June 2020 read more »

A major report into the UK’s preparedness for the impacts of the global environmental crisis has warned the government is “woefully unaware of and ill-prepared for” the imminent existential threats posed by climate breakdown and the destruction of nature. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) conducted a year-long investigation into environmental breakdown and concluded the country is “acutely vulnerable” to the enormous effects this poses and is not ready for what it described as the “policy challenge” required. The report concluded that the overall environmental crisis has already reached critical levels due to the “historic disregard” for the destruction of nature. Soil has been degraded, species are going extinct, and oceans are polluted, the report noted.

Independent 24th June 2020 read more »

The public must stage a sustained programme of mass civil disobedience to force the Government to take the dramatic action needed to tackle climate change, one of Britain’s leading environmentalists has said. Jonathon Porritt, the former Green Party chairman, said the threat posed by global warming is now so great – and time to act so short – that drastic measures are required. But the Government will only take that kind of action if the public protests so hard it has no choice but to act, he told i.

iNews 24th June 2020 read more »

The environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion created a pop-up cycle lane on one of Manchester’s main roads to draw attention to the council’s “inaction” on providing temporary cycling infrastructure. Activists used cones, signage and spray paint to cordon off part of the A56 Chester Road in protest at what it called Manchester City Council’s “continued refusal to provide sufficient large scale temporary cycle infrastructure to help keep Mancunians safe and healthy during this pandemic”.

iNews 24th June 2020 read more »

A citizens assembly has found that there is strong support for a green recovery in the UK, with 79% of members saying the recovery should help net zero. The Climate Assembly brings together 108 people, chosen to be representative of demographics in the UK and of the levels of concern over climate change. In a series of six weekend meet ups, held between January and May, the group listened to a range of views and information about meeting net zero by 2050, before entering into discussion. The final weekend focused on the impact of COVID-19, the lockdown and the economic downturn, and how that will affect decarbonisation.

Current 23rd June 2020 read more »

Craig Bennett: Restoring our wetlands will help win climate battle. For too long too many people, not least some environmental campaigners, have talked about the climate and ecological crises as if they are separate issues. I’ve even had some people argue with me that one is more important than the other. It’s nonsense. The truth is that runaway climate change and ecosystem collapse are both symptoms of humanity’s failure to respect environmental limits. The two are inextricably linked. We have no hope of stopping climate change unless we can restore the abundance of nature. And we have no hope of stopping the crisis in biodiversity unless we tackle climate change and — more to the point — the root causes of both. Of course, to achieve net-zero emissions (removing as many carbon emissions as we produce) we need to stop burning fossil fuels, power our world on renewable energy, promote energy efficiency, decarbonise transport and so on. But we also need to let nature help.

Times 24th June 2020 read more »

We have a little time to reflect with honesty and clarity on the prospects for the global community to deliver on its climate change commitments, now that the Glasgow climate negotiations (COP26) have been re-scheduled for 2021 due to Covid-19. To shed light on this, we have written a paper that considers the implications of the Paris Agreement for wealthier and industrialised nations. In particular, the paper focuses on the mitigation proposals of two self-avowed ‘climate progressive’ countries, the UK and Sweden. Both have developed high-profile legislation, ostensibly designed to cut their emissions in line with holding the rise in temperature to “well below 2°C” and “pursing … 1.5°C”. Yet as the paper demonstrates, peel away the layers of obfuscation and even these ‘climate leaders’ are actively choosing to fail – and by a huge margin.

Ecologist 8th June 2020 read more »