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Dealing with Climate Change & Justice

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    The most recent figures show 12.1m tonnes of waste collected by councils in England was burned in 2022-23, 49% of all local authority waste. The proposed new incinerators will mean England will be burning more than half the waste collected by councils, with claims that this undermines Labour’s ambition of a “circular economy”, which has the ambitions of reduced waste, recycling and an extended life cycle of products.

    Scientists have warned that incinerators are a “disaster” for the climate. Analysis by the BBC in October found that burning waste produces the same amount of greenhouse gases for each unit of energy as coal power. The country’s last coal power station shut down in September.

    Scotland and Wales have already banned new incinerator plants because of environmental concerns. The Tories pledged in their manifesto at the general election to “prevent new waste incinerators being built”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/29/labour-under-fire-over-plans-for-40-more-greenwashing-waste-incinerators

    Posted 3 months ago #
  2. gembo
    Member

    Lovely Xmas present

    Posted 3 months ago #
  3. chdot
    Admin

    A leading figure in the Scottish hydro energy renaissance has described the "defining moment" of the new power storage revolution.

    Hydropower storage is stepping forward as a “critical technology” and providing “a lifeline for rural communities, well-paying jobs and significant investment in local economies”, according to the entrepreneur who sold a Loch Ness hydro storage project to the Norwegian government.

    https://archive.ph/H4A79

    (Herald)

    Posted 3 months ago #
  4. chdot
    Admin

  5. chdot
    Admin

  6. chdot
    Admin

    Scotland’s climate could mirror harsher parts of Canada when a fragile Atlantic current system collapses due to global warming.

    https://archive.ph/OJhRo

    Scotsman

    Posted 2 months ago #
  7. chdot
    Admin

  8. chdot
    Admin

    The Los Angeles wildfires are climate disasters compounded

    Conditions for a January LA firestorm have not existed before now, writes a meteorologist and climate journalist

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/09/los-angeles-wildfires-climate-disasters

    Posted 2 months ago #
  9. chdot
    Admin

    When Shetland embarked on that protracted Viking wind farm journey more than two decades ago, no-one in the community could foresee what a divisive and in many ways defining experience it would become.

    Its many plots and sub-plots, twist and turns, provide a wealth of material for a book but no local writer has yet dared to take on what would almost inevitably turn into a poisoned chalice.

    It had to be someone from outside the isles – someone with no view on the wind farm – to be able to tackle Shetland’s biggest story.

    In The Shetland Way: Community and climate crisis on my father’s islands, Marianne Brown approaches Shetland and its Viking saga for very personal reasons.

    “When we are planning the urgent transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we have to consider who benefits. We need to challenge the economic system that has landed us in this climate catastrophe and build renewable energy for a fairer world,” Brown concludes.

    https://www.scottishbeacon.com/news/environment/how-do-we-reconcile-change-viking-wind-farm-and-the-consequences

    Posted 2 months ago #
  10. chdot
    Admin

  11. chdot
    Admin

    Now the National Trust is marking its 130th anniversary by unveiling “moonshot” plans to address what it regards as the current national need – the climate and nature crises.

    The conservation charity has launched proposals to create 250,000 hectares (617,500 acres) of nature-rich landscape – equivalent to one-and-a-half times the size of Greater London – on its own land and off it in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/10/national-trust-to-restore-nature-across-area-bigger-than-greater-london

    Posted 2 months ago #
  12. chdot
    Admin

    To resist the climate crisis, we must resist the billionaire class

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/10/climate-crisis-billionaire-class

    Posted 2 months ago #
  13. chdot
    Admin

    Climate breakdown means this will become more frequent, according to the Met Office. It says: “Observations show a clear warming trend for average UK winter temperature, and this trend is projected to continue in the future due to human induced climate change. This doesn’t mean the UK will no longer see cold spells … however, cold spells are projected to become less frequent and less severe.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/13/uk-faces-broccoli-and-cauliflower-shortage-this-spring

    Posted 2 months ago #
  14. neddie
    Member

    cold spells are projected to become less frequent and less severe

    That won't be the case if the AMOC collapses! It is already weakening, and a severe weakening or collapse will lead us to have temperature fluctuations similar to Norway.

    And with our leaky homes, it will lead to an "existential" threat to Scotland - will it be worth staying here, or better to move?

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/23/we-dont-know-where-the-tipping-point-is-climate-expert-on-potential-collapse-of-atlantic-circulation

    One thing is for sure: humanity will not die out. But for some countries that will be in the midst of this, like Norway, and Scotland, the risks will be existential and raise the question whether people can continue to live there or whether most of them would rather move

    But hey ho, keep on driving everyone...

    Posted 2 months ago #
  15. chdot
    Admin

  16. chdot
    Admin

  17. Yodhrin
    Member

    @neddie you say that like most people could afford to move. Most folk would need to go somewhere that English is the main language which limits options, and the restrictions a lot of countries place on immigration limits them a lot more. If there's a massive influx of people trying to cram themselves into Southern England people will look back at the lunatic rental market of London circa in the first quarter of the 20th century with nostalgia, nevermind finding work. And even the better off wouldn't have an easy time of it, any issue big enough to cause that level of flight will murder the housing market leaving people with mortgages stuck and people who own outright with much less capital than they thought they had.

    Ironically, Brexit plus the absolutely abysmal state of our job, welfare, health, rental, and property markets is in those very specific circumstances cause for optimism IMO: so many people will be stuck here that they'll have no choice but to pull their heads out of the sand and demand the government finally act. In fact, long term, facing the consequences of 1.5c might be the only thing that will force the developed world to act to prevent 3c.

    Posted 2 months ago #
  18. Yodhrin
    Member

    Ah, Kier Starmer. Never knowingly correct, always utterly tone deaf. "Don't worry citizens, the AI we're helping corporations to train with your personal data that you have no choice but to give us might take your job, but we're also going to spend bajillions of pounds of public money giving sweetheart deals to Chinese and American companies to build a bunch of nuclear reactors right next to where you live."

    Posted 2 months ago #
  19. chdot
    Admin

    Big oil pushed to kill bill that would have made them pay for wildfire disasters

    Legislation has new life in wake of Los Angeles catastrophe but US fossil-fuel industry is already mobilizing against it

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/15/polluter-pay-bill-climate-disasters

    Posted 2 months ago #
  20. chdot
    Admin

  21. chdot
    Admin

    BP has fallen out of favour with investors since Looney set out a plan to slash its oil and gas production in favour of spending billions on green energy projects. Under Auchincloss, the company has begun to dilute its climate pledges, but investors remain concerned over the returns BP can expect from its big-ticket green projects, including multibillion-pound plans to develop offshore windfarms off the UK coast.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/16/bp-to-cut-4700-jobs-3000-contractor-roles-costs

    Posted 2 months ago #
  22. chdot
    Admin

  23. chdot
    Admin

    The extent of LA's Eaton Fire superimposed on Edinburgh

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Edinburgh/comments/1i2uj44/the_extent_of_las_eaton_fire_superimposed_on/

    Posted 2 months ago #
  24. chdot
    Admin

    Levels of the most significant planet-warming gas in our atmosphere rose more quickly than ever previously recorded last year, scientists say, leaving a key global climate target hanging by a thread.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30dn5dn53jo

    Posted 2 months ago #
  25. chdot
    Admin

    Mining companies in Scotland have failed to engage with local communities when exploring areas for the elements used in technology and clean energy, a report by a climate campaign group claims.

    https://archive.ph/Qf1dH

    Herald

    Posted 2 months ago #
  26. chdot
    Admin

    He continued:

    America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth. And we are going to use it. Let me use it.

    We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top, and export American energy all over the world.

    We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it with my actions. Today, we will end the Green New Deal, and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American auto workers. In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice.

    We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago. And thank you to the auto workers of our nation for your inspiring vote of confidence. We did tremendously with their vote.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jan/20/president-trump-inauguration-swearing-in-timing-schedule-live-updates?page=with:block-678e876e8f0821555804b2a9#block-678e876e8f0821555804b2a9

    Posted 2 months ago #
  27. chdot
    Admin

    Among measures signed on stage to cheers from a raucous crowd was an order for the US to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, a step Trump took in his first term before Joe Biden recommitted the US to that attempt to tackle the climate crisis.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/trump-executive-orders

    Posted 2 months ago #
  28. chdot
    Admin

    It comes as Scotland was urged separately that it must do more to help “run-of-river” hydropower facilities maximise their output and prevent negative impacts on wildlife in the face of the challenges posed by climate change, according to a new report.

    Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) commissioned the report, which is published today, and is based on research from the University of Glasgow and cbec eco-engineering.

    They worked closely with partners at hydropower companies, Scottish Canals, SEPA and NatureScot on the report, which lays out a series of recommendations to help tackle the problem of sediment build-up at dams and weirs across the country.

    Planting trees alongside rivers, restoring peatland, and tree planting more broadly across river catchments could help reduce the amount of sediment entering rivers by capturing it before it reaches waterways, it was found.

    https://archive.ph/2025.01.22-084039/https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24873974.scotland-study-floating-wind-farms-on-industrial-scale/

    Posted 2 months ago #
  29. chdot
    Admin

    Climate science deniers from a US-based thinktank have been working with rightwing politicians in Europe to campaign against environmental policies, the Guardian can reveal.

    MEPs have been accused of “rolling out the red carpet for climate deniers” to give them a platform in the European parliament, amid warnings of a “revival of grotesque climate denialism”.

    The Heartland Institute, which has links to the Trump administration and has drawn on funding from companies including ExxonMobil and wealthy US Republican donors, has seized on a time when rightwing anti-climate action sentiment has been surging, and has set up a new European base in London.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/22/us-thinktank-climate-science-deniers-working-with-rightwingers-in-eu-parliament-heartland-institute

    Posted 2 months ago #
  30. chdot
    Admin


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