Author Archive: roman

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Climate Strikes around the federation

October 15, 2019

from Sara Shaw Climate Justice & Energy International Programme Co-coordinator, FoE International:


The week of 20-27 September saw the biggest global mobilisation to highlight the climate emergency in history with over 7 million people participating in global climate strikes and actions! Friends of the Earth groups around the world were part of this movement – supporting youth and calling for climate justice for those on the front lines of climate change, dirty energy and false solutions. Here is our round up of how you all took part.

In APAC, FoE groups joined the strikes in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Australia, Timor-Leste, South Korea, Philippines, Bangladesh, Japan and Indonesia. FoE Malaysia put together a fabulous round up of photos from around the APAC region.

Europe saw some of the biggest climate mobilisations ever! 1.4 million people in Germany alone. FoEE did a fabulous round up blog, and a flickr album. Here are some of the climate strikes and actions FoE and Young FoEE groups joined across Europe:England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Cyprus, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Macedonia, Sweden, Croatia, Bosnia.

Africa saw actions across the continent with FoE groups participating in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania and Togo. FoE Togo organised an inspiring football match action with local children. Young activists from Mozambique took part in the strikes in the UK and spoke powerfully on climate justice.

FoE Africa also participated in the UN Secretary General Climate Action Summit in New York. On 20 September over 300,000 people mobilized ahead of this Summit. Philip Jakpor from Environmental Rights Action/FoE Nigeria and Sostine Namanya from NAPE/FoE Uganda were in New York for FoEI and part of themobilisation.… Read more >>

Actions, Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Climate

“Chernobyl” Faithfully Recreates the World’s Worst Nuclear Disaster

June 14, 2019

Some of us were adults in 1986, some of us were children or teenagers, and some of us didn’t yet exist. Because of that, we all have different memories of Chernobyl – the world’s deadliest nuclear disaster.

That didn’t stop the screenwriter Craig Mazin, or the director John Renck, from creating the five-part mini-series Chernobyl, and it didn’t stop American network HBO, and the British network Sky, from producing the series.

Chernobyl is certainly a change of pace for both Renck and Mazin. Renck had directed episodes of the TV series Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Mazin had written the Hangover and Scary Movie movie franchises.

[…]

For those who don’t know much about the disaster, the series is an eye-opener. For those who do know what happened, the series is a near-perfect recreation of the events that took place in Soviet Ukraine on the morning of April 27, 1986.

 

Mazin said that Chernobyl arose out of his interest in writing something that addressed the fact that, “We are struggling with the global war on the truth.” For each episode, Mazin has created a podcast that can be found on Youtube.

Researching for the truth

To create the series, Mazin consulted many different kinds of sources, “from government reports to first person accounts to scientific journals to historical works, photo essays.” And, he worked hard to avoid putting false drama into his scripts because as he said, “So much of what happens in the show is just shocking. It’s shocking to believe that that’s what happened.

Well, our feeling was if we started pushing the envelope on those things then we would diminish the impact of all the things that we were accurate about, so we stayed as accurate as we could.”

— full story at interestingengineering.com

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear

UK unveils 2050 net zero carbon target

June 14, 2019

The UK is to enshrine a 2050 net zero emissions target in law, with an amendment to the Climate Change Act introduced on Wednesday.
It will make Britain the first major economy to legislate an end date for its contribution to global warming, following advice from the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC).

In one of her last acts as prime minister, Theresa May is to launch a youth steering group on the issue, meeting science and engineering students.

“Now is the time to go further and faster to safeguard the environment for our children. This country led the world in innovation during the industrial revolution, and now we must lead the world to a cleaner, greener form of growth,” she said in an advance statement.

“Standing by is not an option. Reaching net zero by 2050 is an ambitious target, but it is crucial that we achieve it to ensure we protect our planet for future generations.”

The move has cross-party support and is expected to win parliamentary approval. It follows a declaration of “climate emergency” in May and bills from Labour and Conservative backbenchers urging the government to put the target into action.
— full story in RenewEconomy “UK unveils 2050 net zero carbon target, in a first for a major economy”

Adelaide FoE Notes, Clean Futures, Climate