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We Need an Apartheid-Style Boycott to Save the Planet

'The negative impacts of Keystone XL will affect the whole world, our shared world, the only world we have.' Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP

We must stop climate change. And we can, if we use the tactics that worked in South Africa against the worst carbon emitters

 

theguardian.com
by Desmond Tutu
April 10, 2014

Twenty-five years ago people could be excused for not knowing much, or doing much, about climate change. Today we have no excuse. No more can it be dismissed as science fiction; we are already feeling the effects.

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The Change Within: The Obstacles We Face Are Not Just External

      

(Reuters/China Daily)

The climate crisis has such bad timing, confronting it not only requires a new economy but a new way of thinking.

thenation.com - by Naomi Klein - April 21, 2014

This is a story about bad timing. . .

. . . We too are suffering from a terrible case of climate-related mistiming, albeit in a cultural-historical, rather than a biological, sense. Our problem is that the climate crisis hatched in our laps at a moment in history when political and social conditions were uniquely hostile to a problem of this nature and magnitude—that moment being the tail end of the go-go ’80s, the blastoff point for the crusade to spread deregulated capitalism around the world.

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Why We Don’t Care About Saving Our Grandchildren From Climate Change

Some 30,000 people demonstrate in the center of Copenhagen on Dec. 12, 2009 to turn up the heat on world leaders debating global warming at the U.N. climate conference
Attila Kisbenedek / AFP / Getty Images

A new study shows that human beings are too selfish to endure present pain to avert future climate change. That's why we need win-win solutions now

science.time.com - by Bryan Walsh - October 21, 2014

You want to know what the biggest obstacle to dealing with climate change is? Simple: time. It will take decades before the carbon dioxide we emit now begins to have its full effect on the planet’s climate. And by the same token, it will take decades before we are able to enjoy the positive climate effects of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions now.

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UN Panel: Renewables, Not Nukes, Can Solve Climate Crisis

commondreams.org - by Harvey Wasserman - April 17, 2014

The authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has left zero doubt that we humans are wrecking our climate.

It also effectively says the problem can be solved, and that renewable energy is the way to do it, and that nuclear power is not.

The United Nations’ IPCC is the world’s most respected authority on climate.

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IPCC - Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)

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Mexico’s Climate Change Law - More Than Just Empty Words?

      

Firewood is still the main fuel used by Mexico's poor, like this woman cooking in the southern state of Chiapas. Credit: Mauricio Ramos/IPS

MEXICO CITY, Apr 21 (IPS) - When Mexico's climate change law went into effect in October 2012, it drew international praise. But what has happened since then?

globalissues.org - by Emilio Godoy - April 21, 2014

The best illustration of the lack of action so far is the Climate Change Fund, created under the law to finance adaptation and greenhouse gas emissions reduction initiatives, with national and international funds.

In 2012 it was assigned just 78,000 dollars for administrative operations, but was given no funds to finance projects. And this year there is not even a specific budget allocation for the Fund.

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World Bank Wants Water Privatized, Despite Risks

      

Efforts endanger access to and pricing of life’s most precious resource.  Mahesh Kumara / AP

america.aljazeera.com - by Anna Lappe - April 17, 2014

Humans can survive weeks without food, but only days without water — in some conditions, only hours. It may sound clichéd, but it’s no hyperbole: Water is life. So what happens when private companies control the spigot?

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World Bank - Water Privatization

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Food Shortages Could Be Most Critical World Issue By Mid-Century

This is Dr. Fred Davies, US Agency for International Development senior science advisor for the agency's bureau of food security and a Texas A&M AgriLife Regents Professor of Horticultural Sciences.  Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Kathleen Phillips

agrilife.org - by Kathleen Phillips - April 18, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The world is less than 40 years away from a food shortage that will have serious implications for people and governments, according to a top scientist at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“For the first time in human history, food production will be limited on a global scale by the availability of land, water and energy,” said Dr. Fred Davies, senior science adviser for the agency’s bureau of food security. “Food issues could become as politically destabilizing by 2050 as energy issues are today.”

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Eurekalert - Food shortages could be most critical world issue by mid-century

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Scientists Discover How to Generate Solar Power in the Dark

Andres Gutierrez/AP

Meet 'photoswitches,' a breakthrough set of materials that act as their own batteries, absorbing energy and releasing it on demand.

theatlantic.com - by Todd Woody - April 15, 2014

The next big thing in solar energy could be microscopic.

Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have devised a way to store solar energy in molecules that can then be tapped to heat homes, water or used for cooking.

The best part: The molecules can store the heat forever and be endlessly re-used while emitting absolutely no greenhouse gases.

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Nature Chemistry - Templated assembly of photoswitches significantly increases the energy-storage capacity of solar thermal fuels

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At Least 58 Killed in Attack on U.N. Base in South Sudan

      

A makeshift primary school for students at the UNMISS displaced persons camp in Bor, Jonglei state, South Sudan. Photo: UNMISS/Mihad Abdalla

english.alarabiya.net - by staff writer - April 18, 2014

At least 58 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in Thursday's attack on a UN base in South Sudan sheltering thousands of displaced civilians, a U.N. official said Friday.

“Forty-eight bodies, including children, women, men, have been recovered from inside the base. The bodies of 10 attackers have been found outside the base.

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UN News Centre - News Focus: Sudan and South Sudan

BBC - South Sudan conflict: Attack on UN base 'kills dozens'

CNN - 48 killed in attack on peacekeepers' base in South Sudan, U.N. says

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It's the Law: Big EU Companies Must Report on Sustainability

greenbiz.com - April 17, 2014

Wednesday was a historic day in Europe, where a new law will require its biggest companies to include sustainability factors as part of their annual financial report.

In a 599-55 vote, the European Parliament passed the law, which applies to publicly traded companies with more than 500 employees. They must address "policies, risks and results" in relation to "social, environmental and human rights impact, diversity and anti-corruption policies" in their annual reports.

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Global Reporting Initiative - About Sustainability Reporting

ALSO SEE - The EU law on non-financial reporting - how we got there

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