Extinction Rebellion

[JimC]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-29/ ... e/11648540

Well, that's where I was, but off a bit to the side, blocking a secondary entrance (which they didn't use). The police were fairly rough, but the demonstrators did a fair bit of pushing back, and had a red-hot go at stopping the delegates from entering...

Climate change protesters have clashed with police in violent scenes outside an international mining conference in Melbourne.

Police have arrested more than 40 demonstrators outside the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, where the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) is being held.

More than 100 protesters were met by almost as many police at the venue on the Yarra River.

Police used capsicum spray on some protesters, and used horses to force the demonstrators away from the entrances to the building.

I was near the group's first aid station, and I saw people having their faces washed to get rid of the spray...

A young crowd, quite a few radical socialists who were probably not fully into the XR non-violence thing. Mind you, it wasn't really an XR event, unlike the Spring Rebellion...

[Brian Peacock]

Good on you Jim. Fossil divestment is a necessary step.

Found this quirky channel from an atmospheric physicist doing climate stuff for a non-science audience. A good resource for those taking their first steps into the issue...

ClimateAdam

[pErvinalia]

I keep watching the footage from the mining conference on the news to see if I can see Jim. No cardigans spotted so far..

[JimC]

I keep watching the footage from the mining conference on the news to see if I can see Jim. No cardigans spotted so far..

Wasn't wearing one - too warm. But I had a look too, and didn't spot me, although I saw quite a few faces of people I'd chatted to. I was round to one side, with the others who wanted to contribute, but who were not quite up to wrestling with police horses or being arrested...

[Brian Peacock]

I have a great admiration for the skill of mounted police officers and the amazing training of their mounts. Those beasts could kill you in a heartbeat if they weren't under control.

[JimC]

Yeah.

I thought that some the protestors went over the top, shoving police, in one case spitting on a delegate, and chants such as "Fuck the police"...

[Brian Peacock]

The police aren't the enemy, and that kind of behaviour only inclines them to take sides against demonstrators rather than simply policing people expressing their right to protest. We might not like the job the police have to do but in a fight between the public and the police the police are always going to be able to out punch. It's not the police blocking change but lazy politicians thinking about holding onto their expense accounts and housing subsidies for one more electoral cycle.

[pErvinalia]

The police aren't always going to be able to out-punch. We see that again and again in places like Hong Kong and France, for example. The most critical factor is numbers of protesters.

[JimC]

There were only a couple of hundred of us, and it was fixed ground, no surprises. However, the reality was that we were never going to be able to deny entry to the conference goers - they certainly got an earful, though...

[Brian Peacock]

[JimC]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-06/ ... n/11672776

More than 11,000 scientists around the world have signed a scientific paper declaring a climate emergency, backing protesters across the world demanding action.

The paper, published in the journal BioScience, declares the climate crisis "had arrived" and is "accelerating faster than most scientists expect".

"Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat," the paper said.

The UK, Scotland and Ireland are among the countries that have declared a "climate change emergency", along with more than 1,000 subnational jurisdictions, including many in Australia, such as the ACT, the City of Sydney and the City of Melbourne.

Last month, the Federal Government voted down an attempt to declare a climate emergency across the country, with the Morrison Government's Emissions Reduction Minister, Angus Taylor, labelling it a "symbolic" gesture.

More than 400,000 Australians have signed a petition, now presented to Parliament, urging the Government to make the call.

Professor William Ripple, a prominent ecology professor from Oregon State University in the US, led the scientists' declaration.

He said he hoped the paper and consensus statement would spur on more governments to make similar declarations.

[rainbow]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-06/ ... n/11672776

More than 11,000 scientists around the world have signed a scientific paper declaring a climate emergency, backing protesters across the world demanding action.

The paper, published in the journal BioScience, declares the climate crisis "had arrived" and is "accelerating faster than most scientists expect".

"Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat," the paper said.

The UK, Scotland and Ireland are among the countries that have declared a "climate change emergency", along with more than 1,000 subnational jurisdictions, including many in Australia, such as the ACT, the City of Sydney and the City of Melbourne.

Last month, the Federal Government voted down an attempt to declare a climate emergency across the country, with the Morrison Government's Emissions Reduction Minister, Angus Taylor, labelling it a "symbolic" gesture.

More than 400,000 Australians have signed a petition, now presented to Parliament, urging the Government to make the call.

Professor William Ripple, a prominent ecology professor from Oregon State University in the US, led the scientists' declaration.

He said he hoped the paper and consensus statement would spur on more governments to make similar declarations.

Yebbut, they don't know exactly how much it is "accelerating faster than most scientists expect".

[rainbow]

Experts said breathing the air in New Delhi is equal to smoking 50 cigarettes a day.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wea ... 166838002/

[rainbow]

China has a pretty severe pollution problem, with smog in some parts of the country so bad that it can discolor buildings and even blot out the sun. According to some estimates, high levels of air pollution in China’s cities cause up to 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths each year. But a new project in Xi’an, one of the nation’s most severely polluted cities, aims to help — courtesy of an enormous 200-foot chimney. Unlike most chimneys, however, this one won’t add to the levels of air pollution, but rather act as an outdoor air purifying system, filtering out noxious particulate matter and blowing out clean air into the sky.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech ... g-chimney/

[Scot Dutchy]

China has a pretty severe pollution problem, with smog in some parts of the country so bad that it can discolor buildings and even blot out the sun. According to some estimates, high levels of air pollution in China’s cities cause up to 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths each year. But a new project in Xi’an, one of the nation’s most severely polluted cities, aims to help — courtesy of an enormous 200-foot chimney. Unlike most chimneys, however, this one won’t add to the levels of air pollution, but rather act as an outdoor air purifying system, filtering out noxious particulate matter and blowing out clean air into the sky.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech ... g-chimney/

What happens to the rubbish taken out of the air? Best to kill the source. This is like putting on a plaster while you still wounding yourself.