Extinction Rebellion

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Brian Peacock
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Extinction Rebellion

Post by Brian Peacock » Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:22 pm

Battle of Waterloo Bridge: a week of Extinction Rebellion protests

On Monday morning a strange sight appeared, edging its way through the buses, taxis and shoppers on Oxford Street in London.

A bright pink boat, named Berta Cáceres after the murdered Honduran environmental activist, was being pulled carefully through the traffic, eventually coming to a halt in the middle of one of London’s busiest thoroughfares.

By late Friday evening police were saying that 682 people had been arrested in London. Three supporters who glued themselves to a train on Wednesday have been imprisoned. That same day four more attached themselves to the fence outside Jeremy Corbyn’s house, declaring the Labour leader “the best hope this country has got” to meet the challenges of the unfolding climate crisis.

And on Friday about 20 young protesters, all born after 1990, unfurled a banner on a road outside Heathrow airport, asking: “Are we the the last generation?”

But perhaps the protesters’ biggest achievement is that millions of people have heard their message that the world is in a spiralling climate emergency that demands transformative change to avoid catastrophe.

Image

Through hundreds of articles, editorials, and radio and TV interviews, including some hostile critiques of its tactics, Extinction Rebellion’s message has gone mainstream...
(Looking at that picture one might be tempted to surmise that the planet can be saved with interpretive dance alone!)

* * *

With regards to that last paragraph, it's amazing to think that the huge impact of human activity on the environment might be something not within the mainstream consciousness. While politicians of all stripes have been paying lip-service to the idea of 'protecting the environment' for decades now, currently we're seeing the rise of political leaders with a more overtly 'fuck the environment' dogma. The problem with the Environment (big E) is that it belongs to everyone, which is to say that it's owned by no-one and, because it can't be bought and sold like a commodity, nobody can put a price on it. As a result nobody is interested in trying to work out how much dropping nuclear waste in the Marianas trench, or polluting the atmopshere, or whatever, does or should cost.

Extinction Rebllion's message is that marketplace capitalism has failed to address the environment because their just isn't an effective capitalist model which can deal with it - and so it's time for governments to put aside their natural alliances with corporate movers-and-shakers and just start doing something hard and swift.

There's been a lot in the Daily Mail this week about the ongoing protests in London. It hasn't quite broken out into out-and-out OUTRAGE by it's certainly qualified as trite, niggardly and overall dismissive criticism of so-called crusties and dope smoking hippies and focusing mainly on the difficulties people have had getting to and from work. That's an editorial choice of course, but it kind of sums up the general political attitude towards environmental concerns -- "It's no use complaining to me. Now settle down and don't make a fuss."

As usual, our man on the ground has the real story...

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Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Seabass » Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:37 pm

What are those hippie dippy SJWs whinging about? Don't they know the economy is humming?
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Brian Peacock » Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:48 pm

Seabass wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:37 pm
What are those hippie dippy SJWs whinging about? Don't they know the economy is humming?
But when the stoically dour and perennially unexciting Governor of the Bank of England gets the jitters it's probably time to make a bit more of an effort, even if the hedge-fund managers are doing pretty well out of their party donations...


The heads of two of the world’s most influential central banks urged other financial regulators around the world to carry out climate change stress tests to spot any risks in the system, while also calling for more collaboration between nations on the issue. They warned that a “massive reallocation of capital” was necessary to prevent global warming above the 2°C maximum target set by the Paris climate agreement, with the banking system required to play a pivotal role.

“If some companies and industries fail to adjust to this new world, they will fail to exist,” Carney and De Galhau said.

Climate change poses significant risks to banks and insurers from rising instances of catastrophic weather-related events, such as heatwaves, droughts and floods, which could land them with significant losses.

There are also risks for financial firms as governments accept the need to tackle climate change because banks that have lent to companies reliant on burning fossil fuels run the risk of steep financial losses.

Carney has previously warned that plunging sales of diesel cars, due to new vehicle emissions tests and changes in the tax system, which have had knock-on effects for manufacturers and the wider economy, are an example of this in action.

Banks could find they have stranded assets that turn out to be worthless if they are reliant on burning fossil fuels. Threadneedle Street has said as much as $20tn (£15.3tn) of assets could be wiped out by climate change if it is not effectively addressed.

The open letter from Carney and De Galhau accompanies the launch of a report from the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), an international group of central banks and financial regulators, outlining the steps necessary for financiers to tackle climate change.

Global warming has typically been of secondary concern to central bankers since the 2008 financial crisis, as they grappled with the immediate threat of banking failures. However, there is growing recognition that action is needed to fight the risks it poses.

Although they have received praise for advancing the debate about climate change, Carney, central bankers and financiers have been criticised for expecting the banking industry to reform itself without tougher regulation being introduced....

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ge-dangers
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Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Brian Peacock » Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:07 am

Humanity is at a crossroads, Greta Thunberg tells Extinction Rebellion
Governments will no longer be able ignore the impending climate and ecological crisis, Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist, has told Extinction Rebellionprotesters gathered at Marble Arch in London.

In a speech on Sunday night where she took aim at politicians who have for too long been able to satisfy demands for action with “beautiful words and promises”, the Swedish 16-year-old said humanity was sitting at a crossroads, but that those gathered had chosen which path they wish to take...
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"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Joe » Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:13 am

Years ago, I read a book that I refer back to regularly when I think of the threat of climate change, Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.



The part about the elites insulating themselves from the consequences of their actions really resonates. This is the kind of activity that can strip away that insulation.
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by JimC » Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:38 am

I think that climate change will be a major player in the upcoming Australian federal election. Not that the Labour Party is a shining example, but its policies on renewable energy are certainly ahead of the coalition, which boasts climate deniers in its conservative rump.
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by pErvinalia » Mon Apr 22, 2019 4:22 am

This is the most left that I've see Labor since about 1986. I really hope the scare campaigns against them don't bear fruit and that they get elected on May 18.
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Brian Peacock » Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:32 am

Joe wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:13 am
Years ago, I read a book that I refer back to regularly when I think of the threat of climate change, Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.



The part about the elites insulating themselves from the consequences of their actions really resonates. This is the kind of activity that can strip away that insulation.
Interesting talk. All the elements on his check list seem particularly apposite atm. :tup:

But do you think his comb-over exemplifies good ideas and values which benefit the individual in the short-term but are bad for them in the long-term? :hehe:
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"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Joe » Tue Apr 23, 2019 4:13 am

Brian Peacock wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:32 am
Joe wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:13 am
Years ago, I read a book that I refer back to regularly when I think of the threat of climate change, Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.



The part about the elites insulating themselves from the consequences of their actions really resonates. This is the kind of activity that can strip away that insulation.
Interesting talk. All the elements on his check list seem particularly apposite atm. :tup:

But do you think his comb-over exemplifies good ideas and values which benefit the individual in the short-term but are bad for them in the long-term? :hehe:
Or deforestation. :biggrin:
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Scot Dutchy » Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:02 am

Good luck with that. Until the Americas, Russia and China (including SE Asia) start acting nothing will change.
We have had these protests since the 1960's. What's new? FA.
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Brian Peacock » Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:17 am

Scot Dutchy wrote:
Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:02 am
Good luck with that. Until the Americas, Russia and China (including SE Asia) start acting nothing will change.
We have had these protests since the 1960's. What's new? FA.
I don't think pressing governments and business for more or more rapid change is, or even should be, conditional on someone else doing it first. And besides, you and I are going to be dead soon - whatever amount of cynicism we might bring to the issue is irrelevant to the young'uns, and the young'uns to follow.

To stop global catastrophe, we must believe in humans again
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Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Scot Dutchy » Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:29 am

Nothing will change Brian because the money does not want it to change. I am very cynical about this. It is costing at least €5000 to make a simple house sustainable and we are being forced to do it while Trump wants to use more coal and oil while China could not care less. It is a hard sell.
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by pErvinalia » Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:59 am

China is doing far more than the UK and US. Their investment in renewables dwarfs anything else in the rest of the world.
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by Svartalf » Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:12 am

China is so big ANYTHING it does dwarfs anything done elsewhere... small is not their way of doing stuff.
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Re: Extinction Rebellion

Post by rainbow » Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:33 am

Brian Peacock wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:22 pm

(Looking at that picture one might be tempted to surmise that the planet can be saved with interpretive dance alone!)
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