Overpopulation, overconsumption – in pictures | Global Development Professionals Net work

Global development professionals network

How do you raise awareness about population explosion? One group thought that the simplest way would be to show people

• Alan Rusbridger on why you should care about climate change
• Join the Guardian’s climate change campaign
• Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot is available to buy

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Migrants killed in ‘religious clash’ on Mediterranean boat

Italian police say they have arrested 15 Muslim migrants after they allegedly threw 12 Christians overboard following a row on a boat heading to Italy.

The Christian migrants, said to be from Ghana and Nigeria, are all feared dead.

In a separate incident, more than 40 people drowned after another migrant boat sank between Libya and Italy.

Almost 10,000 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean have been rescued in recent days. Italy has called for more help from the EU to handle the crisis.

…(read more).

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

The Open Forum on Fossil Fuel Divestment

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

As Divest Blockade Continues, Protesters Await Response

Several top officials have yet to publicly react to ongoing divestment demonstrations

By Mariel A. Klein , CRIMSON STAFF WRITER10 hours agoUPDATED: April 16, 2015, at 12:03 a.m.

Environmental activist group Divest Harvard blockaded Massachusetts Hall for a fourth day on Wednesday, continuing to demand that Harvard divest its endowment from fossil fuels even as some top University officials largely ignored them.

The group of protesters launched the planned blockade of Harvard’s central administrative building on Sunday as part of its “Heat Week” demonstration, which so far has also included a four-hour blockade of University Hall and an occupation of the Harvard Alumni Association in an attempt to confront the administration about divestment. While protesters have successfully evoked responses from some administrators, others have not publicly reacted to the disruption as they have gone to work elsewhere.

After a nearly two-day sit-in that spanned Monday and Tuesday nights, protesters calling for Harvard to divest its endowment from fossil fuels left the Harvard Alumni Association at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, unsuccessful in their attempt to meet with alumni office leadership to discuss divestment during their occupation.

Alumni supporters of Divest Harvard took to HAA headquarters on Mt. Auburn Street beginning on Monday at 2 p.m. to demand a meeting with the organization’s leaders. About a dozen protesters stayed overnight on Monday and Tuesday.

Alumni supporters of environmental activist group Divest Harvard occupied the Harvard Alumni Association on Mt. Auburn Street for just under two days. Y. Kit Wu

At the sit-in, alumni signed pledge cards for a fossil-free fund, an alternative to donating to the University’s endowment, that stipulates Harvard will only receive the donations if it publicly commits to divestment by Dec. 31, 2025. They presented around 60 pledge cards with donations up to $5,000 to Shannon Gerah, the human resources director for Alumni Affairs and Development, and plan to present another 40 to HAA that have been filled out at Mass. Hall, according to Collin Rees ’12, a coordinator for environmental activist organization 350.org.

Related Articles

• Calling for Divestment, Protesters Blockade Mass. Hall
• In Blockade’s Second Day, Divest Expands Protest to HAA
• On ‘Heat Week’ Day 3, Divest Protesters Target University Hall
• Frustrated Divest Harvard Turns to Further Civil Disobedience
• Doors Blockaded, Mass. Hall Freshmen Adjust Their Routines

…(read more).

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Harvard Students Expand Blockade Calling for School to Divest from Fossil Fuels

Democracy Now!

Published on Apr 16, 2015
http://democracynow.org – Students at Harvard University have expanded their blockade of key administration offices while calling on the school to divest from fossil fuels. Harvard has the largest endowment of any university in the world, at $36.4 billion. The protest began on Sunday when students began blockading Massachusetts Hall, the school’s central administrative building. Several alumni of Harvard have also taken part in the blockade including Bill McKibben, the founder of the group 350.org, and former Colorado Senator Tim Wirth. We speak to sophomore Talia Rothstein, one of the coordinators of Divest Harvard, and Harvard science professor Naomi Oreskes.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

“A Corporate Trojan Horse”: Critics Decry Secretive TPP Trade Deal as a Threat to Democracy

Democracy Now!

Published on Apr 16, 2015

http://democracynow.org – Senate Finance Committee leaders Republican Orrin Hatch and Democrat Ron Wyden are expected to introduce a “fast-track” trade promotion authority bill as early as this week that would give the president authority to negotiate the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and then present it to Congress for a yes-or-no vote, with no amendments allowed. On Wednesday, more than 1,000 labor union members rallied on Capitol Hill to call on Democrats to oppose “fast-track” authority. We speak with two people closely following the proposed legislation: Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, and Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democrat from Florida.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Faculty for Divestment Brings Advocacy to Classrooms

By Karl M. Aspelund, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER6 hours ago

Twenty members of Harvard Faculty for Divestment, spanning seven of Harvard’s schools and courses, have signed up for the group’s “teach-in” this week, agreeing to speak about divestment to their students amidst demonstrations by activist group Divest Harvard.

Fourteen of the 20 professors who signed up to devote class time to the teach-in also indicated the name of their course; most of the courses listed were not related to issues of the environment or divestment. Faculty members said that, as a result, their advocacy often happened right before or after the course, including talking to students about the argument for divestment and distributing pamphlets with frequently asked questions.

…(read more).

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Doors Blockaded, Mass. Hall Freshmen Adjust Their Routines | Divest Harvard

Living at the epicenter of the weeklong Divest Harvard blockade, leaving for class has become a multi-step process for Massachusetts Hall resident John D. Bowers ’18: “We sort of have a system worked out at this point where we will knock on the door before opening so we don’t bang anybody on the head,” he said.

As Divest Harvard blocks senior

University administrators from accessing their offices inside of Mass. Hall in protest of Harvard’s investment in the fossil fuel industry, the activist group has tried to engage the 14 freshmen who reside on the fourth floor of the campus’s oldest standing building.

Related Articles

• Calling for Divestment, Protesters Blockade Mass. Hall
• As Divest Blockade Continues, Protesters Await Response

…(read more).

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Two paths in urging colleges to divest

Tyler Van Valkenburg (left) and Maryssa Baron (center), of Divest Harvard, spoke to a fellow student while blocking the entrance to a Harvard administration building.

By Laura Krantz  Globe Staff April 16, 2015

CAMBRIDGE — A messy scene erupted this week outside Harvard president Drew Faust’s office as students and activists protested the university’s refusal to shed its investments in the fossil fuel industry.

Pizza boxes and sleeping bags littered Harvard Yard. Students chanted and waved banners, blocking administration buildings and forcing Faust and top deans to work elsewhere.

A mile away at MIT, where students are pressing the same cause against fossil fuel investments, the discourse is decidedly quieter. Last week, MIT president Rafael Reif’s administration sponsored a debate on whether MIT should divest, part of a yearlong discussion of how the college should deal with climate change.

The contrasting moods on the two elite campuses are a snapshot of the different ways colleges nationwide are confronting the push to divest, a campaign that activists have likened to the rallying cry against South African apartheid in the 1980s.

…(read further for this and other divestment stories. )

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Harvard Heat Week – Join In | Divest Harvard

Harvard Heat Week

We’re putting the heat on Harvard University to divest from fossil fuels.

Students, faculty, alumni, and members of the Harvard community are coming together April 12th— 17th

to speak out for climate justice, learn from one another, and take principled action. The climate crisis leaves no room for neutrality — together, we’re telling Harvard to stand on the right side of history.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice