Developed nations urged to honour pledge to reduce emissions

CCTV Africa

Published on Oct 19, 2016

Civil society organisations have urged industrialised nations to honour their commitments to reducing carbon emissions. Countries that have ratified the Paris Agreement have pledged to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions — many of them by 2030. Coletta Wanjohi has more from Addis Ababa.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Carbon Flux Explorers

University of California Television (UCTV)

Published on Oct 19, 2016

(Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) Jim Bishop, senior scientist at Berkeley Lab and professor at UC Berkeley, is leading a project to deploy robotic floats that provide data on how microorganisms sequester carbon in the ocean. He recently led a research team on a 10-day voyage, funded by the National Science Foundation, to put the Carbon Flux Explorers to the test. Series: “UC Berkeley News” [Science] [Show ID: 31549]

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
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Algebra of Infinite Justice: Arundhati Roy

First published in 2001, this book brings together all of Arundhati Roy’s political writings so far. This revised paperback edition includes two new essays, written in early 2002: ‘Democracy: Who’s She When She’s Not at Home’, which examines the horrific communal violence in Gujarat, and ‘War Talk: Summer Games with Nuclear Bombs’, about the threat of nuclear war in the Subcontinent.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

A Farm for the Future

Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.

With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year’s high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realising that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just how secure this oil supply is.

Alarmed by the answers, she explores ways of farming without using fossil fuel. With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.

Food-Matters
Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

British doctors and health professionals call for rapid coal phase-out | Environment | The Guardian

Fiddlers Ferry coal-fired power station in Widnes, northern England. Pollution from coal plants alone costs the UK as much as £3.1bn each year in human health impacts. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
John Vidal

Wednesday 19 October 2016 07.40 EDT

Group of health bodies says tackling climate change and air pollution linked to coal would improve health and reduce NHS costs

Groups representing Britain’s 600,000 doctors and health professionals say it is “imperative” to phase out coal rapidly to improve health and reduce NHS costs.

The doctors and nurses say tackling outdoor air pollution from traffic and power stations would cut climate emissions, reduce air pollution, and deliver a powerful boost to the nation’s health.

“Climate change and air pollution are both major health threats,” says the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change in a report. “They share a common driver: the combustion of fossil fuels. Pollution from coal plants alone costs the UK as much as £3.1bn each year in human health impacts.”

The group of 15 health bodies includes seven royal colleges of medicine and the British Medical Association.

Pollution from coal plants causes many serious health conditions including stroke, coronary heart disease and lung cancer. It disproportionally affects children and kills more people than road accidents , says the report.

The government has said it intends to phase out coal power plants by 2025 but the doctors say they are alarmed that no consultation papers looking at how this could be achieved have been published in more than a year.

“Ending the use of coal is a simple, no-regrets public health intervention. The rapid phase-out of coal fired stations is an imperative first step. Coal is the most carbon-intensive source of power generation, and is a key focus for reducing the risks of climate change.

…(read more).

Global Climate Change
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Public Health

UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet | Environment | The Guardian

An cattle ranch in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The UN says agriculture is on a par with fossil fuel consumption because both rise rapidly with increased economic growth. Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace

Wednesday 2 June 2010 13.09 EDT

Felicity Carus
Lesser consumption of animal products is necessary to save the world from the worst impacts of climate change, UN report says

A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today.

As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management.

It says: “Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products.”

Professor Edgar Hertwich, the lead author of the report, said: “Animal products cause more damage than [producing] construction minerals such as sand or cement, plastics or metals. Biomass and crops for animals are as damaging as [burning] fossil fuels.”

The recommendation follows advice last year that a vegetarian diet was better for the planet from Lord Nicholas Stern, former adviser to the Labour government on the economics of climate change. Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has also urged people to observe one meat-free day a week to curb carbon emissions.

Food-Matters
Global Climate Change
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Arundhati Roy Interview – Agenda BBC World Service

KXM

Published on Jul 6, 2016

From the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Wars for Corporate Globalization

4AntiWar
Uploaded on Sep 4, 2008

Arundhati Roy speaks on war on terror, corporate globalization, justice and the growing civil unrest in her famous “Come September speech”. The full video can be viewed on Google video by searching for “Arundhati Roy”

Full lecture:

theskeeboo

Published on May 6, 2012

In this acclaimed Lannan foundation lecture from September 2002, Roy speaks poetically to power on the US’ War on Terror, globalization, the misuses of nationalism, and the growing chasm between the rich and poor. With lyricism and passion, Roy combines her literary talents and encyclopedic knowledge to expose injustice and provide hope for a future world.

Read Full Text of Lecture

Lannan Foundation

Lecture in segments with afterward conversation with Howard Zinn

See also:

With Full Text of “Instant Mix….” – 13 May 2003

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

 

A World Without Water

ZeroSixtyFive

Uploaded on Apr 30, 2011

A World Without Water

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Earth 2025 : POPULATION EXPLOSION – AFTERMATH (Full Documentary)

Full HD Documentary– Aug 4, 2015

Watch More full Documentary Truth About ALIEN: How THEY LIVE AMONG US! Best Evidence (Full Documentary) . Earth 2025 : POPULATION EXPLOSION – AFTERMATH (Full Documentary) Earth 2025 : POPULATION EXPLOSION – AFTERMATH . – YouTube Earth 2025 .

See related:

• BBC World Service – Newshour, Earth now home to eight billion people
• Dr. Albert Bartlett The Exponential Function
• Exponential Growth: Arithmetic, Population and Energy, Dr. Albert A. Bartlett
• ClimateMatters – Population
• As World Population Tops 8 Billion, Africa’s Most Populated City Keeps Growing
• BBC World Service – The Inquiry, Is India becoming too hot to live in?
• Types of Population Pyramids
• Global population hits 8 billion people prompting overcrowding concerns
• The Malthus Insight and the Global Limits of “Green Revolution” Food Production
• Malthus and the Anthropocene: An Essay on Population and the Evolving Global Food System
• Why Transition Studies?

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