China's coal emissions responsible for 'quarter of a million premature deaths': Hundreds of thousands of children still at risk from dangerous levels of air pollution as poisonous smog fills cities, study says; Jennifer Duggan theguardian.com, Thursday 12 December 2013 14.00 AEST:

Verbatim excerpt: "Emissions from coal plants in China were responsible for a quarter of a million premature deaths in 2011 and are damaging the health of hundreds of thousands of Chinese children, according to a new study."

Article available: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/12/china-coal-emissions-smog-deaths

WALMART'S FOOD DRIVE - Tell Walmart: Decent Pay, Not Hand Outs

See also: http://youtu.be/caV-m1wq6Vc

The Waltons on the Forbes List of Billionnaires: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#tab:overall

See also: Is Walmart good for America? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/

Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'?

Natural and social scientists develop new model of how 'perfect storm' of crises could unravel global system

Nafeez Ahmed; Saturday 15 March 2014 05.28 EST -- A new study sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.

Read article: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists

See also Tom Bawden, Tuesday 18 March 2014: Official prophecy of doom: Global warming will cause widespread conflict, displace millions of people and devastate the global economy -- Leaked draft report from UN panel seen by The Independent is most comprehensive investigation into impact of climate change ever undertaken - and it's not good news.

Article available: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/official-prophecy-of-doom-global-warming-will-cause-widespread-conflict-displace-millions-of-people-and-devastate-the-global-economy-9198171.html

Revealed: How climate change ended world’s first great civilisations

Photo: A city settlement at the Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan

David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent, Monday 03 March 2014; Photo/subheading quoted verbatim from (attribution)

"'Megacities' of the Indus Valley region of Pakistan and north-west India declined and never recovered because of a dramatic increase in drought conditions, according to new research"

Article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/revealed-how-climate-change-ended-worlds-first-great-civilisations-9164248.html

See also: 'Le changement climatique aurait conduit a l'effondrement de la civilisation Harappeene', Les Decouvertes Archeologiques, 28.6.12: http://decouvertes-archeologiques.blogspot.fr/2012/06/le-changement-climatique-conduit-aurait.html

et - 'La civilisation de l'Indus, 2000 ans plus ancienne?', Les Decouvertes Archeologiques, 26.11.12: http://decouvertes-archeologiques.blogspot.fr/2012/11/la-civilisation-de-lindus-2000-ans-plus.html

Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming

"Profiteers Are Lining Up To Make Money Off Global Warming

Publisher's Weekly succinctly states the importance of Windfall: "For most of the planet, the specter of global warming is ominous, but as journalist Funk reveals in this startling book, there are those who view the Earth's dangerous meltdown as a golden opportunity...Funk's original, forthright take on this little-discussed profit-taking trend in the climate change sweepstakes is very unsettling." In short, Funk reports on the long line of individuals, corporations and financial investors who are betting on climate change to make a huge profit from catastrophe." (short verbatim excerpt > attribution)

More: http://truth-out.org/progressivepicks/item/22240-profiteers-are-lining-up-to-make-money-off-global-warming

See also: http://youtu.be/IaKm89eVhoE

See also: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/

See the Koch brothers on the Forbes List of Billionnaires: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#tab:overall

"Carbon bubble" threatens global economy

'Carbon bubble' threatens stock markets, say MPs
By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26455763

'Carbon bubble' poses serious threat to UK economy, MPs warn
Committee says government and Bank of England must not be complacent about the risks of overvaluing fossil fuel companies
Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent, theguardian.com, Thursday 6 March 2014 17.00 AEST
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/06/carbon-bubble-threat-uk-economy-fossil-fuels-mps

WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP)

Through the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) work with businesses to develop standards and tools that help companies measure, manage, report and reduce their carbon emissions. http://www.ghgprotocol.org

Report released today: Fossil fuels increase risk not returns

Published by The Australia Institute and released today in conjunction with 350.org Australia and Market Forces:
“Climate Proofing Your Investments: moving funds out of fossil fuels”, a new report for institutional investors seeking to insulate their funds against the growing carbon bubble.

Download the report here and the summary findings here.
Fossil fuel companies plan to extract over five times more carbon than the climate can safely handle, putting our planet and savings at risk. But, by divesting from fossil fuel stocks, investors can avoid the impacts of a carbon bubble crash. This report shows they can do so without compromising their returns.
“Our findings show that fossil free investment portfolios can not only provide similar returns on investment but they also help mitigate the risk of an ‘unburnable carbon’ bubble bust. It’s a no-brainer. If you can protect your holdings without lowering your returns, why wouldn’t you?” said Richard Denniss, Executive Director of The Australia Institute.

THE ISLAND PRESIDENT—A Documentary By Jon Shenk | Official Trailer

Attribution: http://vimeo.com/36515698

UTOPIA

Attribution: http://vimeo.com/78062545
UTOPIA - Free Screening and Q&A Session [Sponsored by UNSW Computing]
Friday, 28 February 2014
Doors open at 5:30pm - Film commences 6:00pm sharp
Clancy Auditorium, UNSW
RSVP essential: http://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/utopia-free-screening-and-qa-session-sponsored-by-unsw-computing-tickets-10548955209

John Pilger interviewed by Radio New Zealand on his new film 'Utopia', about Aboriginal Australia. Broadcast on RNZ, 2.3.14. The programme lasts 21' 36". http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2587519

See also: The mismatch between indigenous communities and mining wealth: Indigenous communities rarely reap the benefits of mining and attempts by companies to redress the balance often fall short. Oliver Balch, Guardian Professional, Saturday 16 November 2013 01.52 AEST http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/mismatch-indigenous-mining-wealth-utopia

Make carbon pollution a thing of the past

http://forms.climaterealityproject.org/page/content/Make-carbon-pollution-a-thing-of-the-past

© 2014 The Climate Reality Project -- We are powering a social revolution for climate action.

There you go! (Satirical video on "development")

Around the world ‘development’ is robbing tribal people of their land, self-sufficiency and pride and leaving them with nothing. Watch this short, satirical film, written by Oren Ginzburg and narrated by actor and comedian David Mitchell, which tells the story of how tribal peoples are being destroyed in the name of ‘development’. [Attribution: http://www.survivalinternational.org/thereyougo ]

Video link: http://www.survivalinternational.org/films/there-you-go

Progress can kill: http://www.survivalinternational.org/progresscankill

Dark money: rubbishing the climate science

"In the 1990s the fossil fuel industry realised that action on climate change would be bad for their business and poured millions into rubbishing the science..."

verbatim excerpt quoted from Paul Brown, The Guardian, Tuesday 21 January 2014 08.30 AEST. Weatherwatch: The dark money that feeds climate change confusion

More: Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks: Anonymous billionaires donated $120m to more than 100 anti-climate groups working to discredit climate change science.

Are We Falling Off the Climate Precipice?

Thought-provoking article penned by Dahr Jamail: The signs of a worsening climate crisis are all around us, whether we allow ourselves to see them or not. Scientists consider extinction.

Excerpt quoted verbatim from Nation of Change, Wednesday 18 December 2013. Available: http://www.nationofchange.org/are-we-falling-climate-precipice-1387375963

I grew up planning for my future, wondering which college I would attend, what to study, and later on, where to work, which articles to write, what my next book might be, how to pay a mortgage, and which mountaineering trip I might like to take next. Now, I wonder about the future of our planet. During a recent visit with my eight-year-old niece and 10- and 12-year-old nephews, ...

Read article here: http://www.nationofchange.org/are-we-falling-climate-precipice-1387375963

Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions

Chevron, Exxon and BP among companies most responsible for climate change since dawn of industrial age, figures show

Interactive - which fossil fuel companies are most responsible?

Excerpt of article by Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, quoted verbatim from The Guardian, Thursday 21 November 2013 03.07 AEST. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-global-warming-emissions-climate-change

The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.

The companies range from investor-owned firms – household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP – to state-owned and government-run firms.

The analysis, which was welcomed by the former vice-president Al Gore as a "crucial step forward" found that the vast majority of the firms were in the business of producing oil, gas or coal, found the analysis, which has been published in the journal Climatic Change.

"There are thousands of oil, gas and coal producers in the world," climate researcher and author Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute in Colorado said. "But the decision makers, the CEOs, or the ministers of coal and oil if you narrow it down to just one person, they could all fit on a Greyhound bus or two."

Half of the estimated emissions were produced just in the past 25 years – well past the date when governments and corporations became aware that rising greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal and oil were causing dangerous climate change.

Many of the same companies are also sitting on substantial reserves of fossil fuel which – if they are burned – puts the world at even greater risk of dangerous climate change.

Climate change experts said the data set was the most ambitious effort so far to hold individual carbon producers, rather than governments, to account. (... article continues ...)

Read entire article at: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-global-warming-emissions-climate-change

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

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

Carbon Policy; Intriguing article by Bryan Walsh 21 October 2013;

Excerpt below cited verbatim from Time, Science & Space: http://science.time.com/2013/10/21/why-we-dont-care-about-saving-our-grandchildren-from-climate-change/

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. (Even if we could stop emitting all CO₂ today, there’s already future warming that’s been baked into the system, thanks to past emission.) But we will feel the economic effects of either emitting or restricting CO₂ right now, in real time. While we can argue about the relative cost of reducing CO₂ emissions now — just as we can argue about the economic effects of climate change in the future — it should be clear that any attempt to restrict CO₂ emissions enough to make a dent in future climate change will cause some present-day economic pain. The global economy is still so dependent on relatively inexpensive fossil fuels that a quick transition to renewable sources would likely be costly in the short term. (See Naomi Klein’s 2011 piece in The Nation for a fairly clear-eyed view of what truly radical climate policy would mean.)

What that means, in effect, is that climate policy asks the present to sacrifice for the future. Human beings tend not to be very good at that kind of planning, even when their own future selves stand to benefit — a study this year found that...

Read entire article at: Study Shows That Human Beings Are Too Selfish to Fix Climate Change | TIME.com http://science.time.com/2013/10/21/why-we-dont-care-about-saving-our-grandchildren-from-climate-change/

Five warning signs Tony Abbott is turning Australia into a reckless charco-state

By Alexander White: Is Australia a risk of becoming the coal equivalent of a petro-state. Here are five warning signs.

This short text excerpt and photo are quoted verbatim from The Guardian, 17 November 2013:

"Today, tens of thousands of people around Australia rallied for action on climate change.

The rallies were organised by a coalition of environmental and social advocacy groups, including the Australian Conservation Foundation, the United Firefighters Union, and Get Up, in protest to the Abbott government's moves to scrap the carbon price, abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, cut funding for the CSIRO, ignoring the Climate Change Authority on carbon pollution emissions, and much more besides.

This week, federal parliament sat. We finally were able to see the shape of the Abbott-led Liberal-National government. The extent of their climate denialism is becoming more evident.

It seems that Abbott is intent on turning Australia into a charco-state — a nation that pursues economic riches from coal, gas and other fossil fuels no matter the social or environmental cost. A charco-state is the coal equivalent of a petro-state, a country where the economy is dominated by oil interests and where the government is both highly dependent on oil tax revenues and deeply infiltrated by oil-industry interests.

Australia is at risk of becoming a charco-state. Here are five warning signs" [...]

1. Ignoring the Climate Change Authority's recommendation on carbon pollution reductions
2. Australia "missing in action" at COP Warsaw climate negotiations
3. Starving Australia's renewable energy industries
4. Handing over environmental powers to the states
5. Demonising climate action as "socialism"

Short text excerpt and photo quoted verbatim from The Guardian, 17 November 2013:

Read entire article here:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2013/nov/17/tony-abbott-climate-denier-coal-socialism

Related YouTube clip shared by GetUp Australia: http://youtu.be/kIOKHYxnTB0

The Pacific Adventures of the Climate Crab

This film goes by the name "The Pacific Adventures of the Climate Crab".

The animation is part of a larger information-kit compiled to educate communities and NGO's in the Pacific regarding the threat of El Niño and La Niña and climate change. "The Pacific Adventures of the Climate Crab" aims to assist communities to better prepare for disasters in the region. The film focuses on El Nino and La Nina events in the region and how we influence rainfall, cyclone risk and sea levels especially in the Pacific region.

Produced by EyeSpy Films
Producer: Shannon Owen
Director & Principal Animator: Jamie Clennett
Assistant Animator: Lindy Lou
Mastering: Oliver Clifton
Sound Design & Mix: Mark Kellow
Additional Music: Mark Kellow
Concept Art: Jamie Clennett & Joe Siri
Additional Artwork: Bianca Tweed & Lindy Lou
Climate Crab Animation project team: Philip Malsale, Salesa Kaniaha, Rebecca McNaught, Jill Rischbieth, Brad Murphy, Christopher Bartlett and Ula Majewski.
Narrator: Pearson Vetuna

MUSIC
‘6925′
Written by Stanleyson Antas
Performed by Stan and the Earth Force
Courtesy of Easy Rock Steady, Vanuatu

Pentecost tamtam beat
Courtesy of the Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta, Port Vila

Cook Island Drumbeats
Courtesy of Te Korero Maori Cook Island Dance Troupe

http://vimeo.com/69598441

Send a Message to the UN: Haiyan is a Wake-Up Call

Last week, Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines — and left a path of destruction and tragedy in its wake; more than 10,000 people are feared dead.

Governments are meeting in Warsaw over the next two weeks for the annual UN climate negotiations. This ritual has dragged on for years without conclusion, largely because the great powers have done so little.

Let’s send a message to UN delegates to increase ambition and action. Our team will deliver your messages to UN delegates gathered in Poland.

And please do donate what you can to direct relief efforts to help those in need.

http://act.350.org/sign/haiyan

Fighting the fuel giants for a fully renewable future

Tackling the world’s most powerful corporations, whose interest it is to continue consuming fossil fuels, is a formidable but essential task

Antony Loewenstein: theguardian.com, Friday 25 October 2013 15.50 AEST

The viability of a fossil fuel future is rarely connected to the human rights abuses required to sustain it. How often do we think about where oil and gas is obtained? Are the Europeans or Americans any more aware? This deliberate depoliticisation of our energy present, by the vast majority of politicians, journalists and self-described public intellectuals, is leading to an environment that is both unsustainable and dangerous for the planet.

Read whole article here: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/25/climate-change-exxon-fossil-fuel

UK universities urged to pull cash from fossil fuel giants

Anti-carbon divestment campaign targets £5bn of British funds

Damian Carrington: The Observer, Sunday 27 October 2013 08.25 AEST

An international campaign to urge large institutions to dump fossil fuel investments reaches the UK this week, following rapid success in the US.

The year-old divestment campaign, Fossil Free, has grown even faster than similar efforts that once targeted apartheid, tobacco and arms manufacturers. It now aims to focus attention on the £5bn invested in coal, oil and gas by the endowment funds of UK universities. The move comes as financial giants such as HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are starting to take seriously the prospect that global action to reduce carbon emissions could leave two-thirds of the world's proven fossil fuel reserves unburnable and worthless. (... article continues ...)

Read whole article here: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/27/fossil-fuel-divestment-campaign-uk

Typhoon Haiyan: what really alarms Filipinos is the rich world ignoring climate change

As Haiyan batters the Phillipines, the political elites at the UN climate talks will again leave poor countries to go it alone

John Vidal: theguardian.com, Saturday 9 November 2013 01.31 AEST

Read the whole article here: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/08/typhoon-haiyan-rich-ignore-climate-change

The 5 stages of climate denial

The 5 stages of climate denial are on display ahead of the IPCC report

Climate contrarians appear to be running damage control in the media before the next IPCC report is published

Read the whole article in the guardian, 16 September 2013: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/sep/16/climate-change-contrarians-5-stages-denial?CMP=twt_gu

Source/credit: 350.org

More on the issue:

Global Warming Is Very Real (Rolling Stone)
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warming-is-very-real-20130912

Climate Change Report From UN Introduces Purple Color To Depict Worsening Climate Risks (Associated Press)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/13/climate-change-report-un_n_3918823.html

Rupert Murdoch's Newspapers Mislead Public On Climate Change and Environment (DeSmog Blog)
http://www.desmogblog.com/rupert-murdoch-s-newspapers-mislead-public-climate-change-and-environment

Dollars for Deniers: Big Oil Funds Climate Science Denialism (Daily Kos)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/26/1182365/-Dollars-for-Deniers-Big-Oil-Funds-Climate-Science-Denialism/

U.N. Climate Panel Endorses Ceiling on Global Emissions - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/28/science/global-climate-change-report.html

What 95% certainty of warming means to scientists - AP Article
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/what-95-certainty-warming-means-scientists

IPCC climate report: human impact is 'unequivocal' - The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/27/ipcc-climate-report-un-secretary-general

Chart: 2/3rds of Global Solar PV Has Been Installed in the Last 2.5 Years - GreenTech
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/chart-2-3rds-of-global-solar-pv-has-been-connected-in-the-last-2.5-years

Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis - IPCC
http://www.climatechange2013.org/

PRESS RELEASE: Sceptical Climate Part 2: Climate Science in Australian Newspapers

Australian print media outlets produce a substantial amount of journalism that is sceptical about evidence of human-induced climate change, despite very high levels of scientific certainty, according to a new report published today by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

Sceptical Climate Part 2: Climate Science in Australian Newspapers
http://sceptical-climate.investigate.org.au/part-2/

The report, Sceptical Climate: Climate Science in Australian Newspapers, is the largest and most detailed report to date on how Australian journalists report climate science, and follows the ACIJ’s first report http://sceptical-climate.investigate.org.au on climate change reporting published in 2011.

“If you believe that the main obligation of journalists is to the public’s right to know, the results of this study are truly alarming,” said Tom Morton, Associate Professor of Journalism at UTS and ACIJ director.

“This report clearly demonstrates that important and influential sections of the Australian media are failing in their responsibility to provide their audience with information they need to make informed choices on a matter of vital public interest.

“Thus they are failing to fulfill one of the most important roles of a free press in a liberal democracy,” Dr Morton said.

The report’s author, investigative journalist and researcher Professor Wendy Bacon, said along with previous research the findings of this study suggest that Australia may have the highest concentration of scepticism in its media in the world.

“Our analyses of three months of coverage in ten major Australian newspapers revealed a decline of 20 per cent in coverage of climate science between February to April 2011 and the same period in 2012. More disturbing was the finding that the overall coverage became decidedly more sceptical in 2012,” Professor Bacon said.

Nearly all of the scepticism is produced by News Corporation, which owns more than two-thirds of Australia’s print media. Fairfax Media’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age accept the consensus position on anthropogenic climate change and published only 9 and 6 articles respectively which might suggest to readers that the consensus position was in doubt.

“Such high levels of scepticism should be a matter of concern to the Australian public, governments, the scientific community and journalists,” Professor Bacon said.

Download full report here: http://sceptical-climate.investigate.org.au/part-2

END PRESS RELEASE (on file)

The Hot Potato. The Road to Transformation

Follow the journey of #thehotpotato, cooling the heat on the asylum seeker debate with facts not fiction.

The more we talk about this issue the closer we come to an opinion we can be proud of.

http://youtu.be/zixigIrO23A