Extinction Rebellion

[Svartalf]

They think our PM is a cunt, and they're right!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-11/ ... s/11859988

that person can't be that, i would not fuck that with trump's dick...

[Tero]

Breitbart creates fake headline
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/0 ... 0lo9TP_wHs
it is not Swedes, just some Swedes, a taxpayers association (all right wingers, some extreme libertarians and nationalists) who voted. A very small right winger activist group.

[Brian Peacock]

Yesterday...

Extinction Rebellion hold blockade at Baillie Gifford investment firm



Dozens of Extinction Rebellion protesters staged an 11-hour blockade outside an Edinburgh-based finance company which invests in fossil fuels.

They claim Baillie Gifford increased the Scottish Parliament's pension investment in oil firm Shell despite MSPs backing action on climate change.

Campaigners blocked entrances at the Greenside Row office.

A spokesman for Baillie Gifford said the investor took climate change seriously.

...

One campaigner, Lauren Waterman, from Extinction Rebellion, said: "We are here because Bailey Gifford manages the MSPs pension funds and despite MSPs claiming they would try to have more ethical pension funds they have upped their investment in Shell by 19%, so that is hundreds of thousands of pounds that are now going into the fossil fuel industry.

"It is impossible to see now how MSPs could properly regulate the fossil fuel industry when they are profiting from it so that's why we are here and we are here to ask them to divest."...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... e-51106996

[JimC]

Brian, I think you only joined to meet all the lovelies!

[JimC]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-16/ ... o/11872344

Last year was the Earth's second hottest since records began, and the world should brace itself for more extreme weather events like the devastating bushfires that have hit much of Australia, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

The Geneva-based WMO combined several datasets, including two from the US space administration NASA and the UK Met Office.

These showed that the average global temperature in 2019 was 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, creeping towards a globally agreed limit after which major changes to life on Earth are expected.

"Unfortunately, we expect to see much extreme weather throughout 2020 and the coming decades, fuelled by record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

"Australia had its hottest, driest year on record in 2019, setting the scene for the massive bushfires which were so devastating to people and property, wildlife, ecosystems and the environment."

Scientists say climate change is likely to have contributed to severe weather in 2019 such as a heatwave in Europe and the hurricane that killed at least 50 people when it barrelled through the Bahamas in September.

[JimC]

David Attenborough knows our government are lying, ignorant arseholes:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-17/ ... e/11875906

British naturalist Sir David Attenborough has said the "moment of crisis" had come in the fight against climate change, warning that governments' targets for decades in the future were not enough to save the planet.

Noting the destruction being caused by Australia's current wave of bushfires, Attenborough criticised Canberra's approach to climate change during an interview with the BBC, saying the government's support for coal mines showed the world it did not care about the environment.

"As I speak, southeast Australia is on fire. Why? Because the temperatures of the Earth are increasing," he said.

"That is a major international catastrophe. And to say 'oh it's nothing to do with the climate' is palpably nonsense."

[Svartalf]

I don't know why you say this mega fire will cause problems, just import enough agriculturists to till all the new farmlands the fire is giving you... since it's the equivalent of slash and burn, poor, dispossessed peasant folk from developing countries like southeast asia or brazil would be most appropriate.

[pErvinalia]

Well Eucalypt forests regenerate well after fire.

[JimC]

Well Eucalypt forests regenerate well after fire.

The problem is that these fires have been so intense, and so widespread, that there isn't the usual reservoir of bush animals in unburnt areas to re-colonise. We will have a silent bush for a long time...

[Svartalf]

Well Eucalypt forests regenerate well after fire.

Well, this time it might be worse than usual, thanks to the extent of the destruction, plus, even if things work out fine, it still takes a fucking lotta time to grow a tree big enough to support a drop bear colony.

[pErvinalia]

A lot of the trees will respout. Depends on the species and how hot the fire was.

[Svartalf]

You know Oz better than me, so I'll bow to your expertise, but it seems the fires may have been exceptional enough to prevent the usual rebirth of nature.

[JimC]

One person can make a difference!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-18/ ... g/11876360

In July, a landmark trial will take place in a Sydney courtroom that could potentially change the way superannuation funds invest Australians' almost $3 trillion in retirement savings.

The case, which could set a worldwide legal precedent as to how pension funds manage climate-change-related financial risks, is thanks to a 24-year-old Brisbane-based council worker with an ecology degree.

Mark McVeigh can't access his super money until 2055 but says climate change impacts are already materialising and, therefore, investors should be acting.

It is this belief that led to his case against $57 billion superannuation fund Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (REST).

Mr McVeigh has alleged that REST has failed to protect his retirement savings from the financial devastation that will flow from climate change.

The case, first brought in 2017, followed Mr McVeigh asking his super fund to provide him with disclosure about what it was doing to mitigate climate-change-related risks.

"Since we launched the case, it's really snowballed and changed," Mr McVeigh told ABC News.

"It got way bigger than I ever imagined in 2017.
"Originally the case was about disclosure … but then it brought up further questions about are [REST] taking into account any climate change risks in their assessments?"

The Federal Court will now also have to determine whether the super fund is in breach of its fiduciary duties — that is, its duty to act in the best interests of its members — by not taking enough action to mitigate climate-change-related risks.

"It's not just the experts who are interested," Mr McVeigh said.

"Everyone around the world that has retirement savings is interested in how their money is invested, and the way their fund is managing the [climate-change-related] risk."
If the court agrees that REST has breached its fiduciary duties, it will not only change the way super funds invest people's retirement savings.

Experts warn it could pave the way for further litigation.

[Brian Peacock]

Greenpeace included with neo-Nazis on UK counter-terror list

Exclusive: Extinction Rebellion and Peta also named in anti-extremism briefing alongside Combat 18 and National Action

A counter-terrorism police document distributed to medical staff and teachers as part of anti-extremism briefings included Greenpeace, Peta and other non-violent groups as well as neo-Nazis, the Guardian has learned.

The guide, produced by Counter Terrorism Policing, is used across England as part of training for Prevent, the anti-radicalisation scheme designed to catch those at risk of committing terrorist violence.

Last week, police said documents uncovered by the Guardian that listed the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) alongside far-right extremists and jihadists were a local error.

But the list of groups viewed as a potential concern contained in the new 24-page document includes Extinction Rebellion. It also includes Greenpeace – among whose supporters are Dame Judi Dench, Stephen Fry, Gillian Anderson and Joanna Lumley – and the ocean pollution campaigners Sea Shepherd, whose supporters include Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. Also included is Stop the Badger Cull, which is backed by Sir Brian May, the Queen guitarist.

They appear alongside a number of extremist rightwing groups including Combat 18 and the National Front, as well as National Action, which has been banned for terrorist violence. The last page of an accompanying visual guide seen by the Guardian advises people to report “any concerns identified via this document” using an online portal for reporting suspicious activity that is operated by Counter Terrorism Policing under the slogan: “Action counters terrorism”...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... error-list

Hmmm.

[Svartalf]

Well, there just might have been a reason why the Rainbow Warrior was sunk, these folk are evil terrorists.