Hannah is one of the coal towns affected by the decision
anada announced yesterday that it will phase out all coal fired electricity generation by 2030.
Coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels producing over three tonnes of carbon dioxide for every tonne of coal burned.
Canada has also announced a carbon price commencing in two years with an eighty percent reduction target by 2050. Two Canadian states will be worst affected as they currently produce 40 percent of their electricity from coal fired power stations. Nationally, Canada produces the majority of its electricity from hydro-electricity.
West End residents protesting at the Mollison St site
West End community groups and Greens councillor Jonathon Sri will blockade the West Village development at the old Peter’s Ice Cream factory on Mollison and Boundary Street West End, starting today Wednesday 23rd November. The blockade protests the decision of the deputy premier, Jackie Trad, to allow the developers to build 20 storey towers over 80% of the site in clear contravention of the neighbourhood plan. Councillor Sri notes that the densification of the inner city is an important step in building sustainable cities but requires community scale development accompanied by sustainable infrastructure.
A First Nation resident watches the official militia move in
Police from 20 different forces across the USA who have converged on Standing Rock today used water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a group of protestors on a bridge. 17 protestors were taken to hospital, some with hypothermia as a result of being soaked in sub-freezing temperatures.
The protestors were trying to clear the bridge which has been blocked by police since October preventing emergency services from reaching the Sioux community in Standing Rock.
The company behind the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, recommended to its shareholders today that they sell their shares in the company to Sunoco Logistics for 21billion.
Vietnam Veteran organisations have announced they will deploy to Standing Rock on December 3rd in honour of their vow to go and fight where-ever evil resides.
Police and security try to move on the Yellowcake stall at the Entertainment Centre
Robin Taubenfeld and other protestors handed out cake and leaflets at the annual general meeting of BHP in Brisbane this morning.
Police and security guards tried to move protestors on but Ms Taubenfeld successfully argued that the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre is public space and there is nothing illegal about offering cake, tea and information to visitors and passers by.
Robin Taubenfeld prepares the YellowCake for shareholders
The yellow cake represented the Uranium ore which BHP digs out of the Australian soil and exports around the world.
Rick Williams called for an apology to enslaved islanders during NAIDOC week
A speech by the Member for Pumicestone, Rick Williams, demanding an apology to the descendants of 62,000 enslaved Pacific Islanders has inspired Queenslanders to petition Parliament to issue a formal apology. The practice of capturing islanders and transporting them to Queensland as slaves on cane farms and coastal building projects was known as “black birding”. Mr Williams told Parliament “Queensland was built on the back of the blood, sweat and tears of these islanders. I say that no-one deserves the atrocity endured by these people.” The petition is available online via TheGenerator.News
The South Sea Islanders’ history in Queensland is as horrific as the Stolen Generation’s and is largely intertwined with the Aboriginal people.
More than 60,000 Islanders predominantly from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands were kidnapped or “blackbirded” into coming to Australia during the 19th century.
Member for Pumicestone Rick Williams said they were put to work as “slaves” on cotton farms and cane fields.
“I grew up in the Mackay region and went to school with a lot of them,” Mr Williams said.
“My great grandmother would tell stories of how you could hear their chains rattling from kilometres away as they were brought into town,” he said.
COP22 in Marrakech tries to enact Paris in a hostile climate
One year after Paris, the annual Conference of Partners (COP22) is being held in Marrakech with nations meeting to hammer out a series of protocols designed to limit dangerous climate chaos.
With the lowest ever coverage of Arctic Sea Ice in the recent northern summer, polar temperatures overpowering the La Nina in the South Pacific and temperature records being broken all around the world, many commentators have called on people to shift gear away from trying to prevent climate chaos and start planning how to survive it.
Speakers at Marrakech conference have criticised this approach as well as the denial of world leaders trying to prop up unstable economies.
Scientists have warned that without drastic and concerted action by governments temperatures will rise between five and eight degrees Celsius.
The Arctic ice pack is packing in
Arctic sea ice regrowth this winter is truly horrible, with 13 metre waves breaking up what thin fragile ice remains. We are heading to zero sea ice. With two must-see videos.
The Paris Deal Dooms the Planet to Climate Change Chaos
Environmental organizations and activists continue to slam the agreement for doing too little too late and dooming the world to climate chaos, here are five things you should know about the COP21 climate deal.
The world’s largest social movement blasted world leaders Monday for promoting “false solutions” to the global environmental crisis and disguising ongoing crimes against humanity as a commitment to climate action as the COP22 world climate meeting kicked off in Marrakech, Morocco, on the heels of last year’s Paris summit.
Researchers say “business as usual” could actually put planet on track for 4.78°C to 7.36°C rise by 2100. Because the climate has “substantially higher sensitivity” to greenhouse gases during warm phases, within the 21st century, global mean temperatures will very likely exceed maximum levels for the last 784,000 years.
