OMNI
CLIMATE URGENCY, CLIMATE EMERGENCY NEWSLETTER.
DECEMBER 17, 2019.
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
http://omnicenter.org/donate/
A few years ago the usual reference to a warming world was “climate change.” Last year “climate catastrophe” or “climate calamity” were gaining prominence. And now “climate emergency” claims precedence. Brenda Looper in her column in the NADG (“Weighty Words,” 12-11-19, 7B) wrote about this rapid evolution of the language used to describe the increase of atmospheric temperature and its consequences.
“The Oxford Dictionaries blog notes: ‘The Oxford Word of the Year is a word or expression shown through usage evidence to reflect the ethos, mood or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance.’ The expression that did that for 2019, it said, was ‘climate emergency.’”
From hieroglyphic stairway by Drew Dellinger
What Did You Do?
it’s 3:23 in the morning
and I’m awake
because my great great grandchildren
won’t let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do when the earth was unraveling?
surely you did something
when the seasons started failing?
as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?
did you fill the streets with protest
when democracy was stolen?
what did you do
once
you
knew?
(Reprinted from Facing the Anthropocene by Ian Angus.)
What follows is a miscellany of writings about what the UN Secretary-General called the “defining issue of our time.”
UN Climate report Nov. 26 Bleak
EU Parliament Declares Climate and Environmental Emergency
Climate Emergency Campaign
Cities Passing Emergency Declarations
Strategies for Local Campaigns
National Declarations
Advice and Inspiration
Google Searches
World Scientists Declare Emergency and Plan for Action
Colleges and Universities Declare Emergency and Unveil Plan
And Full Alert: Warming and Nuclear War, Art Hobson, “The Fate of the Earth”
“U.N. climate change findings bleak. Major countries failing to halt rise of greenhouse gas emissions, report says” by Somini Sengupta. The New York Times | (November 27, 2019). Publ. also in NADG same day. –D]
Four years after countries struck a landmark deal in Paris to rein in greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to avert the worst effects of global warming, humanity is headed toward those very climate catastrophes, according to a U.N. report issued Tuesday [Nov. 26], with China and the United States, the two biggest polluters, having expanded their carbon footprints last year.
"The summary findings are bleak," the report said, because countries have failed to halt the rise of greenhouse gas emissions even after repeated warnings from scientists. The result, the authors added, is that "deeper and faster cuts are now required."
The world's 20 richest countries, responsible for more than three-fourths of emissions, must take the biggest, swiftest steps to move away from fossil fuels, the report emphasized. The richest country of all, the United States, however, has formally begun to pull out of the Paris accord.
Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown by 1.5% every year over the past decade, according to the annual assessment, the Emissions Gap Report, which is produced by the U.N. Environment Program. The opposite must happen if the world is to avoid the worst effects of climate change, including more intense droughts, stronger storms and widespread food insecurity by midcentury. To stay within relatively safe limits, emissions must decline sharply, by 7.6% every year, between 2020 and 2030, the report warned.
Separately, the World Meteorological Organization reported Monday that emissions of three major greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- have all swelled in the atmosphere since the mid-18th century.
Under the Paris agreement, reached in November 2015, every country has pledged to rein in emissions, with each setting its own targets and timetables. Even if every country fulfills its current pledges -- and many, including the United States, Brazil and Australia, are currently not on track to do so -- the Emissions Gap Report found average temperatures are on track to rise by about 5.8 degrees Fahrenheit from the baseline average temperature at the start of the industrial age.
According to scientific models, that kind of temperature rise sharply increases the likelihood of extreme weather events, the accelerated melting of glaciers and swelling seas -- all endangering the lives of billions of people.
The Paris agreement resolved to hold the increase in global temperatures well below 3.6 degrees; last year, a U.N.-backed panel of scientists said the safer limit was to keep it to 2.7 degrees.
There are many ways to reduce emissions: quitting the combustion of fossil fuels, especially coal, the world's dirtiest fossil fuel; switching to renewable energy like solar and wind power; moving away from gas- and diesel-guzzling cars; and halting deforestation.
In fact, many countries are headed in the wrong direction. A separate analysis released this month looked at how much coal, oil and natural gas the world's nations have said they expect to produce and sell through 2030. If all those fossil fuels were ultimately extracted and burned, the report found, countries would collectively miss their climate pledges, as well as the global 3.6 degree target, by an even larger margin than previously thought.
Diplomats are scheduled to gather in Madrid in December for the next round of negotiations over the rules of the Paris agreement. The world's biggest polluters are under pressure to raise their pledges. "This is a new and stark reminder," Spain's minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, said of the Emissions Gap Report in an email. "We urgently need to align with the Paris agreement objectives and elevate climate ambition."
If there is any good news in the report, it is that the current trajectory is not as dire as it was before countries around the world started taking steps to cut their emissions. The 2015 Emissions Gap Report said that, without any climate policies at all, the world was likely to face around 7 degrees of warming. Coal use is declining sharply, especially in the United States and Western Europe, according to an analysis by Carbon Brief. Renewable energy is expanding fast, though not nearly as fast as necessary. And city and state governments around the world, including in the United States, are rolling out stricter rules on tailpipe pollution from cars.
EU Parliament Declares ‘Climate and Environmental Emergency’. Olivia Rosane. EcoWatch Nov. 29, 2019.
European Parliament declared a "climate and environmental emergency" Thursday, calling on the European Commission to make sure all legislation and budgets align with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
In another resolution, the group called on the EU to submit a strategy to the UN Convention on Climate Change for reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. The European Commission has already proposed a 2050 carbon neutrality goal, but the opposition of Poland, Hungary and Czechia has stopped it from earning the endorsement of the European Council.
The votes come less than one week before countries are set to gather in Madrid for the UN COP25 Climate Change Conference.
"The fact that Europe is the first continent to declare climate and environmental emergency, just before COP25, when the new commission takes office, and three weeks after Donald Trump confirmed the United States' withdrawal from the Paris agreement, is a strong message sent to citizens and the rest of the world," French liberal Member of European Parliament (MEP) Pascal Canfin, who wrote a draft of the climate emergency resolution, said, according to The Guardian.
Some climate activists applauded the European Parliament's emergency declaration, but also urged the EU to back up words with deeds.
"We can't solve a crisis without treating it as one," Swedish school-strike leader Greta Thunberg tweeted from the Atlantic Ocean, as she sails back from North America to attend COP25. "Let's hope they now take drastic sufficient action."
Greenpeace EU climate policy adviser Sebastian Mang shared a similar sentiment before the vote.
"Our house is on fire. The European parliament has seen the blaze, but it's not enough to stand by and watch," Mang said, according to The Guardian.
The first resolution was adopted 429 to 225 with 19 abstentions, and the second passed 430 to 190 with 34 abstentions.
The votes came a day after European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman to lead the EU's executive arm, pledged that the EU would be the first continent to reach net zero emissions by 2050, The Washington Post reported. She has promised a European Green Deal, which the commission will draft within 100 days of taking office in December.
"If there is one area where the world needs our leadership, it is on protecting our climate," she said, as The Washington Post reported. "This is an existential issue for Europe — and for the world."
The European Parliament's resolutions Thursday will put additional pressure on her to make good on her promises, and even increase them. Von der Leyen has proposed a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to at least 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2030, but the second resolution called on her to make that a 55 percent reduction. The current target is 40 percent, which activists and Green politicians argue is not ambitious enough, according to The Guardian.
A UN study released this week warned that greenhouse gas emissions must decline 7.6 percent every year for the next decade in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
On cities passing declarations of climate emergency:
Climate Emergency Campaign
https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/climate-emergency-campaign
We demand governments adopt an emergency response to climate change and the broader ecological crisis. Declaring Climate Emergency is the critical first step to launching the comprehensive mobilization solution required to rescue and rebuild civilization. We are working to compel governments in the United States and throughout the world to declare Climate Emergency.
Over 1245 local governments in 25 countries have declared a climate emergency and committed to action to drive down emissions at emergency speed.
Interactive map at this link: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/climate-emergency-campaign
Over 798 million people are represented by local governments that have declared a Climate Emergency.
This data sheet tracks all declarations with links to more info: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tb-LklFWLujYnjmCSvCWRcLUJCCWAL27dKPzVcFq9CQ/edit#gid=0
Campaign Background
The goal of the Climate Emergency Campaign is to compel governments, starting at the local level and building upward, to adopt an emergency response to climate change and the broader ecological crisis. Entering emergency mode is the critical first step to launching the comprehensive mobilization required to rescue and rebuild civilization.
The Climate Emergency Campaign officially started in the city of Darebin, Australia—whose city government passed the first declaration of climate emergency in December 2016. Because of our work, Hoboken New Jersey became the third city in the world and the first city in the U.S. to declare a Climate Emergency in November, 2017.
Bolstered by a growing number of organizations and individuals, this campaign has spread to thirteen countries and has been adopted by multiple organizations as a rallying cry for the next phase of the climate movement.
Read a concise overview of the history of the “Climate Emergency” global campaign here.
Current strategic priorities for local campaigns
1. Pass declarations of Climate Emergency with commitment to reach zero emissions and begin carbon drawdown at emergency speed (10 years or less).
2. Local elected leaders become advocates for emergency Climate Mobilization to the public, to other cities, and to state and national gov’ts.
3. Develop and implement mobilization policy locally, after declaration is passed.
Declaration Templates
Please use our templates to initiate a Climate Emergency Declaration in your local or state government. We ask that you retain the core demands in your resolution.
Local Government Declaration Template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dA3Jnx4xlrqrMrlyITdtD_WBynr_UuU-cjuZpyW7Gts/edit
Climate Emergency + Green New Deal Declaration Template
State Government Declaration Template
By declaring that we are in a climate emergency and committing to addressing it in time to avoid the worst outcomes, local governments can become leaders in the Climate Emergency Movement, and inspire other governments to do the same.
Why Focus on local governments?
Cities and local governments have historically been the spark for progress, from minimum wage to civil rights. Local wins inspire other communities to follow and build a mandate for much-needed national mobilizations. For example, the Climate and Environment Emergency Declaration in the United Kingdom started in cities and local councils.
Climate emergency declarations in 1,252 jurisdictions and local governments cover 798 million citizens
https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/climate-emergency-declarations-cover-15-million-citizens/
1,252 jurisdictions in 26 countries have declared a climate emergency. Populations covered by jurisdictions that have declared a climate emergency amount to 798 million citizens, with 55 million of these living in the United Kingdom. This means in Britain now over 80 per cent of the population lives in areas that have declared a climate emergency, almost 400 councils all together. In New Zealand, the percentage is nearly as high: 74 per cent of the population.
NATIONAL DECLARATIONS
On 29 April 2019, the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency at the national level was the Welsh Parliament. Some say it was Scotland, though, because on 28 April 2019, the First Minister of Scotland declared a climate emergency on behalf of her government at an annual Scottish National Party conference.
On 29 April 2019, the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency at the national level was the Welsh Parliament. Some say it was Scotland, though, because on 28 April 2019, the First Minister of Scotland declared a climate emergency on behalf of her government at an annual Scottish National Party conference.
On 1 May 2019, the United Kingdom Labour Party got unanimous support for a non-binding motion in favour of a climate emergency declaration in the House of Commons, claiming Britain thereby was the first country in the world where a bipartisan parliament had declared a climate emergency.
On 3 May 2019, the Gibraltar Parliament followed, and the government of the Republic of Ireland announced their declaration on 9 May. The next day, the Isle of Man parliament declared a climate emergency as well.
The Parliament of Portugal declared a climate emergency on 7 June 2019, the Canadian House of Commons followed on 17 June 2019, and the French parliament a climate emergency on 27 June 2019. Argentina followed on 17 July 2019.
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
On the list below are only included jurisdictions that have passed a binding motion declaring a climate emergency. As such, the non-binding motion instigated by UK Labour, for example, is not included in this data. Typical resolutions include setting up a process to develop an action plan and report back to council within three to six months.
On the list below are only included jurisdictions that have passed a binding motion declaring a climate emergency. As such, the non-binding motion instigated by UK Labour, for example, is not included in this data. Typical resolutions include setting up a process to develop an action plan and report back to council within three to six months.
AUSTRALIA
In Australia, where the climate emergency declaration mobilisation and petition was launched in May 2016, over 75 jurisdictions representing roughly 6.5 million people – a quarter of the population – have declared a climate emergency, including the government of the Australian Capital Territory, based in the capital Canberra, and South Australia’s Upper House. More than 100 of the candidates in the 18 May 2019 federal election had signed the Climate Emergency Declaration petition.
In Australia, where the climate emergency declaration mobilisation and petition was launched in May 2016, over 75 jurisdictions representing roughly 6.5 million people – a quarter of the population – have declared a climate emergency, including the government of the Australian Capital Territory, based in the capital Canberra, and South Australia’s Upper House. More than 100 of the candidates in the 18 May 2019 federal election had signed the Climate Emergency Declaration petition.
These are the overall figures, according to population statistics available via the Internet:
The list is maintained by Cedamia
Map of Swedish municipalities – which visualises the status of each, including those who end up voting against declaring a climate emergency.
Similar lists
This data compilation was initiated by Philip Sutton. Various lists are being updated independently, including:
» ClimateEmergency.uk’s news page (United Kingdom):
www.climateemergency.uk/blog/category/climate-emergency
www.climateemergency.uk/blog/category/climate-emergency
Note:
We have received questions from councillors and media about what a ‘climate emergency declaration’ or motion should contain, and whether there are certain criteria or guidelines to this.
We have received questions from councillors and media about what a ‘climate emergency declaration’ or motion should contain, and whether there are certain criteria or guidelines to this.
For instance, can achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 be considered an ‘emergency’ response, or should the year be set as 2040, 2030 or even as ambitious as 2025?
Our call for declaring a climate emergency is not structured movement with a specific guideline and a set of criteria as such. It is an open ‘movement of movements’, and there are many opinions floating around about what is the best strategy.
Eventually, it is up to each individual council to make up its mind about what it wants to suggest and to implement.
Inspirational: Here’s some advice and inspiration – and here’s more advice and inspiration from CACE
“At the Paris climate talks, scientists and people from low-lying island states set 1.5°C of warming as a red line that must not be crossed. However, earlier this year, the global average temperature spiked past 1.6°C of warming.
The bleaching of coral reefs around the world, increasing extreme weather events, the melting of large ice sheets and recent venting of methane from thawing permafrost make it abundantly clear that the earth is already too hot.
The future of human civilisation, and the survival of the precious ecosystems on which we depend, now hang in the balance.
There must be an immediate ban on new coal and gas developments and an emergency-speed transition to zero emissions. We must begin the enormous task of safely drawing down the excess greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.
We call on the new parliament to declare a climate emergency.”
The bleaching of coral reefs around the world, increasing extreme weather events, the melting of large ice sheets and recent venting of methane from thawing permafrost make it abundantly clear that the earth is already too hot.
The future of human civilisation, and the survival of the precious ecosystems on which we depend, now hang in the balance.
There must be an immediate ban on new coal and gas developments and an emergency-speed transition to zero emissions. We must begin the enormous task of safely drawing down the excess greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.
We call on the new parliament to declare a climate emergency.”
This was the climate emergency declaration petition text we wrote in 2016:
Given that:
• climate impacts are already causing serious loss of life and destroying vital ecosystems
• global average temperature, atmospheric greenhouse gases, and ocean acidity are already at dangerous levels, and
• wartime economic mobilisations have proven how quickly nations can restructure their economies when facing an extreme threat it is inexcusable to continue with climate-damaging policies that put us all in even greater peril. The Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal is not a safe goal.
• climate impacts are already causing serious loss of life and destroying vital ecosystems
• global average temperature, atmospheric greenhouse gases, and ocean acidity are already at dangerous levels, and
• wartime economic mobilisations have proven how quickly nations can restructure their economies when facing an extreme threat it is inexcusable to continue with climate-damaging policies that put us all in even greater peril. The Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal is not a safe goal.
We call on all Australian federal, state, and territory parliaments and all local councils to:
• declare a climate emergency
• commit to providing maximum protection for all people, economies, species, ecosystems, and civilisations, and to fully restoring a safe climate
• mobilise the required resources and take effective action at the necessary scale and speed
• transform the economy to zero emissions and make a fair contribution to drawing down the excess carbon dioxide in the air, and
• encourage all other governments around the world to take these same actions.
• declare a climate emergency
• commit to providing maximum protection for all people, economies, species, ecosystems, and civilisations, and to fully restoring a safe climate
• mobilise the required resources and take effective action at the necessary scale and speed
• transform the economy to zero emissions and make a fair contribution to drawing down the excess carbon dioxide in the air, and
• encourage all other governments around the world to take these same actions.
We’ve risen to big challenges in the past when an emergency has been declared, with citizens and all sides of politics rising to the occasion and working together for the common good.
We call on the Australian government to do what is necessary now.