Climate change activists stopped airport operations in Bonn, Oslo, Munich, and more,
by glueing themselves to the airport runways.
The Last Generation movement has a history of staging similar protests across Germany, aiming to draw attention to what they see as insufficient government action on climate change.
The activists, who criticised government subsidies for the airline industry, targeted the airport to highlight the environmental impact of air travel. "Problem is the government, not our holiday," read one of the signs held by the protesters
https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/05/18/climate-activists-glue-themselves-to-munich-airport-runway
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Lack of Action on Climate change is against human rights of seniors
In a landmark decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has today ruled that government inaction on climate change violates fundamental human rights.
The right to respect for one’s private and family life is the main legal basis through which the court has previous ruled on environmental cases, but this decision is “historic” regarding the climate crisis, observers say.
The case was brought by an association of older Swiss women concerned about the impact of global warming on their health. They claimed that the Swiss government is not taking enough action.
The ECHR ruled by 16 judges to 1 that the KlimaSeniorinnen (Swiss Elders for Climate Protection) were subject to a violation of Article 8 as well as (unanimously) Article 6 - the right to a fair trial in their country.
“While we do not have all the details yet - this decision is historic!” writes Sébastien Duyck, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmmental Law (CIEL).
“The Court has found the petition admissible and finds a violation of the rights of the Klimaseniorinnen both on process and on the substance!”
Two other climate cases - brought by a former French mayor, and six Portuguese youth - were found to be inadmissible, however.
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Keystone pipeline gamble fails to pay off - no compensation owed
"TC Energy US$15B Keystone XL claim thrown out by trade tribunal" Edmonton Journal, July 17, 2024
Keystone pipeline, intended to stretch from Albert tarasands to Oklahoma then onto Gulf of Mecico refineries. was approved under Trump, then cancelled immediately after Biden's election in 2021.
By that time Trump had canelled NAFTA (the old Free trade agreement betwen Canada and the U.S.) and replaced it by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
TC Energy asked for compensation for the money it had risked in its investment. (Note that taking a risk on inventment is a normal part of free-enterprise system.)
The Courts ruled that under USMCA ther is no opening for compensetion for private companies who suffer due to government decisions made for the good of the environment or to mitigate the effects of climate change.
So as the pipeline might have caused a spill poisoning the watershed that about four states depend on for drinking water, and because the pipeline would have increased burning of fossil fuels, there was no need for compensation.
One hopes tht such a decision will cause other companies to take a second look at investing billions in pipleines.
(meanwhile growth of Alberta's renewable energy sector is still blocked by the Alberta government's ban on such infrastructure.)
Keith Stewart of Greenpeace Canada, applauded the court's decision, saying it is an "important precedent because governments need to be able to take action to protect people" from climate change and corporations should not be able to sue them for doing so.
"The threat of these types of lawsuits has actually been giving governments cold feet on climate action and I think we should recognize this decision as saying 'full speed ahead'"- do what is necessary to save this planet.
(Now we just need an election system that will allow the majority of people who are worried about climate change to elect the majority of legislators so we can get a government that will actually do something.)
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Jasper burns in latest climate change onslaught
the effects of climate change was made clear in July 2024 with a wildfire decimating the historic and beautiful townsite of Jasper.
the extent of the ddestruction is still unclear on July 26 but it seems the wildfire has entered the built-up part of town with the destruction of the Maligne Lodge, the old United Church and many other structures in the "south" part of the town.
The Maligne Lodge hotel is just a block from a large Petro-Canada gas station so let's hope proper precautions were taken at that site before the evacuation three days ago
A photo taken recently showed a train loaded with sea-cans parked on the rail-line just across the road from the edge of the townsite. I tseems events happened too quickly for the train to be relocated to a safe location and now it too has been potentially lost to the fire.
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Recent scenes of devastation in Jasper
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