North Karelia, located in Eastern Finland, has been the traditional homeland of the Sámi, Karelian and Savo-Karelian peoples. The people of North Karelia have enjoyed a deep and rich connection with nature through the ages.

Seasonal hunting, fishing, gathering activities and, in more recent times, small-scale agriculture, have formed the basis of life in a region rich in boreal forest, lakes, rivers and marsh-mires. 

Today, some natural resources continue to play a significant role in the local economy and society of North Karelia. Timber and forestry products have become, from a state perspective, the region’s most important resources.

Mining history

North Karelia has also been a central location in recent Finnish mining history for both peat and minerals, suffering major impacts as a result.

For example, one North Karelian community, Kuusjärvi, underwent a transformation after World War Two (and at some scale since 1910s), becoming ‘Outokumpu’ (meaning Strange Mound) – a state-led mining town which has a severe pollution record that impacts the nearby Lake Sysmäjärvi.

Finland emerged as a ‘land of opportunity’ for international and domestic mining in the 2010s, due to the legal reforms encouraging mining company access and investment, the downscaling of independent environmental authorities and a lack of existing social and legal rights of local communities.

It was only in the 1980s that Finland established its own Ministry of Environment. But in recent times right-wing powers in Finland, especially the Centre Party, have consistently undermined and eroded the power of NGOs and environmental authorities as part of a wider neoliberal agenda.

The Centre Party, which was in power between 2003-2011, regards environmental legislation and regulation as an economic obstacle to be removed. In recent years the Finnish Coalition Party has compounded these problems by pushing through administrative reforms under the Ministry of the Economy that require all sectors, including the state environmental authorities, to produce tangible profits, thereby undermining the possibilities for environmentally sound decision-making.

Double movement

Ironically, Finland has moved to establish a reputation as a world leader in clean and responsible mining in this same period.

The establishment of the Network for Sustainable Mining and the Finnish Geological Survey’s Green Mining concept, are key achievements in a ‘double-movement’.

On the one-hand, regulation is reduced and extraction and its impacts are expanded in practice. On the other, pro-mining corporate and state PR create the impression of an industry holding itself to higher standards than ever before, justifying deregulation.

The trend of increasing ease of access to mineral resources is expected to intensify in future as geopolitical interest in the boreal and Arctic peripheries grows. These regions contain much of the planet’s untapped mineral wealth.

New sea routes to get these minerals out of the Arctic at lower cost are opening up due to climate-change-induced losses in sea ice.

Resistance 

In response to these new realities, Finland and North Karelia have seen the emergence of local and global actions challenging this new wave of extractivism. This resistance has yielded early victories, for example in the village of Selkie, where the community has succeeded in restoring a whole river catchment area to health after it was damaged by peat mining and ditching for industrial forestry.

The Jukajoki River catchment and Linnunsuo Marsh-mire, a former peat mining site, are located in the village of Selkie.

Selkie is home to around 300 people and is located at the intersection of the middle and southern boreal taiga forests. The Vuoksi and Lake Ladoga catchment areas divide on top of the Selkie hills, flowing on to feed into the two major catchment areas of NE Europe.

Selkie is the second oldest recorded village in North Karelia and one of the western-most of the Karelian villages where Kalevala-style epic songs and incantations have been recorded. In pre-historic times, Selkie’s first inhabitants were the Indigenous Sámi people.

Later, and up until the 1640s, the village was occupied by Karelians. Due to the Swedish-Russian Rupture Wars and subsequent transfer of territories, most Karelians left for Tver, Russia. The village population was replaced with an ethnically Savo-Karelian population who still live in the village today.

The traditional ways of life in Selkie have, and to some extent continue to, revolve around fisheries, hunting and traditional small-scale slash-and-burn agriculture, which transformed into modern, small-scale farming post-World War Two.

Today, the village also contains a mix of modern occupancies, services, small-scale forestry and farming. This is a village that has been able to preserve its soul by adapting to the times whilst maintaining traditional livelihoods and connection with the land.

Contamination

Following the Second World War, Finland was forced to pay a 300-million-dollar war-debt to Russia. A period of rapid industrialisation to fund the repayments followed, including the draining of over half the country’s marshlands for timber plantations, agriculture, and peat mining – a massive contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

From the 1980s onwards, Finnish peat production company VAPO utilised the post-glacial marsh-mire of Linnunsuo (Marsh of the Birds) in Selkie for industrial peat mining to provide domestic energy in Finland.

Peat-rich soils are filled with iron sulphates and are very acidic. Changes to the water table caused by VAPO’s mining operations at Linnunsuo created conditions for discharges of very acidic waste water into Jukajoki river.

Leaks of acidic waste water documented in 2010 and 2011 were so bad that they killed all the fish in the river. Discharges like this had happened in the past, too.

After the first fish-death event in 2010, the village council of Selkie requested the withdrawal of VAPO’s mining permits, compensation for the damages caused by the 2010 fish deaths, and mitigation of river damages.

However, peat production continued. Unlike local fishermen, the company and state’s formal monitoring systems failed to detect contamination issues.

Pollution

Then, after a prolonged dry period and high temperatures in June 2011, a series of heavy rains led to another rapid discharge of highly acidic waters from the mine. After this second major pollution event, the people of Selkie came together to successfully close down the mine for good and pressure VAPO into financing the restoration of the Linnunsuo marsh-mire.

There were several factors and strategies behind this success: First, villagers had already been undertaking their own endemic monitoring of aquatic ecosystems using fish traps, oral histories, photography and other tools. They had baseline evidence of ecosystem health and knew the difference between healthy and unhealthy waters.

Second, a handful of local fishermen constantly out on the water were able to draw attention to the fish kill events, and to determine the source of pollution – the VAPO peat mine- from the characteristics of the water. Their endemic knowledge and speed of response was critical.

Third, the local fishermen were able to report their observations to the active and united Selkie Village Council and the local NGO the Snowchange Cooperative, having already developed close relationships through the endemic monitoring projects.

Following the 2011 pollution event, these allies responded immediately, called in the authorities, filed a criminal complaint against VAPO and pushed hard to successfully gain national media coverage of the mine spill.

Building pressure

Feeling pressured and with its public profile at risk, these tactics forced VAPO to immediately suspend production at Linnunsuo site 2.

Subsequently, villagers used the pressure they had built to demand that VAPO permanently discontinue its mining operations and finance the restoration of the former marsh-mire.

Under public scrutiny, the company agreed to pay financial compensation to the fishing association of Selkie. VAPO also agreed to finance the largest human-made wetland in Eastern Finland, over 120 hectares, on the site of the former mine.

Selkie shows how one small community can not only stop destructive mining, but also begin to restore the living ecosystems that sustain life on Earth, and the knowledge that can enable us to live well within our planet’s limits.

The villagers of Selkie have actively taken their place in the revival of Linnunsuo and other damaged areas in the Jukajoki River catchment. In 2013, a co-management council was established to manage the restoration of Linnunsuo. The council’s function is to collectively manage the use and restoration of the site, and community organizations have established a central role for themselves.

Traditional knowledge

Through a restoration programme bringing together traditional knowledge and science, Linnunsuo has enjoyed a dramatic and rapid return to health. It has quickly become a highly regarded wetland habitat for rare birds and mammals, including sandpipers, northern pintails and wolverines.

193 bird species have been recorded in the area, and over 20,000 geese at a time have flocked to the wetland, resting on their migrations to and from Siberia.

Improvements in water quality and reductions in iron sulfide contamination from the site are substantial. Local people have discovered aquatic species such as brook lamprey- an indicator species for good water quality – in the wider catchment, affirming the dramatic recovery of freshwater habitats.

Linnunsuo is now recognised as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar convention, an Important Bird Area and Finland’s second ever Community Conserved Area.

Co-management

The benefits of co-management go far beyond these measurable environmental outcomes. The development of the co-management council has changed how local-traditional knowledge is recognised and valued.

This knowledge is now recognised as equally valid to science-based and institutional knowledge by all actors in the council and the local community are valued partners. Since the Linnunsuo wetland was re-wetted in 2013, Selkie and the Snowchange Cooperative (which has since purchased the Linnunsuo site from VAPO) have built on their success, initiating an effort to revive and re-wild the entire Jukajoki River catchment.

In the short term, the goal is to restore the entire Jukajoki catchment area using traditional knowledge and science as equally valued forms of knowledge production.

By 2025, the aim is to have restored Lake Jukajärvi and inflowing river bodies, allowing the return of lake trout, grayling and salmon.

In the longer term, the vision is to establish a ranger program providing economic opportunities to local communities, establish a stable governance and co-management system for the entire watershed, including a monitoring program that incorporates traditional knowledge and science.

Restoration

Beyond North Karelia, the successes of the Linnunsuo and Jukajoki restorations to-date has stimulated a national program of landscape rewilding in Finland to alleviate the damage caused to Finnish marsh-mires and wetlands by extractive activities.

As of February 2019, the areas under restoration totalled more than 600 hectares in area – that is 4 Linnunsuo’s, or 600 football pitches. As in the case of Linnunsuo, in time these sites will emerge as Indigenous and local community conserved areas, managed and cared for by communities like Selkie.

These Authors 

Tero Mustonen is a passionate defender of the traditional worldview and cosmology of his people. He is a Finn and head of the village of Selkie in North Karelia, Finland. He works for the award-winning Snowchange Cooperative, a non-profit organisation based in Finland with members across the Arctic, including the communities of Eastern Sámi, Chukchi, Yukaghir, Sakha, Evenk, Even, Inuit, Inuvialuit, Gwitchin and many more.

Hannibal Rhoades is the Yes to Life, No to Mining Regional Coordinator for Northern Europe and Head of Communications at The Gaia Foundation. 

This article was originally published by Radical Ecological Democracy as part of a six-part series exploring the stories of the communities mentioned in this article. The Ecologist will be collaborating with Radical Ecological Democracy to share these articles in the months to come.

The case studies upon which this series is based have been developed by YLNM member communities and organisations with the support of YLNM’s Regional Coordinators. The network’s deepest thanks go to: Snowchange Cooperative and the village of Selkie (Finland), Froxán Commoning Community and ContraMINAccíon (Galicia), Karen Environmental and Social Action Network and Kalikasan PNE (Myanmar and Philippines), Comité Ambiental en Defensa de la Vida and COSAJUCA (Colombia), Alliance of Solwara Warriors (Papua New Guinea).

The UN climate negotiations in Madrid, COP25, have amounted to precious little. The extended talks have provided the opportunity for petrol states and developed countries to excise the red lines of developing countries from the text of the agreement.

As Dr Saleemul Huq from Bangladesh tweeted earlier: “Adding an extra day of negotiations is a tactic of the rich and powerful countries who know that the poor and vulnerable countries negotiators will not be able to stay the extra day to defend their red lines.”

After a quarter of a century of negotiations, it should come as no surprise that vested interests remain hellbent of destroying what is left of our only planet Earth.

Climate breakdown

The clues have been there all along. For instance, the original individual national pledges for emissions reductions were meant to be called ‘Nationally Determined Commitments’, but, of course, that is too, well, committing.

So instead they changed it to ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’, which sounds more like a whip-round for a restaurant tip than a serious pledge to limit the number of lives lost to ever-worsening climate impacts.

The areas of the world that are in the front lines of serious and extreme climate change are Africa, South-East Asia and the global south. This is where the majority of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people live.

Floods, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes are already occurring here. In places such as the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the impacts are critical, with tidal surges destroying homes, agriculture and taking lives.

This is all set to worsen with some islands on track for complete destruction in terms of human and natural habitats.

Water rights

Representatives from these countries attend the COP in search of equity and justice. The poorest are also the world’s least emitting nations and are not responsible for the catastrophe that developing nations are bestowing on them. 

Attending a side event at the COP, hosted by the Institute for Environmental Security, I was able to record an interview with General Ghazi, a former Defence Secretary in the Government of Pakistan.

Ghazi sees the growing constraints of a resource-strapped region where cross-border disputes move from the ideological to the climatically tangible, with the potential to escalate rapidly into something far more serious.

When I asked him what concerned him most about the future he replied: “I think my biggest concern, especially in the area in which I live, is water. It is the reduction in the flows of the river Indus,  on which, in my country, the people depend on.

“Through human activities they are damming or diverting water, they are making the lower riparian suffer.”

Ghazi continued: “This would be the trigger for a catastrophic conflict if the intention is to make the lower riparian suffer for geopolitical or political reasons. You know, when you have no security or livelihood left then the eventual option is to resort to arms to actually retake it! This last resort is something I see happening in terms of water threat.”

Dying ocean

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) delivered their severe climate report in the first week of the negotiations and this was quickly followed by IUCN’s report on the deoxygenation of the world’s oceans.

When I interviewed one of the lead authors, Professor Dan Laffoley, I asked him whether he was describing a dying ocean. He said: “We are in dead trouble. We are in dead trouble because when we look back in 30 years time, we might actually realise that the source of our woes was not the tale of one gas, it was the tale of two gases.

“At the moment we are talking about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, quite rightly, and cutting drastically our emissions, because they are a driver of this. 

We also need to worry about oxygen in the ocean. There is much less oxygen in the ocean per unit of area because it is simply the physics of a gas dissolved in a liquid compared to being dissolved in the air but that small amount of oxygen is required for so many things.

“It is not just required to support biodiversity and the benefits we derive from it. If you don’t have enough oxygen in the ocean, you start to disrupt some of the basic cycling of elements that are necessary for life on earth, like nitrogen, like phosphorous, and phosphates. So this is a real, real problem.

The goodness if there is good news out of this is that we know what to do. We know we must cut emissions of carbon dioxide, we know we must stop enriching the ocean, and we need to protect the pieces of ecosystems that are still intact, grow that estate and take the pressure off the whole marine environment.” 

Destruction

I also interviewed Dr Peter Carter, an IPCC climate science reviewer. Carter said: “What is happening to prevent these forest fires, droughts, severe storms, powerful hurricanes, floods? What is happening to lessen them at least? Absolutely nothing! 

“Nothing is going to come out of this COP with regards to doing anything. That was decided on the first day. I heard, that the parties, under the control of the big emitters, made the decision that they are not going to look at any improvement of their national emissions targets.

“What do you call this? This is a terrible, terrible crime! It is unbelievable what these high-emitting fossil fuel companies are doing. Pope Francis who wrote an Encyclical on ecology a few years ago said that it is a sin against God, and very recently he said it was a crime. That means in moral terms it is evil, right?

“The countries that are blocking any progress on emissions are acting in the most evil way that anybody could imagine. 

We are looking at the destruction of Earth, of oceans, and land!”

Another brick

I saw the same busker in Madrid, once outside the Prado and another time next to the metro station Sol. On both occasions, he was playing Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ but with Spanish lyrics.

The song seems like the perfect analogy for the UN climate negotiations. With an estimated 500,000 people marching through the city crying out for change and the likes of climate youth superstar Greta Thunberg, calling out the adults running our society for behaving like children, it begs the question, who are these faceless, anonymous negotiators who year on year sanction the deaths of so much of the natural world, including human beings?

The developed countries are accused widely of pursuing climate policies that are an extension of colonial powers, subjugating the poorest and excusing the evilest acts so that a fraction of the worlds richest people can carry on killing everything that sustains us.

With 25 years of failure it should be about time that the bureaucrats running this heinous show be unmasked, and that the consequences of their failures be borne back onto them. 

Rotten system

The whole UN climate negotiating system is rotten to the core. Even at face value it barely bothers to codify the injustice that it perpetuates.

This was best illustrated by a member of the action group Fridays For Future, Angela Valenzuela, herself from the original host country, Chile.

Valenzuela points out that it is not just climate systems that are breaking down but unsustainable social systems too. Systems of inequality where the privileged few have been, for decades, hoarding the wealth resources that allow nations to prosper.

Valenzuela explains how her government in Chile declared a state of emergency and introduced curfews to repress the protests. The protests have continued long passed the decision to move the UN talks to Madrid.

Valenzuela says there has been violence and human rights violations. In many cases, the protestors are flying the indigenous peoples flag more than the national Chilean flag. She describes this as a deeper reflection of the national identity.

Losing faith

Chilean people are losing faith in the systems of governance that are not equal and certainly are not able to see them through the multi-year drought and increased climate impacts that are now ubiquitous in the northern and central parts of the country. 

All of this contrasts with the national government’s presence at the COP. I asked Valenzuela whether she had engaged at all with the Chilean delegation at the COP: “For me, it has been very shocking to arrive at COP and see all the greenwashing.

“All the beautiful pictures of landscapes and the names of our cities. I was aware that COP was a place for greenwashing. It has been in Poland over the last few years, one of the European countries that has the most coal plants.

“So I know about the greenwashing but what has been shocking is that I know human violations are going on in my country and it is being overseen by the government and they are really trying to stand out very well and pretend that nothing is happening.

“So, of course, I cannot really relate or have a proper conversation. Fo me they have lost legitimacy.”

Populism 

These sentiments are now being seen in many countries around the world where protests are increasing and populism is on the rise.

The backdrop of climate change is an existential threat to civilisation and will challenge us in many ways.

The failure of the UN COP’s is setting the stage for more civil protest as the tide of impacts crashes the shores of all regions around the world. 

With hope of international progress and adequate intergovernmental policy and cooperation fading, COP26 is doubtless going to be another greenwashing expedition, this time enacted by the UK’s newly elected Conservative party who have a terrible environmental record.

If you are experiencing anxiety arising from the climate crisis, rest assured, it is the correct emotional response.

This Author

Nick Breeze is a climate change writer and interviewer and also writes a great deal about wine. He is an organiser of the Cambridge Climate Lecture Series and Secret Sommelier. 

Christmas is often a time of excess. An overindulgence of giving, getting and gorging.

Many of us will now being stocking up and filling our cupboards for the festive holiday, but we all know someone who starts stocking up on snacks in September or sherry in the summer.

Each year, these dates hold significance for many reasons. But with excess comes a price. Environmental damage caused by an already inefficient food system in undeniable.

Farmyard

Farmed animals are often described as ‘protein factories in reverse’. This means they consume a far greater number of calories than can be retained in animal-based products such as meat, milk and eggs.

Combine this with the sheer numbers of animals who are farmed to fuel this demand, and the lead-up to Christmas transforms into something very different.

Let’s start in the summer, the season that begins the six-month process resulting in ‘pigs in blankets’.

While some shoppers will already be stocking their kitchen cupboards to capacity, pig farms will also be reaching stocking capacity following the births of piglets.

But this is no farmyard fairy tale, the UK rears 10.6 million pigs annually.

Lifespan

To fuel this demand, mother pigs often have three large litters a year in farrowing crates too small for her to turn around, denying natural mothering instincts. Most of these pigs are reared within intensive inside units, with devastating effects for the animals and environment.

After a few months of life, just a fraction of their natural 15-20 year life span, the young pigs are sent to be slaughtered before arriving on the supermarket shelves in a marketable, yet blanketed disguise.

Whilst September may end the British summer, it also begins the lives of millions of British turkeys.  In 2018, approximately 14 million turkeys were slaughtered in the UK, two million of these in December.

Commonly housed with thousands of others, farmed turkeys are given little opportunity to express natural behaviours such as foraging, perching and even mating.

As with all farmed animals, their lives are cut drastically short, with turkeys in the wild known to live up to 10 years, but turkeys in captivity reaching an average lifespan of three months.

Unnatural

Approximately 90 percent of turkeys are reared intensively with no access to the outside, meaning their first – and last – glimpse of sunlight they will ever see is on their way to be slaughtered.

This brings us to December. Millions of us will be out shopping for presents, whilst simultaneously millions of chicks will be hatching in artificial incubators across the UK.

In 2018, over a billion chickens were slaughtered in the UK. Approximately 95 percent of these are housed in intensive indoor system with 20,000 others – or more.

With groups this large, it’s impossible to provide the care that these sentient animals need.

Through unnatural breeding processes, chickens grow around 50 times faster than what they naturally should, often rendering then unable to walk properly as their young bones struggle with the weight.

Planet

For this reason, they have the shortest lives of all commonly farmed animals and can reach full slaughter weight in just 21 short but painful days.

‘Babe’, the 1995 festive family film, depicts a young pig who is almost fated for Christmas dinner, but justifies their existence by demonstrating both personality and intelligence.

This film has stood the test of time because the message is evident – viewers want Babe to live. Veganism is simply putting your natural, affectionate thoughts towards animals into action.

In the UK, more and more individuals are eschewing animal products. Not just at Christmas, but every day of the year. The number of vegans in Great Britain quadrupled between 2014 and 2019 and this is set to rise as younger generations propel the movement forward.

Living a vegan life is easier than ever before – every major British retailer now stocks its own range of vegan foods including luxurious Christmas treats, a far cry from the stereotyped dry nut roast.

But it’s not just about the food. Fashion houses, cosmetics companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers are all taking notice, too.  

Whether it’s a treat for a loved one or a treat for yourself, there’s also a vegan friendly present for everyone. For you, the animals and the planet – make this one a truly compassionate Christmas.

This Author

Louisianna Waring is the insight and commercial policy officer at The Vegan Society. She has an educational background in both food policy and animal science and is passionate about animal rights.  If you would like to find out more about veganism, vegan nutrition and our new campaign Vegan and Thriving, please check out our website here. 

A mountaintop forest is to be created near Loch Ness to reverse the loss of high-altitude woodlands across Scotland.

Trees for Life, a conservation charity, is establishing a 700-acre site of 100,000 trees at its Dundreggan Conservation Estate in Glenmoriston, Highlands.

It is hoped the initiative will lead to the return of waist-high species known as montane plants, which would support mammals, birds and pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies.

Sweeping

Doug Gilbert, Trees for Life’s Dundreggan manager, said: “Montane woodlands are a vital part of Scotland’s precious Caledonian Forest but are often restored over only small areas if at all.

“To bring these special ‘wee trees’ back from the brink, and create habitats for the wildlife that depends on them, we need something bigger – and that’s what we’re setting out to achieve at Carn na Caorach.”

Montane species grow near mountain summits despite harsh conditions but have suffered from centuries of overgrazing from animals such as sheep and deer.

The site – Carn na Caorach, meaning sheep cairn – lies at 450 to 600 metres above sea level on Dundreggan’s north-eastern edge, with sweeping views over Glenmoriston and Glen Affric.

High-altitude

It is thought to have been an important place for grazing livestock for hundreds of years and is now home to wildlife such as golden eagles, ring ouzels and mountain hares.

Volunteers will begin the first phase of planting next spring – with trees including downy willow and dwarf birch on the higher ground, as well as Scots pine and juniper on the lower slopes.

Further planting will continue over the next few years and self-seeded saplings will also be able to thrive in the grazing-free site. High woodlands take longer to establish than those in sheltered locations, meaning the project has to be long-term.

It could take between 50 and 100 years before the forest is fully established – if grazing levels are kept low. Once complete, the charity believes the project will be the country’s largest planted area of rare high-altitude woodland.

This Author

Conor Riordan is a reporter with PA Scotland.

The UK government has added its voice to the widespread disappointment over the United Nations discussions on the climate crisis which ended in compromise and frustration.

Lengthy talks in Madrid ended on Sunday with polluters resisting calls to increase efforts to minimise global heating and negotiators delaying debate about rules for international carbon markets for another year.

The UK expressed its determination to “drive even more ambitious” pledges by the next conference – COP26 – which will be held in Glasgow in November.

Frustration

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “disappointed” by the final declaration, which cited an “urgent need” to cut greenhouses gases in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

But the outcome fell short of explicitly demanding countries to propose bolder emissions plans next year, in accordance with environmentalists and developing countries’ demands.

The UK thanked Chile’s efforts in the Cop25 talks but expressed its frustration at the result.

Ambitious

“Tackling climate change is one of the most urgent issues we face and we are extremely grateful for the tireless efforts of the Chilean Cop presidency to reach an agreement, in challenging circumstances in Madrid,” a UK Government spokesman said.

“It is disappointing talks did not move as far or as fast at the UK had hoped.

“There is still much more to do and we are determined to increase the momentum and drive even more ambitious climate action at next year’s talks in Glasgow.”

This Author

Sam Blewett is the political correspondent for PA. Image: John Englart. 
 

Extinction Rebellion UK were in Staffordshire last night buzzing around the Boris Johnson’s campaign bus and asking why his Conservative government has refused to answer questions about the climate and ecological emergency.

Eight people – five of them dressed as bees as part of our ‘Bee-yond Politics’ actions – blocked the Conservative battle bus, with three people glued to the bus at the JCB factory in Burton, Staffordshire. Despite heavy rainfall, Extinction Rebellion activists are asking: where has the government been hiding this #ClimateElection?

In this election campaign, the Conservative and the Brexit Party have been equally absent from the climate debate: refusing to meet with Extinction Rebellion hunger strikers sitting outside the Conservative HQs – now on their twenty-third day without food – and not attending climate hustings.

Vote

To date, Conservative parliamentary candidates have declined 70 invitations to attend climate hustings, including Boris Johnson avoiding the Channel 4 climate debate, and the Science Minister, Chris Skidmore, failing to show up in his constituency of Kingswood. 

James Moulding of Extinction Rebellion’s Political Circle, said: “So far during the general election campaign, the Conservatives have refused to engage in the climate debate.

“There is an evident theme taking place, with the prime minister repeatedly avoiding difficult conversations around this issue. We cannot allow the current governing party to continue to ignore the most pressing crisis of our time.”

An Extinction Rebellion press statement said: “Our current government is failing to meet both the current challenge of the ecological emergency and to prevent future disaster.

“Extinction Rebellion does not endorse candidates or parties, but we call out reckless inaction when we see it. The track record of the Conservative government speaks for itself, with Conservative MPs five times more likely to vote against climate action.

Emergency

“With the Government backtracking on climate-positive decisions such as cancelling fracking, and research showing that supporters of climate science denial donate predominantly to the Conservative Party and Tory politicians, we demand they answer voters questions about the most pressing issue of our time.”

Last week, Extinction Rebellion bees from around the UK managed to splat three party battle buses – The Liberal Democrats, the Labour Party and the Brexit Party.

Extinction Rebellion said that campaigners have have struggled to find the Conservative bus – until now. It turns out any careful search by road has been in vain as the Prime Minister has been travelling the country in private jets, throwing our mission off course. 

And now, as Extinction Rebellion continues buzzing around the campaign trail in search of answers, the question remains: why have the party of government been hiding from this issue?

Bethany Mogie of Extinction Rebellion UK said: “No one can hide from the climate and ecological emergency forever.

Engage

“As towns in Yorkshire and the Midlands are devastated by flooding, and dangerous levels of air pollution in our cities remain a serious health risk, it is only right to ask the Conservative Party what their plan is to avert this disaster.

“If they are not willing to engage with this debate now then why should we expect them to if re-elected on Thursday?”

Extinction Rebellion UK has been urging all candidates to sign up to the Three Demands Bill and prove to the public that the climate and ecological emergency is the top priority this election during its campaign, 12 Days of Crisis.  More than 100 candidates have signed up so far – but only one is from the Conservative party.

The Extinction Rebellion press statement concluded: “Who forms the next government is critical to our chances of mitigating the worst effects of this emergency and building resilience for our communities.

“We are vulnerable to the effects of the crisis now. Whether it’s the threat of food shortages, overburdened public services or extreme weather, by the next election the climate and ecological emergency will be impossible to ignore. After nine years of burying their heads in the sand about the issue, we must make the Conservatives engage now.”

This Author

Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from Extinction Rebellion. 

Activist Greta Thunberg has criticised governments at the UN climate talks for avoiding taking action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

In a speech at the COP25 talks in Madrid, Spain, the Swedish teenager, who inspired the worldwide school strikes for climate movement, said: “Our leaders are not behaving as if we are in an emergency.”

She said the science showed that, at the current rate of emissions, the world is set to use up the whole “carbon budget” – the amount of pollution that can be put into the atmosphere and still keep global warming to 1.5C – in eight years.

Loss

Countries previously committed to curbing global warming at “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to keep temperature rises to 1.5C in the Paris Agreement secured in 2015.

Governments meeting at the talks are now under pressure to take more ambitious action to cut greenhouse gases, which continue to rise, to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Greta warned that “even at 1C people are dying from the climate crisis” and the science showed that going beyond 1.5C risks destabilising the climate and hitting irreversible tipping points such as melting glaciers and permafrost.

She said: “Finding holistic solutions is what the COP should be all about, but instead it seems to have turned some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition.

“Countries are finding clever ways around having to take real action, like double-counting emissions reductions, and moving emissions overseas, and walking back on their promises to increase ambitions, or refusing to pay for solutions or loss and damage.

“This has to stop.”

Budget

Greta, who sailed across the Atlantic to attend the talks in Chile, before having to sail back again because they were moved to Spain due to civil unrest in the South American country, has made a series of hard-hitting speeches at international events in the past year.

In her latest talk, she focused on the science and the “misleading” behaviour of politicians and big business.

She said countries which had committed to reducing their emissions to zero by a certain date, as the UK has done with its legally binding pledge for net-zero by 2050, appeared impressive at first glance.

But “this is not leading, this is misleading”, she said, warning that the targets did not include aviation and shipping, or the emissions created by goods made in other countries and imported – and did include “offsetting” emissions.

“Zero by 2050 means nothing if high emissions continue for even a few years. Then the remaining budget will be gone.”

We the people

She said real, drastic emissions cuts were needed, and carbon had to stay in the ground to keep temperature rises below 1.5C.

And she warned: “The biggest danger is not inaction; the real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening, when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from clever accounting and creative PR.”

She finished her speech on a more hopeful note, telling delegates: “In just three weeks we will enter a new decade, a decade that will define our future.

“Right now we are desperate for any sign of hope. There is hope – I’ve seen it – but it does not come from the governments or corporations, it comes from the people. The people who have been unaware are now starting to wake up.”

She said people have democracy – all the time, not just at elections – and that public opinion runs the free world.

The teenage activist, who began the climate strikes with a solo protest outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018, said: “Every great change in history comes from the people. We can start the change right now, we the people.”

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

Extinction Rebellion UK were in Staffordshire last night buzzing around the Boris Johnson’s campaign bus and asking why his Conservative government has refused to answer questions about the climate and ecological emergency.

Eight people – five of them dressed as bees as part of our ‘Bee-yond Politics’ actions – blocked the Conservative battle bus, with three people glued to the bus at the JCB factory in Burton, Staffordshire. Despite heavy rainfall, Extinction Rebellion activists are asking: where has the government been hiding this #ClimateElection?

In this election campaign, the Conservative and the Brexit Party have been equally absent from the climate debate: refusing to meet with Extinction Rebellion hunger strikers sitting outside the Conservative HQs – now on their twenty-third day without food – and not attending climate hustings.

Vote

To date, Conservative parliamentary candidates have declined 70 invitations to attend climate hustings, including Boris Johnson avoiding the Channel 4 climate debate, and the Science Minister, Chris Skidmore, failing to show up in his constituency of Kingswood. 

James Moulding of Extinction Rebellion’s Political Circle, said: “So far during the general election campaign, the Conservatives have refused to engage in the climate debate.

“There is an evident theme taking place, with the prime minister repeatedly avoiding difficult conversations around this issue. We cannot allow the current governing party to continue to ignore the most pressing crisis of our time.”

An Extinction Rebellion press statement said: “Our current government is failing to meet both the current challenge of the ecological emergency and to prevent future disaster.

“Extinction Rebellion does not endorse candidates or parties, but we call out reckless inaction when we see it. The track record of the Conservative government speaks for itself, with Conservative MPs five times more likely to vote against climate action.

Emergency

“With the Government backtracking on climate-positive decisions such as cancelling fracking, and research showing that supporters of climate science denial donate predominantly to the Conservative Party and Tory politicians, we demand they answer voters questions about the most pressing issue of our time.”

Last week, Extinction Rebellion bees from around the UK managed to splat three party battle buses – The Liberal Democrats, the Labour Party and the Brexit Party.

Extinction Rebellion said that campaigners have have struggled to find the Conservative bus – until now. It turns out any careful search by road has been in vain as the Prime Minister has been travelling the country in private jets, throwing our mission off course. 

And now, as Extinction Rebellion continues buzzing around the campaign trail in search of answers, the question remains: why have the party of government been hiding from this issue?

Bethany Mogie of Extinction Rebellion UK said: “No one can hide from the climate and ecological emergency forever.

Engage

“As towns in Yorkshire and the Midlands are devastated by flooding, and dangerous levels of air pollution in our cities remain a serious health risk, it is only right to ask the Conservative Party what their plan is to avert this disaster.

“If they are not willing to engage with this debate now then why should we expect them to if re-elected on Thursday?”

Extinction Rebellion UK has been urging all candidates to sign up to the Three Demands Bill and prove to the public that the climate and ecological emergency is the top priority this election during its campaign, 12 Days of Crisis.  More than 100 candidates have signed up so far – but only one is from the Conservative party.

The Extinction Rebellion press statement concluded: “Who forms the next government is critical to our chances of mitigating the worst effects of this emergency and building resilience for our communities.

“We are vulnerable to the effects of the crisis now. Whether it’s the threat of food shortages, overburdened public services or extreme weather, by the next election the climate and ecological emergency will be impossible to ignore. After nine years of burying their heads in the sand about the issue, we must make the Conservatives engage now.”

This Author

Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from Extinction Rebellion. 

Activist Greta Thunberg has criticised governments at the UN climate talks for avoiding taking action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

In a speech at the COP25 talks in Madrid, Spain, the Swedish teenager, who inspired the worldwide school strikes for climate movement, said: “Our leaders are not behaving as if we are in an emergency.”

She said the science showed that, at the current rate of emissions, the world is set to use up the whole “carbon budget” – the amount of pollution that can be put into the atmosphere and still keep global warming to 1.5C – in eight years.

Loss

Countries previously committed to curbing global warming at “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to keep temperature rises to 1.5C in the Paris Agreement secured in 2015.

Governments meeting at the talks are now under pressure to take more ambitious action to cut greenhouse gases, which continue to rise, to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Greta warned that “even at 1C people are dying from the climate crisis” and the science showed that going beyond 1.5C risks destabilising the climate and hitting irreversible tipping points such as melting glaciers and permafrost.

She said: “Finding holistic solutions is what the COP should be all about, but instead it seems to have turned some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition.

“Countries are finding clever ways around having to take real action, like double-counting emissions reductions, and moving emissions overseas, and walking back on their promises to increase ambitions, or refusing to pay for solutions or loss and damage.

“This has to stop.”

Budget

Greta, who sailed across the Atlantic to attend the talks in Chile, before having to sail back again because they were moved to Spain due to civil unrest in the South American country, has made a series of hard-hitting speeches at international events in the past year.

In her latest talk, she focused on the science and the “misleading” behaviour of politicians and big business.

She said countries which had committed to reducing their emissions to zero by a certain date, as the UK has done with its legally binding pledge for net-zero by 2050, appeared impressive at first glance.

But “this is not leading, this is misleading”, she said, warning that the targets did not include aviation and shipping, or the emissions created by goods made in other countries and imported – and did include “offsetting” emissions.

“Zero by 2050 means nothing if high emissions continue for even a few years. Then the remaining budget will be gone.”

We the people

She said real, drastic emissions cuts were needed, and carbon had to stay in the ground to keep temperature rises below 1.5C.

And she warned: “The biggest danger is not inaction; the real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening, when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from clever accounting and creative PR.”

She finished her speech on a more hopeful note, telling delegates: “In just three weeks we will enter a new decade, a decade that will define our future.

“Right now we are desperate for any sign of hope. There is hope – I’ve seen it – but it does not come from the governments or corporations, it comes from the people. The people who have been unaware are now starting to wake up.”

She said people have democracy – all the time, not just at elections – and that public opinion runs the free world.

The teenage activist, who began the climate strikes with a solo protest outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018, said: “Every great change in history comes from the people. We can start the change right now, we the people.”

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

Extinction Rebellion UK were in Staffordshire last night buzzing around the Boris Johnson’s campaign bus and asking why his Conservative government has refused to answer questions about the climate and ecological emergency.

Eight people – five of them dressed as bees as part of our ‘Bee-yond Politics’ actions – blocked the Conservative battle bus, with three people glued to the bus at the JCB factory in Burton, Staffordshire. Despite heavy rainfall, Extinction Rebellion activists are asking: where has the government been hiding this #ClimateElection?

In this election campaign, the Conservative and the Brexit Party have been equally absent from the climate debate: refusing to meet with Extinction Rebellion hunger strikers sitting outside the Conservative HQs – now on their twenty-third day without food – and not attending climate hustings.

Vote

To date, Conservative parliamentary candidates have declined 70 invitations to attend climate hustings, including Boris Johnson avoiding the Channel 4 climate debate, and the Science Minister, Chris Skidmore, failing to show up in his constituency of Kingswood. 

James Moulding of Extinction Rebellion’s Political Circle, said: “So far during the general election campaign, the Conservatives have refused to engage in the climate debate.

“There is an evident theme taking place, with the prime minister repeatedly avoiding difficult conversations around this issue. We cannot allow the current governing party to continue to ignore the most pressing crisis of our time.”

An Extinction Rebellion press statement said: “Our current government is failing to meet both the current challenge of the ecological emergency and to prevent future disaster.

“Extinction Rebellion does not endorse candidates or parties, but we call out reckless inaction when we see it. The track record of the Conservative government speaks for itself, with Conservative MPs five times more likely to vote against climate action.

Emergency

“With the Government backtracking on climate-positive decisions such as cancelling fracking, and research showing that supporters of climate science denial donate predominantly to the Conservative Party and Tory politicians, we demand they answer voters questions about the most pressing issue of our time.”

Last week, Extinction Rebellion bees from around the UK managed to splat three party battle buses – The Liberal Democrats, the Labour Party and the Brexit Party.

Extinction Rebellion said that campaigners have have struggled to find the Conservative bus – until now. It turns out any careful search by road has been in vain as the Prime Minister has been travelling the country in private jets, throwing our mission off course. 

And now, as Extinction Rebellion continues buzzing around the campaign trail in search of answers, the question remains: why have the party of government been hiding from this issue?

Bethany Mogie of Extinction Rebellion UK said: “No one can hide from the climate and ecological emergency forever.

Engage

“As towns in Yorkshire and the Midlands are devastated by flooding, and dangerous levels of air pollution in our cities remain a serious health risk, it is only right to ask the Conservative Party what their plan is to avert this disaster.

“If they are not willing to engage with this debate now then why should we expect them to if re-elected on Thursday?”

Extinction Rebellion UK has been urging all candidates to sign up to the Three Demands Bill and prove to the public that the climate and ecological emergency is the top priority this election during its campaign, 12 Days of Crisis.  More than 100 candidates have signed up so far – but only one is from the Conservative party.

The Extinction Rebellion press statement concluded: “Who forms the next government is critical to our chances of mitigating the worst effects of this emergency and building resilience for our communities.

“We are vulnerable to the effects of the crisis now. Whether it’s the threat of food shortages, overburdened public services or extreme weather, by the next election the climate and ecological emergency will be impossible to ignore. After nine years of burying their heads in the sand about the issue, we must make the Conservatives engage now.”

This Author

Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from Extinction Rebellion.