The agency’s World Energy Outlook (WEO) came under fire in an April letter from business leaders, scientists and campaigners for not considering the tougher temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.

Since the letter, the IEA has canvassed outside experts on a new, 1.5C-compatible model. They include Joeri Rogelj, a scientist at Imperial College and lead author on a recent UN report on 1.5C warming.

He said there was “genuine interest” at the IEA and – in his view – the agency “definitely intend” to produce a new scenario.

Preliminary stage

Rogelj, a signatory of the April letter, said two options were being considered at the time he was consulted by the IEA. The first was a full pathway to reach global net zero emissions on a timeline that would fit with 1.5C.

Rogelj said: “My understanding is that modelling the entire pathway is really challenging given the resources and the time constraints they have to produce the report this year.” 

That leaves a second option that charts a course to 2030. Rogelj said this would allow the IEA to do the modelling in time for the release of this year’s WEO in November. A draft is due in July.

A spokesman for the IEA did not deny a 1.5C scenario was under consideration, but stressed that work on the WEO was at a preliminary stage.

The spokesman said: “We are currently in the review and analysis phase for the forthcoming World Energy Outlook 2019 [and] are considering new science, new technology costs, and new themes for the next edition. Until we complete the full analysis, we are not in a position to comment on the content of the WEO.”

Dangerous territory

The WEO is used by businesses, investors and governments as the global benchmark for modelling the energy industry. The outlook’s most prominent scenario is one that extrapolates current policies.

The IEA and other international bodies have repeatedly warned that this path would send the earth’s climate into dangerous territory.

The April letter said most users saw this scenario as “guiding”, potentially leading investors and policymakers to align their plans to it. In 2015 in Paris, nations agreed to hold warming “below 2C” and stretch for a 1.5 limit. This lower, less destructive goal should be reflected in the IEA’s reports, they said.

This opened a debate over the IEA’s role in setting norms around global energy use. The agency responded that it produces a range of scenarios highlighting the huge gap between the current global trajectory and a safe climate. These include a scenario under which warming is held to 2C and “sustainable development” pathway, first published in 2017.

Both of them require global emissions to peak this year. The IEA has already produced models that align to 1.5C, although it has not published them as a full scenario alongside these others.

Cutting emissions

A source who has worked closely with the IEA said a 1.5C scenario for WEO 2019 was “definitely amongst the areas being looked at and assessed and thought about”.

Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, is also consulting on the 1.5C modelling work, according to the source. “He’s always been someone who is concerned about the climate and has been seeking to push a strong focus on climate risks.”

The IEA is an intergovernmental body with 30 full members, all drawn from the OECD. They represent a range of political perspectives and economic interests. In regular meetings at its Paris headquarters, the agency briefs governments on its research and the states communicate their priorities.

Some members are unlikely to be supportive. Cutting emissions in line with 1.5C is a deep challenge for all countries, but particularly economies tied to the production of coal, oil and gas.

Last year the US, the largest contributor to the IEA budget, refused to join other countries in welcoming a UN scientific report on the impacts of 1.5C warming.

Extraordinary opportunity

Other member states are lobbying the IEA in favour of a 1.5C scenario, according to Greg Muttitt, research director of Oil Change International (OCI). The NGO is coordinating a pressure campaign involving investors, pro-climate action governments and “influential climate experts”.

Muttitt said: “This is a very live conversation in all three of those circles.” 

One of those climate luminaries is former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres. She has an ongoing dialogue with Birol and the IEA on the issue of 1.5C. On Tuesday, she told CHN the agency had an “extraordinary opportunity now to step up its leadership and ensure the WEO meets its users’ needs in a rapidly changing world”.

“The timing is key,” Figueres said. National governments are bound by the Paris Agreement to update their climate pledges by the end of next year. Given it is released in November each year, the 2019 edition of the WEO has a chance to inform those plans.

“With the Paris goal of 1.5C as our clear, shared imperative, all nations will benefit from a robust 1.5C-compatible IEA scenario,” said Figures.

Rogelj said it was possible the IEA would conclude that holding below the 1.5C limit was not feasible. The agency typically considers political constraints when assessing targets. This would “highlight the real challenges you have to achieve” the goal, he said.

This Author 

Karl Mathiesen is Climate Home News’ editor. He has written for national newspapers, newswires and magazines in Australia and the UK. This story was originally published on Climate Home News. 

Image: Joeri Rogelj. University of Leeds. 

The Spanish National Court has prosecuted five people for breaching CITES and EU legislation by trying to smuggle the endangered European eel between 2011 and 2012.

The network attempted to remove 724kg of live eels, with a value equating to €580,000, from Spain to Asia but were stopped in the first major operation carried out by SEPRONA, Spain’s nature protection service of the Civil Guard.

The network falsely documented the eels for transit to Asia as other species not subject to regulations, including the American eel, the California red worm, and the flathead grey mullet.

Illegal trade

The export and import of European eel out of and into the European Union has been suspended since 2010.

However, the scale of the illegal trade remains vast: according to Europol, 300 to 350 million European eels are illegal trafficked every year from Europe to Asia, accounting for almost one quarter of the total number of glass eels (juvenile eels) entering European waters every year.

The accused have been found guilty of trading in endangered eels without national authorisation within the CITES Convention and have been sentenced to a total of six years in prison and fined €1.5 million. Two individuals are facing further charges against another case of smuggling European eel in 2017.

Precious species

Andrew Kerr, Chairman of the Sustainable Eel Group, commented: “Spain is becoming a leader within Europol through its commitment to stopping these crimes. These are major fines and imprisonment, which illustrate that wildlife crime is important and will be severely punished within Spain and the EU.”

Kerr added: “Illegal trafficking still affects 25 percent of the total stock of European Eel. To complete the full recovery of the precious species, it is vital that we stop all smuggling because it undermines every effort used to establish adequate protection from other human impacts across Europe.”

In 2018, eight tons of trafficked eels were intercepted across Europe by authorities and 100 people were detained for the contraband. Since 2011, SEPRONA alone has carried out five major interventions in the trade, which has resulted in eight tons of smuggled eels to be seized.

This Article 

This article is based on a press release from Seahorse Comms. 

Image: Bermuda Biology.

Reclaim the Power’s upcoming camp will target gas infrastructure and make connections between fighting for climate and migrant justice. 

Writing in Bright Green, campaigner Annie Pickering said: “The environmentally destructive and systemic racist policies of the UK government are both examples of capitalist exploitation that need fighting. For this camp we have decided that from one space we can contribute to both fights.

“To build the better world we want to see we need to take action to stop climate chaos, get rid of the racist systems we live in, and create a different way of living. Climate justice is not about simply cutting our emissions, it is about tackling the inequalities of our current society by listening and learning from those currently most affected.”

Power stations

Drax is trying to keep our energy system hooked on filthy fossil fuels for decades to come by building the UK’s largest gas fired power station this autumn.

The UK is currently planning more big gas powered electricity infrastructure than anywhere else in Europe.

With Germany and others indicating that they’ll be following the UK’s lead on the issue, what happens with Drax could help halt the development of new gas fired power stations across Europe and push us towards a more democratic, clean energy future.

It’s up to us to turn off the gas and show investors and the government what real action for the climate looks like.

Hostile environment

In our communities migrants and people targeted by racism face multiple threats to their ability to lead their lives.

In this Brexit-fueled era we want to stand in solidarity with them in facing down the racism of the state’s Hostile Environment and the emboldened far-right.

To do this work well we need to start by listening to the incredible activists at the sharp end of migrant justice

So as well as informative and inspiring talks and trainings on climate, our program is packed with chances to learn about the impact of the Hostile Environment, and ways we can take action against it.

Camp 

The camp is one in a line of many previous camps against coal, fracking and more!

The camp will be at a secret location in the South East of England, within reach of London. We will let you know exactly where nearer the time. 

It is family-friendly with a kids space with activities, toys, books and games for children. You should bring a tent, suncream, a sleeping bag, and warm clothes.

You can buy coach tickets to the camp from London here. Coaches from other cities will be arranged shortly; you can also get in contact if you want to organise transport from where you are.

We will take a piece of land and put up marquees, a kitchen, a renewable power stage, compost loos, and little sinks to wash hands, and you can pitch your tent there!

Reclaim the Power will provide compost toilets and vegan food. There will be workshops, trainings and musical entertainment. The site will be as accessible as possible, but it will be outdoors. Once on site everyone is crew and we all pitch in to help.

Get involved

Entry is on donation, plus donations to cover food. It’s expensive to run a camp so we hope people do donate but for those who cannot donate much or at all, that is no problem as the camp should be inclusive for all who want to take action!

To find out more see our website, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and instagram (@reclaimthepower), or email us.

Those who seek refuge in the UK are met by Theresa May’s “Hostile Environment” facing raids on their homes and workplaces, imprisonment for indefinite periods and violent deportations. In the wake of Brexit, this is only set to get worse.

The border is everywhere, it’s just invisible to those of us with citizenship. People at the sharp end, friends and allies have been challenging these racist regimes for years.

Now it’s time for us to step up. Based on the aims drawn up by some of the groups most affected we want to challenge the Hostile Environment at this camp.

This Article 

Marianne Brooker is The Ecologist‘s content editor. This article is based on copy from Reclaim the Power. 

Campaign group Global Justice Now has launched a legal challenge at the Information Rights Tribunal over the Department for International Trade’s failure to release details of numerous trade meetings it has held with the United States and other countries since the EU referendum in 2016.
 
It follows an outcry during last week’s state visit of US President Donald Trump over whether controversial areas like the NHS and chlorinated chicken will be on the table in negotiations over a post-Brexit trade deal between the US and UK.
 
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has spent more than a year refusing to release attendee lists, agendas and minutes from the trade working groups, following Freedom of Information requests by Global Justice Now in late 2017.

Information Commissioner

At that time, the Department of Trade was known to have set up at least 14 working groups covering 21 countries including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China and India.

While talks over new deals cannot formally be called negotiations until after the UK’s departure from the EU, regular quarterly meetings are nonetheless already taking place with the United States, for example.
 
A ruling by the Information Commissioner in March 2019 resulted in the release of hundreds of pages of documents relating to the working groups, but these were either entirely or heavily redacted on the basis of a variety of exemptions, including the “extremely sensitive” nature of international trade agreements.

However, minutes of UK-US Trade & Investment Working Group meetings in July 2017 and November 2017 did reveal that ‘Agricultural market access’ and ‘Services’ – potentially covering the NHS – as well as ‘Labour and environmental standards’, ‘Intellectual property’, ‘Financial services’ and ‘Data, digital and e-commerce issues’ have all been on the agenda in the talks.
 
Global Justice Now is working with barrister Dr Sam Fowles and law firm Leigh Day to challenge the ruling at the Information Rights Tribunal on ten grounds, including that the requirement for confidentiality has been exaggerated, and that the balance of public interest lies in favour of disclosure.

Mockery of democracy 
 
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said: “Trade deals are supposedly the number one benefit of Brexit, yet Liam Fox is fighting tooth and nail to keep his plans for them out of the public domain.

“After more than a year of appeals, Fox’s department has only ‘released’ hundreds of pages of blacked out documents relating to these secretive trade talks – making a mockery of democracy and taking back control.
 
“Donald Trump may have let the cat out of the bag over a US-UK trade deal last week, but the public has a right to know whether this government has already put the NHS or chlorinated chicken on the table behind closed doors.

“It is outrageous that matters as important as the future of our NHS and our food standards should be being discussed in secret, especially with parliament currently having no powers to vote to stop a trade deal after Brexit.

“We are bringing this appeal to ask the simple question: what does Liam Fox have to hide?”

Transparency 
 
Dr Sam Fowles of Cornerstone Barristers said: “The Secretary of State has contended that it is not in the public interest to disclose details of his trade negotiations. This raises an important constitutional issue.

“International Trade Agreements can have domestic impacts that are equivalent to legislation yet are not subjected to anything approaching an equivalent level of scrutiny. We will be asking the Tribunal to find, as the House of Lords Constitution Committee found, that there should be a “general principle in favour of transparency” in relation to materials relating to international trade agreements.”

Rowan Smith, solicitor at Leigh Day, said: “The UK government argues that details about Brexit trade talks must be kept confidential. To do otherwise, they say, would prejudice negotiations. But this blanket approach to secrecy is unlawful.

“Trade deals bind successive governments. Many governments, the US and Canada for example, allow their citizens to know about their negotiations.
 
“UK citizens were told by the Leave campaigns that the UK government would be able to broker better international trade agreements than the EU. The public has a right to know whether this is in fact true; is the government managing to negotiate better terms in our name?
 
“The law requires the Secretary of State to look at the specifics of the information requested by the public. It should not be imposing a blanket exemption. Our client hopes the Tribunal will intervene and ensure the Secretary of State changes his approach on this issue.”

This Author

Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from Global Justice Now. Global Justice Now commissioned the non-profit Request Initiative to file the FOIA request: Brendan Montague is the director and shareholder of Request Initiative. 

Two Greenpeace activists who were occupying an oil rig have been removed from the structure and arrested, police said.

Campaigners from the environmental organisation had been occupying the structure since Sunday evening. They were calling on BP to stop drilling for oil and hoped to stop the drilling rig from reaching the Vorlich oil field.

Officers boarded the rig in the Cromarty Firth at around 2pm on Thursday and arrested two men, aged 40 and 50, ending a five-day protest.

Activists

Chief Superintendent George Macdonald, Highlands and Islands divisional commander, said: “The particular nature of this protest on an oil platform within a marine environment made this an extremely complex and challenging operation.”

Greenpeace said that on Thursday a police helicopter was seen landing on the rig’s helideck, dropping off a group of police officers in climbing gear. The organisation said that rig operators then started lowering the structure into the sea to bring the climbers closer to the water’s edge.

Greenpeace said that two police boats then approached the rig while police climbers approached the activists from above and removed a banner reading “climate emergency” from the gantry.

The activists were occupying a gantry on a leg of the 27,000-tonne rig below the main deck. The pair who first boarded the rig on Sunday were relieved by two more activists on Monday evening.

Safe

John Sauven, the Greenpeace UK’s executive director, said: “Our activists have blocked BP’s rig for four long days, braving the rain and the cold, to stop this oil giant from fuelling the climate emergency.

“They’ve now been arrested but there are many more ready to take action. Business as usual is not an option – we won’t give up until BP ditches fossil fuels and switches to renewables.”

Police said the two men who were arrested were taken to shore by boat, bringing the total number of people arrested in connection with the operation to nine. The force said that inquiries are ongoing.

The Transocean PBLJ rig was under contract to BP. A BP spokesman said: “BP is grateful for the support of Police Scotland, Transocean and all authorities who helped bring this incident to a safe conclusion.”

This Article

Lucinda Cameron is a reporter with Press Association Scotland

Tree planting efforts in England have failed to meet a government target, according to figures released a day after Theresa May, the prime minister announced a new commitment to tackle climate change.

In the past year 1,420 hectares of woodland was created across the country, falling short of the annual target of 5,000, provisional figures from the Forestry Commission suggest.

While the overall figures for the UK in the year to March 31 are up, that success is down to large increases in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Woodland Trust said.

Human

Theresa May this week announced a legally binding target to end the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050. The Government laid out legislation in Parliament on Wednesday to set a new target to cut emissions to “net zero” by the middle of the century.

The statutory instrument will amend the existing goal to cut climate pollution by 80 percent by 2050, which was agreed by MPs under the Climate Change Act in 2008.

Following the latest figures, Abi Bunker, from the Woodland Trust, said: “The UK needs renewed ambition when it comes to tree planting and woodland expansion.

“The scale of what needs to be achieved to reach net zero targets is obvious; it will necessitate a three-fold increase on current levels.

“Let’s not shy away from the truth. It will be a challenge, it will cost money, it will mean tough choices, but the human race is at a crossroads for our environmental future.

Amitious

“To avoid climate breakdown we have to act, that’s the reality we live in, tough choices, big challenge, but we can all rise to meet it head on.”

The percentage of woodland cover in the UK remains at 13 percent, with 10 percent in England, 15 percent in Wales, 19 percent in Scotland and 8% in Northern Ireland.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “Our forest and woodlands are vital for providing timber, reducing flood risk and protecting our wildlife, which is why planting more trees is at the heart of our ambition to protect the environment for future generations.

“This is why we are introducing our new Environment Bill, which will include ambitious legislative measures to take direct action to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age.”

This Author

Aine Fox is a reporter with the Press Association.

Theresa May has made a move to grasp a meaningful legacy from the jaws of Brexit by seeking a legally binding commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, making Britain the first major economy to do so.

She has chosen the right cause. The climate crisis is upon us, and every day brings new stories from every corner of the world.

Entire villages in India are being abandoned, leaving only the sick and the elderly, as the country bakes in 50°C heat. Southern Africa is still reeling from cyclones Idai and Kenneth, that shook the lives of 2 million people. Farmers in the US look out at vast acreages of flooded fields, unable to plant for the season to come.

Climate justice?

May is right that the UK must lead. Britain has benefited from hundreds of years of high-carbon exploitation, and that has rocket-fuelled our economy, giving many of us comfortable lives, and making some astonishingly wealthy.

Nations in the global south have not reaped the benefits of such emissions-intense development, and yet are now suffering the impacts of the climate crisis first and worst.

Reaching zero carbon is vital, but we must not hide from the fact that the goal should be far closer to 2030 than 2050.

Theresa May is right too, to dismiss Philip Hammond’s tired, partisan and above all inaccurate claim that achieving this would harm the economy. There are jobs and money to be found in renewable energy that will far outweigh those in petro-chemicals.

And let’s not forget the benefits of clean air; of solar or wind-driven energy independence; of a clean, efficient public transport system; of greening our country and expanding the wild places that ultimately sustain us all.

Carbon credits

These would all deliver benefits far beyond the crude, short-term monetary equations applied by the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer. And critically, while these benefits may accrue to the citizens of the UK first, they will also benefit all on our planet in the long-term.

Over 10 million people are employed in the renewable energy sector today, and that will only grow if the government puts in place realistic policies to achieve these targets.

Being at the forefront of renewable technology would also put the UK in an enviable position globally, as other countries turn to British expertise as they strive to meet their own climate targets.   

Britain has benefitted from a carbon-heavy industrial revolution, but it wasn’t the only reason the country became a major economy. Colonialism enabled the UK to profit from resources that were never ours to take. Now once again we seek to export our problems.

May’s new development includes the option of using ‘international carbon credits’. In other words, the UK can pay for other countries to make carbon cuts on our behalf – we can continue to benefit from our addiction to carbon, while others pay the real cost.

Climate crisis

Carbon credits are not an answer to the climate crisis. The UK government’s own advisors, tell us they are ineffective when it comes to mitigation, and the same investment to balance carbon budgets within the UK would yield better, fairer results. 

The UK’s official Committee on Climate Change has made it abundantly clear it is “essential” that the commitment is achieved without use of international carbon credits.

The UK can and should lead the world, ramping up its efforts, proving to the world how determination and political will can deliver a new economy that benefits both people and planet.

Playing a leading part in preventing the climate crisis and the suffering of hundreds of millions of people will make us the architects of a sustainable world of which we can be truly proud – to pass on to our children and theirs.  

This Author

Steve Trent is executive director at the Environmental Justice Foundation. 

Image: EU2017EE, Flickr.

It should not come as a surprise that laws protecting elite profiteering come at the expense of laws that protect people and the planet.

But we never consented to allowing corporations to treat our lakes, rivers, farmlands and forests as resource colonies and dumping grounds for investor gains, nor to be governed by greed.

We certainly didn’t create and pay for the government and its agencies so they could legally permit poisons to enter our children’s bodies and destroy our future on this planet. Yet this is the system we live under.

Community rights

Some of us have had enough. We realize that we need to advance a movement to shift the bedrock priorities of the government.

We realize we must shift a culture that currently measures success in quantities of “stuff.” So we are taking back the law and using it to protect what is dear to us: our families, our homes, our communities.

We need laws that reflect the values and morals of the people, not just the elite. 

This is the Community Rights Movement. In Ohio, individuals and communities have proposed and passed dozens of local laws that embody the paradigm shift we envision, with the additional support of the Ohio Community Rights Network (OHCRN) and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (Celdf). 

In Toledo, Ohio, 61 percent of voters passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (Lebor). It is the first law in the US that specifically acknowledges the rights of a distinct ecosystem, securing the Lake’s rights to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.

Water health

Lebor reflects the values of the people who experienced suffering when they completely lost their water for three days in 2014 due to the Lake’s toxicity. It recognizes both Lake Erie and Toledoans’ right to be healthy. The people of Toledo understand their health is dependent on the health of Lake Erie.

Lebor also subordinates the “rights” of corporations to the rights of people and the Lake – a necessary and bold move given that our legislatures and courts have illegitimately granted “rights” to corporations through their lawmaking and judicial decisions. Under Lebor, life comes before corporate privileges and profits.

In response to Toledo’s adoption of Lebor, the Ohio House of Representatives passed their 2020-2021 budget bill and sneakily inserted language that would ban all existing and future Rights of Nature laws in the state. The Ohio Senate has since followed suit. A full chamber vote on the budget language could come this week, with a final budget due on Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk by June 30.

As Salon wrote: “Ohio [legislators have] at once both acknowledged rights of nature to exist, and taken them away.” 

Soon after the House vote, a judge granted the State of Ohio intervention in a lawsuit brought by an agribusiness farm against Lebor. However, Ohio is intervening on behalf of agribusiness rather than Toledoans, arguing to overturn Lebor. 

Direct harm

The state claims to be the ultimate and sole authority that can protect Lake Erie. But we’ve seen clearly that the state is not exercising its power on behalf of the people and the Lake.

Instead, we see the state using its authority to “regulate” how Lake Erie is used and exploited. They have allowed sewage and toxic dredge, fertilizers and pesticides, and oil and gas waste to be dumped into the Lake “legally.”

Lake Erie and the people have suffered direct harm due to “our” state government’s determination to act on behalf of corporate profiteers rather than people and nature.

Let’s think about that a moment. Toledoans realize no one is protecting them or Lake Erie. They realize their government is protecting profits over their children’s health.

So they protect themselves – through democratic action. They voted in Lebor. And then their purported government intervenes, insisting on its authority to “protect” the Lake and on the corporate “right” to pollute. 

Illegitimate profits

Specifically, in the lawsuit, the corporate farm and our state government collaboratively argue that the people’s efforts to protect the lake are illegitimate.

The people of Toledo now realize, in fact, that it is their government’s actions that are illegitimate. Attempting to strip the people’s authority is what’s illegitimate.

Protecting polluters’ claimed “right” to profit is illegitimate. Allowing people to drink toxic poisoned water is unconscionable – as is interfering with communities’ unalienable right to life and the pursuit of happiness.

In a press statement attacking the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, Ohio State Attorney General David Yost said: “Giving the Lake the right to sue is legal nonsense. Should the algae in turn have the right to answer Lake Erie’s lawsuit and counterclaim?”

Such simplistic logic finds it unfathomable that scientific conversations about the complexities of the natural world might take place within a courthouse.

Local democracy 

My response to the AG is: “Giving non-living corporate entities the right to sue is legal nonsense. Should the corporate form have the right to force pollution into communities trying to protect their air, soil, and water?”

It’s preposterous. Yet it happens daily. And when people tried to protect themselves, corporations were given standing in a US court to overturn the law while the people are barred from that same court.

We will not wait for individuals like Yost to wake up to the crisis we inhabit. Instead, we will take the government into our own hands.

The Ohio State Constitution reads: “All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform, or abolish the same, whenever they may deem it necessary.”

Many Ohioans are engaging a concerted effort to exercise these rights to establish local democracy and Rights of Nature, and to inspire others across the continent to join with us. 

Legal rights

As our governments continue to break the laws that govern life, we have a responsibility to alter or abolish them in such a way that moves law away from a reverence for commerce, and toward a reverence for life-giving systems and the laws of nature.

When tornadoes, hurricanes and forest fires hit, it is clear which law is superior. We must make haste, and, as quickly as possible, reorient the priorities reflected in our laws by establishing legal rights for the ecosystems upon which we depend.

A study out of Australia just reported that in just 31 years, 90 percent of mankind may be “annihilated” by the effects of the global climate crisis.

First, we must change minds, which Toledoans have accomplished with worldwide recognition and support for their Rights of Nature law. Then we change the law. But will it happen soon enough to save Lake Erie, the people of Toledo and the majority of life on this planet?

This Author 

Tish O’Dell is the Ohio organizer for the Community Environmental legal Defense Fund. She can be reached here.

Climate change campaigners will block major London roads during rush hour, in an attempt to put pressure on the Government over air quality.

Extinction Rebellion Lewisham are planning to “swarm” roads in the south east of the city as commuters head to work on Friday.

The group have said that drivers heading towards central London on Friday morning will be disrupted on the A205 South Circular in Catford, on the A21 at Lewisham station, and on the A2 in Deptford, between 7.30am and 9am.

Crisis

They have said that traffic will be blocked for up to seven minutes at a time, as they protest against air pollution in the borough.

In November London Mayor Sadiq Khan called Lewisham’s air quality a “health crisis”. The death of a nine-year-old child who lived in the area is to be re-examined at an inquest, to determine whether it was linked to air pollution.

Ella Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, died in 2013 after having an asthma attack. She had been having seizures for three years.

Lorna Greenwood, nine months pregnant and a mother of two, will be taking part in Friday’s action. She said: “Air pollution is an environmental and health crisis across the UK.

Trains

“The aim is not to make life harder for ordinary people, we’ve all got jobs too and we know how annoying this is. It’s about forcing our politicians to confront the truth that our children are literally dying to breathe.”

This is the latest in a series of actions by Extinction Rebellion, who brought parts of central London to a standstill in April.

Protesters in Parliament Square, Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus and Marble Arch led to road closures and traffic gridlock for ten days.

More than 1,000 people were arrested after campaigners glued themselves to DLR trains and parked a boat in the middle of Oxford Circus.

This Author

Caitlin Doherty is a reporter for the Press Association.

Climate change campaigners will block major London roads during rush hour, in an attempt to put pressure on the Government over air quality.

Extinction Rebellion Lewisham are planning to “swarm” roads in the south east of the city as commuters head to work on Friday.

The group have said that drivers heading towards central London on Friday morning will be disrupted on the A205 South Circular in Catford, on the A21 at Lewisham station, and on the A2 in Deptford, between 7.30am and 9am.

Crisis

They have said that traffic will be blocked for up to seven minutes at a time, as they protest against air pollution in the borough.

In November London Mayor Sadiq Khan called Lewisham’s air quality a “health crisis”. The death of a nine-year-old child who lived in the area is to be re-examined at an inquest, to determine whether it was linked to air pollution.

Ella Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, died in 2013 after having an asthma attack. She had been having seizures for three years.

Lorna Greenwood, nine months pregnant and a mother of two, will be taking part in Friday’s action. She said: “Air pollution is an environmental and health crisis across the UK.

Trains

“The aim is not to make life harder for ordinary people, we’ve all got jobs too and we know how annoying this is. It’s about forcing our politicians to confront the truth that our children are literally dying to breathe.”

This is the latest in a series of actions by Extinction Rebellion, who brought parts of central London to a standstill in April.

Protesters in Parliament Square, Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus and Marble Arch led to road closures and traffic gridlock for ten days.

More than 1,000 people were arrested after campaigners glued themselves to DLR trains and parked a boat in the middle of Oxford Circus.

This Author

Caitlin Doherty is a reporter for the Press Association.