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20 votes
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Léna Lazare is the new face of climate activism—and she's carrying a pickax
26 votes -
Climate hero or villain? As it rapidly adopts clean technologies while drilling furiously for oil and gas, Norway is a paradox.
11 votes -
The death squads hunting environmental defenders
34 votes -
Protests seen as harming civil rights movement in the '60s—What we can learn from this for climate justice
Protests Seen as Harming Civil Rights Movement in the '60s I've recently had some conversations about activism and protesting about climate change on Tildes, which made me remember these polls...
Protests Seen as Harming Civil Rights Movement in the '60s
I've recently had some conversations about activism and protesting about climate change on Tildes, which made me remember these polls again. I think they are a good historical reminder, and they demonstrate that masses much too often care more about comfort and privilege rather than justice.
These polls also show that you don't need to convince the majority to effect change. In fact, focusing on that might be detrimental to your cause. People who are bothered by your protest, because it disrupts "order", will try to tell you how to effect change while sitting in their own comfort. But this is not important.
Here is the gist of it, with MLK's own words.
"First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
Believing in the timetables created by comformist opinions would be a grave mistake for climate activists. We need more confrontation, more radical acts, and more direct action. We don't need to make friends with the majority to do this. We need to shake things up, and most people don't like that. You can see this by the worsening majority opinion of the Civil Rights movement after they intensified protests. But the activists were right, it was an urgent matter, and they succeeded. So, we don't need to play nice.
For example, after MLK's asssassination people started burning down cities, which resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1968 passing. You can see this in the citations; basically the government feared further escalation, and that's why they had to pass the act. Another example is the suffragettes' bombing and arson campaign in Britain and Ireland, which helped with their cause by putting pressure on people in power.
I'm not giving these examples to say there should or should not be one-to-one copies, but to show that being radically confrontational does work. Radical confrontation and direct action are what we need for climate justice, because time has been running out for a while, and every day past without a radical change makes things much worse. So we should cast off the yoke of mass approval and meekness. We need to embrace the confrontation.
44 votes -
Powerful climate change deniers knowingly committed heinous crimes, and they should be put on Nuremberg style trials
I'm gonna try to be brief. This is the worst I've ever felt, weather-wise, in my life, and it's only the start of summer. It's heavily negatively affecting both my physical and mental health. I...
I'm gonna try to be brief. This is the worst I've ever felt, weather-wise, in my life, and it's only the start of summer. It's heavily negatively affecting both my physical and mental health. I can't even properly work. I don't have AC. I can't afford it. Everybody around me is suffering very similarly.
I've been following climate crisis for years, but I've never thought I'd see such an extreme worsening this early. Even if I knew in theory that anomalies like this could happen, as it's very widely agreed upon that they would, it's much different to live through. It's hell on earth.
I'm one of the luckier ones, relatively speaking. There are over hundred thousand people dying from heatwaves each year. It's probably much higher than officially reported, because most governments don't track heatwave deaths. Millions and millions of people in India have been experiencing bigger and bigger water crises. Just in 2019, 600 million people faced a water crisis in India.. Hundreds of millions of people in Africa are suffering due to climate change related climate extremes and food security crises.
I also just found out that a location in Antarctica exhibited 70F (38C) higher than normal temperatures this year. Faster than expected, right?
I think this is inexcusable. Oil companies and such knew what was coming. There are countless documents and studies detailing this. Here are a few.
- Exxon confirmed global warming due to their emissions was happening in 1982.
- American Patroleum Institute similary knew in 1980.
- Exxon knowingly spread climate change denialism in response (source 1, source 2)
- Even in 2015, Exxon was dodging responsibility, telling people to "read the documents". So, two scientists, Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes, did that. And found out that Exxon acknowledged global warming in the internal documents, while they denied it in public (article 1, source 2). In other words, it's been empirically shown that they fucking manipulated the public with full knowledge.
- Exxon is not alone. ExxonMobil, Chevrontexaco, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Conocophillips spent 3.6 billion dollars for lobbying in US alone during 1986-2015.. 61% of these expenditures are after 2006, when climate change started becoming a hot topic. So, when they attracted attention, they doubled down.
- Another document is of American Patroleum Institute from 1998, showing they intentionally focused on exaggerating the uncertainties of climate science in front of the public.
- Big Oil still opposes science and us. A study published in 2019 shows that ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, BP, and Total spent 1 billion dollars on lobbying and branding after the 2016 Paris Agreement.
- Oil companies are not alone. A study examining the 2000-2016 time-frame in US found that "fossil fuel and transportation corporations, utilities, and affiliated trade associations" are all major climate lobbyists. Only 3% of the total climate change lobbying was done by environmental organizations and renewable energy corporations.
These crimes are inexcusable. The people responsible should pay for them. And these should be treated as crimes against humanity and the planet, of the highest degree. These people don't deserve anything but to pay. They are the evil, who, in great awareness, have unreversibly damaged the planet, caused untold suffering. They still continue to do this, and even if they stopped now (hah!), their evil will continue to haunt humanity and a myriad of other species for unimaginable generations.
They should pay.
68 votes -
Do you think climate crisis will lead to violent activism?
This is a topic that's been on my mind for a while, and I wonder what people think about it. As everybody knows, climate crisis is worsening, is going to continue to worsen, yet the pace of...
This is a topic that's been on my mind for a while, and I wonder what people think about it.
As everybody knows, climate crisis is worsening, is going to continue to worsen, yet the pace of reforms is not nearly enough. "Faster than expected" has even been a meme for years. What's more is that we are very hastily nearing the 1.5 Celcius degrees limit IPCC and countless other climate scientists have been warning about (For details, check out IPCC 1.5oC special report, and IPCC AR6).
Another point is that oil and traditional energy companies, their politicians, and other people working for them have done irreversable damage to humanity and many, many other species of life. Yet, generally speaking, courts don't seem to hold them accountable.
In short, there's a good deal of reason to doubt legal structures will solve the climate crisis fast enough or hold people accountable for the most part.
I suspect this might lead to "violent activism". For example, human ecology professor and activist, Andreas Malm, wrote a book calling for such action. In the book, "How to Blow Up a Pipeline", he contends that non-lethal violence, meaning sabotage, is a necessary and complementary element to peaceful activism, in order to make people in power unable to ignore this issue any longer, and make the peaceful protestors seem the "reasonable alternative", strengthening their hand. This book seems to have found some popularity among a certain crowd.
Another, less specific but still noteworthy example is the growing violent feelings among the young people regarding climate crisis. Many of them are utterly jaded to the reform process, and are openly or semi-jokingly calling for violence.
I suspect we are nearing or maybe even passed a threshold, which will lead to the rise of violent activist groups, quite possibly in the current decade. However, I'm not sure about this, as predicting the future is a very uncertain thing. What do you think, and what are the reasons behind your opinion? I'm interested in how events like this play out in human history, and I feel like, either way, we are going to witness some very important developments.
38 votes -
Bid to secure spot for glacier in Icelandic presidential race heats up – decade-old idea for Snæfellsjökull has snowballed into a full-blown campaign
5 votes -
Norwegian court finds police acted unreasonably in fining activists who blocked government buildings
15 votes -
Climate movement elders revive monkey wrench tactics to save an old forest in Washington
12 votes -
Greta Thunberg and four other climate activists are due to appear in court today after being arrested at a protest outside a gathering of fossil fuel bosses in London
22 votes -
Stop planting trees, says guy who inspired world to plant a trillion trees
27 votes -
Study shows some Swiss residents changed behavior in response to Fridays for Future youth protests inspired by Greta Thunberg
24 votes -
Young climate activist tells Greenpeace to drop ‘old-fashioned’ anti-nuclear stance
71 votes -
From solo protest to global movement – five years of 'Fridays for Future' in pictures
3 votes -
Judge rules in favor of Montana youths in landmark climate decision
46 votes -
More than 1,500 US fossil fuel lobbyists serve as “double agents”
23 votes -
No, climate activists are not coming for New York City pizza
16 votes -
Greta Thunberg: ‘School strike week 251. Today, I graduate from school, which means I'll no longer be able to school strike for the climate’
@Greta Thunberg: School strike week 251. Today, I graduate from school, which means I'll no longer be able to school strike for the climate. This is then the last school strike for me, so I guess I have to write something on this day.Thread🧵 pic.twitter.com/KX8hHFDyNG
21 votes -
Norway under pressure to scale back fossil fuel expansion plans – campaigners say development of huge Rosebank field in North Sea would drive climate breakdown
2 votes -
Exxon’s climate opponents were infiltrated by massive hacking-for-hire operation, prosecutors say
8 votes -
The incredible disappearing doomsday
2 votes -
Swedish court has given Greta Thunberg and climate activists the go-ahead to proceed with a class action lawsuit against the government for insufficient climate policy
11 votes -
Greta Thunberg detained at German coal protest
10 votes -
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has denounced police violence at 'Pinky' and 'Brain' tunnel protest in Lützerath, Germany
5 votes -
Young Australians just won a historic human rights case against an enormous coal mine
5 votes -
Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined hundreds of other youth activists to file a lawsuit against the Swedish government over its alleged inaction on climate change
3 votes -
Kurzgesagt and the art of climate greenwashing
7 votes -
Patagonia founder gives away the company to fight climate change
26 votes -
Environmental defenders celebrate a ‘huge’ win for ‘unique’ Tasmanian rainforest
6 votes -
Climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered a rousing speech from the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury which painted an apocalyptic picture of the future of the planet
7 votes -
Climate activist Wynn Alan Bruce dies after setting himself on fire outside US Supreme Court on Earth Day
31 votes -
Tyre Extinguishers – deflating SUV tyres as a form of climate action
13 votes -
Good news on climate change
17 votes -
Pipeline company paid Minnesota police for arresting and surveilling protesters
12 votes -
A letter from a jailed Line 3 water protector
7 votes -
Greta Thunberg: ‘I really see the value of friendship. Apart from the climate, almost nothing else matters’
9 votes -
We must radically reduce carbon emissions by 2030 in order to avoid the most catastrophic damage of climate change. How can you help?
18 votes -
Can you fix climate change?
16 votes -
Norwegian climate activists have asked the European Court of Human Rights to rule against Norway's plans for more oil drilling in the Arctic
7 votes -
Exxon CEO is dealt stinging setback at hands of new activist
10 votes -
Greta Thunberg has mocked climate change deniers by citing research that claims human penises are getting smaller because of increased pollution
6 votes -
The climate crisis is worse than you can imagine. Here’s what happens if you try.
27 votes -
Climate anxiety is an overwhelmingly White phenomenon
13 votes -
How Big Tech helps India target climate activists: Companies such as Google and Facebook appear to be aiding and abetting a vicious government campaign against Indian environmental campaigners
6 votes -
A proposed scientific balloon flight in northern Sweden has attracted opposition from environmental groups over fears it could lead to the use of solar geoengineering
8 votes -
Lapland town of Salla highlights climate crisis with 2032 Olympics campaign – tongue-in-cheek promotional video seeks to highlight alarming climate variations
7 votes -
Norway's supreme court has approved government plans for oil exploration in the Barents Sea, rejecting a lawsuit by environmental groups
12 votes -
'We are speeding in the wrong direction' – climate striker Greta Thunberg speaks before UN event marking five years since the Paris accord
8 votes -
The young Norwegians taking their own country to court over oil
8 votes