The outrage of the students striking from school over climate change inaction is “certainly justified”, according to Sir David Attenborough, who said older generations had done terrible damage to the planet. In an interview with the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, the broadcaster and naturalist dismissed critics of the widely praised global movement of school strikes as cynics. “[Young people] understand the simple discoveries of science about our dependence upon the natural world,” he said. “My generation is no great example for understanding – we have done terrible things.” The protests by young people were enormously encouraging, Attenborough said. “That is the one big reason I have for feeling we are making progress. If we were not making progress with young people, we are done.”
Guardian 26th April 2019 read more »
Independent 26th April 2019 read more »
Extinction Rebellion activists have hailed their protests in London as a “huge success” after data suggested they caused a five-fold increase in online searches for climate change. The demonstrations, which began on 15 April, saw activists shut down major roads and bridges in the capital for over a week, resulting in more than 1,000 arrests. Ten days later, members of the organisation glued themselves to the London Stock Exchange and the Treasury in the capital’s financial heartland as the protests were brought to a close. The protest provoked howls of outrage from climate change deniers, and politicians including Boris Johnson, who described the protesters as hypocritical, “smug, irritating and disruptive”. Home secretary Sajid Javid said police should “take a firm stance and use the full force of the law” against them.
Independent 26th April 2019 read more »
The northern reaches of the planet are undergoing very rapid change: the fast Arctic melt means the region is warming at twice the speed of the planetary average. The loss of sea ice and land snow could tip the planet into a new and unprecedented cycle of climatic change and add yet another $70 trillion (£54 tn) to the estimated economic cost of global warming. In yet another sombre statement of the challenge presented by climate change, driven by ever-increasing emissions of greenhouse gases from the fossil fuels that power the global economy, British, European and US researchers took a look at two manifestations of warming. One is the growing levels of ancient carbon now being released into the atmosphere as the Arctic permafrost begins to melt. The other is the reduced reflection of solar radiation back into space as what had once been an expanse of snow and ice melts, to expose ever greater areas of light-absorbing blue sea, dark rock and scrubby tundra.
Climate News Network 26th April 2019 read more »
