Youth-led global climate change protests

Youth activists from around the world are speaking up about climate change at COP 26. 

Ineza Umuhoza Grace

Umuhoza Grace Ineza, 25, a negotiator for Rwanda, said she watches some sessions crawling along and hears other negotiators say "Ooh, let's try this way, that way, and then we can come up with a decision next session." Ineza says she wants to ask them if they understand how urgent limiting climate change is for the next generation. "In my mind, it's like do these people have children?" she said.

Ashley Lashley, a 22-year-old from Barbardos who is on her country's climate negotiation team in Glasgow, thought about how to communicate the need for urgency during a session on carbon trading. As she listened to other delegates debate the intricate and intractable topic that has baffled negotiators for more than six years, a phrase popped into her head: '"blah-blah-blah." That's the expression prominent teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has started repeating to express her thoughts on the pace of government actions to curb global warming. The Thunberg-inspired Fridays for Future movement held a demonstration outside the conference venue to pressure the negotiators inside, drawing tens of thousands of participants. And inside, the session Lashley attended droned on. She worries her fellow negotiators too easily become bogged down in minutiae and lose sight of the big picture: keeping emissions from exceeding 1.5 C, which could wipe out some island nations and other vulnerable spots. "Can't you guys just wrap it up," Lashley, one of the few young people sitting in on negotiations, recalled thinking on Friday.

University of Michigan graduate student observers AJ Convertino and Evan Gonzalez said watching the sessions on the inside made them both more impatient but also more optimistic because they see the right things being said and done, if still way too slowly.

Friday was the day the UN conference said it was dedicating to youth. But the schedule didn't reflect that, at times: a news conference where officials talked about youth had a panel with no members under 30, and the lunchtime events featured former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, 73, and 77-year-old John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy.

"When I arrived at COP26, I could only see white middle-aged men in suits," Magali Cho Lin Wing, 17, a member of the UNICEF U.K. Youth Advisory Board, said at a press event. "And I thought, 'Hold on is this a climate conference or some corporate event? Is this what you came for? To swap business cards?"'

And except on rare occasions, young people say they are not being listened to. "It's our future. Our future is being negotiated, and we don't have a seat at the table," said 20-year-old Boston College student Julia Horchos, who is inside the conference, but hasn't gotten into negotiating sessions.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/inside-and-outside-climat...

The following article discusses the views of three Canadian indigenous delegates to COP 26.

At COP26, Nuskmata spoke to climate solutions the Nuxaulk Nation wants to pursue, such as scaling down mining and clearcut logging. Photo: Taylor Roades / The Narwhal

Nuskmata wants to combat myths about mining in Canada. This is one of her goals at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow. ...

She said she wants to centre solutions around Indigenous governance and emphasize how Indigenous Peoples are bearing the burden of climate policies, even well-intentioned ones like switching to electrification and renewable energy — that still requires mining precious metals, she said. “You can’t be sacrificing Indigenous Peoples and clean water in order to get solar panels,” she said.  “It’s not just swapping out oil and gas. It’s about changing the system so that it’s sustainable for everybody.” ... She said she also hopes to deliver a message that mining “is not a green solution” to the climate crisis. ...

Some critics say COP26 is excluding Indigenous leaders from key parts of the international discussions. Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Terry Teegee said in a public statement “there is a noticeable failure to include First Nations while negotiating the collective future of our planet internationally and locally.” In further critique, Indigenous people held a memorial at COP26 for 1,005 Indigenous land defenders killed since the Paris Agreement. Indigenous land defender Ita Mendoza, from the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, told The Guardian that COP is “a big business, a continuation of colonialism.”

Despite these concerns, Indigenous leaders are at COP26 pushing for Indigenous Peoples to be at decision-making tables to prevent climate catastrophe. “We have to shift perspectives by sharing who we are, how we live, what our values are, and what our solutions are,” Nuskmata said. ...

Taking care of their territory is Nuxalk’s “love story with the land,” Nuskmata said. “I’m a Nuxalk woman with an ancient name. I still live in the place where my ancestors have been for thousands of years. That’s really powerful. That’s a beautiful thing. And that’s part of my love story. I want to hear those love stories from all around the world.” ...

She will be sharing climate solutions the Nuxalk Nation wants to pursue, including scaling down mining and clearcut logging. In August, the nation issued an eviction notice to Vancouver-based mining company Juggernaut Exploration, which received two permits for exploration from the province without the nation’s consent. The nation has not consented to any of the mining on its territory. Many critics have denounced B.C.’s mining laws for being lax on regulation and not requiring Indigenous consent. Juggernaut Exploration missed the eviction deadline. ...

Nuskmata: “One of the things I learned from Mount Polley is you can never waste a disaster. Within that crisis there are cracks in the system.”

https://thenarwhal.ca/cop26-indigenous-delegates-climate-change/

 

The third Canadian indigenous delegate that is at COP 26 discussed in the article is Crystal Martin-Lapenskie. 

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  Crystal Martin-Lapenskie hopes to bring about more awareness of how global warming is impacting the daily lives of Inuit. Photo: Courtesy of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada. Right photo: NASA / Flickr

“As a child, around August there would be snow on the ground. Twenty years later, we’re seeing less and less snow. There was no snow in August. You used to be lucky if there’s snow in September. Now you’re lucky if you see snow in October.”

“It’s really frightening in a short 20-year span that our climate has changed so drastically.”

Martin-Lapenskie is a former president of the National Inuit Youth Council and a consultant with the Inuit Circumpolar Council. This is her second time at the UN climate summit. She described climate change as a spider web: a series of interwoven issues, and together “it captures all of the necessities in life that you need to survive.”

Climate change is an urgent issue for Inuit. Their home in the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Country foods are harder to hunt and harvest. Inuit have even fallen through ice and died when ice typically would have been thick, Martin-Lapenskie said. She also pointed to Nuugaatsiaq, Greenland, which was hit by a tsunami in 2017 caused by a landslide. Residents still aren’t able to return home because the area is unstable. Tsunamis are one of the extreme weather events that scientists say will be made more common by climate change.

Martin-Lapenskie wants to bring more of these human-centred stories from the Arctic to policy-making at COP26. She wants to amplify Inuit knowledge through the two events the Inuit Circumpolar Council is hosting  — one about marine governance and the other about youth and infrastructure. The council is also celebrating International Inuit Day on Nov. 7 in Glasgow with film screenings, Inuit panels and Inuit drum-dancing and throat-singing.

Her primary goal is to get Inuit at decision-making tables. “This week is all about amplifying the need to ensure any policies or decisions that are taking place in the Arctic are being conducted with Inuit,” she said.

https://thenarwhal.ca/cop26-indigenous-delegates-climate-change/

Greta Thunberg criticizes the truck-sized loopholes of the COP 26 pact below. 

Greta Thunberg has said the eventual agreement struck at COP26 was "very vague" with many loopholes. The 18-year-old - who came to Glasgow for the summit - said it only succeeded in "watering down the blah blah blah."

Countries agreed to "phase down" rather than "phase out" coal after India and China led opposition to the commitment in earlier negotiation drafts. After 15 days of talks, COP26 President Alok Sharma said he was "deeply sorry" for how events had unfolded. ...

Ms Thunberg said that the "small progress" made could demonstrate a "losing" fight against the climate crisis, since time is a major factor. She told BBC Scotland News: "I have to say unfortunately it turned out just the way I and many others had expected. ...

"They even succeeded at watering down the blah, blah, blah which is quite an achievement. There is still no guarantee that we will reach the Paris Agreement. You can still interpret it [the Glasgow pact] in many different ways - we can still expand fossil fuel infrastructure, we can increase the global emissions. It's very, very vague." ...

She has also criticised goals for cutting emissions which cause global warming, saying: "We don't just need goals for just 2030 or 2050. We, above all, need them for 2020 and every following month and year to come. ... As long as there is no real massive pressure from the outside then politicians unfortunately will most likely get away with continuing like now.  It feels like today COP is not really challenging the structures of today - it's mostly maintaining status quo. It's like we are trying to solve a problem with the methods that got us into this in the first place." ...

"When we talk about climate policy we have to include the aspect of equity," she said. "It is wrong that some countries do not want to take action. But we have to understand that when the so-called global north refuses to take the leadership role and still refuses to deliver on the loss and damage on the promised yearly $100bn to the most vulnerable countries - the least responsible countries - of course that creates lots of tension.  We must also remember it was not just one or two countries, there were several countries blocking several negotiations."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-59296859

Great Thunberg has joined protesters at a German village, Luetzerath, whose inhabitants have been moved out in order to destroy the village and expand a huge surface coal mine. As Thunberg told the protesters, it is ordinary people, not our so-called leaders in every country in the world, who give us any hope of ending the climate crisis before it destroys much of life on this planet. There are now 1500 police at the village to stop the protests and arrest people.

Greta Thunberg, centre, takes part in protests against the coal mine expansion [Christian Mang/Reuters]

Climate activist Greta Thunberg and thousands of demonstrators marched in Germany against the demolition of a village to make way for a coal mine described as “one of the biggest carbon bombs in Europe”.

Crowds of activists demonstrated on Saturday in the western hamlet of Luetzerath, waving banners and chanting as a bass band accompanied them.

Luetzerath, deserted for some time by its original inhabitants, is set to disappear to make way for an extension of the adjacent open-cast coal mine, one of the largest in Europe. It is operated by the energy firm RWE. Environmentalists say bulldozing the village to expand the Garzweiler mine would result in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. The government and RWE argue the coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security. The Swedish climate activist Thunberg, 20, marched at the front of the procession as demonstrators converged on the village, showing support for activists occupying it in protest over the coal mine extension.

‘Fighting for climate justice’ 

Some fought with police who were trying to move the march away from Luetzerath, which is surrounded by fences.

“We’re in 2023 in the middle of a climate crisis, and while destroying a village to expand one of the biggest carbon bombs in Europe should be considered criminal, it is still legal,” said Sara Ayech, who leads the climate campaign at Greenpeace International. Fossil fuel companies’ influence is so powerful that the ones considered criminals now are the ones fighting for climate justice,” she said. “It is time to hold fossil fuel companies accountable.”...

In an operation launched this week, hundreds of police have been working to remove activists from the hamlet. But 20 to 40 climate activists were still holed up in the village late on Friday, a spokeswoman for the protest movement said. Authorities said they were entering the final stages of evacuating the activists. In just a few days, a large part of the protesters’ camp has been cleared by police and its occupants removed.

Large numbers of protesters, including Thunberg, assembled on Saturday close to the village, which has become a symbol of resistance against fossil fuels. “Against the evacuation, for an end to coal and climate justice” is the rallying call for the demonstrations. Police reinforcements came from across the country to participate in the clearing of the village. Organisers are hoping that tens of thousands of demonstrators will attend while police said they expect about 8,000 people. ...

Many of the activists in the village have built structures high up in trees while others have climbed to the top of abandoned buildings and barns. Activists said they have dug a tunnel under the hamlet to complicate the evacuation effort. The movement has been supported by protests across Germany. On Friday, masked activists set fire to rubbish bins and painted slogans on the offices of the Greens in Berlin.

The party, part of Germany’s ruling coalition with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the liberal Free Democrats, has come under heavy criticism from activists who accuse it of betrayal. Following the energy crisis set off by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government has brought old coal power plants back online. Officials also signed a compromise with RWE that made way for the demolition of Luetzerath but spared five nearby villages. The energy firm also agreed to stop producing electricity with coal in western Germany by 2030, eight years earlier than previously planned.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/14/greta-thunberg-joins-anti-coal-...

In Hawaii, 14 local youth have succeeded in getting their legal case to proceed to trial challenging the state’s fossil fuel-dependent transportation system. This follows court victories ordering the Dutch government to cut emissions by 25% (https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/landmark-climate-case-dutch-...) and fossil fuel giant Shell to cut its emissions faster (https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/1000475878/in-landmark-case-dutch-court-o...). In the UK, three NGOs have filed a case against the government's Net Zero strategy because they see it as a failure. (https://www.aljazeera.com/program/earthrise/2022/12/23/the-case-for-the-...)

 

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The lawsuit, Navahine F. v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, is the first-ever constitutional climate case aimed at curbing carbon pollution from transportation systems. Winter is one of fourteen young Hawaiians who brought the case last June against the state of Hawaii, Governor David Ige, the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT), and HDOT Director Jade Butay. By continuing to operate a fossil fuel-dependent transportation system resulting in high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the case alleges, the defendants are contributing to dangerous climate change and violating the state’s constitutional obligations to protect Hawaii’s natural resources and to ensure the right to a clean and healthful environment for all citizens.
Transportation is the largest source of emissions in Hawaii, whose tropical islands see around 80 percent of commutes by car and have earned a reputation for traffic congestion. According to the youth complaint, citing data from the Hawaii Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report for 2017 issued in 2021, these emissions are expected to rise 41 percent this decade.

 

While Hawaii has enacted some of the most ambitious climate targets in the United States — including goals to reach both zero emissions and 100 percent renewable energy by 2045 — the state’s transportation department has not implemented measures aligned with these mandates or other laws addressing the state transport sector’s emissions, the case contends. The Department of Transportation has not coordinated with other agencies to implement Hawaii’s zero emissions target, nor has it planned for or supported alternative transportation options to limit emissions, such as vehicle electrification, increasing alternative transport fuels, and expanding public transport and bikeways, the lawsuit argues.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment on the case. But the state’s attorney general office, which will represent HDOT and the state in court, defended Hawaii’s climate actions.

“The Court’s ruling today merely allows the case to proceed past the pleading stage and does not decide the merits of the Plaintiffs’ allegations,” Hawaii Deputy Solicitor General Lauren Chun told DeSmog in an emailed statement. “The State of Hawaii stands behind its record as a national leader in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the State will continue to pursue its ambitious climate goals.” 

 

https://www.desmog.com/2023/04/10/hawaii-climate-lawsuit-youth-trial/

Meanwhile in Canada legal cases involving the climate crisis are not going well for environmental activists. In October 2022, the 15 youth led climate change case was dismissed by a Federal Court

A Federal Court judge ruled Tuesday that the Canadian government won't be going on trial for contributions to climate change — striking down a lawsuit brought by 15 young Canadians who argued the government was violating their charter rights. Federal Court Justice Michael Manson rejected a lawsuit initiated by the youths aged 10 to 19 years old. Their case called on the court to compel Ottawa to develop a science-based climate recovery plan.

But Manson ruled the claims don't have a reasonable cause of action or prospect of success, so the case cannot proceed to trial. The lawsuit filed in 2019 says Canada's failure to protect against climate change is a violation of the youths' charter rights. On Tuesday, Manson ruled the network of  government actions that contribute to climate change is too broad for the court to grapple with, and the court has no role in reviewing the country's overall approach to climate change.

Plaintiff Haana Edenshaw, 17, of the Haida Nation, says despite her disappointment, she is refusing to get discouraged and plans to keep pushing to have the case heard, after seeing the effects of climate change in her village of Masset on Haida Gwaii off B.C.'s North Coast. She said poverty rates and the location of communities leave Indigenous people at higher risk to the negative effects of climate change. "Indigenous youth in Canada are often the first hit and the hardest hit," she said.

Another plaintiff named Sophia said that it is "a big wake-up call for all Canadian and Indigenous youth. Canada has tried to silence our voice in court and block our calls for climate justice. We won't be dissuaded." ...

 

In September, government lawyers argued the lawsuit should be thrown out, as it was far too broad to be heard in court. In Tuesday's ruling, Manson agreed the terms were too broad. Joe Arvay, the lead lawyer on the case, says it's a disappointment, but he plans to push forward and appeal the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The case, La Rose et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen, was initially filed on Oct. 25, 2019. The lawsuit argued that the plaintiffs — 15 children and teens from across Canada — had their rights to life, liberty and security and equality violated by a government that had failed to do enough to protect against climate change.

The statement of claim was filed the day teen climate activist Greta Thunberg visited Vancouverand led a climate strike rally attended by thousands. It says that "despite knowing for decades" that carbon emissions "cause climate change and disproportionately harm children," the government continued to allow emissions to increase at a level "incompatible with a stable climate capable of sustaining human life and liberties." But there's no explicit environmental right in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And, in his decision, the justice disagreed that right is implicit, as argued in the case.

 

"Of course it's disappointing, but the journey is far from over," said Brendan Glauser of the Suzuki Foundation. Glauser said the ruling acknowledged the negative impact of climate change as something that's significant and pointed out the justice also said the "public trust" doctrine is a legal question that the court can resolve — which, he said, offers legal ground with which the group can attempt to move forward. "We are proud of our plaintiffs. These brave young plaintiffs know we only have a decade to turn things around, and so far, we are not on track," said Glauser.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/climate-change-lawsuit-f...

Vancouver was one of the cities involved in September 15-17 2023 climate strike. 

In 2019, climate strikes were having their moment. Mass protests aimed at promoting climate justice and challenging politicians to stand up to the fossil fuel industry, largely organized by young people who felt short-changed by generations of inaction, erupted around the world. 

 Then COVID happened. The intervening years passed, bringing with them a myriad of local and large-scale climate concerns: a return to action at Wet’suwet’en; the Fairy Creek blockade; sporadic actions protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline. A flood that destroyed a highway. A heat dome that killed hundreds. A fire season that was the US’s deadliest since 1918 and Canada’s worst in recorded history. 

“People around the world have been facing insane wildfires, deadly floods, and that’s been no different here in Canada, where we’ve seen some of the most extreme weather conditions taking place in the last three years,” says Alison Bodine, an organizer with Metro Vancouver Climate Convergence and part of the Vancouver Climate Strike Coalition.

The coalition includes over a dozen groups, from parents and kids to doctors and drumming bands, united in the belief that fossil fuel extraction needs to end urgently. 

When Fridays for Future, the international climate movement founded from Greta Thunberg’s school strikes in 2018, started discussing plans for a global day of action for September 15, Bodine knew that Vancouver had to be involved.

“Folks that are active in the climate justice movement in Vancouver started talking, we said, ‘Let’s come together and do a Vancouver climate strike as well,’” Bodine says. “Post COVID [restrictions], different organizations have been finding new ways to work together and wanting to organize together, and this is an excellent opportunity to join in this global movement.”

Around Canada, rallies are expected to take place in 50 cities, with hundreds more happening across the world and a further day of action happening on September 17 in New York City.

One of the big challenges has been figuring out what a climate strike looks like in 2023. As prices surge, crises multiply, and people become more tired and burnt out simply by trying to survive, protests can fall by the wayside. 

“A lot of us are looking back at [2019] and saying, ‘What can we do to build momentum back to that point?’” says Bodine. “We’re hoping for a great action on Friday, and also for continuing this work together at such an urgent time.”

The event is set to start at Vancouver City Hall at 1pm, marching downtown to the Vancouver Art Gallery and culminating with speakers and performers on the plaza starting at 3pm. Speakers include journalist Brandi Morin and activist Janelle Lapointe, alongside music and drag performances. There will also be activities for kids, because the whole event is designed to be peaceful and family friendly.

In the spirit of school strikes, don’t be surprised if there are kids who look like they came from their classes. The organizers contacted all the local school boards to let them know about the event, with Vancouver, New West, and Burnaby school boards all voicing their support, according to Bodine. 

And to maximize accessibility, people can join at different points if the whole march is too long; there’ll be masks available and ways for people to maintain social distancing; and the event will be livestreamed digitally for those that can’t attend in person.

“We want to make this rally as accessible as possible,” Bodine says. “If we can see it as kind of a re-introduction for folks to what it means to mobilize in large numbers, it’s an excellent opportunity and an important opportunity.” 

For her, one of the most important parts of the event is reminding people that collective action can be a really powerful way to channel rage or hopelessness into positive change. 

“I think the biggest barrier for many folks is thinking that, in recognition of things getting worse, ‘What can we do? How is it possible for any of us to stop this?’” Bodine offers. “We’ve been really fortunate to form a coalition of groups that know that it is possible—to not only impact policy, but also to work on changing all of our mindsets to know that this better, greener world is possible. Getting together and mobilizing is one important way that we can express that.”  

https://www.straight.com/city-culture/vancouver-joins-hundreds-of-cities...

Here is a look at some of the September 15-17  climate strikes around the world including Germany Philippines and Sweden. The url below also includes protests at tennis, golf , car races, horses races, soccer, rugby, basketball etc. sports matches.

 

German climate strke protesters 

Tens of thousands of climate activists around the world are protesting Friday and through the weekend to call for an end to the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels as the globe suffers dramatic weather extremes and record-breaking heat.

The strike — driven by several mostly youth-led, local and global climate groups and organizations, including Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future movement — is taking place in dozens of countries and in hundreds of cities worldwide.

In one strike in Quezon City in the Philippines, activists lay in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in protest, and held signs demanding fossil fuels — from coal to natural gas — be phased out. Outside the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources office in Jakarta, Indonesia, protesters held signs calling for end to dirty fuels and greenwashing as police officers looked on.

In Sweden, climate activists gathered in front of Parliament, just next to the Royal Palace where Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf was celebrating his 50th anniversary on the throne. Their chants about “climate justice” could be heard in the palace courtyard as the king watched the changing of the guard during the golden jubilee celebrations.

A week before the planned protest, the United Nations warned that countries are way off track to curb warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, as agreed in Paris in 2015. The world has warmed at least 1.1 degrees (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since then.

Over the past few months, Earth broke its daily average heat record several times according to one metric, July was the hottest month ever on record, and the Northern Hemisphere summer was declared the hottest on record.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/climate-protesters-worldwide-call-for...

Climate crisis protests in 54 countries involving more than one million protesters took place around the world on September 15-17 2023.

Climate protesters were set to take to the streets in more than 50 countries from Friday to Sunday, in a weekend of demonstrations to demand that governments phase out the burning of fossil fuels heating the planet.

In a year of mounting deaths and economic destruction from record-breaking floods, wildfires and drought, protesters have planned more than 500 gatherings in 54 countries - from Pakistan and Nigeria to the United States.

Organizers of the protests expect global turnout over the weekend to total more than a million people. That could make this weekend's action the largest international climate protest since before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the "school strike" movement led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg saw millions of people worldwide join marches.

"This is directed at world leaders," said Mitzi Jonelle Tan, a climate activist with youth movement Fridays for Future in Manila, the Philippines. "The fossil fuel industry's time is up. We need a just transition, and we need to phase out the fossil fuels causing the destruction of our environment," she told Reuters.

Organisers said they would call on governments to immediately end subsidies for oil and gas and to cancel any plans for expanding production.

Governments spent a record-high $7 trillion in subsidies to oil, gas and coal last year, according to an IMF analysis.

"We're taking to the streets to demand that African leaders phase out on fossil fuels and focus on investing in community-led renewable energy, to meet the energy demand for the 600 million Africans who do not have access to electricity," said Eric Njuguna, a climate activist based in Nairobi, Kenya.

The demonstrations take place two months before this year's U.N. COP28 climate summit, where more than 80 countries plan to push for a global agreement to gradually phase out coal, oil and gas.

The burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change, but countries have never agreed in U.N. climate talks to phase out fossil fuels - though they have committed to phase down use of coal power. Governments reliant on oil and gas revenues, and those planning to use fossil fuel-based energy to improve poor communities' living standards, are expected to push back on the proposal.

Wealthy nations will also face pressure to offer far more funding to help developing countries invest in low-carbon energy. Renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels in terms of its running costs, but communities need support to make the upfront investments required to quickly build wind farms and install solar panels. Despite having plentiful solar energy resources, Africa received only 2% of global investments in renewable energy over the last two decades, the International Renewable Energy Agency has said.

Around 15,000 people were expected to join a march in New York on Sunday, as leaders gather for next week's U.N. General Assembly, as well as a "climate ambition summit" on Wednesday. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres is expected to ask governments to strengthen their plans for cutting planet-warming emissions.

A U.N. report last week warned that the world was on a dangerous track toward severe global warming, and said more action was needed on all fronts, including a drastic drop in coal-fuelled power use by 2030. The report also urged a massive boost in financial investment to developing countries for both clean energy and measures to adapt to rising heat, worsening storms and other consequences of the warming climate, the U.N. said.

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/global-climate-protests-dem...

A large climate crisis demonstration also occurred in Quezon City, a suburb of Manila, in the Phillippines on September 15th. 

Protesters wear a traditional hat as they join the global march to end fossil fuel in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, in Quezon city, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

In one strike in Quezon City in the Philippines, activists lay in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in protest, and held signs demanding fossil fuels — from coal to natural gas — be phased out.

A week before the planned protest, the United Nations warned that countries are way off track to curb warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, as agreed in Paris in 2015. The world has warmed at least 1.1 degrees (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since then.

Over the past few months, Earth broke its daily average heat record several timesaccording to one metric, July was the hottest month ever on record, and the Northern Hemisphere summer was declared the hottest on record.

Dozens of extreme weather events — from Hurricane Idalia in the southeastern United States to torrential flooding in Delhi in India — are believed to have been made worse by human-caused climate change.

Another major strike is planned to take place Sunday in New York, to coincide with the city’s Climate Week and the U.N. climate summit.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/09/15/news/climate-protesters-worl...

Brazilian climate change activist, Paloma Costa, who ed Brazil's delegation to the Youth Climate Summit in 2019, talks about the need for climate crisis action, including in primary and secondary education, as she had no education on climate change until she reached university.

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Brazilian activist Paloma Costa is creating a new generation of youth engaged in climate activism. ... coordinated the climate working group at Engajamundo, which invited youth to participate in "Fridays for the future" and climate strikes. The organization was born following the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio + 20. During the event, which took place almost 10 years ago, many young people felt that their views had not been adequately represented by world leaders and UN agencies.
For Paloma, today's youth are working on the frontlines of the response to the climate crisis. In her view, decisionmakers, as well as all the actors and sectors that make up the socioenvironmental dynamic, must learn, connect and help create change in line with the creative ideas that youth are proposing. "We are the catalysts for action, this is the desire of our generation," she said.
The climate crisis is a priority in the post-COVID-19 world, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “The revitalization of economies is our opportunity to redesign our future”, he said. This was why he created a Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, in which Paloma participates. “As with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis,” warned Paloma. "We must understand that we are the Earth's cure and, therefore, we must work collectively to address the cumulative challenges faced across the planet," said the activist, in step with the United Nations belief that only together countries will be able to overcome them. Young people are putting pressure on their elders to do what is right. This is a moment of truth for people and the planet. COVID-19 and the climate took us to a threshold”, said Secretary-General Guterres, defending a “cleaner, greener and more sustainable” path.
However, she still believes that much more can be done. For the activist, the future she wants to build will be more democratic, with greater participation of young people and more information and education on climate issues. “After all, to participate effectively, it is necessary to have access to information, research and quality education that is capable of generating a broader understanding of these vital issues”, she explained, recalling that her generation will suffer from the impact of climate change and its resulting effects on the job market.
Paloma said that she herself did not have an education focused on climate change and that her understanding, and consequent engagement with the topic only happened later, when she was studying at college. “While doing an internship at the Socioenviromental Institute, where I still work, I started to learn about the climate emergency and the role of indigenous and traditional communities in Brazil," Paloma explained. She is now a qualified lawyer.
"We need to create formal spaces inside the structures of each state that include young voices in a deliberate and binding way - not just as an adviser or advisory council," she said. “For now, we can recommend and give our opinions and the Secretary-General is interested in listening and getting involved with the things we do. But I feel that if we don't have a formal seat at the table, it's just us and the Secretary-General. And we need everyone on board to make this happen to create change,” she concluded.

https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/“we-are-action”-says-young-brazilian-woman-who-fights-against-climate-crisis

Six Portuguese youths are also suing 32 countries including all EU countries, the UK, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey because of their inaction on climate change. 

 

Portugal has experienced record heat in recent years, causing wildfires every year since 2017

"What I felt was fear," says Claudia Duarte Agostinho as she remembers the extreme heatwave and fires that ripped through Portugal in 2017 and killed more than 100 people. "The wildfires made me really anxious about what sort of future I would have."

Claudia, 24, her brother Martim, 20, and her sister Mariana, 11, are among six young Portuguese people who have filed a lawsuit against 32 governments, including all EU member states, the UK, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey.

They accuse the countries of insufficient action over climate change and failing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions enough to hit the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5C.

The case is the first of its kind to be filed at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. If it is successful, it could have legally-binding consequences for the governments involved. The first hearing in the case is due later on Wednesday.

Aged from 11 to 24, the six claimants argue that the forest fires that have occurred in Portugal each year since 2017 are a direct result of global warming.

They claim that their fundamental human rights - including the right to life, privacy, family life and to be free from discrimination - are being violated due to governments' reluctance to fight climate change. 

They say they have already been experiencing significant impacts, especially because of extreme temperatures in Portugal forcing them to spend time indoors and restricting their ability to sleep, concentrate or exercise. Some also suffer from eco-anxiety, allergies and respiratory conditions including asthma.

None of the young applicants is seeking financial compensation.

"I want a green world without pollution, I want to be healthy," says 11-year-old Mariana. "I'm in this case because I'm really worried about my future. I'm afraid of what the place where we live will look like."

Claudia says Mariana still gets scared when she hears helicopters flying above, which remind her of the firefighters back in 2017, when more than 50,000 acres (78 sq miles, 202 sq km) of forest were destroyed, and ashes from the wildfires were falling over their house miles away.

"I think it is really amazing for Mariana to get involved in this case, to have such a conscience at her age," Claudia says.

"But it is also very worrying: Why does she need to think about these things? She should be playing with her friends and dancing to TikTok videos instead."

Lawyers representing the six young claimants are expected to argue in court that the 32 governments' current policies are putting the world on course for 3C of global warming by the end of the century.

 

"It's catastrophic heating," says Gearóid Ó Cuinn, director of Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) that is supporting the applicants.

"Without urgent action by the governments, the youth applicants involved in this case face unbearable heat extremes that'll harm their health and their wellbeing. We know that the governments have it within their power to do much more to stop this, but they are choosing not to act," he says.

A 2021 Lancet study found that climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses to climate change were widespread in children and young people across the world and impacted their daily functioning.

Based on a survey of 10,000 children and young people aged 16-25 in 10 countries across the world, the study suggested that a perceived failure by governments to respond to the climate crisis was associated with increased distress.

 

In separate and joint responses to the case, the governments argue that the claimants have not sufficiently established that they have suffered as a direct consequence of climate change or the Portuguese wildfires.

They claim there is no evidence to show climate change poses an immediate risk to human life or health, and also argue that climate policy is beyond the scope of the European Court of Human Rights jurisdiction.

"These six young people from Portugal, who are ordinary individuals concerned about their future, will be facing 32 legal teams, hundreds of lawyers representing governments whose inaction is already harming them," says Gearóid Ó Cuinn.

"So this is a real David vs Goliath case that is seeking a structural change to put us on a much better track in terms of our future."

The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, who intervened in the case as a third party, says this case has the potential to determine how states address climate issues and human rights.

"It is actually an alarm to member states, to international organisations, to all of us that have a particular chance to show that we do care, and that it's not just words on paper. It's not just ticking a box and saying we are for this or that resolution. It's about changing our policies," she told the BBC.

 

The ECHR ruling would legally bind the 32 governments at once to increase their climate actions by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and phasing out fossil fuels.

It would also influence domestic courts who have been seeking guidance from the ECHR on cases related to climate change. A verdict is expected in nine to 18 months.

Claudia says she often thinks about whether she should have children in the future, questioning the state of the world they would be living in. "But winning this case would mean there would finally be hope," she says.

"It would mean that people are really listening to us and that they are as worried as we are and that the governments would really have to take measures to do something about it. It would be amazing for everything - for our anxiety, for our futures. A lot of things can follow after that."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/young-people-sue-32-countries-over-...

Greta Thunberg along with other environmental activists was dragged away from the Swedish Parliament by police after blocking the door to the building for a second day. 

Swedish police have forcibly removed Greta Thunberg and other climate activists after they blocked the entrance to the Swedish parliament for a second day.

Two officers lifted Thunberg and dragged her away before putting her down on the ground about 20 metres away from the door she had been obstructing.

Thunberg and dozens of other environmental campaigners started blocking the main entrances to Sweden’s parliament on Monday in a sit-down protest against the effects of the climate crisis and what they said was political inaction.

The activists left on Monday afternoon but returned to protest again on Tuesday morning.

Thunberg, 21, became the face of youth climate activism as her weekly protests, which started in 2018 in front of the Swedish parliament, quickly grew into a global movement with large rallies across continents.

Last year she was detained by police or removed from protests in countries including Sweden, Norway and Germany.

A British court last month acquitted her of charges of a public order offence as a judge ruled that police had no power to arrest her and others at a protest in London last year.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/12/swedish-police-forcibly-re...