Illegal loggers have set vast areas of Awá land on fire. The Awá had been defending their territory against the loggers and are now putting their lives on the line to save the forest. Please sign the petition to make the Brazilian government do something about the fires. Uncontacted Awá could be wiped out.
This year's winter solstice is on the 22nd of December at 04:48 UTC (date of this message). We wish everyone compliments of the season and a good time!
O solstício de inverno deste ano é no 2015-12-22 04:48 UTC (fecha desta mensagem). Desejamos boas-festas e um bom tempo para todos!
Die Wintersonnenwende dieses Jahres ereignet sich am 22.12.2015 um 05:48 MEZ. Wir wünschen allen ein frohes Fest und eine schöne Zeit!
El solsticio hiemal de este año es en el 2015-12-22 04:48 UTC (fecha del mensaje). Deseamos felices fiestas y un tempo óptimo para todos!
In the forefront of CETA the EU has abandoned a regulation to assess fuels: Tar sand oil which is up to 23% more climate damaging than conventional oil is now declared 'equivalent'. Birds landing on the poisonous mine dump incured by tar sand production die immediately. With respect to TTIP the EU should additionally open its flood gates for shale gas from the USA. With fracking highly poisonous chemicals which can pollute the ground water are deployed. Even more the up to 34 times more climate damaging gas methane is released into the atmosphere compared to CO2. Finally we have to fear the so called ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlements) which would make any environmental or climate related legislation more or less impossible.
We must not allow our politicians to give high promises to the public and then act very differently behind the scenes! Sign the appeal!
All 196 parties of the COP21 have agreed and accepted upon a new climate deal:
Global warming shall be limited definitely below 2° 'pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°'.
At least 100 Billion USD per year shall be dedicated to help poorer nations to combat climate change (adaptation, energy supply). The old-established industry nations will most likely have to provide this alone though as intended not only by their states while any indications of contributions by newly industrializing countries have been crossed out of the text.
A certain drop of bitterness remains as the diction of decarbonization has been replaced by neutrality of emissions. That leaves the gates open to CCS (carbon capture and storage), to nuclear power and the effects of indirect land usage.
National emission reduction goals will be verified all five years and may never more be planished. Intended nationally determined contributions will need to be communicated by all parties first up to November 2016; a new chance for industry nations to finally say good bye to coal.
The so called 'High Ambitions Coalition' consisting of France, Germany, countries of Africa and island states in the Pacific and the Caribbean, Australia, the whole EU, the USA and finally also Latin American states like Mexico, Colombia and Brazil have rendered this result possible. We interprete the fact that global warming shall be reduced to 1,5° as a moral victory as it pays attention to the survival interests of small island states and the people most affected by climate change. How this goal can be met will nonetheless need to remain open for future proceedings as overall national emission goals are currently still wholly insufficient (Apart from this fact we are seeking to update the information provided by our link above in the near future.).
The U.S. Department of Education is considering a new policy that would require ED-funded materials to be licensed openly. Support it to assert that research funded by the public will also be available to the public for free. Currently some privately owned scientific journals are making profit of those who pay to read what has been funded, researched and peer reviewed to a large extent by university personal.
