6 months today I will (hopefully) finish the last leg of the
@ThresholdRAB
raising money for
@BrainTumourOrg
Please donate to help fund the crucial work they do, and the help they provide for patients and relatives of those living with brain tumours
Still can't quite believe that when a boat carrying people seeking a better life sinks and kills 90, it registers as barely a blip on the news cycle
Yet when a yacht carrying billionaires sinks, it's 3-day front page, rolling live ticker news
In Spain, the ruling socialist party has just nationalised all private hospitals to cope with
#coronavirus
Meanwhile the UK, governed by free-marketeers, is paying £2.4 mn a day for private hospital beds
If we learn nothing else from this shitshow, who you vote for matters
Scientists long believed that mankind evolved to live at altitude around 40,000 years ago
Then a Tibetan monk found a jawbone in a mountain cave that changed everything
@AFP
💀☠️🏔️
Jesus Christ.
Southern Europe grain yeilds likely to be 60% lower than last year and 9.5% lower than the 5-year average due to
#Heatwaves
The global food system will shatter how all systems do: gradually, and then all at once
#ClimateEmergency
There are currently several times more
#wildfires
in
#Angola
than the
#Amazon
, according to
@NASA
But they appear to be largely crop fires, which is to be expected as this is the time of year farmers clear land
A few months ago my parents agreed to adopt a dog. They had seen pictures of it, and anticipated it would be about the same size as their own Labrador-cross
Today, this absolute unit arrived 😂
What we are witnessing - record temperatures, devastating fires, crop failures - isn't a heatwave, or weather, it's climate change.
There are fires blazing right now in Lapland. That's where Santa is meant to live, the precise metaphor for Arctic and cold. And it's on fire
A billionaire addresses a climate change conference on his self-funded space flight as representatives from sinking countries look on is not a thing I thought I'd write this week
#COP26
So in the last few weeks for those keeping tabs:
- Japanese rice yields down 25% due to heat/drought
- French wheat yields down 28% due to storms
- Quarter of a million lifestock die in South Korea heatwave
You have got to be shitting me.
A company headed by a
#UAE
prince is seeking to buy ONE FIFTH OF ZIMBABWE'S ENTIRE LANDMASS to sell junk carbon credits
This global southwashing is getting out of hand
What is happening in southern Europe right now is truly terrifying
Highs of 45C are widespread, humans are not able to survive for long such temperatures without artificial cooling
Vulnerable people will die
#ClimateCrisis
#Cerberus
#HeatWaves
🚨SCOOP🚨:
@AFP
has obtained the draft IPCC report summary on
#oceans
and
#cryosphere
. It finds:
- 280 m people could be displaced by sea-level rises at 2C of warming
- Superstorm surges to hit megacities annually by 2050
- 30-99% of surface permafrost to melt under RCP8.5
Using low frequency radio waves, a team of 200 scientists discovered hundreds of thousands of ancient light sources undetectable to optical equipment.
“It’s a new window on the
#Universe
,” one told
@AFP
#space
The team behind the study reckons they will be able to discover another 15 million galaxies that are too old or too distant to be detected by existing optical technology 🌌
I’ve lived in Paris for years, and I always felt a little “touristy” every time I stopped and took a photo of
#NotreDame
. Now I’m grateful for every single one
This is absolutely STAGGERING.
The
#UAE
is reportedly set to buy 10 PERCENT of
#Liberia
in a bid to offset its carbon emissions
The territory, which includes already protected land, holds no guarantee it will actually offset any emissions at all
#COP28
Oh, nothing really
Just Japan's rice yields are down a quarter year-on-year due to water shortages/extreme heat
Japan is yet to tap into its strategic rice reserves. But how much longer can rice agriculture function "as normal" in an abnormal climate?
#India
is currently baking under a record-breaking heatwave, with temperatures soaring to 49C in breadbasket regions of Haryana and Punjab
One farmer in Uttar Pradesh told me he lost 60% of his wheat crop due to the heat wave
#climatecrisis
BRAZIL: *Elects candidate who wants to destroy the Amazon rain forest, hastening global warming and mankind's doom*
MARKETS: "Phwoar yeah, gimme some of that"
@Guilhem_Klein
@AFP
FINDINGS:
- Sea-level rise of 43cm by 2100 at 2C; 84cm on current trends
- Oceanic O2 levels ⬇️ 2%, set to fall 3-4% by 2100
- Doubling in El Nino frequency if emissions not cut
- Storm damage ⬆️ 100-1000x by 2100
#climate
#oceans
#SROCC
#BREAKING
: Global heating will hit 1.5C - the aspirational temperature goal of the Paris Agreement - around 2030 and surpass 1.5C around 2050 under all emissions scenarios, a UN
#climate
science report shows -
@AFP
#IPCC
#ClimateEmergency
The latest images from inside
#NotreDame
are remarkable. Obviously enormous damage. But given the fire burned so long, the altar and cross seem largely intact, and even rows of pews untouched by flames
@BarbsMcCarthy
How many people know billionaires?
They don't, they are just conditioned by forever growth capitalism to be impressed by them. And the media contributes to that with precisely this type of monster coverage
I would wager most people "know" a lot more migrants than billionaires
Europe had the warmest May since records began.
The US had the warmest May since records began.
The Arctic had the least amount of sea ice since records began.
Antarctic sea ice levels were third lowest ever.
Earlier this week, my mum was walking on the beach when she saw what looked like a dead body washed up on shore
She rushed over and found an unconscious kite surfer. She hauled him out the water and got him breathing again
After 4 nights in hospital, this is her and Francois 🦸🏻♀️
The EU classifying gas as a green fuel is the direct result of lobbying. There is no popular mandate to lock the continent in to fossil gas, no environmental, economic or security benefit for governments or populations, only for a handful of shareholders
You know when experts are accused of doom-mongering, like with say Brexit, then turn out to be absolutely right?
Well you probably don't want to hear the Earth's "worst-case scenario" climate projections, which will inevitably turn out to be right.
Since we don’t have:
- Masks
- Mass testing
- Contact tracers
- Official public transport guidelines
- Official work guidelines
What precisely has the UK government been doing these last six weeks?
Polish Holocaust survivor Kazimierz Piechowski escaped Auschwitz by stealing an SS officer's uniform and hijacking Rudolf Hoess' Steyr 220 convertible
He died today, aged 98
@AFP
Humans tend to underestimate their impact on the non-human world, while overestimating their ability to rectify the damage
This study has me shook: with
#climate
change, under-stress ecosystems could collapse 80% earlier than previously thought
@Guilhem_Klein
@AFP
CONTINUED (dependant on emissions scenarios):
- 20-90% of coastal wetlands set to be lost by 2100
- 80% of low-altitude glaciers lost by 2100
- Gts of CO2 released by melting surface permafrost
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a temperature anomaly visualisation so affecting
It’s like Earth is warning us in little flare ups as we keep pumping out fossil fuels before we eventually cook it
#ClimateEmergency
It survived two world wars, the revolution, the Commune. But there are real fears tonight that the iconic, 850-year-old
#NotreDame
could not survive this fire tonight
You are either a citizen or you aren't. It is not within the purview of the UK to determine which individual may or may not be granted citizenship by another country.
That's like me demolishing your house and saying you're not homeless because you could in theory build another
The lie that the gas lobby told - and which was believed - was that fossil fuels are totally fine so long as they're not Russian
The truth is, as long as we are reliant on imported hydrocarbons, we remain hostage to the whims of petrostates, US included .
Temperatures today in Sydney hit 48.9C, the hottest on record
At that temperature, human cells begin to cook. Less oxygen makes it to the brain. No one is not in danger
#AustraliaFires
#ClimateEmergency
From here it looks an awful lot like developing nations and island states got shafted
They conceded loss and damage demands (for fear of watered down mitigation) then got watered down mitigation on fossil fuel language
#COP26
Looks like we're nearing a deal that most countries don't like, that won't deliver the emissions cuts for 1.5-2C, that doesn't address loss and damage and doesn't call for a phase out of fossil fuels
Sounds about right for a COP
#COP26
I guess to sum up:
Citizenship stripping and statelessness run contrary to every legal, human rights, security and moral norm. It is to be expected from a home office that has given us hostile environment, racist vans, Windrush and stop-and-search profiling
This report is a punch to the gut. Each chapter is filled with current and future climate damages that should keep every world leader awake at night
#IPCC
#climatecrisis
@Josiensor
I can't think of many people on Earth who have done more to bring the stories and the suffering of the Syrian people to global attention. It's no knock on you governments never listen. Well done, and good luck x
This is falling apart. After 13 days of 'urgent' negotiations, it's clear that some countries aren't here to negotiate at all. They are here to entrench national interest, continue growth-at-all-costs wealth accumulation at the expense of billions of people and the planet
#COP25
Never seen an action like this at UN talks
Youth are furious and they’re not going away
Right outside the plenary, delegates can’t ignore this
#ClimateJustice
#COP25
#BREAKING
: Der Spiegel reporting that authorities are treating
#Munster
car incident as an attack, says suspect shot himself at the scene. Awaiting more official info
Last year I pitched a long read on the precariousness of the global food system due to
#ClimateChange
I approached a number of outlets; all thought it too technical and theoretical a subject
Thanks to
@BylineTimes
for seeing the writing on the wall
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now bigger than 🇫🇷🇪🇸🇩🇪 combined
It contains 1.8 tn pieces of plastic. That's 250 for every man, woman and child on earth
Oh, and it's growing
Our
@AFP
story on the plastic waste dump the size of a continent:
But it cuts deeper than that. It raises fundamental questions of what it means to be British, or to be a citizen anywhere.
And think about this: If I was Shamima Begum, I'd still have my British nationality today.
She doesn't because she has Bangladeshi heritage. Is that fair?
I subscribe to the Telegraph and read right-wing columnists every day because it's important to read people I disagree with. You can't learn anything from a lying book which rewrites history to suit the Nazis, written by someone imprisoned for Holocaust denial.
People asking how is this legal.
The 2014 Immigration Act essentially created 2 tiers of British citizenship:
- Those with no foreign roots (i.e. British-born, British ancestry) who can't be stripped
- Those with some foreign roots (i.e. dual-national or naturalised) who can
The thing with
#ExtinctionRebellion
is that its demands are really only that the government live up to its existing
#ClimateChange
commitments. It is essentially saying: Make good on your promises
How, unless you had vested interests in the contrary, could you oppose that?
The situation at Gare du Nord right now as French police demonstrate what border checks would be like after a no-deal
#Brexit
. 2hrs queue for passport control
Brextremists will be delighted: cut immigration by ensuring no one ever wants to visit again (pic
@TonyTagliatelle
)