Seven Youth Sue Ford Government for ‘Tearing Up Ontario’s Climate Laws’

Seven Ontario youth are suing the Doug Ford government for “tearing up the province’s climate laws and violating their Charter rights to life, liberty, and security of the person,” Ecojustice announced yesterday.

EU to Declare Climate Emergency Ahead of UN Climate Conference Next Week

European Union legislators are on track to declare a climate emergency ahead of the annual United Nations climate conference opening next week in Madrid, while stressing that the symbolic statement must be backed up by action.

UK TV Network Will ‘Empty Chair’ PM Boris Johnson If He Skips Tomorrow’s Climate Debate

With polls showing the climate emergency surging to the top of UK voters’ concerns in the country’s December 17 general election, public service TV network Channel 4 is vowing to “empty chair” Prime Minister Boris Johnson if he fails to show up for a climate-themed debate tomorrow evening.

Drawdown is an inventory of the 100 top options for reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and stabilizing the global climate. The Energy Mix is summarizing the 100 chapters as a service to readers. Get details and buy the book here.

Corporate Connections Drive $4 Billion in Fossil Investment by Canadian Pension Board

With more than C$4 billion invested in the world’s top 200 publicly-traded fossils, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is placing bets that those companies will exceed the 1.5°C carbon emission targets in the Paris Agreement, according to a report released last week by the Corporate Mapping Project and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

B.C. Directs $830 Billion in Subsidies to Climate-Busting LNG Industry

British Columbia paid out C$830 million in subsidies to help build its liquefied natural gas industry in 2017-18, according to a report released this week by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

California Sets Moratorium on Fracking Technique, Demands Scientific Evidence for New Permits

California will make new oil and gas fracking permits subject to scientific review, slap a moratorium on a production technique responsible for a recent major spill, and set new public safety rules for siting oil and gas wells under new regulations announced last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Climate Protesters Disrupt Harvard-Yale Football Game, Earn Blanket Media Coverage

An estimated 500 climate protesters held up the annual Harvard-Yale football game for almost an hour Saturday, after swarming the field to demand the two universities pull their investments out of fossil fuels and forgive any debts they are owed by Puerto Rico.

‘Hazardous’ Air Quality in Lahore, Pakistan Prompts Amnesty International Action Alert

Amnesty International has issued what it describes as an unprecedented Urgent Action alert for an entire city, calling on its global network to defend the health of Lahore, Pakistan.

Fires Driven by Drought, Forest Clearing Ravage Sumatran Elephant and Tiger Habitat

Fires across Indonesia this summer and fall, driven by a wet season cut short by drought, drained peatlands turned to tinder, and farmers conducting slash-and-burn forest clearing, have ravaged habitat for critically endangered Sumatran elephants and tigers.

Gravity Machines Hold Promise for Long-Term Electricity Storage

As more and more jurisdictions set 100% clean energy targets, machines that harness the constant force of gravity to store the intermittent energy of the sun and wind may soon join lithium-ion batteries and pumped hydro as essential tools in the carbon-free toolbox.

Oxford Selects ‘Climate Emergency’ as 2019 Word of the Year

With its finger on the linguistic pulse of the English-speaking world, Oxford Dictionaries has chosen “climate emergency” as its 2019 Word of the Year, using a shortlist that, for the first time ever, drew not from a wide range of words, but rather from a single category: climate change.