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Global Warming impacts escalate as Climate negotiations stall in Doha

Climate Negotiations are over for another year with little progress in Doha by any one's measure as the scientific statements on climate change and the impacts we are already feeling as evidenced in record Arctic melting, and extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy and Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines, and Cyclone Evan in the South Pacific are growing much stronger.

Some of the latest scientific research shows:

• Sea Level rising 60% faster than IPCC projections
• Methane and CO2 in thawing Arctic permafrost a climate tipping point
• Collapse of Siberia's Coastline is Releasing Huge Amounts of CO2
• Greenland Ice sheet suffers unprecedented surface melt
• Indian Monsoon more likely to fail as global warming accelerates
• Southern Ocean warming impact on Antarctic Ice Sheet Stability and sea level rise

Photos: Photos by World Resources Institute | Photos by Oxfam | The Verb: Climate March in Doha | The Verb: COP18 Actions
Related: Deep emissions cuts urged at climate summit | Towards a Grand Compromise in the Climate Negotiations | COP18, another 'Conference of Polluters' | An open letter to governments and their negotiators | Climate compensation row at Doha | Forest Groups Protest False Solutions | IPCC's Planned Obsolescence: Fifth Assessment Report Will Ignore Crucial Permafrost Carbon Feedback! | Methane and CO2 in thawing Arctic permafrost a climate tipping point

BATTLE OF NOTRE-DAME-DES-LANDES: Megalomaniac Airport Project In Western France

During the weekend of 23-25 November, violent clashes occurred, as military police attacked activists and environmentalists on an area slated for an airport project in Notre-Dame-des-Landes – a village near Nantes, while riot police violently dispersed a support demonstration in the city. The events have forced major media and politicians to publicly admit that there is an issue.

Economic growth driving Global Warming towards 6 degrees C

The earth's climate system is facing a global meltdown with carbon emissions steadily increasing and business as usual emissions projections on a path of 4 degrees C (7.2°F) of global warming by about the 2060s and 6 degrees C (10.8°F) of warming by the turn of the century, just 88 years hence, according to a scientific report - Turn Down the Heat - by the Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) (media release) done on behalf of the World Bank (media release). Some say the World Bank's call for slowing global warming ignores their own role.

This report comes after Hurricane Sandy devastated island nations in the Caribbean before landing on the north east coast of the United States, providing a wakeup call on climate change just prior to the Presidential election.

Also released this week, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warned that Greenhouse Gas Emissions Gap Widening as Nations Head to Crucial Climate Talks in Doha, while the European Environment Agency has warned in a new report Climate change evident across Europe, confirming urgent need for adaptation. A recent Price WaterhouseCoopers report warned that Business as usual Carbon emissions heading towards 6°C (10.8°F) of global warming this century. So there is widespread agreement from science and scientists, energy experts and experts in global economics and accounting that we are facing a climate meltdown.

The International Energy Agency warned in their 2011 World Energy Outlook report that we are on a 4-6 degree Celsius trajectory and that 80 percent of carbon emissions infrastructure has already been built and is in operation. We cannot afford to add any new carbon intensive infrastructure that will continue to pollute for 30-50 years, yet the World Resources Institute reveals nearly 1,200 Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plants, the majority in India and China.

But grassroots action is having an impact: thousands rallied against coal across India, and a very first Arab Day of Climate Action (Photos) organised by the Arab Youth Climate Movement occurred on November 10. In the US, the Sierra Club reports victories in stopping the coal rush.

A BUILDING IS NOT ENOUGH: Occupying a Skyscraper for Art

Hundreds of people are blocking a street in Milano protesting for the eviction of a skyscraper of 32 floors they were occupying. Torre Galfa, near Stazione Centrale, has been taken the 5 of May by Macao, a group of artists, video makers, journalists, immaterial workers to make a new arts center, to strengthen relationships between art and society and protest against abandoned buildings.

The tower, quite new, was abandoned since 1996 in a town were many new skyscrapers are built for the Expo 2015 and nobody knows if they will ever be used. For 8 days thousands of people came in Torre Galfa, a huge space freed for performances, lectures, workshops, ideas, and also where everybody restlessly worked to make the place safe and warm. Also academies, universities and intellectuals wanted to get a chance to help the creation of Macao. Macao was experimenting a partecipative process (and is still doing that in the street) that was changing the concept of art and culture, fighting precarious work and uncertainty, protesting for neglected buildings wich are maintained only for finance and capital logics, while people who want to share, create, research, do actions, be critical against the solutions offered to solve the economical crisis, which are far away from the needs of people, are excluded from institutional places.

Indybay Journalists Charged with Felony

Viewpoint Discrimination and Selective Prosecution at Work in Charges Against Independent Journalists

Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee has embarked on a full frontal assault against independent media in Santa Cruz by including four regular contributors to the independent news website Indybay.org amongst the eleven people charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors after the occupation of a vacant bank building on November 30th, 2011. District Attorney Lee apparently believes it is his duty to dictate how events such as the occupation of the vacant bank at 75 River Street should be reported on by the media, and if he does not approve of the coverage, then journalists risk the DA bringing charges against them. Read More | Full Press Release from Indybay | En Español

Pictured: Bradley Stuart Allen and Alex Darocy are Indybay photojournalists and Indybay editors who were reporting on the occupation.

More Coverage: KPFA Evening News Speaks with Bradley Stuart Allen | Day Three of "Conspiracy" Frame-Up Hearing | Bogus Attack on Journalists Around November Protest Goes On and On | Preliminary "Conspiracy" Hearing for Two Reporters in the 75 River St. Persecutions | NPPA & Reporters Committee Seek Dismissal of Charges Against Photojournalist Covering Occupy Protest

Opposition growing to racially discriminatory intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal Communities

Legislation is currently before the Australian Senate to extend the Northern Territory Emergency Response (often called just The Intervention) in 73 aboriginal indigenous communities for another 10 years. The intervention was instituted in 2007 by the conservative Howard Government claiming it was to stop domestic violence and child abuse in indigenous communities. But others like John Pilger claim it was a land grab, about mining or "smashing Aboriginal organisations, demonising Aboriginal people and forcing migration". It arose from the Northern Territory Government Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse. Investigative journalist John Pilger has debunked the reason for The Intervention with statistics saying in 2010: "Out of 7433 Aboriginal children examined by doctors, 39 were referred to the authorities for suspected abuse. Of those, four possible cases have been identified. In other words, as Professor Alastair Nicholson, a former chief justice of the Family Court, has pointed out, this is no more than the rate of child abuse in white Australia."

The Intervention was continued by the Rudd and Gillard Labor Governments. Initially supported by some aboriginal spokespeople, the top down intervention included extra policing in aboriginal communities, compulsory income management, compulsory acquisition of Aboriginal land, the assertion of extensive powers by the Commonwealth Government over Aboriginal communities, and alcohol and pornography restrictions in prescribed areas. It has been widely criticised as being inefficient, ineffective, has failed to delivered jobs to aboriginal people, racially discriminatory, a denial of fundamental human rights, that won't protect children.

The initial Intervention legislation in 2007 entailed suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act and was strongly opposed by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. A 2008 action plan by HREOC to modify the intervention was effectively ignored. In 2009 a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Human Rights, James Anaya, criticised Australia finding the Intervention to be a "racially discriminatory treatment of indigenous individuals and communities" and "incompatible with Australia’s human rights obligations" (PDF report | Video News Report). In February 2012 a group of emminent Australians signed a Statement on Aboriginal Rights (PDF) for ending all discriminatory practices and opposing the extension of the Intervention.

Recent consultations with aboriginal communities for the extension have been flawed and perfunctory at best, as evidenced by the Senate Hearing at Maningrida 22 February 2012 (Video). Indigenous people and communities in the Northern Territory are fighting for their freedom. Seven leaders from aboriginal communities where the NT Intervention is in place said in January 2012 'Enough is enough' in a video Joint Submission to the Senate Committee (video).

Related: Stop the NT Intervention | Stand for Freedom | Stand for Freedom Campaign Video | Senate Report | ANTaR Background info on NT intervention
Australia Indymedia Coverage: Stronger futures will kill us: Maningrida | Stand For Freedom on Facebook | Aboriginal Catholic Ministry: Committee report ignores concerns | ANTaR concerned that community support was not obtained | National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission: Stronger Futures or stronger policing | Uniting Church disappointed by Senate report

Ocean acidity increasing at unprecedented rate not seen in last 300 million years

In a new study marine scientists have warn that the rate of ocean acidification presently occurring is unprecedented in the last 300 million years. This is due to dissolving carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, much of which human activity has contributed over the last 200 years through the use of fossil fuels. The extent and rate of acidification enhances the prospect for a mass marine extinction event this century. Research in paleoclimatology and oceanography has revealed that anthropogenic climate change is driving Ocean Acidification threatening marine ecosystems.

Ocean acidification has been called the 'evil twin' of climate change with marine scientists warning climate negotiators in Durban of the necessity for climate mitigation action in December 2011, along with a statement on the IUCN website urging action to cut carbon emissions. New research in November 2011 from Australia's Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre showed the Southern ocean is warming and freshening.

Marine scientists warn ocean acidification is already impacting marine food webs which will lead to substantial changes in commercial fish stocks, threatening protein supply and food security for millions of people. The Northwest Oyster Die-off from 2006-2008 in the USA highlights the growing impact on commercial fisheries. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that 3 billion people use fish protein in their diet, with one billion people dependent on subsistence fishing as a primary food source.

Related: International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) | The Ocean in a high CO2 world | Takver: Ocean acidification articles | UNEP report - Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification: a threat to Food Security (PDF)

"Sissy ni watumishi wa community / We are servants of the community" — Nyagah wa Kamau / Stephen Nyash, RIP

Kenya Indymedia has reported that on Tuesday, February 21, radio journalist and organizer Stephen Nyash was shot dead in the Korogocho ghetto of Nairobi, where he had lived and worked for most of his life. Korogocho is the third largest slum in the world [1]. At writing, the motive for his murder is not clear.

Nyash was one of the founders of KOCH FM [2], a close partner of Kenya Indymedia. He was also a leader in "Koch Hope" and "Ghetto Films," which worked to empower the slumdwellers of Korogocho. He brought this wealth of experience to the fourth IMC-Africa Convergence in Senegal last March as a representative of Kenya Indymedia. He was also integral in organizing a "Conference of People" held in Korogocho to coincide with the Conference of Parties (COP-17) gathering on climate change. Fellow organizer John Bwakali writes, "From the moment that he knew about Kenya Indymedia, Nyash became not just an active participant but fellow leader of the movement… Upon return [from Senegal], he immersed himself into the vision and work of Kenya Indymedia." Read John's Full Reflection HERE [3] and his audio interview with Nyash [4] on the fight against State injustices.

To our knowledge, Nyash is the third Indymedia worker to be killed. On June 29th, 2004, 23-year old Lenin Cali Najera of Indymedia Guayaquil in Ecuador was assassinated by agents of the Ecuadorian government [5, 6]. On October 27, 2006 Bradley Roland Will of New York City Indymedia was assassinated by paramilitary forces of the Mexican government while documenting the on-going struggle of the people of Oaxaca. [7, 8]

Nyash will be buried on 3 March 2012. He is survived by his wife, three year old daughter, ten year old son and mother. Kenya Indymedia is accepting donations for burial expenses and the family's needs, and plans to set up a fund to continue his work toward justice for the oppressed particularly in the slums; peace at the community level and economic empowerment and protection of young people. For the short term, donations can be sent via paypal to fagim564@newschool.edu.

NO Tav: Protests continuing against high speed train

Thousands of people marched in the street in Italy on 18 february 2012, protesting against the arrest of 26 people who participated in the big demostrantions held in june and july against Tav project, the high speed train from Turin to Lion, which will cross Val Susa, Italy. No Tav has been protesting since 2003 against a train line which will cost a lot, is an environmental disaster, and is not useful because other lines are available, and only bolsters the builders business.

Far from being a 'Not In My Backyard' (NIMBY) protest, Val di Susa invloves young, old people, families, even the mayors of the surrounding towns. And is shared by many people all over Italy. On 3rd july 60 thousand people, coming from all over Italy, marched to prevent the start of works and hinder the european founding previewed for the first tunnel.

On 25th February there will be a national demonstration in Bussoleno, Val Susa, Italy.

More Information: No Tav | Italia Indymedia

Iran: US military provocations; the Threat of War Becomes Tangible

A new unprovoked military move by the US and its imperialist allies against Iran has escalated tension in the region and has brought us much closer the possibility of war than ever before.

A US armada of military ships and submarines has recently entered the Persian Gulf with the clear intent to disrupt the present global and regional military and diplomatic equilibrium [1]; the dynamic was already very unsteady — and this move is obviously NOT a step toward Peace. The insertion of these tremendous military forces has sent Iran into a state of emergency and activated its shoreline artillery and missile radar defenses.

Full Article by Cyprus Indymedia: Realities about Iran; the Empire Threatens War | Related from Philly IMC: So, how’s the anti-war movement doing?

Several actions around the world opposed this threat by the US government to support the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII): Washington, DC | New York City, NY | Boston, MA | Rogue Valley, OR | Portland, OR

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