CheckTheWeather

Fox News couldn’t wait to find a reason to hate on Al Gore and Global Warming! As soon as the recent record breaking snowstorms hit the east coast, Fox News broadcast a report stating that that the storms were proof positive that Global Warming is a lie. Steve Colbert of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” and The Union of Concerned Scientists both immediately provided statements as to why that claim is OVERLY false. Watch the clip from “The Colbert Show below and click read more after to the find out why the Union of Concerned Scientists are tired of commentators on Fox News putting on costume lab coats and fronting like they know science.

Click read more to catch the facts from the Union Of Concerned (Getting Closer to Beyond Agitated) Scientists. (more…)

Dear UN:

We are losing faith in you quickly. Please advise.

With love,
Future Leaders.

As Copenhagen boils with anxiety about today’s mass climate justice action at the Bella Center, all I can do is lower my head at the United Nations in complete disappointment.

Shutting out thousands of representatives of civil society from entering the UN conference this week, without showing a drop of compassion, has put me teetering on the edge of renunciation. We came to the UN conference to represent ourselves, as young leaders from the US and youth of color who believe that our presence here matters, and that the story we share can benefit the international community. What we faced Monday night and Tuesday morning, standing in the incredible line of 2nd week registrants waiting to get their badges – waiting a total of 7 hours in freezing temperatures, was offensive. And, from what we found out, we were lucky that it was only 7 hours – people we interviewed had stood for 9 hours on Day 1, only to be turned away on Day 2’s attempt after another 3-4 hours. A pregnant women, a high-profile expert consult to the Mozambique delegation, waited both days only to be forced to leave because of fear of her and her baby’s health. And not once did we receive clear updates on our potential to register as we stood in line. Not once did they show any compassion to the thousands of dollars and false hopes these thousands of people had spent to make it merely 20-30 feet from the Bella Center, only to be told that the UN could not accommodate numbers anywhere near to what was expected. Many got on early flights home.

I write this post as an indignant member of the next generation of climate justice leaders, who had nevertheless held onto her faith in an entity who has practically failed to address climate change for the past 15 years of the UNFCCC’s operations. The democracy here in Copenhagen is quickly crumbling before me, before the eyes of the two ESLI youth delegates that came with me and before the rest of the international community. Not to mention, police raids and preemptive arrests targeting young people has turned Copenhagen into a place of fear. Access to UN climate negotiations was already assumed to be limited to civil society – but now we know that we are blatantly not welcome.

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350-400 people were arrested in the first mass protest in Copenhagen today, reaffirming that civil society groups are determined to stay loud and clear on their message for a fair, equitable agreement out of COP15. See this Democracy Now! summary of Week 1 in Copenhagen, which tells a good comprehensive story of what’s going on inside and outside. Featuring Kate Horner of Friends of the Earth.

African Parliamentarians and members of African Civil Society groups joined representatives from US civil rights and environmental justice NGOs, including ChecktheWeather co-founder Kari Fulton, at a press conference Thursday from the Cop15 in Copenhagen to make an urgent appeal to US President Barack Obama calling for leadership on the issue of climate justice. The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, an alliance of civil society organizations in 43 countries across Africa delivered an urgent appeal to Obama as he prepares to receive the Nobel Peace Prize tonight in Norway. The full press conference to come.

Photos from the Guardian, by PETER DEJONG/AP:

Coordinator Mithika Mwenda, left, and committee member Augustine Njamnshi, right, call upon the US president, Barack Obama, to take action at a press conference of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance

ChecktheWeather co-founder Kari Fulton, a leader in the US youth climate movement, cries as she delivers an emotional speech calling upon the US president, Barack Obama, to take action on climate change

On Day 2 of UNFCCC COP 15 in Copenhagen, a major wave of reactions was caused by the ‘leak’ of a draft proposal written by Denmark, US and other developed countries. The proposal, written and negotiated by only a few select rich countries and largely leaving out any voice from the Global South, has been deemed unfair and dangerous.  You can read the full text and read more background information on the proposal at the Guardian, click here.

Here are some immediate reactions to the text:
–A press release statement from over 25 civil society groups of the Global South: “They are an attack on the democratic processes of UN negotiations. And they are an affront to the interest of small and poor countries in the negotiations.”
–Friends of the Earth: “grossly unfair and a non-starter”
–International Rivers: “The end result is lots of offsets, few real emission reductions.”

A video from NTV Kenya on protests held at the Bella Center in reaction to the proposal.  Also check out ChecktheWeather contributor Kari Fulton’s account of the protests here.

From theRoot.com:

Developing countries at the Climate Change Summit want to be heard—and compensated.

By Dayo Olopade

It isn’t often that Russians climb in bed with Rwandans. Yet, as the much-hyped United Nations climate summit convenes in Copenhagen this week, 56 world newspapers unites against the growing threat of catastrophic climate change. An editorial urging global action to deflect the worst effects of fossil fuel dependence appeared in major news outlets, including ones in Moscow and Kigali—and in 10 other newspapers published from the African continent. “This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west,” the text, originally drafted by the Guardian UK, read. “Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone.”

Read the rest of the article at TheRoot.com.

Yesterday the The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced the results from their recent endangerment findings on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Public Health. Through an official press release from the EPA the agency announced that Greenhouse Gas Emissions are bad for the public health and welfare of American people. The EPA also found that emissions from on road vehicles contribute to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. While Environmental organizations have been screaming this message for decades, this finding is important because it gives the EPA the leverage to regulate greenhouse gas emissions even before the United States Congress comes to agreement on clean-energy legislation.

Today, Lisa Jackson discussed these findings and more with United States delegates and non-governmental representatives in attendance at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The common response from those in attendance was that this was a good finding and gave extra negotiating power to Obama to support binding international regulations on climate change.

At the same time as Jackson’s presentation, dozens of African youth stormed the halls of the convention center urging for stronger regulations on Greenhouse Gas Emissions that are causing drastic Climate Change especially in Africa and the Global South.

The United States is one of the largest contributors to climate change putting out an estimated 25 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. The Common message from African youth at the convention is that they feel an affinity for President Obama because he is of African descent. Several stated they hoped he could come in and offer true support to the African continent.

Now that Obama does not have to wait on congress to regulate carbon emissions the world waits and wonders if he can lead the world in a just and equitable fight against drastic climate change.

to read the findings and watch a video of the EPA press conference click here