Suella Braverman and her compatriots (and you, if you find yourself excessively annoyed) are playing the world’s smallest violin when it comes to the degree of disruption Just Stop Oil activists, demanding the ban of all new fossil fuel projects, have caused in the United Kingdom. “Threat to our way of life” seems to be a bit of a melodramatic battlecry when your adversaries are your neighbours…
Tag Archives: climatechange
International Human Rights Law Missed the Boat on Environmental Justice – Yes, Even During its Recent Success Story
On September 23 2022, eight indigenous Australian Torres Strait Islanders and six of their children became the first claimants in international legal history to successfully assert, in front of the UN Human Rights Committee, the failure of a national government to protect human rights from the consequences of government-engendered climate change…
The Destruction of the Amazon: Systemic Causes
Fires are currently burning in the Amazon rainforest at the highest rate in over 10 years. Via ABCNews. The Amazon rainforest is disappearing at a record rate. Deforestation in the Amazon has been continually increasing, and is up by 30% from last year. As a result, this year marks the highest rate of deforestation inContinue reading “The Destruction of the Amazon: Systemic Causes”
Climate Change Denial is a Corporate Project
People’s Climate March 2017 in Washington D.C. (source: Wikimedia Commons) Thanks to the work of environmental activists, people from all over the world now view climate crisis as the ‘most important issue’ of our time. This public recognition, however, is barely reflected in politics. The EU goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 – which,Continue reading “Climate Change Denial is a Corporate Project”
Opinion: We need to end the cult of Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg at the 2019 meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 25, 2019 Copyright by World Economic Forum / Manuel Lopez via flickr Last Monday, the 16-year-old Swedish student-turned-climate-activist Greta Thunberg delivered a passionate and pointed speech to the attendees of U.N.’s Climate Action Summit in New York City. She called forContinue reading “Opinion: We need to end the cult of Greta Thunberg”
Climate Change-Related Displacement: The “refugee” label, human rights, and state responsibility
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the primary international organisation advocating for refugee rights. The UNHCR 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees constitute the fundamental international legal instrument for the protection of refugee rights. According to Article 1A(2), a refugee is defined as aContinue reading “Climate Change-Related Displacement: The “refugee” label, human rights, and state responsibility”
Third Generation Project: Because Climate Change Is a Human Rights Issue
Third Generation Project (TGP) is an innovative think-tank, based in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. TGP exists to collaboratively advocate and promote the collective rights of communities, in particular those who are on the frontlines of climate change. Human rights function on three levels. Primary and secondary rights formContinue reading “Third Generation Project: Because Climate Change Is a Human Rights Issue”
The Right to Food: Climate Change
While some politicians continue to deny either the existence or the importance and urgency of global climate change, as seen recently in the US, it is evident that climate change is having a tangible, present-day impact on food production, and may in the future lead to greater food insecurity. It is therefore vital that contemporaryContinue reading “The Right to Food: Climate Change”
Climate Refugees: A Global Issue
Europe is in the midst of a massive migrant crisis as people flee from nations of conflict in the Middle East. A refugee in this context has been defined by the 1951 UN Refugee Convention as a person with “well-founded fear of being persecuted because of race, religion, nationality, or membership of a social groupContinue reading “Climate Refugees: A Global Issue”
Unnatural Disasters and the Fight for Gender Equality
Most people in the 21st century believe in global warming. Its impact on our physical environment is – literally – impossible to escape. The frequency and intensity of droughts, floods, storms, cyclones, heatwaves, and other extreme weather events – so-called ‘natural disasters’ – is ever-mounting, now killing more people annually than have been killed inContinue reading “Unnatural Disasters and the Fight for Gender Equality”
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