Tag: Climate Change

Twitter Bans Ads That Defy Climate Change Science

Twitter on Friday banned ads that deny the reality of climate change.

Twitter’s announcement on Earth Day came as it tries to fend off an unwanted takeover bid by billionaire Elon Musk, who has said he thinks people should be able to say pretty much whatever they want on the platform.

“Misleading advertisements on Twitter that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change are prohibited, in line with our inappropriate content policy,” Twitter global sustainability manager Casey Junod said in a blog post.

“We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetised on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis.”

Twitter last year introduced a Topic feature to help users find conversations about climate change, and rolled out hubs of “credible, authoritative” information on an array of high-profile topics including the science backing climate change.

“We recognise that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet,” Junod said.

“Now more than ever, meaningful climate action, from all of us, is critical.”

As tempting as access to Musk’s wealth may be, Twitter is not eager to be ruled by a billionaire known for shooting from the hip with little regard for the consequences.

The global one-to-many messaging platform is moving to prevent Musk from getting his hands on all of Twitter’s outstanding shares, signaling that worries about where he would lead the company outweigh the proffered payoff.

Earlier this month Musk, the world’s richest person and a controversial and frequent user of Twitter himself, made an unsolicited bid of $43 billion (roughly Rs. 3,28,800 crore) for the social media network, citing better freedom of speech as a motivation.

Musk advocates a hands-off approach to policing content, a thorny matter particularly in high-profile cases such as that of former US president Donald Trump, who was banned after the assault on the Capitol by his supporters as they sought to overturn the US election result last year.

But the polarising Tesla CEO’s campaign has also sparked concern among technology and free-speech experts who point to Musk’s unpredictable statements and history of bullying critics, which contradict his stated aims.

Twitter’s board opted to employ a “poison pill” defense, under which any acquisition of over 15 percent of the firm’s stock without its OK would trigger a plan to flood the market with shares and thus make a buyout much harder.



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Torres Strait Islanders fight the loss of their ancestral home — Global Issues

The Torres Strait Islands, an autonomous part of Australia, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis, and extreme weather, including storms, rising sea levels and erosion, are a major threat to the indigenous people, who have inhabited the islands for some 70,000 years.

With the case ongoing, Mr. Molby and his fellow activists have been recognized as human rights leaders for their efforts to draw attention to the plight of their community.

“I come from Masig island, in the central part of the Torres Strait, which is between Papua New Guinea and the tip of Queensland.

There is something powerful about this teardrop-shaped island. There is an aura, which draws people to this place, which has protected us for thousands of years.

I am connected through this land to the birds, the sky, and the plants which surrounds us. I’m a part of the insects, the mammals, and the marine life, and they are a part of me.

We’ve been taught to live as one with nature, to protect and preserve it, in the way that it has been protecting and preserving us, our culture, and our tradition. 

The right to protection against climate change

“We have the right to practice and carry on our traditions and culture, and the right to pass on what was passed on to us, by our parents, our grandparents, and our ancestors.

We have the right to pass that ancient knowledge to the next generation. 

We’ve been through everything: the first cases of chicken pox, the first common flu – which practically wiped us out – and World War Two. But we survived.

Australia has an obligation to look after all Australians, and we have a right to remain on our Island.

Refugees in our own country

The Torres Strait Eight come from different islands but we all have the same passion to protect what belongs to us, for our future.

Otherwise, we won’t have a land to call home. We will be refugees in our own country. My children will have to be relocated, because the government will definitely remove us from homes.

So we said no. We’re not moving. What’s here is ours.

Loved ones washed away

Here on Masig, 30 to 50 metres out to sea, is where the beach was. There were villages all along the southeast coast.

You could hear laughter of children, while their mothers wove mats. The men would walk out on the reef to find food. It was a laid-back life, but a happy and safe life.

Then, we began to lose land to the sea, and the remains of our loved ones were washed away.

This affects us mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Marine life exodus

We used to have a lot of birds on this island.

Like the black and white pelican, the black and white booby bird, and others.

They don’t nest here anymore, and this is a sign that something is, you know, definitely is not right.

We used to have lagoons rich with seafood. At low tide, women could easily fish in their lagoons, whilst their children learned to swim with their big brothers and sisters, and grandmothers babysat the smallest kids.

Now. It’s a desert out there. The lagoons have gone, filled with sand, and empty of life.

Dangers in the deep

Making a living is getting harder. The major income on Masig is crayfish. Now, all the men have to go further out, and spend more on fuel.

It’s always dangerous to go out further, and the families of the husbands and sons out there fear for them.

There are a lot of dangerous things in the ocean, but the scariest thing is if the weather changes. You wonder if you will make it back home.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You can hear the full audio interview here.

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The Suicidal War on Nature Continues Unabated

The planet is losing 4.7 million hectares of forests every year – an area larger than Denmark, according to a new UN report. Credit: UNDP
  • by Baher Kamal (madrid)
  • Inter Press Service

MADRID, Apr 20 (IPS) – The gloomy picture is drawn from indisputable scientific conclusions and should be already known by everybody, in particular by decision-makers, whether they are politicians… or rather not.

Oceans filling with plastic and turning more acidic. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods, as well as a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, have affected millions of people. Even these days, we are still facing COVID-19, a worldwide health pandemic linked to the health of our ecosystem.

Climate change, man-made changes to nature as well as crimes that disrupt biodiversity, such as deforestation, land-use change, intensified agriculture and livestock production or the growing illegal wildlife trade, can accelerate the speed of destruction of the planet.

The message is clear. And it is now once more launched on the occasion of the International Mother Earth Day, marked 22 April 2022, coinciding with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

“Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people. Restoring our damaged ecosystems will help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent mass extinction…”

Making peace with nature

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report “Making Peace with Nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies” translates the current state of scientific knowledge into crisp, clear and digestible facts-based messages that the world can relate to and follow up on.

“Humanity is waging war on nature. This is senseless and suicidal. The consequences of our recklessness are already apparent in human suffering, towering economic losses and the accelerating erosion of life on Earth,” said António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, in his forward to the report.

Major facts

Many staggering facts have been repeated on the occasion of Mother Earth Day. Here are just some of them:

  • None of the agreed global goals for the protection of life on Earth and for halting the degradation of land and oceans have been fully met.
  • Three quarters of the land and two thirds of the oceans are now impacted by humans. One million of the world’s estimated 8 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction, and many of the ecosystem services essential for human well- being are eroding.
  • It is estimated that around one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.
  • The planet is losing 4.7 million hectares of forests every year – an area larger than Denmark.
  • A healthy ecosystem helps to protect humans from these diseases. Biological diversity makes it difficult for pathogens to spread rapidly.
  • Environmental changes are impeding progress towards ending poverty and hunger, reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable economic growth, work for all and peaceful and inclusive societies.
  • The well-being of today’s youth and future generations depends on an urgent and clear break with current trends of environmental decline.
  • The coming decade is crucial. Society needs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 compared to 2010 levels and reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to achieve the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target, while at the same time conserving and restoring biodiversity and minimising pollution and waste.
  • Over the last 50 years, the global economy has grown nearly fivefold, due largely to a tripling in extraction of natural resources and energy that has fuelled growth in production and consumption.
  • The world population has increased by a factor of two, to 7.8 billion people, and though on average prosperity has also doubled, about 1.3 billion people remain poor and some 700 million are hungry.
  • The increasingly unequal and resource-intensive model of development drives environmental decline through climate change, biodiversity loss and other forms of pollution and resource degradation.

Over-production, over-consumption

Two more scientific worrying findings are the fact that every year, 570 million tons of food is wasted at the household level, according to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2021.

And that meanwhile over 800 million people are still hungry, and global food waste accounts for 8–10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste accelerates the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.

There is plenty of information alerting against the ongoing devastating human war on Mother Nature.

Should you need to know more about what exactly is climate change and what does the Paris Agreement say? Also about what actions are being taken and who is carrying them out? What are the latest scientific reports on the subject? Are we in time to save Mother Earth? Discover it here.

It’s now or never

In its worth reading report Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, released on 4 April 2022, the Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), world scientists warn that “without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global warming to 1.5°C is beyond reach.”

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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