Eight weeks ago, the famed white sand beaches of northeast Brazil began blackening as globs of toxic oil suddenly appeared to coat or contaminate crustaceans, fish, sea turtles, birds, rocks, and shallow mangrove nurseries sheltering all manner of marine life.
Rapidly reducing carbon emissions impossible with rising militarism and military spendingRapidly reducing carbon emissions impossible with rising militarism and military spending
Earlier this month, the 29 leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) went to London to celebrate their alliance’s anniversary but snubbed the opening of United Nations climate conference, where the other 164 world leaders and their delegations were meeting in Madrid.
In the United States, coal, that supervillain of fossil-fuels, is in a death spiral. But on a global scale, there’s no spiral, just an arrow pointing to Asia. Turns out coal isn’t dying; it’s moving.
The United Nations climate talks went into record overtime and then ended in failure on Sunday. The countries gathered in Madrid for COP25 were unable to agree on the main objectives of the negotiations and kicked the most important decisions down the road to next year’s meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.
Members and allies of Climate Action Network Canada made the following statements at the conclusion of COP25:
Catherine Abreu, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada:
“You know something is broken when those demanding climate justice are pushed outside of the climate conference - as hundreds were this week - and those delaying climate action are allowed to stay inside.
Protests led by Indigenous leaders shut down the main hall of COP25 in Madrid on Wednesday. In an unprecedented event, about 500 people stormed the area outside the high-level negotiations decrying the lack of action by assembled governments to address the climate emergency.
![The Khadia open pit mine is 27 km long. Workers loading coal into trucks work in hazardous conditions wear no protective equipment and accidents are frequent. Photo by: international accountability project. Flickr [CC BY 2.0]](https://ecosocialistsvancouver.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/article-image/12227000925_f2549129a2_c.jpg?itok=ZQWYdfQK)
