bag em and tag em posted:

Don't be such doomers! If we band together as a society and stop all carbon emissions right now we can still mitigate the worst of the effects of climate change and save our civilization!

*Does not one solitary thing to reduce emissions*

*Approves record number of pipelines*

Cup Runneth Over posted:

wtf gently caress you guys I did this months ago

Cup Runneth Over posted:

wtf gently caress you guys I did this months ago

quote:

Fossil fuel companies are suing governments across the world for more than $18bn (£13bn) after action against climate change has threatened their profits, according to research conducted by campaign group Global Justice Now and provided exclusively to Sky News.

Five energy companies, including British companies Rockhopper and Ascent, are using a legal process that allows commercial entities to sue governments under international laws governing trade agreements and treaties.

These corporate arbitration courts operate outside of a country's domestic legal system.

According to Global Justice Now, which has collated publicly available information, five of the largest lawsuits under way are being brought by TC Energy, RWE, Uniper, Rockhopper and Ascent Resources.

The $18bn they are collectively suing for is almost a quarter of the entire climate funding provided by developed nations for developing ones, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development's (OECD) most recent assessment.

Rockhopper is currently suing the Italian government for $325m (£234.8m) in a dispute related to a ban on offshore oil drilling close to the coastline.

Ascent is asking for $118m (£163.3m) from Slovenia after it passed legislation requiring environmental assessments for fracking.

Canada based TC Energy, the company behind the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, is suing the US government for $15bn (£10.9bn) after the Biden administration cancelled the project, citing the fight against climate change.

Meanwhile German companies RWE and Uniper are suing the Dutch government for $1.6bn (£1.16bn) and $1.06bn (£768m) each following the Dutch government's move to phase out coal and shut down coal-fired power plants by 2030.

The majority of the cases are being brought under the Energy Charter Treaty, and are being hosted within the International Centre for The Settlement of Investment Disputes, a branch of the World Bank.

The Energy Charter Treaty was created after the end of the Cold War and was designed to provide a stable, transparent legal framework that protected foreign investors as energy markets opened up.

Global Justice Now trade campaigner Jean Blaylock told Sky News: "Fossil fuel companies should be paying to fix the climate crisis they caused, but instead they want a payout.

"They're suing governments who take climate action through secretive corporate courts, massively increasing the cost of climate action".

She added: "These courts are built into trade deals and operate outside of and supersede domestic courts and legal systems. That means a country that passes meaningful legislation to phase out fossil fuels could face a multi-billion dollar fine, despite acting entirely legally. It's utterly undemocratic.

"These cases are only becoming more common as governments commit to climate action. World leaders may finally be waking up to the threat of the climate and ecological crisis, but fossil fuel companies are holding them to ransom, demanding ever-greater pay-outs through corporate courts.

"When world leaders gather in Glasgow, they'll make lofty promises on climate action, but it will all be for nought if fossil fuel companies can sue governments into a state of climate paralysis. It could make a mockery of pledges at COP26."

Global Justice Now campaigners say that the UK is a hub for the international arbitration system and that all, but two of the top 30 law firms, involved in the lucrative industry have offices in London.

Protestors are planning to gather outside these law and energy firms on Friday.

A spokesperson for Rockhopper told Sky News: "The Energy Charter Treaty is designed to provide a stable platform for energy sector investments. The Italian government issued licences and encouraged significant investment in oil and gas exploration, based on this platform.

"Clearly it is not equitable to change the rules halfway through. It is also important to note that those rule changes made by the Italian government were not related to climate change and that Italy continues to produce significant quantities of oil and gas within 12 miles of the coast."

A spokesperson for German company RWE said: "RWE is not suing the Dutch government for deciding to phase out coal. We expressly support the energy transition in the Netherlands and associated measures to reduce carbon emissions.

"[But] the Dutch law does not provide for the resulting disruption to the property of affected companies. We do not consider this right."

"RWE has therefore filed a request for arbitration against the Netherlands at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes [ICSID] in Washington under the Energy Charter Treaty."


A spokesperson for Ascent Resources told Sky News: "Slovenia's Ministry of Health, Ministry of Infrastructure, the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, the Forestry Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, the Chemical Office of the Republic of Slovenia and the Conservation Institute of the Republic of Slovenia all concluded that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not required.

"The ARSO [Slovenian Environment Agency] decision was therefore not based on the recommendations of Slovenia's own experts and, furthermore, it contradicted the opinions they gave.

"It is therefore manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable."

A spokesperson for Uniper said: "The Dutch government has announced its intention to shut down the last coal-fired power plants by 2030 without compensation.

"Uniper is convinced that shutting down our power plant in Maasvlakte after only 15 years of operation would be unlawful without adequate compensation.

"International law provides a different standard of investment protection open to investors from other countries in international courts. The international tribunal is appointed by both parties, i.e. the Dutch state and Uniper.

"We are convinced that such an international tribunal will also form an objective opinion."

TC Energy said that it was unable to comment further on a legal matter.

Cold on a Cob posted:

drat, yours is way better you should make the earth less of a dead husk and more of a red hot dead husk

Cup Runneth Over posted:

the skull isn't like that in the original but fine

Caseman posted:

Something like this? I don't understand any of that at all, but nothing in that seems to say "and then a bunch of people make a lot of money" so. Scifi speculation from the Star Trek universe.

Dreylad posted:

I wanted to post this since it seemed to me in the same category as A Full Life and what do you know, also by Paolo Bacigalupi: The People of Sand and Slag

quote:

Nearly half of Americans who plan to move in the next year say natural disasters and extreme temperatures factored into their decision to relocate, according to an April survey conducted by real estate brokerage firm Redfin.

Last month, the United Nations’ climate panel delivered a dire report calling for immediate action. The agency warned that limiting global warming to close to 1.5 degrees Celsius or even 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels “will be beyond reach” in the next two decades without rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The report said that at 2 degrees Celsius, heat extremes would often reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health.

Wakko posted:

holy crap i read this decades ago and never connected that it was same guy as the water knife

funny how optimistic it reads from just a little further in the century

Dreylad posted:

to be honest these sort of bladerunner 2049 type futures where we have adapted to the climate but our economic and political systems persist like a shambling corpse with every person directed by force to keep things operating seems like a much worse outcome than the real doomer stuff.

the idea that we could go through an apocalyptic climate crisis and nothing loving changes at all just seems like a nightmare tbh

vyelkin posted:

good vibes only itt

Mayor Dave posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNjWOCdony4

Cold on a Cob posted:

Fossil fuel firms sue governments across the world for £13bn as climate policies threaten profits

actionjackson posted:

has anyone here besides me actually lived in a dome

I lived in a dome home for a couple years, all I can say is triangle windows bitch

Wakko posted:

fukkin doublepost

editing in some content: Climate migration is already happening — for homeowners who can afford it

Leroy Diplowski posted:

I lived in a dome when I was a teenager. It was pretty chill. We did keel haul a kid over the roof one time tho.

Cup Runneth Over posted:

Alobar posted:

now i'm caught up on climate science, i now know that we're at the part where the titanic is starting to raise up into the air but has not yet snapped in half as a species

Mayor Dave posted:

lmao which one of you bought this banner ad:



leading to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNjWOCdony4

silicone thrills posted:

We're at the part where people are falling onto the propeller in the movie and everyone starts laughing

Evil_Greven posted:

lol

lmao

Mayor Dave posted:

lmao which one of you bought this banner ad:



leading to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNjWOCdony4

Mayor Dave posted:

lmao which one of you bought this banner ad:



leading to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNjWOCdony4

Mayor Dave posted:

lmao which one of you bought this banner ad:



leading to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNjWOCdony4

bobmarleysghost posted:

i made sure to separate the different types of plastics in the recycle bin. just doing my part!

Basic Poster posted:

oh. is this the new climate change thread?

Communist Thoughts posted:

start bombing factories

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

quote:

Mr. Biollo understood that the lanternfly is a problem for many reasons, but mostly because it zealously feeds on the sap of more than 70 plant species, leaving them susceptible to disease and destruction from other natural antagonists, threatening to set back the fight against climate change. In Pennsylvania, the issue is taken so seriously that the state issued a Spotted Lanternfly Order of Quarantine and Treatment, which imposes fines and even potential criminal penalties on anyone who intentionally moves the bug, at any stage of its life, from one sort of location to another via “recreational vehicles, tractors, mowers, grills” as well as “tarps, mobile homes, tile, stone, deck boards” or “fire pits.”

The insects hop and fly only short distances, but they move with ease and reproduce maniacally. “They can hitch a ride on a baseball cap in the back of your car,” Ronnit Bendavid-Val, the director of horticulture at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, told me. “I can’t think of something they don’t lay their eggs on — cloth, metal, furniture, sides of buildings and of course trees.” There are no natural predators that go after them, no organic pesticides to shut down their operation, so “if you see one, “squish it,” Ms. Bendavid-Val said, “that’s the message.”

God Hole posted:

in a couple of months i turn 30. just before that, i will fulfill an appointment with my urologist to get a vasectomy. feels good man. my only concern is that i'll be one of the 1% who develop chronic ball pains

Mayor Dave posted:

it really is easier to imagine the end of the world than an end to capitalism

McNugget Buddy posted:

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1438548266996715525

This is fine