Climate protests peak:
Thousands rally worldwide as UN talks to revive deal falter
SAN FRANCISCO: Tens of thousands of people across the globe took to the streets to demand governments to step up action on global warming, even as United Nations climate talks tasked with breathing life into the Paris Agreement faltered.
Nearly 1,000 events in more than 90 countries delivered a twopronged message: speed up the shift to a world powered by renewable energy rather than planet-warming gas, oil and coal; and protect the people most vulnerable to rising seas and climate-enhanced extreme weather.
The rolling, 24-hour protest peaked in San Francisco, where thousands snaked through the city chanting and carrying handmade signs and banners.
Many slogans were barbs from the heart of Blue America pointed at Washington.
“Alternative Energy, not Alternative Facts,” read one, while another – more blunt -- said: “More Science, Less Bulls**t”.
“Defend democracy: impeach Putin’s poodle,” read a third, taking aim squarely at US President Donald Trump, who opted out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate treaty and has moved aggressively to dismantle the climate policies of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
California – by some estimates the fifth largest economy in the world – has committed ambitious goals for slashing carbon dioxide emissions over the next three decades.
Governor Jerry Brown leads a coalition of sub-national regions and cities also taking aggressive climate action. But within his own state, Brown has come under attack for allowing the continued extraction of natural gas and oil under his watch.
In France, up to 115,000 people turned out in what may be the country’s largest environmental demonstration. Clemence Dubois, the France campaigner for 350.org, an umbrella organisation for climate activists worldwide called the march “proof that citizens are ready to demand commitments from our elected officials”.
A “catastrophic summer” of heatwaves and wildfires across the northern hemisphere made many people realise that climate change is already upon us, she added. —