When it comes to our understanding of the unfolding global crisis, each of us seems to fit somewhere along a continuum of awareness that can be roughly divided into five stages: 1. Dead asleep At this stage there seem to be no fundamental problems, just some shortcomings in human organization, behaviour and morality that can be fixed with the proper attention to … [Read more...]
Greenpeace Africa responds to Congo oil block cancellation
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has decided to remove Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The decision follows clarification “provided by the national authorities that the oil concessions overlapping with the property are null and void and that these blocks will be excluded from future … [Read more...]
Additional offshore drilling plans for Mossel Bay on hold
The Green Connection and its partners – small-scale subsistence fishers from around the country – have welcomed TOTAL E & P South Africa B.V’s announcement that it will postpone their application for additional drilling and associated activities in Block 11B/12B off South Africa’s south coast. The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) process has also been … [Read more...]
Extinction Rebellion condemns East African crude oil pipeline
Extinction Rebellion South Africa calls for all environmentally and socially conscious people to close their accounts with Standard Bank South Africa, and move them to a bank that treats the climate and ecological crisis with the urgency it deserves. Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) of Japan are reportedly about to … [Read more...]
Help stop the controversial African crude oil pipeline
Oil giant Total is about to build the biggest heated oil pipeline in the world - right through the heart of Africa! It will rip through some of the most important elephant, lion and chimpanzee reserves on Earth, displace tens of thousands of families, and tip the whole planet closer to full-blown climate catastrophe. Local communities are doing all they can to fight the … [Read more...]
Calling on banks to stop funding East African oil pipeline
Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) of Japan are reportedly about to finance a 1,443-kilometer crude oil pipeline through Uganda and Tanzania. If built, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) would be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world. Extinction Rebellion SA condemns the pipeline project and will take … [Read more...]
North Sea methane leak caused by oil industry blow-out
Activists on board the Greenpeace ship Esperanza documented a large methane leak located in the British exclusive economic zone in the North Sea. Using an ROV (Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle), they were able to film two of the gas-emitting craters at about 100m water depth on the seafloor (at positions 57°55.30’N, 001°37.87’E and 57°54.81’N, 001°38.72’E), which are … [Read more...]
Civil society calls for protection of the Congo Basin peatlands
In a petition addressed to Multilateral Development Banks, Member States of the African Union, Member States of the United Nations, and donor countries and partners of the Central African Forest Initiative, the African Climate Reality Project is calling for world leaders to save the Congo basin peatlands from oil exploration and corruption. The Congo Basin, home to the … [Read more...]
Fossil fuel phase-out: It’s time to say it loud and clear
Mixed signals about the future of fossil fuels are delaying climate action. The energy transition - and our planet - depends on absolute clarity, writes WWF's Jesse Fahnestock. The past weeks have seen the publication of the Global Renewables Outlook from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), as well as a variety of articles discussing how historically low oil … [Read more...]
Which party to vote for our children?
Our short month ends with political parties’ manifestos being published for all to see. First thing I look for has to be how will they preserve our habitat so that our and all children can make a future here? No matter how much the focus zones into other matters, if we don’t have sufficient and clean water, food and renewable energy all that talk will be wasted, for we … [Read more...]
Coalition calls on AfDB to commit to 100% renewable future
In a bid to have Africa commit to 100% renewable energy and to increase transparency in the continent’s energy sector, Zero – a coalition campaign between climate change volunteers and Non-Profit Organisations (NGOs) around the continent – was launched yesterday on the side-lines of the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg, South … [Read more...]
Let’s take take Arctic oil to court!
The world over, oil companies are looking to ever more extreme and dangerous locations to drill, in a reckless bid to exploit the oil we have to keep in the ground. But from the Arctic, to the Canadian Tar Sands and now in the Great Australian Bight - where a huge people-powered win saw oil giant BP ditch its dangerous ultra-deepwater drilling - people have begun to break … [Read more...]
Moving beyond the fossil fuel era
“We are living in a historic moment. We are seeing the start of a global transition towards renewable energy. At the same time, we’re already witnessing irreversible impacts of climate change. The talks and surrounding commitments send a strong signal to everyone – the fossil fuel era is coming to an end. As climate impacts worsen around the world, we need to seize on the … [Read more...]
