All articles
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Tuvalu E! Not Even The Dead Are Safe
Today marks the first day of the Tuvalu King Tides Festival. The festival slogan is a call to arms: “Tuvalu e! The tide is rising”.
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Commercial Whaling Back On The Cards
The end to large-scale, industrial whaling was achieved in 1986 and is seen as one of the great victories of the environment movement. But this achievement might be undone by negotiations currently underway. Commercial whaling could be set for a comeback after closed-door negotiations between 12 countries, including Japan and Australia, resulted in a proposal…
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We Aren’t Celebrating The Fact We’re Drowning
Shirley Atatagi is one of our political advisors based in the Pacific. She's currently in Tuvalu for the King Tides Festival. In this blog post she explains Tuvalu's vulnerability to climate change impacts and why Tuvaluans celebrate the festival.
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Success: Renewable Energy Target Strengthened
Today we’re celebrating as the Government announced it would straighten out some of the problems with its Renewable Energy Target. A key 2007 election promise from Kevin Rudd was to increase the Renewable Energy Target (“RET”). The RET was supposed to make sure 20% of Australia’s electricity came from renewable sources by 2020. However, after…
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Abbott On Climate: “Indirect Inaction”
The Coalition today announced a weak and incoherent climate policy that will ensure pollution as usual. Reading through the document feels a bit like what I would imagine it would be like to eat styrofoam – no substance, hard to swallow and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. For a ‘direct action’ plan, there…
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Major Parties Fail On Climate: 12 New Coal Plants Proposed
As federal Parliament resumes this week, climate change is back on top of the agenda. Both sides continue treating the issue like a political football. It’s a bit like being diagnosed with cancer and then having your doctors endlessly squabble about what to do about it. The reality is that while Kevin Rudd and Tony…
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Whaling On Trial In Japan
The trial date for the Tokyo Two is finally approaching after months of drawn-out pre-court processes.
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New Global Leader For A New Year: Kumi Naidoo
A new year has sprung from the hope and ashes of 2009. It’s a perfect opportunity for us to introduce you to Kumi Naidoo – the new leader of Greenpeace internationally. Kumi is also the first African to take on the job as Executive Director of Greenpeace International. In a recent interview with the BBC,…
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Joss Garman: Copenhagen – Historic failure that will live in infamy
Originally published in The Independent The most progressive US president in a generation comes to the most important international meeting since the Second World War and delivers a speech so devoid of substance that he might as well have made it on speaker-phone from a beach in Hawaii. His aides argue in private that he…
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Assessment Of Copenhagen Accord
It ain’t good enough. Not by a long way. It isn’t fair, it isn’t ambitious, it isn’t legally binding – and it isn’t going to save the world from runaway global warming. Our political team on the ground in Copenhagen have pulled this quick (interim) assessment of the details of the Copenhagen Accord. We’ll be…