Greenpeace Euro 2020 parachutist lucky not to be shot down, says politician

Bavarian minister says activist could have ‘paid with life’ for stunt before Germany v France game in Munich

A Greenpeace protester who parachuted into the stadium before Germany’s Euro 2020 match against France in Munich was lucky not to have been shot down by anti-terror marksmen enforcing a no-fly zone, a state minister has said.

Two people were injured when the activist lost control of his powered paraglider, which had a motor attached to his back, and hit overhead camera wires attached to the stadium roof. Fans ducked as he careered towards the spectator area, narrowly missing the stands and demolishing technical equipment before crashing in front of the German penalty area.

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Myanmar school strikes and a plane diverted to Minsk: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to China

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‘Cataclysmic day’ for oil companies sparks climate hope

Court and investor defeats over carbon emissions a historic turning point, say campaigners and lawyers

A “cataclysmic day” for three major oil companies in which investors rebelled over climate fears and a court ordered fossil fuel emissions to be slashed has sparked hope among campaigners, investors, lawyers and academics who said the historic decisions marked a turning point in efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered Shell to cut carbon emissions from its oil and gas by 45% by 2030. A tiny activist investor group simultaneously won two places on ExxonMobil’s board and Chevron’s management was defeated when investors voted in favour of forcing the group to cut its carbon emissions.

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Far-left activists claim responsibility for Tesla factory site fire in Germany

Investigators examining letter from group claiming to be behind fire at Grünheide ‘Gigafactory’ site

German police are investigating whether a fire that broke out overnight at the construction site of Tesla’s first European Gigafactory had a political motive, after far-left activists claimed responsibility.

The fire at the site in Grünheide in the eastern state of Brandenburg early on Wednesday morning damaged several power cables, said a spokesperson for the LKA state criminal investigation office.

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Environment protest being criminalised around world, say experts

More than 400 climate scientists sign letter that says activists are being targeted at pivotal time in fight against global heating

Peaceful environmental protesters are being threatened, silenced and criminalised in countries around the world including the UK and the US, according to some of the world’s leading climate scientists and academics.

More than 400 leading experts – including 14 authors from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – say that non-violent civil disobedience from groups like the school strikers, Extinction Rebellion and the Sunrise Movement have transformed the debate around the climate crisis in recent years.

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The Apache war against copper mining: ‘this is an act of desecration’ — video

Chí’chil Biłdagoteel - otherwise known as Oak Flat, Arizona – is regarded as sacred ancestral land by the Apache people. With the territory at risk of being sold for copper mining to a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, resident Wendsler Nosie has set up a protest movement from his tipi, alongside his daughter and granddaughter. With no support from the courts, Wendsler and the community are anxiously hoping the Biden administration will pause the land transfer. With religious freedom and environmental protection at risk, they await the call with further news


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Jeff VanderMeer: ‘Success changes who I can reach with an environmental message’

The author of the bestselling Southern Reach trilogy talks about taking notes on leaves, the adaptation of Annihilation and his new ecological thriller

In Jeff VanderMeer’s new novel, Hummingbird Salamander, the unnamed protagonist is presented in the opening pages with the key to a safety deposit box. Inside, she finds a taxidermied hummingbird and a note with just three words (and six dots) on it:

Hummingbird

......

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Urgent policies needed to steer countries to net zero, says IEA chief

Economies are gearing up for return to fossil fuel use instead of forging green recovery, warns Fatih Birol

New energy policies are urgently needed to put countries on the path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s leading energy economist has warned, as economies are rapidly gearing up for a return to fossil fuel use instead of forging a green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most of the world’s biggest economies now have long-term goals of reaching net zero by mid-century, but few have the policies required to meet those goals, said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

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Parkour climate activists switch off Paris shop signs to fight light pollution – video

With France under nationwide curfew from 6pm to 6am, the usually crowded Champs-Élysées in the centre of Paris is all but empty these days. But that has not stopped businesses along the avenue continuing to keep their signs and advertisements turned on. Now a group of parkour climate activists have begun climbing buildings to turn off the signs as part of the Lights Off movement, which seeks to take a stand against light pollution. Since going viral on TikTok, similar actions have started taking place in other French cities 

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Balloon test flight plan under fire over solar geoengineering fears

Swedish environmental groups warn test flight could be first step towards the adoption of a potentially “dangerous, unpredictable, and unmanageable” technology

A proposed scientific balloon flight in northern Sweden has attracted opposition from environmental groups over fears it could lead to the use of solar geoengineering to cool the Earth and combat the climate crisis by mimicking the effect of a large volcanic eruption.

In June, a team of Harvard scientists is planning to launch a high-altitude balloon from Kiruna in Lapland to test whether it can carry equipment for a future small-scale experiment on radiation-reflecting particles in the Earth’s atmosphere.

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Court convicts French state for failure to address climate crisis

State found guilty of ‘non-respect of its engagements’ aimed at fighting global warming

A Paris court has convicted the French state of failing to address the climate crisis and not keeping its promises to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

In what has been hailed as a historic ruling, the court found the state guilty of “non-respect of its engagements” aimed at combating global warming.

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‘A bit like The Great Escape’: activists hold out in Euston tunnel

HS2 protesters describe how they built tunnel, as officials warn of danger from gas and water pipes

Environmental activists have held out for their second night in the Euston tunnel, but eviction officers have said the tunnel is close to gas and water pipes and that the activists are putting their own lives at risk.

The tunnellers described how they constructed what is thought to be one of the largest tunnel networks to be occupied by protesters in one of the busiest parts of London without being detected.

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The Wolf Dividing Norway: the hunter v the environmentalist – video

With unique access to remote communities in the snow-capped landscape of Norway, this film follows characters on either side of a fierce debate on whether to cull the wolf population. For decades the topic has split political parties, families and communities across the country, with environmentalists world-wide criticising Norway for how it handles its tiny population of critically endangered wolves.  Here, a group of hunters await news from the government on whether their yearly hunt will be permitted, while the environmentalists anticipate the worst.  With angry threats on both sides, the film takes a deep dive into what’s at stake for both groups, as well as the wider world

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Secretive ‘gold rush’ for deep-sea mining dominated by handful of firms

Greenpeace report warns against granting licences to ‘deeply destructive’ industry with opaque oversight, and calls for global ocean treaty

Private mining firms and arms companies are exerting a hidden and unhealthy influence on the fate of the deep-sea bed, according to a new report highlighting the threats facing the world’s biggest intact ecosystem.

An investigation by Greenpeace found a handful of corporations in Europe and North America are increasingly dominating exploration contracts, and have at times taken the place of government representatives at meetings of the oversight body, the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA).

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‘Dollars don’t vote’: Ocasio-Cortez and the ‘Squad’ rally for action on climate crisis – video

The New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among members of the 'Squad', a group of progressive Democrats, who spoke at a Sunrise Movement rally in Washington to push Joe Biden on tackling the climate emergency.

AOC said they would urge Biden to 'keep his promises' to working families, women, minorities and climate activists as he fills his cabinet.

In July, Biden outlined an ambitious climate plan that would spend $2tn over four years investing in clean-energy infrastructure while vowing to cut carbon emissions from electrical power to zero in 15 years

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‘We’ve had so many wins’: why the green movement can overcome climate crisis

Leaded petrol, acid rain, CFCs … the last 50 years of environmental action have shown how civil society can force governments and business to change

Leaflets printed on “rather grotty” blue paper. That is how Janet Alty will always remember one of the most successful environment campaigns of modern times: the movement to ban lead in petrol.

There were the leaflets she wrote to warn parents at school gates of the dangers, leaflets to persuade voters and politicians, leaflets to drown out the industry voices saying – falsely – there was nothing to worry about.

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Children urged to strike against lack of action on climate emergency

Schoolchildren to protest on Friday in first such action since coronavirus pandemic struck

Schoolchildren around the world are being urged to go on strike to protest against a lack of action on the climate crisis.

Children and their supporters are invited to take to the streets on Friday, if it is safe to do so, or to go online with their protests “in whatever way suits you best”, according to the organisers.

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Extinction Rebellion plans bank holiday weekend ‘uprising’

Climate protests including ‘funeral march’ due to take place across UK, with focus on airports

Climate demonstrations are due to take place across the UK this weekend, as the environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion launches its latest “uprising”.

This weekend’s events will include a “funeral march” in Lewes, East Sussex, to “mark the death and destruction wrought by humans on our natural world”. The march, described as a Procession for the Planet, will include mourners dressed in black and a jazz band.

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National Trust sacking education officers ‘will hit worst-off children’

Volunteers accuse charity of excluding deprived and minority ethnic schoolchildren

Volunteers are accusing the National Trust of excluding deprived and minority ethnic schoolchildren from enjoying nature and visiting its properties with the planned sacking of the charity’s education officers.

The number of protests and petitions are growing over the trust’s controversial “reset” involving the proposed loss of 1,200 jobs, including its learning staff, as the charity plans to stop providing any curriculum-based content or learning activities for schools.

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Another two years lost to climate inaction, says Greta Thunberg

Two years on from her first school strike, activist attacks ‘ignorance and unawareness’

Two years on from Greta Thunberg’s first solo school strike for the climate, she says the world has wasted the time by failing to take the necessary action on the crisis.

Thunberg’s strike inspired a global movement, and on Thursday she and other leading school strikers will meet Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the European council. They will demand a halt to all fossil fuel investments and subsidies and the establishment of annual, binding carbon budgets based on the best science.

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