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GRETA
THUNBERG - is a Swedish climate activist. At the COP24
climate talks in Poland, December 2018, Miss Thunberg addressed the
Secretary-General of the United
Nations. She received a standing ovation for one of her talks.
She is behind the global school strike created to call attention to climate
change. She is a rebel. With a cause. Miss Thunberg is 15 and
autistic and the newest, youngest and most powerful voice on the
world stage demanding the world address global
warming. Even Arnold
Schwarzenegger is a fan.
CONCERNED
CLIMATE
ACTIVIST -
According to Greta and several media reports, she is concerned as to
profiteering from her name and political activities, where books
about her generate sales incomes for the authors, that does not find
its way to her cause. She is famous for striking outside the Swedish
Parliament with a sign saying: Sklstrejk
for Klimatet that loosely translates to Schools
striking for the climate. It is hardly surprising that people
should write about her in newspapers and books, where they do not
need her permission to do so since it is a right accorded to all
citizens on planet earth under the Universal Declaration and
European Convention of Human Rights under Articles 9 and 10. In
addition, Copyright law expressly allows comment on media, but
protects (for example) photographers from infringement of their
photographs. The point here being that Greta did not take or
commission the vast number of pictures that reporters have produced
in writing the articles that have made her famous. We understand
that among the myriad of books now available on the subject, that
she has now written (or commissioned) an official book that is a
best seller. Where she seeks trademarks for her name and slogans, we
wonder if that is contrary to trade
mark law, in the a person's name cannot be protected because it
is descriptive of the goods. Equally, slogans and the like are just
ordinary words that have been quoted in the media so many times that
they are devoid of any distinction as relates to a product. Unless
of course she plans to abandon her political career to become a
business woman! Where we believe that she deserves all the support
in the world for her cause, we hope that she does not fall off the
lofty perch on innocence that made her so famous.
Marianne Bäumler Politik Kein Kommentar 4 Januar 2019
Die wunderbare GRETA und die Hellsicht der Pubertät – Ein Appell zum Neuen Jahr an uns Alle!
Große Aufmerksamkeit bekam die Schülerin Greta Thunberg aus Stockholm, als sie kurz vor den schwedischen Parlamentswahlen begann, jeden Freitag die Schule zu schwänzen, um dann vor dem
Parlament für den Klimaschutz zu demonstrieren. Weltweite Bekanntheit erlangte sie dann durch ihre Rede beim UN-Klimagipfel in Kattowitz. With
such high hopes for change, Greta is up against the ranks of climate
criminals, such as Vladimir
Putin and Donald
Trump who are more interested in military advantage over the other,
even if that means there is no longer a planet
to fight over. Another Swedish countryman is organizing peaceful
protests in the United
Kingdom. 
BBC NEWS 26 APRIL 2019 - Climate change: Is Greta Thunberg right about UK carbon emissions?
A teenage climate activist who gained world recognition for her school strikes is claiming the UK has overstated how much it has reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
The gases - mainly carbon dioxide - from burning fossil fuels contribute to
global warming when released into the atmosphere. The UK's current target is to cut 80% of emissions from 1990 levels by 2050.
The government says greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 42% since 1990.
But Greta Thunberg told MPs in Westminster that the true reduction was more like 10%.
Two very different figures - can both be right?
It all depends on what you count as a country's emissions.
Miss Thunberg says the 42% figure excludes emissions from international aviation, shipping and imports, accusing the UK government of "very creative carbon accounting".
She is right to say that the figure misses out these things.
It refers to the UK's "territorial emissions" - that is a measure of what happens within the country's borders, including things such as heating and powering homes, transport, domestic industry and agriculture.
The UK is not unique in producing its figures like this, though. It is sticking to internationally agreed standards.
Each year, countries that are signed up to an international agreement called the Kyoto Protocol submit their overall emissions figures to the
UN. That reporting is all done on a territorial basis - so they all exclude international aviation, shipping and imports.
Miss Thunberg did also criticise other countries for using the same methods. What happens if you factor these in?
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), produces figures on "consumption emissions" - a measure of emissions based on everything the UK uses, including imports. These are not used as official figures though.
On this measure, the UK's estimated overall carbon footprint in 2016 was about 10% lower than in 1997 when it first published these figures.
In 2016, the UK consumed the equivalent of an estimated total of 784 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions - more than one-and-a-half times the 468 million tonnes from territorial emissions alone.
In 2017, international aviation to and from the UK was responsible for an estimated 35 million tonnes of
carbon
dioxide, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
International shipping from the UK produced about eight million tonnes - that has not changed dramatically since 1990.
So if the 10% figure Miss Thunberg used captures all the UK's consumption, is that the right one to use?
Unfortunately it is not quite as simple as that.
Consumption emissions figures are less accurate because tracking the total use of emissions through complex global supply chains is very difficult - and it can lead to some double-counting.
It also means countries are measuring things they do not always control - for example, if the UK imports products from China and then
China starts making things in a more carbon-intensive way, the UK's consumption emissions will go up despite consuming the same amount.
Territorial emissions can be a clearer measure of how government is acting to tackle emissions at home.
There are continuing debates about how responsibility for the emissions associated with global supply chains should be shared out between countries, particularly as many developing countries are responsible for manufacturing things then used in more developed countries.
The UK also has further to go than many countries: because it was early to industrialise, it has cumulatively contributed more
carbon dioxide emissions than most other countries, according to Prof Myles Allen, at the University of Oxford.
A BEIS spokesperson said the UK follows the agreed international approach for estimating and reporting
greenhouse gas emissions under the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the
Kyoto
Protocol.
They said: "We overachieved against our 2013-17 targets for emission reduction, and through our modern industrial strategy are investing over £2.5bn to support low carbon innovation in the UK." 
MEDIUM.COM
OCTOBER 26 2018 - WE DON'T HAVE TIME
This weekend a massive climate rebellion against the UK government begins.
“London calling” sang Joe Strummer and ‘The Clash’*. In 2018 Mother Earth is calling. Are we finally listening? Some people are even prepared to get arrested for civil disobedience for the climate.
Their cause may also be ours. Or at least it may be our children’s. When they will be looking back at 2018 some of the people protesting in silence and peace may well be the Rosa Parks and the Mahatma Ghandis of the 21 century.
These people based their actions in a feeling of emergency to speed up climate action. The Extinction Rebellion in the UK is an example of such a movement. They are
planning to take to the streets peacefully to create climate action in the United
Kingdom. The activist of ‘XR’, as they sometime call themselves hope the world is watching and will take after their example. 
The following is based on an interview with one of the people organising and taking part in their actions: Nils Agger.
Nils is originally from Sweden but since three years he has been residing in the valleys around Stroud in southwest England where he joined Extinction Rebellion and the RisingUp! network.
- “Here I found a bigger purpose than ever before in my 25-year old life and I have never felt more alive”, says Nils.
The RisingUp! network promotes a fundamental change of the political and economic system to one which maximises well-being and minimises harm. Change needs to be nurtured in a culture of reverence, gratitude and inclusion; whilst the tools of civil disobedience and direct action are used to express the collective power.
October 31st the ‘XR’ will tell the world and UK leaders their manifest and demands, details to follow in the Facebook event. But expect they are likely to drive a hard bargain. Stay tuned for updates on their events!
What main message do you want to convey?
Nils: - The existential threat we are facing is an ecological breakdown; loss of habitats, extinction of species, deforestation, soil erosion and degradation which will have disastrous consequences for humanity and the rest of the planet. Three key talking points must be that we are facing an existential threat, not enough is being done to deal with it and a calling for reclaim of democracy.
We are facing an existential threat.
Not enough is being done to deal with it. 
What is the transition plan?
Nils:- We want to use obedience to influence the political will for things to happen and a call for citizens assembly to deal with it.
There are plans, good proposals, good ideas and technique that are useful to deal with the crisis. We want to limit the crisis as much as we can but it´s up to a democratic citizens assembly briefed by experts, to decide what’s the best way.
What we would have liked to see is that the infrastructure of the government or the state is being directed by citizens assembly rather than the government but there is still a lot of things needed to be worked on and formulated.
Nils:- We are open to experimentation and reflection, trying to learn from successful methods of organising. Any individual or group can take actions in the spirit and name of RisingUp! without permission, if it fits the RisingUp! “DNA”. The DNA covers our vision for change, our
understanding of why change is needed, our decentralised structure, principles and values and our strategy and tactics.
Do you see RisingUp! as a better way of people power democracy than the democracy that is currently ruling or is this obedience a way of using your democracy power?
Nils:- A lot of major democratic thinkers have acknowledged that if governments fail to protect the security and life of the citizens, the citizens have the right to rebellion and do what it takes. We want to qualify citizens assembly of normal citizens selected by sortition as a fair way of making sure an equal representation happens. The assembly are getting briefed by experts and have the authority to implement a planet transition. Do we really want absolute power to be handled over to the government to solve the crisis? That’s why we reclaim democracy to the citizens assembly and we will have an improved version of democracy.
We are starting to realise the existential threat. Is getting together a way forward?
Nils:- People don’t realise it is an emergency until they see other people acting as if it is an emergency. If the house is burning and you are sitting down with a cup of tea, no one would believe it is an emergency. We say it is an existential threat and behave as if it is real to convince everyone and we try to have the local government acting as if the emergency is real as well.
Some of us sacrifice and are even willing to go to prison. People resonate with that in an emotional level. Then you have a social response to what they have to say. People are motivated by that kind of social responses. That’s one of the methods we are trying to work with.
Who is joining this rebellion and who do you like to engage more?
Nils:- At the moment we are based in the UK but we are trying to make the rebellion international. Just a few days ago we had a meeting with some people from the US.
We build a decentralized organisation. People can take part with the skills they have. The way of outreach we have been doing is talks. We have done around 50 talks around the country and we have done conferences online.
Severn Suzuki held her famous speech in front of the UN in Rio
1992. Not very much progress has been made from that day, looking at total emissions, the opposite could be said, what is different this time? Are your actions going to make any difference?
Nils:- It ‘s different because we have seen this going on for years and it hasn’t been dealt with.
We are not trying to distill hope in people even if there is no. It’s inevitable that 50% of the species in Africa are going to die. That is not a hopeful message. Even if we can make it be 49% it will still be worth it, the right thing to do. It’s pretty obvious what is right and wrong and we want to make it obvious for more people and be a platform for them to take a stand.
We are trying to do this as a service orientation but we can’t know what is about to happen and what is going to work.
How can people in the UK contact you?
Nils:- This is bigger than UK. If people in the UK and other countries are interested to see what’s going on, the most active is the
Extinction Rebellion Facebook
page. 
Facts about Nils Agger
Originally from the southernmost tip of Sweden but since a three years back i have been residing in the valleys around Stroud in southwest
England. Here i found a bigger purpose than ever before in my 25-year old life and i have never felt more alive
The RisingUp network promotes a fundamental change of our political and economic system to one which
maximises well-being and minimises harm. We believe change needs to be nurtured in a culture of reverence, gratitude
and inclusion; whilst the tools of civil disobedience and direct action are used to express our collective power.
We are open to experimentation and reflection, trying to learn from successful methods of organising. Any
individual or group can take actions in the spirit and name of RisingUp without permission, if it
fits RisingUp “DNA”; this covers our vision for change, our understanding of why change is needed, our decentralised structure,
principles and values and our strategy and tactics. Facts about RisingUp!
* 5000 people in a network across the UK
* 70 organizers
* A non violent rebellion will be arranged in UK in November
* A rebellion on an international scale will follow in March 2019
GUARDIAN
EXTINCTION CRISIS NOV
2018 -
How to push green issues up the political agenda is a question that has exercised environmentalists for decades. Do dark warnings about the world that awaits us if we do not curtail carbon emissions and protect forests and oceans motivate people to act, or scare them off? Are apocalyptic visions such as that in Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road what we need to open our minds, or an inducement to give up trying?
Opinion is divided, as events of the past week have illustrated. In advance of his latest wildlife television series, Dynasties,
David Attenborough said at the weekend that too many warnings about endangered species are a “real turn-off”. A few days earlier, the activist group Extinction Rebellion launched a campaign of civil disobedience by demanding a zero-carbon economy by 2025. Writing in advance of a protest in London that saw 15 people arrested, Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said she and others have been driven to break the law after spending years ringing alarm bells and being ignored.
Influenced by thinkers including Charles Eisenstein and Erica Chenoweth, whose ideas about peaceful protest have also been taken up by opponents of
President
Trump, and with a commitment to grassroots organising that is similar to 350.org (the anti-fossil-fuel organisation launched in the US by Bill McKibben in 2007), Extinction Rebellion aims to foment a mass movement that will change history. Elected politicians, goes the argument, have failed, as have businesses and other organisations including environmental charities.
Carbon emissions and biodiversity loss are out of control. The “unimaginable horrors” of unchecked
warming and habitat destruction mean more radical tactics are called for – and morally justified by the dangers, in the eyes of protesters.
While the current focus on the extinction crisis is novel, and a contrast to more familiar warnings about emissions, the notion that environmental activism encompasses lawbreaking is not new. The
Green party of England and Wales approves of civil disobedience in the statement of underlying principles known as its “philosophical basis”.
Greenpeace has engaged in nonviolent direct action alongside the traditional NGO tools of lobbying and petitions since the 1970s. Activists have used occupations and blockades as techniques in protests against road-building, airports and coal-fired power stations. They have also mounted protests against sponsorship by oil companies in museums. Most recently, attempts to frack in Lancashire have been disrupted by protesters, three of whom were freed from prison last month after successfully appealing against sentences that judges found to be “manifestly excessive”.
The heightened language of emergency and breakdown employed by this new grouping will not appeal to everyone. Nor is it intended to. It is rational to be sceptical about whether the protesters will achieve their aims. But on the basis of the most recent warnings about rising temperatures and species decline, and chancellor
Philip
Hammond’s failure to mention climate change at all in last week’s budget, it is not rational to deny that they are justified in rebelling against the government’s inaction. Their sense of urgency is welcome.
LINKS
& REFERENCE
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48025650
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/04/the-guardian-view-on-environmental-activism-new-energy-is-welcome
https://medium.com/wedonthavetime/this-weekend-a-massive-climate-rebellion-against-the-uk-government-begins-557058cba18a
https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellion/
https://medium.com/wedonthavetime/the-rebellion-has-begun-d1bffe31d3b5
https://www.blog-der-republik.de/tag/greta-thunberg/
SNOW -
You don't see much of this about in Sussex any more. Temperatures
are rising for sure! There was no snow in the winter of 2019-2020.
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