Lethal Heating: 11/09/19

09/11/2019

(UK) Judges Overrule London Police Ban On Extinction Rebellion Climate Protests

Reuters - Laurie Goering

"The right to protest is a longstanding fundamental right in a democratic society that should be guarded, not prohibited by overzealous policing," an Extinction Rebellion lawyer says

Protesters fill the area at the Extinction Rebellion climate change protest in Trafalgar Square in London, October 16, 2019. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Anna Scholz-Carlson

LONDON - Police overstepped the law in issuing a blanket ban on protests by Extinction Rebellion climate activists in October, London High Court judges ruled on Wednesday, in a decision the group hailed as "an immense victory for the right to protest".
In their decision, the judges agreed with Extinction Rebellion's lawyers that police were wrong to use Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to prohibit upcoming protests planned as part of the movement's two-week "Autumn Uprising".
The Metropolitan Police Service invoked Section 14 after the first week of protests blocked traffic across the city, including in its main financial district, and targeted firms demonstrators said profited from or funded activities driving climate change.
The police service said it was "disappointed" by Wednesday's ruling, reiterating that the protests had caused widespread disruption in London and pulled officers away from other duties.
Tobias Garnett, a human rights lawyer working with Extinction Rebellion, said the movement was "delighted" with the judgment on what he called "an unprecedented and unlawful infringement on the right to protest".
"This was obviously an over-extension of police power," he told reporters outside the court.
The Metropolitan Police was unlikely to appeal the ruling, he said, as the judges had made it "fairly clear they acted beyond their power".
The police service said it was still considering whether to appeal.
The decision means the more than 400 Extinction Rebellion protesters arrested after the ban was imposed would now see charges against them dismissed, Garnett said.
The ruling also opens the way for some of them, as individuals, to seek compensation for false imprisonment if they choose, he added.
Ellie Chowns, a Green Party Member of the European Parliament who was among those arrested for gathering in London's Trafalgar Square following the ban, called the decision "an immense victory for the right to protest".
The Extinction Rebellion protests "have played such a critical role in making the politicians pay attention" to climate change threats, she said, calling the decision to restrict them "disproportionate and dangerous".
Section 14 allows police to make arrests "to prevent serious public disorder, serious criminal damage or serious disruption to the life of the community" during a protest.
"The police have powers to impose conditions to manage protests but not to ban them," Jules Carey, a lawyer acting for Extinction Rebellion, said in a statement.
"This judgment is a timely reminder to those in authority facing a climate of dissent (that) the right to protest is a longstanding fundamental right in a democratic society that should be guarded, not prohibited by overzealous policing," he added.
Outside the High Court, a small crowd of Extinction Rebellion activists expressed relief at the decision.
"It's essential we protect the right to peaceful protest. It would be a slippery slope if we let this (ban) stand," said Caroline Saville, a London resident standing in front of a blue banner reading, "You can't arrest everyone and remain legitimate".
Jim Cooper, another activist, said the ruling was a "moral victory" but that a loss in court would not have affected the movement's plans to carry out more non-violent protests to demand urgent action on climate change threats.
"We will continue no matter what. Our goal is to disrupt, to make people aware of what's going on," he said.
Lawyer Garnett said Extinction Rebellion was grateful for Britain's strong record on human rights and expressed sympathy for climate activists in other nations who were protesting "without these protections to rely on".
Gracie Bradley, of civil rights organisation Liberty, said Wednesday's ruling would "help safeguard future protests from police overreach".

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Past Antarctic Ice Melt Reveals Potential For 'Extreme Sea-Level Rise'

Sydney Morning Herald - Peter Hannam

Sea levels rose as much as three metres per century during the last interglacial period as Antarctic ice sheets melted, a pace that could be exceeded in the future, given the turbo-charged potential of human-led climate change.
A study led by Australian National University researchers, published in Nature Communications, found sea-level increases during the last major melt of about 130,000 years ago were faster than models have factored in, even though the "climate forcing" from greenhouse gases is much stronger today.

The Larsen ice shelf in Antarctica began to break up in the 1990s. Others are expected to follow, particularly those with large exposure to the warming Southern Ocean. Credit: FDC

Using evidence ranging from Red Sea sediments to fossil corals, the scientists reconstructed the ancient climate. They showed how ocean circulation slowed, leading the Southern Hemisphere to warm up and triggering the Antarctic and then Greenland ice sheets to melt.
At its fastest – about 125,000 years ago when temperatures were about a degree warmer than now – sea levels rose as much as 3.4 metres per 100 years for several centuries.
"We don't predict the future, but we show what nature can do even without human interference in the climate," Eelco Rohling, the paper's lead author and a professor at ANU's College of Science, said. "Nature knows how to go much quicker than we thought."
Fiona Hibbert, the paper's second author and also at ANU, said the findings reveal Antarctica's "really, really big contribution" to sea-level rise, a finding that was "potentially quite startling" for its implications.
"The rate of warming is much faster this time – the warming is more extreme – and it's happening at both poles at the same time," Dr Hibbert said.
The research will reignite debate over whether the general consensus that sea levels will rise only about one metre by 2100 - as argued in the latest paper by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - is too conservative.
"They calculate very much the sea-level rise without ice sheet contribution," Professor Rohling said.
"Some really fast things have happened in the past," he said. "We need to go to fully coupled models with ice sheets, and have all the physics represented that could be activated."

Waves engulf the Seaham Lighthouse in Durham, England, in early 2016. Sea-level rises may be a lot more than currently predicted by climate models because they largely exclude ice sheet contribution. Credit: PA

If all the ice in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melted, sea levels would rise about 60 metres, he said.
"As soon as it's more than four metres, all of the big coastal cities are going to have to be moved," Professor Rohling said.
Taryn Noble, a marine geochemist at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania, said the paper was "a really important contribution. It shows us what the natural system is capable of."
The paper revealed complex systems "can change more rapidly than we thought", Dr Noble said, adding "we've not yet seen the full impact of the temperature changes that we have set off".
Professor Rohling said some of the processes that were part of the earlier melt are already evident. For instance, the flush of fresh water from melting Greenland ice had started to slow the Gulf Stream in recent decades.
"We are seeing the first responses ... and we're really worried about it," he said.
Even without any further "forcing" from extra greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures will rise about half a degree by 2100 and a further degree by 2200 as slow-warming areas such as the deep sea and ice caps catch up, Professor Rohling said.

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(NZ) 'This Is Our Nuclear Moment': Jacinda Ardern Leads New Zealand To Pass Climate Change Law

SBS - AAP

Jacinda Ardern's coalition government has delivered its flagship climate policy, passing the Zero Carbon Bill through the New Zealand parliament.

Zero Carbon Bill

The New Zealand prime minister's zero-carbon bill has passed in parliament with historic cross-party support.
It commits the country to new climate change laws and to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050 in line with the Paris climate agreement.
The bill passed by 119 votes to one with the centre-right opposition National party's support, despite none of its proposed amendments being accepted.

New Zealand's parliament has achieved the holy grail of environmental politics - a consensus on climate change policy.
Jacinda Ardern's government landed their flagship climate legislation, the Zero Carbon Bill, on Thursday with the support of the conservative opposition.
Such a consensus has proved elusive in Australian politics, frustrating environmentalists and industry alike over the last two decades.
The bill legislates New Zealand's emissions targets under the Paris Agreement and creates an independent Climate Change Commission to steer government policy.
Ms Ardern delivered a remarkable off-the-cuff speech in parliament just prior to the bill's passing, likening the occasion to anti-nuclear protests that defined the country's politics in the 1980s.
"For this generation, this is our nuclear moment," she said.
"We have to start working beyond targets. We have to start working beyond aspiration. We have to start moving beyond signs of hope and deliver signs of action. That is what this government is doing and proudly so."
The Coalition Government - comprised of Labour, the Green party and NZ First - didn't need the support of the opposition National party to pass the bill.
However, Greens co-leader and climate change minister James Shaw courted the conservative side of politics in order to secure the future viability of the policy.
"Some things are too big for politics. And the biggest of all is the climate crisis," he said.
"Everyone has had to give way, even a little. But this is bigger than all of us.
"This bill delivers on some of the most important work of the Green movement over many decades."
The prime minister's passion was evident in her address.
"New Zealand will not be a slow follower," Ms Ardern boomed.
"We are here because the world is warming, undeniably it is warming.
"I'm proud of the fact ... we're no longer having the debate over whether or not it is the case, we're debating what to do about it."
The opposition moved seven amendments to the bill - which all failed - before National supported the legislation anyway.

Thousands of people marched on NZ Parliament to protest climate change in September. AAP

Opposition leader Simon Bridges, who pledged to make the changes should they win next year's election, noted it was his party that agreed to the Paris targets in April 2016.
"There are parts of this bill I disagree with. I strongly disagree with," he said.
"We have taken a bipartisan approach to climate change, but we will continue to fight for the changes we think will make the law better."
The bill wasn't totally supported inside the parliament or out.
Judith Collins, a senior National often mentioned as a leadership aspirant, delivered a fiery speech, suggesting a policy reversion should she displace Bridges.
The one-man libertarian party ACT signalled opposition, only to miss the vote.
Lobby group Federated Farmers also pointed to methane targets that they believed would reduce production.
"New Zealand farmers are proud to be the most carbon-efficient farmers in the world," vice president Andrew Hoggard said.
"Forcing them to reduce production is not only going to make New Zealand poorer but will likely increase global emissions, so we will effectively be shooting ourselves in both feet."
Greenpeace, usually a staunch critic of the coalition, praised the government - as well as grassroots campaigners who provided momentum for its passage.
"Climate change won't be fixed by the Zero Carbon Act alone," campaigner Amanda Larsson said.
"The government must now implement bold and courageous policies that will roll out heaps of new solar and wind energy, replace dirty transport with clean alternatives, and support farmers to transition from industrial to regenerative agriculture."

Jacinda Ardern: 'On the right side of history'

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