Climate Change Initiative: A conversation | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis

Climate Change Initiative: A conversation | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis

SLOW-MOTION APOCALYPSE -- WHY THE DIVESTMENT MOVEMENT MATTERS

How to Reverse a Slow-Motion Apocalypse 

Why the Divestment Movement Against Big Energy Matters 
By Todd Gitlin

Apocalyptic climate change is upon us.  For shorthand, let’s call it a slow-motion apocalypse to distinguish it from an intergalactic attack out of the blue or a suddenly surging Genesis-style flood.

Slow-motion, however, is not no-motion. In fits and starts, speeding up and slowing down, turning risks into clumps of extreme fact, one catastrophe after another -- even if there can be no 100% certitude about the origin of each one -- the planetary future careens toward the unlivable. That future is, it seems, arriving ahead of schedule, though erratically enough that most people -- in the lucky, prosperous countries at any rate -- can still imagine the planet conducting something close to business as usual.

Read more:

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175775/

GLOBAL WARMING: FIND YOUR FAVORITE COMPANY ON THIS GREAT GRAPHIC

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/interactive/2013/nov/20/which-fossil-fuel-companies-responsible-climate-change-interactive

ONE STEP AT A TIME: U ILLINOIS STUDENTS VOTE 6 TO 1 TO DIVEST U. FROM COAL

The News-Gazette

Students want to end UI investment in coal

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 7:00am | Julie Wurth

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2013-11-16/students-want-end-ui-investment-coal.html

John Hickey, State Sierra Club Director, Guest Lecture in Global Energy and the American Dream

John Hickey, state Sierra Club Director, shares insights on how hard it is to clean up Missouri air and water, in large part due to the tight grip that coal and utility industries have on the state legislature and state regulatory bodies.

Here, discussing Ameren's plan to create a coal-ash landfill at Labadie, a flood plain.

Image below from Sierra Club Miss Toxic beauty pageant. July 2013.

Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining by : Yale Environment 360

Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining by : Yale Environment 360

WUSTL STUDENTS @ COP 19 - WARSAW: ON COAL AND THE UNFCC Exec. Secretary

http://wusice.wustl.edu/unfccc-executive-secretarys-decision-to-speak-at-the-coal-summit-open-letter-response/

"It's time to stop this madness" - Philippines plea at UN climate talks

"It's time to stop this madness" - Philippines plea at UN climate talks

Up to this hour, I agonize while waiting for word as to the fate of my very own relatives. What gives me renewed strength and great relief was when my brother succeeded in communicating with us that he has survived the onslaught. In the last two days, he has been gathering bodies of the dead with his own two hands. He is hungry and weary as food supplies find it difficult to arrive in the hardest hit areas.

We call on this COP to pursue work until the most meaningful outcome is in sight. Until concrete pledges have been made to ensure mobilization of resources for the Green Climate Fund. Until the promise of the establishment of a loss and damage mechanism has been fulfilled; until there is assurance on finance for adaptation; until concrete pathways for reaching the committed 100 billion dollars have been made; until we see real ambition on stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations. We must put the money where our mouths are.

This process under the UNFCCC has been called many names. It has been called a farce. It has been called an annual carbon-intensive gathering of useless frequent flyers. It has been called many names. But it has also been called the Project to save the planet. It has been called “saving tomorrow today”. We can fix this. We can stop this madness. Right now. Right here, in the middle of this football field.

I call on you to lead us. And let Poland be forever known as the place we truly cared to stop this madness. Can humanity rise to the occasion? I still believe we can.

- See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/2013/11/11/its-time-to-stop-this-madness-philippines-plea-at-un-climate-talks/#sthash.pzF6S5yr.dpuf

SCIENCE AND RESISTANCE: Systems theory suggests direct action key to stopping global warming

Naomi Klein: How science is telling us all to revolt
the data – and they are coming to some incendiary conclusions
Is our relentless quest for economic growth killing the planet? Climate scientists have seen 

The New Statesman