Nutshell
Numerous major climate reports – especially the epic 2013/2014 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Fifth Assessment (AR5) – have warned that:
- Human-caused global ‘warming’ (heating) and climate ‘change’ (breakdown, disruption, destabilization) from heat-trapping fossil fuel emissions pose a clear, present, accelerating danger that has ALREADY resulted in unprecedented global-scale impacts everywhere, with financial costs estimated to be at least $1.2 trillion dollars a year and rising.
- EMERGENCY international action must be taken FAST because, on our current, ‘business as usual’ trajectory, catastrophic, irreversible, ‘runaway’ threats to civilization, humanity and most life are projected to ensue over the next few decades, and there is a high risk that we could become committed / locked in to some within a few years.
To help catalyze momentum and pressure action in the lead up to what will be the most important international Climate Change Conference ever (COP21) to be held in Paris late 2015, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called a momentous summit of world leaders in New York City, which took place September 23rd, 2014.
The day before, 3,000 people ‘flooded’ Wall Street in a collective act of nonviolent civil disobedience to “confront the economic system that both causes and profits from the crisis that is threatening humanity.”
The day before that, civil society groups staged a massive, 400,000-strong ‘Peoples Climate March‘, by far the largest climate-themed mobilization ever. 40,000 in London. 3,000 here in Toronto. Over 2,600 events in 162 countries. An estimated 700,000 participants worldwide.
Above is a playlist of selected videos that climateye considers to be the best, briefest, most informative visual documents of the protests and summit. Below is a collection of selected links to more info about the lead up, days of, post mortem reflections, important criticisms and defenses of the march, and other related resources.
And here are 3 essential eco-S compilations that expose the true EMERGENCY of the climate crisis and the ongoing, corporate-captured U.N. climate negotiations debacle / charade / betrayal of life:
Next up: the crucial annual international Climate Change Conference (COP20) to be held in Lima, Peru, from Dec. 1-12, 2014.
September 2014 UN Climate Summit, New York City (Sept. 23, 2014)
- Website – Climate Summit 2014: “Catalyzing action”
- Post mortem
- Article – Corporations are not going to save us from climate disruption, Truthout
- Article – What’s wrong with the radical critique of the People’s Climate March, Jonathan Smucker, Michael Premo, The Nation
- Post – How did leaders respond to the People’s Climate March? P. Solon, Huffpost
- Article – Against the climate march cynics, Paul D’amato, Socialist Worker
- Article – Climate justice resurfaces amidst NY’s corporate sharks, P. Bond, Telesur
- Post – Climate change: Not just any action will do, Pablo Solon, Huffpost
- Post – Obama’s pitiful pledge epitomizes failure of UN Summit, Common Dreams
- Article – 5 ways the 2014 New York UN Climate Summit has changed international climate politics forever, Michael Jacobs, The Guardian
- Post – A shout heard ’round the world, Michael Brune, Huffpost
- Article + pics – The system is the problem, Ethan Cox, Ricochet
- Article – “Predictably, almost nothing was accomplished…The media let out a collective yawn…But there should have been outrage.” Eric Holthaus, Slate
- Article – NY Summit renews confidence in climate action? Ros Donald, RTCC
- Top 10 – 10 ‘best’ leaders’ pledges at the UN Summit, Sophie Yeo, RTCC
- Release – UN Climate Summit: A fool’s paradise, Dipti Bhatnager, FOE
- The Summit
- Post + video – Marshall Islands speaker tells U.N. ‘We are drawing the line here’, Katie Valentine, Climate Progress
- Videos – Collected from the live webcast of Summit, UN
- Summary – From live blog of the 1-day Summit, The Guardian
- Article – 4 things to know about the talks, Trinh Theresa Do, CBC
- Article – Harper did climate a favour by skipping UN Summit, Toronto Star
- Lead up
- Post – Climate action — Who is stopping us? Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace
- Article – The coming climate revolt, Chris Hedges, Truthdig
- Article – Climate change is a global emergency. Stop waiting for politicians to sound the alarm, Naomi Klein, The Guardian
- Article – Global CO2 emissions break record ahead of UN Climate Summit, CBC
- Article – This is the worst refugee crisis since WWII, Jan Egeland, Huffpost
- Book – ThisChangesEverything.org
- Review – This Changes Everything, Truthout
People’s Climate March (Sept. 21, 2014)
- Website – PeoplesClimate.org
- Wrap up – PeoplesClimate.org/wrap-up
- Post – 7.1 billion demonstrate in favour of global warming, The Onion
- Article – 400,000+ turn out for People’s Climate March in NYC, Huffpost
- Article – 3,000 join Climate March in Toronto, Ethan Lou, Toronto Star
- Article – Climate change is a global emergency. Stop waiting for politicians to sound the alarm, Naomi Klein, The Guardian
- Article / letter – 50 Canadian climate researchers speak out in support of the People’s Climate March, Dana Nuccitelli, The Guardian
- Criticisms of the march
- Post – One big march, lots of little messages, Ben Adler, Grist
- Post – The largest ever action on climate change is calling for no action at all, Julie Johnston, Greenhearted.org
- Article – How the People’s Climate March became a corporate PR campaign, Arun Gupta, Counterpunch
- Article – This changes nothing: Why the People’s Climate March guarantees climate catastrophe, Cory Morningstar, Wrong Kind of Green
- Op-ed – Like a dull knife: The People’s Climate “farce”, Quincy Saul, Truthout
- Article – The last gasp of climate change liberals, Chris Hedges, Truthout
- Article – The need for clear demands at the People’s Climate March, Daily Kos
- In defense of the march
- Article – What’s wrong with the radical critique of the People’s Climate March, Jonathan Smucker, Michael Premo, The Nation
- Article – Against the climate march cynics, Paul D’amato, Socialist Worker
- Article – Climate justice resurfaces amdst NY’s corporate sharks, P. Bond, Telesur
- Article – 5 ways the 2014 New York UN Climate Summit has changed international climate politics forever, Michael Jacobs, The Guardian
- Post – A shout heard ’round the world, Michael Brune, Huffpost
- Article – NY Summit renews confidence in climate action? Ros Donald, RTCC
Flood Wall Street (Solidarity march and sit-in, Sept. 22, 2014)
- Website – BeyondtheMarch.org
- Website – FloodWallStreet.net
- Pics – FloodWallStreet, Flickr
- Press release(s) – FloodWallStreet.net/media
- Article – Police face off with Flood Wall Street protestors in climate change march, Amanda Holpuch, The Guardian
- Post – Want to save the planet? Flood Wall Street, Richard Escow, Huffpost
Related climateye compilations
- Compilation: COP19 Warsaw UN Climate Summit 2013: Betrayal of life
- Compilation: Rio+20 UN Earth Summit: The future written-off to privatize/commodify nature for profit, betray life and just sit around talk’n!
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