The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
On the first day of the U.N. Climate Meeting in Warsaw, young people from around the world joined with the newly formed Polish Youth Climate Network to release a climate video mocking the coal industry and promoting a clean energy future.
The title of the video, “Race for Energy Independence,” is a play on the Race for Independence, a running race that takes place on November 11 in Warsaw every year to commemorate Polish independence.
In the video, young people compete in a...
Glenn Ashton -
This week the latest round of climate negotiations, the 19th Conference of the Parties (COP19) is meeting in Warsaw Poland, to grapple with the stalled Climate Change Convention. At the opening of the conference Dr Alicia Illinga, a Filipina delegate highlighted how her country had already been hit by 22 typhoons this year. The devastating Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful typhoon to have ever made landfall, hit the Philippines on the eve of the conference, causing thousands of fatalities and...
Mary Robinson, former Irish president and U.N. high commissioner for human rights now heads the Mary Robinson Foundation, where her efforts include campaigning for the divestment from fossil fuels. "We can no longer invest in companies that are part of the problem of the climate shocks we’re suffering from," Robinson says. "To me it’s a little bit like the energy behind the anti-apartheid movement when I was a student. We were involved because we saw the injustice...
Drilling for oil and gas releases chemicals into the air, chemicals that in low concentrations (parts per trillion) can affect how babies develop in the womb. Many of these chemicals are not monitored or measured despite the fact that they may also cause cancer, neurological, or immunological problems.
Dr. Theo Colborn, president of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, looks at the health consequences of drilling for fossil fuels. Nobody is measuring all the chemicals that are being...
Saliem Fakir -
You would think we would’ve learnt a lesson or two from total dependence on coal. Ninety percent of South Africa’s electricity comes from coal in addition to 40% of our liquid fuels. Despite our coal abundance, the move towards its greater use for our energy system comes up against several constraints. These include environmental concerns, the carbon tax, the question of poor quality coal, the economics of coal mining and the logistics surrounding the extraction and distribution...
A Russian court has ordered eight Greenpeace International activists be held in custody for two months over a protest against offshore drilling in the Arctic. In addition, Vladimir Putin’s government is holding in custody the Arctic Sunrise, Greenpeace’s command ship. The ship was seized by armed members of the Russian Coast Guard after Greenpeace activists tried to board an offshore oil platform as a protest against drilling for fossil fuels in the fragile environment of the...
