Climate change: Could recycled sewage solve future water shortages?
BBC, 18 Jan 2023
Not many of us will forget the hot summer of 2022 and what it did to water demand. As droughts are going to get worse with a warming climate, it’s estimated London and the Thames Valley will need an extra billion litres of water a day by 2075. So what is the answer? Certainly reducing our water use and cutting the poor leakage rates will play a part. Thames Water also wants to take more from the River Thames at Teddington which could lead to an increase of 75 million litres a day.
Greta Thunberg detained at German coal protest
BBC, 18 Jan 2023
She was protesting with activists seeking to stop the abandoned village of Lützerath from being demolished for the expansion of a coal mine. Police clarified that Ms Thunberg had not been arrested, and later said she had been released after an ID check. The Swedish activist was detained after a group “rushed towards the ledge” of the Garzweiler 2 mine, police said. Officers also confirmed all of those detained would not be charged. Video from the scene showed three officers carrying Ms Thunberg from the protest as she smiled.
Environmental justice targets needed to cut global inequality, say researchers
The Guardian, 18 Jan 2023
Countries, companies and cities need to establish environmental justice targets to counter the impact of the climate and other crises on global inequality, according to the authors of the most comprehensive study of the issue to date. From floods in Pakistan to air pollution in India, the Earth Commission researchers say the poorest parts of the world are being disproportionately harmed by environmental problems, which is adding to global injustice and threatening social stability.
Davos 2023: Brazil lacking world aid to fight climate change, Silva says
Reuters, 17 Jan 2023
Brazil’s Environment Minister, Marina Silva, said on Tuesday that international investments have not materialized as contributions to help her country reduce deforestation in the Amazon and contribute to fighting global climate change. She said Brazil has regained the trust of the European Parliament with regards to resistance to the EU trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc. Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Silva said Brazil’s new government that took office on Jan. 1, was rebuilding Brazil’s environmental agencies and policies that were “completely dismantled” by the previous administration.
Central banks have varying roles in climate change
Financial Times, 16 Jan 2023
The Federal Reserve should “stick to its knitting”: that was the verdict delivered last week by Jay Powell, the US central bank chair, who stated that the Fed is “not a climate policymaker and never will be”. He argued that exceeding its remit to pursue “social benefits that are not tightly linked to our statutory goals” would risk the central bank’s independence. Such a position puts the Fed at odds, at first blush, with other major central banks such as the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. Both have prioritised the fight against climate change and taken steps to “green” their corporate bond holdings.
Climate activists vow to take to streets to stop fossil fuel extraction
The Guardian, 16 Jan 2023
Hundreds of thousands of young climate activists have said they will continue “protesting in the streets in huge numbers” against fossil fuels, a day after Greta Thunberg was removed by German police from a condemned village atop a massive coal deposit. In a cease-and-desist letter to the CEOs of fossil fuel companies, youth campaigners accuse them of a “direct violation of our human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, your duties of care, as well as the rights of Indigenous people”.
