Environmental crisis

Trying to Stay Sane in a World of Rapidly Accelerating Climate Collapse

23.9.23

My reflections, at the end of an unprecedented summer of catastrophic, human-induced climate chaos, about what we can do and how we can cope with ever-increasing climate collapse in the face of a persistent refusal, by politicians and the media, to respond to the gravest existential threat in all our lifetimes with anything resembling the urgency that is required.

As the Planet Burns, Why Is the Media Still Downplaying the Severity of Climate Collapse?

20.7.23

As heatwaves of unprecedented ferocity grip much of the world, I ask why it is that the mainstream media are still unable to recognise that climate collapse is the biggest disaster in all of our lifetimes, and that they have an obligation to cover it as much as possible, particularly in the absence of any meaningful action from our political leaders.

Have We Already Forgotten About New York’s Apocalyptic Orange Skies, and What It Told Us About the Climate Crisis?

18.6.23

Reflecting on the toxic orange skies that recently engulfed New York City and Washington, D.C., caused by ferocious wildfires in Canada, I ask whether they were alarming enough to effect significant political change, or whether the endless cycle of distraction in the mainstream media, and the entrenched and corrupt power of the fossil fuel companies will continue to prevent urgent action to curb their homicidal and ecocidal activities. I look at the Paris Agreement, C40 Cities (featuring the Mayors of nearly 100 cities worldwide), and the governments involved in BOGA (the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance), with particular reference to the need for all new fossil fuel extraction to be stopped, and how we might meet our commitments to cut fossil fuel emissions by 50% by 2030, and I call on the media, in particular, to start discussing the gravity of the climate crisis, educating people about what cuts are needed, and which are possible, to start the urgent national and transnational conversations that are required.

Endless Sewage and Massive Unjustifiable Profits: Renationalise the Water Industry Now!

5.6.23

My call for England’s water companies to be re-nationalised, as the mostly foreign and largely unaccountable private companies running them (since their privatisation in 1989) have presided over persistent sewage spills, killing our rivers and polluting our beaches. This is because their purpose is to make profits for their shareholders (and their overpaid CEOs) rather than investing in their infrastructure to provide clean water and to prevent sewage spills.

Hatred of Dissent: Reviewing Four Decades of Repressive Tory Laws on the 38th Anniversary of the Battle of the Beanfield

1.6.23

My review of four decades of repressive public order legislation by the Tories, marking the 38th anniversary of the Battle the Beanfield, running from the 1986 Public Order Act to the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, and on to the 2022 Police, Crime Sentencing and Court Act and the latest version of the Public Order Act. Aimed at criminalising the way of life of Gypsies and Travellers, the legislation is also aimed at criminalising any form of even mildly disruptive protest, of the kind currently being undertaken by climate protestors, whose actions would chime with the beleaguered travellers, festival-goers and environmental activists of 38 years ago.

The Evil Empire Isn’t Russia; It’s Fossil Fuel-Based Capitalism, Waging Apocalyptic War on the Planet and the Whole of Humanity

26.5.23

15 months since the war in Ukraine began, I express my concerns about the extraordinary propaganda to which we in the West have been subjected, portraying Vladimir Putin as a figure of pure evil, and glossing over the US’s role, via NATO, in encroaching on Russian territory for the last 30 years, with particular reference to the “red line” that Russia always drew when it came to Ukraine’s membership of NATO. I also condemn a recent New York Times article, breezily suggesting that the EU and the UK will have to make hard choices about the affordability of their “social safety net,” in light of demands for unjustifiably huge increases in war spending, and point out that the most significant war is actually the one being waged by humanity — via the oil and gas companies, but with our tacit support — which is making the entire planet uninhabitable, and threatens the lives of untold numbers of people in the not too distant future.

Radio: I Discuss the Coronation, the Tories’ Suppression of Peaceful Protest and Criminalization of Refugees, Plus the Latest on Guantánamo, With Chris Cook on Gorilla Radio

13.5.23

Linking to and discussing my interview with Chris Cook for Gorilla Radio, about the Coronation of King Charles III, the suppression of protest and the criminalization of refugees under home secretary Suella Braverman, as well as a discussion about Guantánamo.

‘We Can’t Trust the Weather Any More’: My Speech at ‘The Big One’, Extinction Rebellion’s Four-Day Protest in London

10.5.23

The text of ‘We Can’t Trust the Weather Any More’, my first ever public speech about the climate crisis, which I made during Extinction Rebellion’s ‘The Big One’, on April 21, outside 55-57 Tufton Street, the home of opaquely-funded right-wing ‘libertarian’ think-tanks that are actively committed to maintaining the murderous status quo, including denying the reality of catastrophic climate change.

Photos and Report: Extinction Rebellion and 200 Other Groups “Unite to Survive”, Building a Movement Despite Mainstream Media Indifference

29.4.23

My photos of, and my report about the inspiring four-day protest, ‘The Big One’, in London on April 21-24, initiated by Extinction Rebellion but with the support of over 200 other organisations. I applaud the efforts to create a wider climate movement, whilst also recognising the impact that can be achieved through disruptive tactics, and I question on what basis mainstream media broadcasters thought it was appropriate to behave as though this astonishing gathering of climate activists wasn’t newsworthy.

From Ignorance to Denial to Disaster: 60 Years of Living With Climate Change — Part Two: The 1980s

19.4.23

The second of four articles marking my 60th birthday, looking at how awareness of the climate crisis has developed, and been supported, ignored or resisted over the last 60 years. This article focuses on the 1980s, when I went from school in Hull and university in Oxford to living in London under the ravages of Thatcherism, which largely drowned out the growing awareness of the climate crisis through the emission of greenhouse gases in the US, where NASA scientist James Hansen finally secured widespread media coverage and public interest after a Congressional hearing in 1988. I also look at the impact Bill McKibben’s book ‘The End of Nature’ had on me when it was published in 1989.

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Andy Worthington

Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker. Also, photo-journalist (The State of London), and singer and songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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