The latest on the U.N. climate summit COP26 in Glasgow:
ISTANBUL – A small group of climate protesters held a demonstration in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district Saturday, calling for action to save the planet for future generations.
Some 80 people gathered outside the Sureyya Opera House on the district’s main shopping street chanting, banging drums and holding placards with messages such as “Unite for the climate” and “Environmentalism without class struggle is gardening.”
“I want my children to live on a beautiful planet in the future,” retiree Kadriye Basut, 52, said.
She added: “I think we have to leave a beautiful planet. I think we owe that to our children and the planet. We see that world leaders are not doing anything about it, all they are saying is ‘blah, blah, blah.’”
University lecturer Baris Gencer Baykal, 43, called for an earlier end to the use of coal than the targets set by world leaders at the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow.
“It cannot be postponed any longer,” he said. “Because we feel climate change more and more every day. Developing and developed countries alike suffer from this. We want climate justice.”
Turkey has suffered drought for a number of years and this summer saw the country hit by forest fires, floods and mucilage in the Sea of Marmara linked to warming waters and pollution.
___
WARSAW, Poland — Trade union members from Poland’s energy sector have protested before the European Union’s office in Warsaw, saying the EU’s moves to discourage coal use are responsible for soaring energy prices.
Some 200 power plant and coal mine workers from across Poland blew horns and waved union flags as they chanted. The protest’s motto was “YES for Poland’s Energy Sovereignty. NO to High Energy and Heat Prices.”
Trade union leaders say the EU energy policies will harm Poland’s economy. The coal industry is a major employer in Poland, which gets more than half of its electricity from black and brown coal.
A government energy policy plan calls for increasing reliance on nuclear energy once the infrastructure is built.
Like other EU member nations, Poland has pledged to phase out coal use and to develop wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. At the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow this week, the government said it would not be able to close all coal-fired plants until 2049, a target that disappointed activists.
___
GLASGOW, Scotland — British actor Idris Elba has brought his star power to the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow to highlight the importance of helping small farmers cope with global warming.
Elba and his wife, model Sabrina Dhowre Elba, took the stage Saturday in support of the U.N.’s International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Elba said he wanted to highlight the dangers of global food chains being disrupted as small-scale farmers in particular are hit by the effects of climate change. He said that 80% of the food consumed worldwide is produced by small-scale farmers.
“This conversation around food is something that needs to be really amplified, and one thing I’ve got is a big mouth,” Elba said.
Speaking on the same panel, Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, 24, said global warming is already causing hunger for millions around the world, including in her own country.
She said a shift from meat to plant-based diets could help save millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year while freeing up more land that’s currently used for animal feed.
___
GLASGOW, Scotland — Police helicopters buzzed over Glasgow early Saturday as authorities prepared for a second day of protests by climate activists demanding faster action to curb global warming.
Despite a little drizzle and strong winds, tens of thousands of people were expected to join a rally through the Scottish city where this year’s U.N. climate talks are being held.
Inside the conference venue, negotiators knuckled down for a seventh day of talks to finish draft agreements that can be passed to ministers for political approval next week.
Among the issues being haggled over at the talks by almost 200 countries are a fresh commitment to the goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, getting countries to review their efforts more frequently, and financial support for poor nations.
___
Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate
AP
NOVEMBER 6, 2021
Share this:
Categories: World News
