In this weeks CULTED Weekly News Round-Up we focus exclusively on the most pressing issue of our time, The Climate Crisis. This week alone saw the UN declare a “code red” state of emergency as Italy recorded the hottest temperatures Europe has ever seen and wildfires continue to decimate Greek, American, Algerian, Canadian and Russian rural communities. With so much evidence of the human impact on our planet on full display, any level of inaction is assassination as the silence or denial by governments and corporations has resulted in countless casualties and displaced communities as soldiers fight fires, civilians flee floods and ecosystems are irreparably destroyed across the globe. Whilst some good climate news did come this week in the form of financial investment, promises of money do little to aid the suffering of innumerable communities living the very real realities of the climate crisis right now. Stay angry and stay informed with the CULTED Weekly News Round-Up: Climate Edition.
UN CLIMATE REPORT WARNS CODE RED FOR ALL HUMANITY
On Monday, the UN released its report following its most comprehensive look into the future of the climate crisis. The study found that global warming is on the brink of spiralling out of control as the world is likely to hit the 1.5-degree Celsius warming limit within 20 years. In its totality, the report found that humans are “unequivocally to blame” for the worldwide spikes in temperature and increasing environmental disasters as greenhouse emissions have caused irreversible damage that is now ‘locked in’, even if we do everything to prevent further harm.
The eye-opening report is hopefully going to stir government and corporations into action as “Once-in-50-year heatwaves are now happening every decade”. As the report was released on Monday, over 500,000 acres of forest were burnt in California, Venice was submerged in water due to rising tides, and the Mediterranean continues to circum to the hottest temperatures ever recorded.
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HIGHEST TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED IN EUROPE HAS BEEN LOGGED IN ITALY
The Italian region of Sicily has experienced the highest ever temperatures recorded in Europe as wildfires continue to tear through the Mediterranean. On Wednesday afternoon a weather tower located in the city of Syracuse on the southern tip of Sicily logged a record temperature of 48.8 degrees celsius. Once the World Meteorological Organisation has confirmed and verified the recording it will blow past the previous record of 48 degrees recorded in Athens in the summer of 1977. This horrifying landmark comes at a time that sees over 300 different wildfires sweep across the southern region of Italy, including Sicily.
SHELL TO PAY $111M OVER DEVASTATING OIL SPILLS IN NIGERIA
Dutch petroleum giant Shell has received a court-ordered mandate to pay a Nigerian community $111M as reparations for an oil spill they caused over 50 years ago. The Ejama-Ebubu people of Rivers State, Nigeria, have been locked in a fierce legal battle in the Dutch courts for over 13 years seeking compensation for destroyed land and marine ecosystems. The spill occurred during the 1970 Nigerian Civil War when a pipeline rupture sent oil flowing across the farmland and fishing waters of the Niger Delta. Whilst Shell continues to claim that the spill was caused by third parties operating during the Biafran War, a legal representative of the local people stated that the gas and oil giant had “ran out of tricks and decided to come to terms with the decision”. Now all hopes turn to the ability of the region to distribute the funds properly to the communities truly affected.
37 CIVILIANS & 28 SOLDIERS DIE IN ALGERIA’S RAGING WILDFIRES
Wildfires continue to take more lives across Algeria as local residents and firefighters combine forces to try and halt the progress of the blaze. So far at least 65 people including 28 soldiers that were deployed to aid local fire services have died trying to prevent a further spread. Local officials have blamed arson attacks for the cause of the fire and have arrested 22 people on suspicion of causing the fires despite the totality of North Africa experiencing tinder-dry conditions amongst an unprecedented heatwave.
A total of 69 fires were burning as of Wednesday morning making this the most devastating wildfire the country has ever seen. Problems on the ground are being exacerbated by the thin spread of firefighters access the region as the country tried to negotiate the rental of firefighting planes from its European partners.
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BILL GATES PLEDGED $1.5 BILLION FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has pledged to give $1.5 Billion to fund climate change projects and initiatives in collaboration with the US Government. The announcement came as House Democrats & Republicans continue to debate Joe Bidens’s $1.2 Trillion infrastructure bill. Mr Gates announced that he would like the donation to be a part of the infrastructure bill itself, comprising a large part of the bills climate crisis budget after Republicans insisted that the climate crisis was not an infrastructure issue resulting in a dwindling of the current funds available. However, the tech giant insisted that if the infrastructure bill failed to pass the house then the fund’s would be given to another country that was willing to invest it in climate crisis relief, research and initiatives.
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OVER 100 WILDFIRES STRIKE THE GREEK MAINLAND
More than 2000 residents have been evacuated as Greece continues to be ravaged with more than 100 wildfires across the mainland and its surrounding islands. Greece is currently experiencing its highest temperatures for 30 years as a 45-degree heatwave causes widespread destruction. In response to the worsening situation, a team of European firefighters of British, French and German descent have been sent to help tackle the inferno. Whilst fires around the Greek capital Athens have subsided due to light rainfall, the island of Evia has been totally destroyed as fires continue to rage on. In a recent statement, the Mayor of Istiaia in Evia told local news outlets that “It’s already too late, the area has been completely destroyed”.
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SENATE PASSES $1 TRILLION INFRASTRUCTURE BILL
On Tuesday, the US Senate finally broke the Republican filibuster to officially approve a massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, a massive step forward for President Biden’s legislative agenda. The final vote count reached 69-30 as 19 Republican senators joined forces with Democrats to approve the landmark bill that will see a substantial increase in funding for roads, broadband, and clean energy. Unfortunately, the majority of Biden climate and community initiatives have been stripped from the bill in order to sway Republican senators to support the bill. However, the larger $3.5 trillion bills that will contain a large amount of funding to help tackle the climate crisis is soon to follow in the coming weeks. Despite the initial disappointment that the bill didn’t allocate more funds to the climate crisis, the bill does include $73 billion to expand clean energy sources and to modernise the countries ageing electrical grid, the single largest investment in clean energy in the countries history. The infrastructure bill now heads to the Democrat-held house where it is thought to pass with full Democratic backing.
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