"Trump's attempts to pander to coal industry executives despite deafening alarms that burning more fossil fuels will lead to more destructive climate catastrophes, air pollution illnesses and fatalities, and will leave U.S. workers out of the inevitable renewable energy transition is more than just willful ignorance--it's criminally irresponsible," said Naomi Ages, a senior climate campaigner with Greenpeace USA. (Photo: Joanna Flisowska/Climate Action Network)
'These False Solutions Are a Joke': Trump's Pro-Coal Panel at COP24 Shut Down With Laughter by Climate Campaigners
"Trump's attempts to pander to coal industry executives despite deafening alarms that burning more fossil fuels will lead to more destructive climate catastrophes is more than just willful ignorance—it's criminally irresponsible."
U.S. President Donald Trump's representatives at the U.N. climate talks in Poland were openly laughed at on Monday.
Disrupting the Trump administration's attempt to promote planet-destroying fossil fuel production during a side panel at the COP24 climate talks in Poland, hundreds of indigenous and youth climate leaders captured the international community's collective disdain for U.S. President Donald Trump's subservience to Big Oil by laughing loudly at U.S. envoys as they attempted to speak, chanting "Keep it in the ground," and taking over the panel to demand bold and just solutions to the global climate crisis.
"These false solutions are a joke," declared one demonstrator after the derisive laughter subsided, "but the impact on our frontline communities are not. We hold the solutions and we know that we must keep it in the ground."
"Our communities, whose very survival is most directly impacted by climate change, have become a living red line," Jose Bravo of the Just Transition Alliance said after seizing one of the panel's microphones. "Our air and water are being poisoned by fossil fuel extraction, our livelihoods are threatened by floods and drought, our communities are the hardest hit and the least protected in extreme weather events--and our demands for our survival and for the rights of future generations are pushing local, national, and global leaders towards real solutions to the climate, economic, and social crises."
Aneesa Khan, a 23-year old youth delegation leader with SustainUS, added that the Trump administration's "only priority is ensuring fossil fuel CEOs get every last dollar of our communities. I wake up every day worrying that my grandpa in Chennai, India will drown in a climate-induced flood like the ones in recent years. No one should lose loved ones to a crisis that can be prevented."
Titled "U.S. Innovative Technologies Spur Economic Dynamism," Monday's pro-fossil fuel panel marks the second year in a row the Trump administration has used the annual United Nations climate talks as a platform to advocate increasing dirty energy production rather than dramatically curtailing and ultimately eliminating it, as the science says must be done in order to avert planet-wide devastation.
"Trump's attempts to pander to coal industry executives despite deafening alarms that burning more fossil fuels will lead to more destructive climate catastrophes, air pollution illnesses and fatalities, and will leave U.S. workers out of the inevitable renewable energy transition is more than just willful ignorance--it's criminally irresponsible," Naomi Ages, a senior climate campaigner with Greenpeace USA, said in a statement. "Let's hope other leaders at the COP who listen to scientists will drown out this 'pro-coal' sideshow and the abdication of responsibility and leadership from the world's second largest emitter."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
U.S. President Donald Trump's representatives at the U.N. climate talks in Poland were openly laughed at on Monday.
Disrupting the Trump administration's attempt to promote planet-destroying fossil fuel production during a side panel at the COP24 climate talks in Poland, hundreds of indigenous and youth climate leaders captured the international community's collective disdain for U.S. President Donald Trump's subservience to Big Oil by laughing loudly at U.S. envoys as they attempted to speak, chanting "Keep it in the ground," and taking over the panel to demand bold and just solutions to the global climate crisis.
"These false solutions are a joke," declared one demonstrator after the derisive laughter subsided, "but the impact on our frontline communities are not. We hold the solutions and we know that we must keep it in the ground."
"Our communities, whose very survival is most directly impacted by climate change, have become a living red line," Jose Bravo of the Just Transition Alliance said after seizing one of the panel's microphones. "Our air and water are being poisoned by fossil fuel extraction, our livelihoods are threatened by floods and drought, our communities are the hardest hit and the least protected in extreme weather events--and our demands for our survival and for the rights of future generations are pushing local, national, and global leaders towards real solutions to the climate, economic, and social crises."
Aneesa Khan, a 23-year old youth delegation leader with SustainUS, added that the Trump administration's "only priority is ensuring fossil fuel CEOs get every last dollar of our communities. I wake up every day worrying that my grandpa in Chennai, India will drown in a climate-induced flood like the ones in recent years. No one should lose loved ones to a crisis that can be prevented."
Titled "U.S. Innovative Technologies Spur Economic Dynamism," Monday's pro-fossil fuel panel marks the second year in a row the Trump administration has used the annual United Nations climate talks as a platform to advocate increasing dirty energy production rather than dramatically curtailing and ultimately eliminating it, as the science says must be done in order to avert planet-wide devastation.
"Trump's attempts to pander to coal industry executives despite deafening alarms that burning more fossil fuels will lead to more destructive climate catastrophes, air pollution illnesses and fatalities, and will leave U.S. workers out of the inevitable renewable energy transition is more than just willful ignorance--it's criminally irresponsible," Naomi Ages, a senior climate campaigner with Greenpeace USA, said in a statement. "Let's hope other leaders at the COP who listen to scientists will drown out this 'pro-coal' sideshow and the abdication of responsibility and leadership from the world's second largest emitter."
U.S. President Donald Trump's representatives at the U.N. climate talks in Poland were openly laughed at on Monday.
Disrupting the Trump administration's attempt to promote planet-destroying fossil fuel production during a side panel at the COP24 climate talks in Poland, hundreds of indigenous and youth climate leaders captured the international community's collective disdain for U.S. President Donald Trump's subservience to Big Oil by laughing loudly at U.S. envoys as they attempted to speak, chanting "Keep it in the ground," and taking over the panel to demand bold and just solutions to the global climate crisis.
"These false solutions are a joke," declared one demonstrator after the derisive laughter subsided, "but the impact on our frontline communities are not. We hold the solutions and we know that we must keep it in the ground."
"Our communities, whose very survival is most directly impacted by climate change, have become a living red line," Jose Bravo of the Just Transition Alliance said after seizing one of the panel's microphones. "Our air and water are being poisoned by fossil fuel extraction, our livelihoods are threatened by floods and drought, our communities are the hardest hit and the least protected in extreme weather events--and our demands for our survival and for the rights of future generations are pushing local, national, and global leaders towards real solutions to the climate, economic, and social crises."
Aneesa Khan, a 23-year old youth delegation leader with SustainUS, added that the Trump administration's "only priority is ensuring fossil fuel CEOs get every last dollar of our communities. I wake up every day worrying that my grandpa in Chennai, India will drown in a climate-induced flood like the ones in recent years. No one should lose loved ones to a crisis that can be prevented."
Titled "U.S. Innovative Technologies Spur Economic Dynamism," Monday's pro-fossil fuel panel marks the second year in a row the Trump administration has used the annual United Nations climate talks as a platform to advocate increasing dirty energy production rather than dramatically curtailing and ultimately eliminating it, as the science says must be done in order to avert planet-wide devastation.
"Trump's attempts to pander to coal industry executives despite deafening alarms that burning more fossil fuels will lead to more destructive climate catastrophes, air pollution illnesses and fatalities, and will leave U.S. workers out of the inevitable renewable energy transition is more than just willful ignorance--it's criminally irresponsible," Naomi Ages, a senior climate campaigner with Greenpeace USA, said in a statement. "Let's hope other leaders at the COP who listen to scientists will drown out this 'pro-coal' sideshow and the abdication of responsibility and leadership from the world's second largest emitter."