November, 14 2017, 11:30am EDT
Experts Discuss Varied Costs of Climate Change, Quantify Climate Impacts and Damages Attributed to Top Fossil Fuel Producers
Experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) today discussed recent extreme weather events--both in the U.S. and abroad--intensifying due to climate change, as well as what affected communities are experiencing, and how to limit harm from future disasters to people and the economy.
BONN, Germany
Experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) today discussed recent extreme weather events--both in the U.S. and abroad--intensifying due to climate change, as well as what affected communities are experiencing, and how to limit harm from future disasters to people and the economy. Click here to view video of the event on demand.
Below is a statement from Rachel Cleetus, lead economist and climate policy manager at UCS.
"Along with other parts of the world, this year, the U.S. experienced some of the worst climate and extreme weather-related events to date. A record-breaking wildfire season in the West caused over 50 deaths, and has resulted in nearly 8.9 million acres burned and over $2.7 billion in federal firefighting costs. Hotter, drier conditions--often a fingerprint of climate change--are contributing to a longer and more severe western wildfire seasons. Similarly, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were ravaged by intense hurricanes fed by warmer waters, resulting in record-breaking floods, loss of power, damage to homes and infrastructure, and contributing to potentially hundreds of deaths. The final numbers for this year's disasters are not yet in, but experts estimate the damage costs will likely top $300 billion.
"Scientific projections show the risks of climate-related disasters like wildfires, droughts and floods will become increasingly severe as the planet warms, and with that we can expect economic costs to also grow exponentially. This makes policies and resources to protect and prepare communities for current and future impacts of climate change all the more paramount."
Below is a statement from Kathy Egland, chair of the Environmental and Climate Justice Committee for the NAACP National Board of Directors.
"Some communities are hit harder than others when disaster strikes. Historical disenfranchisement often leads to people of color being underprotected during extreme weather emergencies. To help these communities we need a three-pronged approach that aims to minimize damages in areas seeing recurring disasters, accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy, and limit industry efforts to pawn off their harmful product on low-income communities. That's why the NAACP is working to build an energy system that creates quality jobs to grow the economy, and ensures equal access to the benefits offered by renewables."
Below is a statement from Saleemul Huq, director of the ICCCAD at Independent University in Bangladesh.
"The devastation of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change, are not limited to the U.S. Despite being well adapted to annual river flooding during monsoon season, one-third of Bangladesh found itself underwater earlier this year due to unyielding rain. This historic rainfall left the nation reeling leaving more than 1,000 dead, hundreds of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, and a large portion of their crops devastated. Human induced climate change requires nations around the world to redefine a 'new normal' as weather events become more intense and destructive."
Additionally, UCS discussed the results of their first-of-its-kind study recently published in Climatic Change, which finds that top fossil fuel producers such as ExxonMobil and Chevron are responsible for as much as half of the global surface temperature increase and roughly 30 percent of global sea level rise. The study examined attribution during two time periods--before and after 1980, when investor-owned fossil fuel companies were aware of the threat posed by their products.
Below is a statement for Peter Frumhoff, chief climate scientist and director of science and policy at UCS.
"Up until this point, governments and taxpayers have shouldered the responsibility on growing climate change costs--for both damages and measures to adapt. The science now enables us to quantify how much specific companies' products have caused the Earth to warm and seas to rise, begging the question of who should pay for their mounting costs moving forward.
"Fossil fuel companies could've taken any number of steps, such as investing in clean energy or carbon capture and storage, yet many chose to instead spend millions of dollars to deceive the public on climate science or block sensible limits on carbon emissions for decades. The victims of these companies' irresponsible decisions should not have to continue to foot the bill. This new scientific data can and should help inform juries and judges, as well as governments, who may seek to have fossil fuel producers pay their fair share."
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
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'Where's My Mom?' 5-Year-Old in Gaza Survives Weight of Building Dropped on Her by Israeli Bomb
"The bomb that killed her family was most likely American. As an American, your tax money paid for it."
May 13, 2024
Footage of a young girl rescued from beneath the rubble of a building in central Gaza overnight is among the latest graphic images to emerge from the Palestinian enclave as Israel intensifies its military assault and anger grows over U.S. complicity in the carnage that has left over 35,000 people—mostly innocent men, women, and children—dead and hundreds of thousands of others missing, severely wounded, or displaced.
Civil Defense teams in Gaza, who spoke to the young child by the name "Tulin," dug her out by hand after following her cries for help. "Where's my mom?" the girl can be heard saying in Arabic.
While footage of the rescue was widely available available on both X and YouTube, all of the versions were restricted and not available for reposting or embedding.
Oh GOD🙏💔www.youtube.com
"Having survived the weight of a building being bombed to pieces on her fragile body, Tulin is crying for her mother," said Rawan Arraf, a lawyer and the executive director of the Australian Centre for International Justice. Arraf was among those who reported that Tulin's mother did not survive the bombing.
"Tulin's mama was murdered by the genocidal Israeli regime," Arraf said. "More than 19,000 children have been orphaned; 6,000 mothers have been murdered."
"The bomb that killed her family was most likely American. As an American, your tax money paid for it," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president for Responsible Statecraft, a U.S.-based foreign policy think tank.
The attack that claimed Turin's mother comes as Israeli forces bombed targets in norther, central, and southern Gaza over the last 24 hours. Airstrikes were reported in Rafah in the far south, where approximately 1.4 million people remain trapped, as well as in the north were the Jabalia refugee camp came under heavy barrage on Sunday and fighting on the ground between Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas fighters was also reported.
Hundreds of thousands have tried to flee Rafah in recent days, according to the United Nations, who warned that providing humanitarian aid would be nearly impossible if the Israelis pressed ahead with a major invasion of the city.
Gaza's Health Ministry on Monday said its entire health system could collapse "within hours" if fuel was not secured for the hospitals that remain active.
Junaid Sultan, a vascular surgeon who spent time volunteering in Rafah, told Al-Jazeera that hospitals without power would be a "death sentence" for patients in Gaza.
Hospitals in Gaza, he said, "are running out pretty much today and if fuel is not provided, then they will basically run out of electricity, water," leaving them incapable of operation. "[If] that fuel does not come in, that will be a death sentence to not only 100, but thousands of patients," he warned.
In a desperate message on Sunday, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, which administers humanitarian relief in Gaza on behalf of the U.N., said the people of Gaza are "enduring unprecedented suffering" in the current moment.
"Everything has been said already," Lazzarini lamented. "No words are left that can do justice to the people of Gaza. They are people like you and I. They used to have drams, they were part of a vibrant and diverse community... Now it's only broken lives and broken futures."
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Israel 'Has Gone to War Against the Entire Palestinian People': Sanders
"Any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law, it has broken American law, and, in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickle in U.S. military aid," Sanders said.
May 12, 2024
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders repeated his calls on Sunday for the U.S. to cut off military aid to the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it continues its devastating war on Gaza.
Sanders spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" in response to a U.S. State Department report released Friday, which found that it was "reasonable to assess" that Israel had used U.S. weapons to violate international humanitarian law in Gaza but that the U.S. was "not able to reach definitive conclusions" as to whether U.S. weapons had been used in any specific incidents.
"Any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law, it has broken American law, and, in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickle in U.S. military aid," Sanders said.
Friday's report came in response to National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), in which President Joe Biden tasked Secretary of State Antony Blinken with obtaining "certain credible and reliable written assurances from foreign governments" that they use U.S. arms in line with international humanitarian law and will not "arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance."
The report, made to Congress, was criticized by human rights organizations who said it mischaracterized both the law and the facts in order to avoid imposing consequences on Israel for waging a war on Gaza that the International Court of Justice has determined could plausibly amount to genocide.
"The people of our country do not want to be complicit in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children."
Amanda Klasing, Amnesty International USA's national director of government relations and advocacy, called it the "international version of 'thoughts and prayers.'" Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called it "woefully inadequate" and told reporters, "If this conduct complies with international standards, God help us all."
Speaking before Sanders on "Meet the Press," Blinken denied that the report was an attempt to get out of holding Israel accountable.
"What the report concludes is that, based on the totality of the harm that's been done to children, to women, to men who are caught in this crossfire of Hamas' making, it's reasonable to conclude that there are instances where Israel has acted in ways that are not consistent with international humanitarian law," Blinken said.
He added that both Israel and the U.S. would continue to investigate those incidents.
"When we can reach definitive conclusions, we will," Blinken said, "but it's very difficult to do that in the midst of a war."
In response to Blinken's remarks, Sanders countered that "the facts are quite clear."
He said that Hamas was a "terrible, disgusting terrorist organization" and blamed it for starting the war. But he argued that Israel's response had been beyond disproportionate.
"What Israel has done over the last seven months is not just gone to war against Hamas—it has gone to war against the entire Palestinian people, and the results have been absolutely catastrophic," the senator told NBC.
Sanders went on to outline some of that catastrophe: a death toll that surpassed 35,000 on Sunday, with two-thirds of the dead women and children; the destruction of around 60% of all housing; the devastation of infrastructure such a as water and sewage as well as the healthcare and education systems; and the fact that hundreds of thousands of children are now at risk of starvation.
Sanders referred to Section 6201 of the Foreign Assistance Act: "Any country that blocks U.S. humanitarian aid is in violation of law and should not continue to receive military aid from the United States," Sanders explained. "That is precisely what Israel has done."
Sanders' remarks came as Israel escalated its assault on Gaza over the weekend, issuing new evacuation orders in both Rafah and areas in the north. Biden has said that a major ground invasion into Rafah would be a "red line" and threatened to withhold certain kinds of weapons if Netanyahu ordered such an invasion, but Palestinian and human rights advocates say that Israel's current actions in Rafah should already count as a major ground operation.
Speaking on "Meet the Press," Blinken acknowledged that the U.S. had not seen a "credible plan" from Israel to safely evacuate the more than 1.4 million civilians sheltering in Rafah ahead of an invasion.
Sanders told NBC that he thought many Republicans and also some Democrats wanted Israel to invade Rafah, but that this was not an opinion shared by the majority of people in the U.S.
"Poll after poll suggests that the American people want an immediate cease-fire. They want massive humanitarian aid to get in," Sanders said. "The people of our country do not want to be complicit in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children."
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As Gaza Assault Intensifies, Egypt Joins ICJ Case Accusing Israel of Genocide
"It's a real diplomatic punch," a former Israeli diplomat said. "Israel would have to take it very seriously."
May 12, 2024
Egypt announced on Sunday that it would join South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice causing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The announcement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs came nearly a week after Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and the day after the Israel Defense Forces issued new evacuation orders for Rafah and the north of Gaza. It also comes as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that around 300,000 people had fled Rafah in the last week and the death toll reported by the Gaza Health Ministry surpassed 35,000.
"The submission… comes in light of the worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the continued perpetration of systematic practices against the Palestinian people, including direct targeting of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure in the strip, and pushing Palestinians to flee,” the Egyptian ministry said in the statement explaining its decision.
South Africa filed its case against Israel in late December 2023, accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention as it waged its war on Gaza.
In a preliminary ruling in January, the ICJ determined that it was plausible that Israel was conducting a genocide in Gaza and ordered it to "take all measures within its power" to avoid doing so.
In its statement, Egypt's foreign ministry called on Israel "to comply with its obligations as the occupying power and to implement the provisional measures issued by the ICJ, which require ensuring access to humanitarian and relief aid in a manner that meets the needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."
Israel cut off aid when it seized the Rafah border crossing, making it even harder for Gazans to access essential goods like food and fuel, though Israel said on Sunday it had opened a new crossing for aid in the north.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also repeated a call for the U.N. Security Council and the international community to take action to stop violations in Gaza and Israel's attack on Rafah.
"Tel Aviv is forcing Palestinians to be contestants in its murderous game show as it flouts international law and basic human decency."
Egypt is the third country after Colombia and Turkey to request to join South Africa's case. However, it's request is especially significant for Israel, Alon Liel, former director of Israel's Foreign Ministry, told Al Jazeera. Liel said that Egypt was the "cornerstone" of Israel's standing in the Middle East since the two countries signed a treaty in 1979.
"With Egypt joining South Africa now in The Hague, it's a real diplomatic punch. Israel would have to take it very seriously," Liel said. "Israel has to… listen to the world—not only to the Israeli public opinion asking now for revenge."
Israel's devastating assault on Gaza began October 7 in response to a Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,100 people and captured around 250 hostages. Before that attack, Israel had blockaded Gaza for 16 years.
Egypt's action on Sunday accompanied warnings and expressions of alarm from humanitarian workers, diplomats, and journalists as Israel escalated its campaign in Gaza over the weekend.
"Over the past 48 hours, Israel has intensified its attacks in Gaza as it orders Palestinians in the south to move north and the north to move south," journalist and Intercept co-founderJeremy Scahill wrote on social media Sunday. "Tel Aviv is forcing Palestinians to be contestants in its murderous game show as it flouts international law and basic human decency."
UNRWA on Saturday posted photos of bomb-damaged schools in Khan Younis to which displaced families were now returning following the new evacuation orders.
"The classrooms are torched. Walls are blown out. There is rubble everywhere," UNRWA said. "This situation is unfolding under the world's watch. Enough is enough."
Responding to the images, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote, "Since the war began, most people in Gaza have moved multiple times: on average once a month. They desperately sought safety that they never found. Some have no choice but to stay in bombed-out UNRWA shelters."
"The claim of 'safe zones' is false and misleading," Lazzarini continued. "No place is safe in Gaza. Period."
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement Sunday, "A full-scale offensive on Rafah cannot take place."
"I can see no way that the latest evacuation orders, much less a full assault, in an area with an extremely dense presence of civilians, can be reconciled with the binding requirements of international humanitarian law and with the two sets of binding provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice," Turk said.
However, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) argued on social media Sunday that Israel's actions in Rafah already comprised "a large-scale military attack, and not a limited operation as described by Israel."
The group said that Israel had killed at least 116 people—among them 22 women and 38 children—since IDF forces entered Rafah one week ago.
In addition to stepping up its campaign in Rafah, the IDF has increased its attacks on parts of northern Gaza, including Jabalaya, the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
"We have been hearing from eyewitnesses on the ground, in that very densely populated area, that military tanks are surrounding evacuation centers and residential buildings," Al Jazeera journalist Tareq Abu Azzoum reported.
PCHR concluded: "In sum, Israel is continuing its genocidal military campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza unabated. We reiterate our call for an immediate cease-fire. This genocide must end now."
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