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Yesterday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that the “industrial slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has not curbed record levels of greenhouse gases which are trapping heat in the atmosphere, increasing temperatures and driving more extreme weather, ice melt, sea-level rise and ocean acidification.”
Despite the warnings for years that we cannot burn new reserves of oil if we want a liveable climate, the West's top nine oil majors alone are sitting on more than 28 billion barrels of oil equivalent of undeveloped resources. Much of this could end up going from being an asset to a liability, just as many predicted.
Trump seems determined to try and push his rabid fossil fuel agenda through to his last day in office. Until the dying breath of his Presidency, he will do the bidding of Big Oil.
Tomorrow evening, our colleagues at PlatformLondon will be hosting an online global arts event in collaboration with MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People), Shake! And Virtual Migrants, to not only celebrate the Ogoni 9, but also for people to hear from other frontline environmental defenders from key battles against the oil industry. It promises to be an inspirational evening.
Another grim, painful milestone is reached. It is now a quarter of a century since Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 9 were murdered in Nigeria by Shell.
To do anything less than stopping all public money to fossil fuels dishonors the memory and sacrifices of Saro-Wiwa, the Ogoni 9, and countless others who have risked and lost their lives to defend their lands and communities.
On November 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists — Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine — were hanged by the Nigerian dictatorship in Port Harcourt. Their only crime? Exposing the devastating impact that Shell Petroleum Development Company’s extraction of fossil fuels from the Niger Delta had on the Ogoni land, lives, and livelihoods.
As the world’s attention is focussed on the outcome of the US election, a disaster is unfolding live further south. As I write, Hurricane Eta is battering the coast of Nicaragua, with experts warning it could lead to catastrophic winds, flooding and loss of life.
You cannot be a climate leader and bankroll LNG expansion at the same time. And land defenders and climate organizers are getting ready to force an end to LNG if you don't do it yourself.
