By Gary McDonald  “I believe we have a chance here, a chance to replace a climate of fear and anxiety with a new climate of action and opportunity, that’s in our hands, responding to the challenge of the century with creativity, imagination, courage and, above all, determination” The sheer hypocrisy of this drivel that was uttered by Leo Varadkar at ...

Alternative Socialiste, CWI Québec (sister orgaisation of the Socialist Party in Quebec)  Is Greta Thunberg a young woman who is “mentally unstable” and spokesperson for “climate alarmism?”  This is how Quebec’s small elite describe the Swedish environmental activist, who will be the guest of honour at Montreal’s big climate march on September 27. Why do they attack her so aggressively? ...

“AT FIRST I thought I was fighting to save the rubber trees. Then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity.” Brazilian trade union leader and environmentalist, Chico Mendes who was assassinated by a cattle rancher in 1988.

By Haritha Olaganathan  Once an abstract far-fetched notion, the climate crisis has become a tangible threat to human existence. We can now witness and experience the devastating consequences of centuries of untethered exploitation of our planet. Rise in natural disasters  While Trump seeks to purchase Greenland, its ice is melting four times faster than it was 16 years ago. Furthermore, ...

By Bruna Leão, Liberdade, Socialismo e Revolução (our sister organisation in Brazil)  Since the 2018 elections, there has been a marked concern about the direction environmental policies would take should Jair Bolsonaro assume the presidency. Bolsonaro’s declarations on the environment have always been controversial, because they treat any consideration for the preservation of the forest or for indigenous peoples as something ...

By Sonja Grusch, CWI Austria  The 1.8 million strong global youth strike on the 15th of March made it clear: the threatening climate catastrophe is having a politicizing effect around the globe. The ongoing destruction of our natural world in all its aspects cannot be ignored any longer: there is no part of earth, no sphere of nature that is ...

By Electra Kleitsa, Xekinima (Greek Section of the CWI- the international socialist organisation to which the Socialist Party in Ireland is affiliated to) This July, very worrying news came to light: it is estimated that since the beginning of the year, when Jair Bolsonaro took over the presidency of Brazil, the Amazon loses a forest area equal to one football ...

The first half of 2019 has been characterised by the eruption of a huge movement around climate change, sparked by protests and walkouts of millions of school students internationally, writes Monika Janas. This reflects the growing understanding of the peril which our planet is in and the need for urgent and radical action to reverse this. In reality the term ...

By Darragh O’Dwyer Last year, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that we have a mere 12 years to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, after which point the more catastrophic effects of climate change – floods, droughts, heatwaves – will greatly worsen. Such a goal can only be achieved through a drastic reduction in ...

A very significant surge for the Greens, huge loss of seats for Sinn Fein, and losses for the Left were the headline stories of Local and European Elections May 2019. While the elections absolutely did not represent any ringing endorsement for the Government or political establishment, the combination of the impact of a late Greens surge, and a low turnout amongst the harder pressed sections of the working class, impinged significantly on the Left’s vote.