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An ocean of black suits, waves white thoubs, 
greeting women in liputa, abaya, sari–
scores of young men from Trinity College in Hyderabad, in matching polos, 
embroidered emblem over their hearts, men with ink black chins, beads sculpted into a tiger, 
her head adorned with feathers, 

Cameras on tripods, microphones, bags slug over shoulders, 
climbing on benches to peer over the wall at the world leaders posing 
for group pictures. Temporary dams set up today to redirect the flow of bodies, 
to protect the dignitaries from the throngs

And what of the girls cleaning the bathrooms,
selling sandwiches and coffee at the kiosks,
pushing a cart down the long hallway moving 
a barricade, and moving it again. 
Gesturing to use the ramp or the escalator. 
pointing a scanner at badge after badge
all this talk of talking about climate.

How do we take stock of our responsibility? 
Assign blame, make calculations
and what of the degrees rising past 1.5. 
Or 2.7, or 3 degrees 
When the impacts are catastrophic but start far away?
What of carbon colonialization, a new word for an old practice?
An old practice with new tricks?
Fossil fuel? The US touts turning away from coal when some countries depend on it
know energy poverty 
but we ignore the oil and gas we are drinking, not that kind of bone energy

What accounting is required? What of accountability? Of responsibility? 
Fiscal and otherwise
The global north obligating the south to lead from down there, 
From less
4% of the world’s population making the rest pay for its 24%

Erin Sharkey

Erin Sharkey is a writer, arts, and abolition organizer, cultural worker, and film producer based in Minneapolis. She is the editor of A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars (Milkweed Editions ’23). Erin is a founding coop member of the Fields at Rootsprings, a retreat and respite space in central MN, and co-founder, with Junauda Petrus, of an experimental arts collective called Free Black Dirt. She is the producer of film projects, including Sweetness of Wild, an episodic web film, and Small Business Revolution, which explored challenges and opportunities for Black-owned businesses in the Twin Cities in the summer of 2021. Sharkey has received fellowships and residencies from the Loft Mentor Series, VONA/Voices, the Givens Foundation, Penumbra Theatre, Coffee House Press, the Bell Museum of Natural History, Black Visions, Headwaters Foundation and the Jerome Foundation. She has an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University and teaches with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.

Erin is a Climate Generation Window Into COP delegate for COP28. To learn more, we encourage you to meet the full delegation and subscribe to the Window Into COP digest.

The post Observing at COP28 Day 2 – Friday Dec 1 appeared first on Climate Generation.

Observing at COP28 Day 2 – Friday Dec 1

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Georgia Hasn’t Had a Consumer Advocate for Electric Ratepayers for 18 Years

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A bill to restore the state’s consumer utilities counsel failed to move forward, meaning Georgia will remain one of only a handful of states without a statutory advocate representing ratepayers.

Eighteen years after Georgia eliminated its consumer utility advocate, the fight to bring the office back recently resurfaced at a Senate hearing.

Georgia Hasn’t Had a Consumer Advocate for Electric Ratepayers for 18 Years

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Wondering How to Talk About Climate Change? Take a Lesson from Bad Bunny

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Discussing climate change can make a difference. Focusing on the impacts in everyday life is a good place to start, experts say.

When Bad Bunny climbed onto broken power lines during his Super Bowl halftime show, millions of viewers saw a spectacle. Climate communicators saw a lesson in how to talk about climate change.

Wondering How to Talk About Climate Change? Take a Lesson from Bad Bunny

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Greenpeace response to escalating attacks on gas fields in Middle East

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Sydney, Thursday 19 March 2026 — In response to escalating attacks on gas fields in the Middle East, including Israeli strikes on Iran’s giant South Pars gas field and Iranian retaliations on gas fields in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the following lines can be attributed to Solaye Snider, Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific:

The targeting of gas fields across the Middle East is a perilous escalation that reinforces just how vulnerable our fossil-fuelled world really is.

Oil and gas have long been used as tools of power and coercion by authoritarian regimes. They cause climate chaos and environmental pollution and they drive conflict and war. The energy security of every nation still hooked on gas, including Australia, is under direct threat.

For countries that are reliant on gas imports, like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Korea, this crisis is just getting started. It can take months to restart a gas export facility once it is shut down, meaning the shockwaves of these strikes will be felt for a long time to come.

It is a gross and tragic injustice that while civilians are killed and lose their homes to this escalating violence, and families struggle with a tightening cost-of-living, gas giants like Woodside and Santos have seen their share prices surge on the prospect of windfall war profits. 

We must break this cycle. Transitioning to local renewable energy is the way to protect Australian households from the inherent volatility of fossil fuels like gas.

-ENDS-

Images available for download via the Greenpeace Media Library

Media contact: Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or lkeller@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace response to escalating attacks on gas fields in Middle East

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