Climate change: what's it all about?

A couple of weeks ago, extraordinary things started happening in New York:
'A really big deal': New York City's fossil fuel divestment could spur global shift | US news | The Guardian
NYC Sues the Five Biggest Oil Companies in the US Over Climate Change | Observer

Some find this 'absurd':
Suing the Industrial Age | City Journal

Jeffrey Sachs doesn't:
A bold bid for climate justice - CNN

It's certainly spurred more interest in what it's all about:
Climate Change Is Complex. We’ve Got Answers to Your Questions. - The New York Times

The founder of the 350 degrees campaign group
https://350.org/

... writes on how things are moving in the United States:


3 Strategies to Get to a Fossil-Free America

None of them rely on Washington to do anything useful.

By Bill McKibbenTwitter

YESTERDAY 12:58 PM

When the next phase of the US climate movement launches with a nationally streamed rally at the end of the month, the wound-licking will be over. Yes, the Trump administration has upset any hope of a smooth and orderly transition to a new energy world. Yes, it’s pulled the United States out of the Paris climate agreement and opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Yes, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry have made a mockery of hurricane victims and fire victims and flood victims, from San Juan to Montecito to Houston.

But the fossil-fuel industry doesn’t hold all the high cards. We’ll start playing our own aces for a Fossil-Free United States on January 31, when Bernie Sanders and an all-star lineup brought together by 350.org that includes everyone from indigenous activist Dallas Goldtooth to NAACP organizer Jacqui Patterson to star youth climate organizer Varshini Prakash lay out a coordinated plan for the year ahead.

The basic outlines are pretty simple. None of the strategies rely on Washington’s doing anything useful. In fact, because DC has emerged as the fossil-fuel industry’s impregnable fortress, our strategies look everywhere else for progress. In every case, real momentum has emerged, even in the last few weeks.

Job 1: Push for a fast and just transition to renewable energy in cities and states...

Job 2: Stop new fossil-fuel projects...

Job 3: Cut off the flow of money to the fossil-fuel industry...

...

These are also the groups taking the lead in climate organizing, giving it a new and vital energy. Vice, the CNN of the young, reported this month that “the next millennial trend is suing big oil for destructive climate change,” apparently replacing avocado toast.

None of which means that the fight is won. Big Oil has had a big year, and they hold most of the levers in Washington. But they’re beginning to lose in a lot of other places—including in people’s hearts and minds. Destruction like that wrought by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and Maria; tragedy like that wrought by California’s fires and mudslides—it takes a toll. No lie lives forever, and 2018 may be the year that the most dangerous deceit in the planet’s history finally unravels for good.

3 Strategies to Get to a Fossil-Free America | The Nation
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