Sustainability News

Global climate (good) news: Aug-2026

A selection of hopeful climate news from various outlets, courtesy of Deb F.

Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative

  • Global campaign urging governments to negotiate a binding international plan to phase out coal, oil and gas.
  • Backed by 18 nation-states, numerous cities (like Toronto and Montreal), hundreds of parliamentarians, and thousands of civil society organizations.

Gulf News (Aug 24, 2026)

  • Saudi Arabia sets fines of up to SR 5 million ($1.8 million Cdn) for marine pollution.
  • New rules tighten controls on oil spills, wastewater, fishing and sensitive habitats.

The Better India

  • Bengal College grows saplings in discarded coconut shells instead of plastic bags, to reduce environmental waste.

The Times of India

  • Ecuador’s Indigenous women are planting trees for birds, insects and other animals; growing cacao for their families; and protecting the forest for their children to save the Amazon.

NHK World Japan

  • Authorities in Tokyo are exploring converting aging concrete seawalls into beaches and wetlands to naturally absorb storm surges and improve local marine ecosystems.

Massimo

  • US farmers are intentionally flooding parts of their crop fields to create wetlands that help migratory birds and improve soil health.

Travel and Tour World

  • Malaysia aligns with Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia as new coastal research reveals natural aspects outperform seawalls in protecting beaches, strengthening hurricane resilience, and sustainable travel across southeast Asia.

The Tyee

  • In the Fraser Valley, a new oil pipeline faces mountains of challenges.
  • Getting through the steep, narrow stretch cost Trans Mountain billions.
  • Alberta’s plans to avoid a repeat is full of holes.

Carbon Brief (UN Report)

  • Rates of deforestation are declining around the world.
  • Global net forest loss has more than halved since 1990
  • Many countries are hugely increasing their forest area. China and Russia added more forest cover than any other countries in the last decade. (Canada is behind countries like Turkey, India and South Africa in net gain of forests.)
  • Around one-fifth of the world’s forests are located in protected areas. For an area to be “protected,” it must be managed in a way that conserves nature.
  • 26% of all forest in Asia are protected, the highest if any region. (North and Central America have the least percentage of protected forests.)

Carbon Brief (UN Report)

  • Land-use emissions have fallen by l/3 this century.
  • Emissions from land-use change include deforestation, loss of peatland and forest degradation.
  • Forest regrowth and falling deforestation have driven down global land-use emissions since late 1990s.
  • The largest contributor to an acceleration in the decline of global land-use emissions in the past decade has been Indonesia, which has rewetted more peatland area since 2017 alone than Europe in its entire history.
  • Peatland wetting refers to the process of restoring water levels in drained peatlands in order to return them to their natural waterlogged condition, which allows for peat formation and carbon storage.

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Global climate news: May

In a rare show of global unity, countries adopt landmark ruling (GRIST, May 22, 2026) LINK

About six years ago, law students at the University of the South Pacific convinced the government of the small island of Vanuatu to take the harms wrought by climate change all the way to the International Court of Justice., the world’s highest legal authority. Vanuatu , along with the students, waged a campaign to convince the court that climate change was a human rights issue, and that countries have a legal duty to protect the planet for future generations. In 2025, the court sided with them unanimously. In a legal, non-binding advisory opinion it ruled that the failure of countries to tackle climate change is a “Wrongful Act,” and that other nations harmed by a warming planet may seek reparations.

Now the effort has notched another win. On May 22, 2026 an overwhelming majority of United Nations’ countries voted to adopt a resolution backing the court’s ruling. More than 140 countries voted in favour of the resolution. Twenty-eight countries abstained and eight countries—including the U.S. Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Russia— voted against.

Historic breakthrough in Columbia Talks. Hopes Raised for Fossil Fuel phase-out (Guardian May 1, 2026) LINK

Nearly 60 countries (including Canada) led by Columbia and the Netherlands, reached an historic breakthrough in climate talks in Santa Marta, Columbia forming a coalition to bypass U.N. negotiation deadlocks. Unlike traditional UN climate summits, which require unanimous consensus among heavily conflicted petrostates, the coalition of the willing is taking independent, targeted action.

Key takeaways include:

  • National roadmaps with commitments to drawing up specific, actionable plans to transition their economies away from fossil fuel production and use.
  • Financial & trade focus: agreement to expose fossil fuel subsidies, work on financial reforms, and develop trade measures that discourage demand for fossil fuels.
  • Inclusive dialogue: A heavy emphasis on Indigenous Peoples’ front-line communities and social movements to ensure a just transition.
  • The global summit launches a panel of scientists that will advise these countries on how to shift to clean energy, putting scientists at the centre of the action.

The second phase of these talks will be hosted by Tuvalu and Ireland in 2027.

Did you know there is a Climate Fiction Prize?

The award recognizes “storytelling that engages with the realities of climate change.” The 2026 award was won by Helen Phillips for “Hum,” the story of a mother’s struggle to protect and nurture her small family in a broiling, future metropolis. The Climate Fiction Prize was launched in June 2024 at the Hay Festival in Wales (New Scientist: “The Book is in the Future”). LINK

Ten Compelling Poems about Climate Change (The Conversation, May 2026)

Explore these ten compelling, environmentally resonant poems that capture the urgency, grief, and beauty of our changing world. LINK

Check out American poet W.S. Merwin’s poem “Place” to find the grace of hope.

Place

On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree

what for
not the fruit

the tree that bears the fruit
is not the one that was planted

I want the tree that stands
in the earth for the first time

with the sun already
going down

and the water
touching its roots

in the earth full of the dead
and the clouds passing

one by one
over its leaves

—W.S. Merwin, from his book, The Rain in the Trees (Amazon link)

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SusGabe supports Snuneymuxw

The following email to government officials expresses Sustainable Gabriola’s support for a Snuneymuxw press release criticizing all levels of government for ignoring or suppressing spills and pollution in Snuneymuxw waters (which are also Gabriola waters). This was the first act of Gabriola Matters, the newly created “action arm” of Sustainable Gabriola.

Date: Fri, Feb 27, 2026, 08:28
Subject: Spills & Toxic Pollution near Gabriola
To: Hon. David Eby, Premier premier@gov.bc.ca,
Hon. Tamara Davidson, Minister of Environment and Parks ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca,
Hon. Sheila Malcomson, Member of the Legislative Assembly sheila.malcomson.mla@leg.bc.ca,
Hon. Mayor Leonard Krog & Council, City of Nanaimo mayor.council@nanaimo.ca,
Hon. Joanne Thompson, Minister Department of Fisheries & Oceans Canada info@dfo-mpo-gc.ca

Hello —
We, residents of Gabriola Island and members of Sustainable Gabriola, wish to express our concern and dismay at the failure of governmental authorities to enforce compliance with environmental standards of protection and cleanup of the waters recently polluted by an oil spill and contaminated by ongoing toxic effluent.

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It starts with a walk!

Our McGillvary Loop neighbourhood started with a simple walk around the block — around the “Loop,” as we soon came to call it. 

Actually, it started when three households met a few times to talk about the benefits of neighbourhood cohesion, for mutual support, safety and just plain conviviality. We decided to start by inviting everyone in the area out for a walk — something many of us do regularly, but usually on our own. 

Continue reading “It starts with a walk!”

Global climate news: November

COP30, a grim takeaway

November 30, 2025 from Deb F

Another COP wrecked by fossil fuel interests and global leaders’ cowardice. Key observations:

  • 5000 indigenous people were there, but unable to vote or attend closed door meetings.
  • The power of protests – protests happened every day, most notable an Indigenous led “great people’s march” on the Middle Sat.
  • US absence created a vacuum, and an opportunity. In an historic first, America did not send an official delegation. China took an unexpected leadership role.
  • Implementation through side deals – not the main stage – such as the Belem pledge, committed signatories to quadruple sustainable fuels production and use by 2035.
  • The Global transition text – more than 80 countries signed the text for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels. But when the final deal was agreed, key references to fossil fuel phase out were missing. Opposition from Saudi Arabia, India and other fuel producers watered it down.

Warming is going to exceed 1.5°C*. Humanity is living beyond limits.

Continue reading “Global climate news: November”