Hi, this is Michelle. Glaciers melting, sea levels rising, rivers parched, crop fields flooded… The climate crisis is so massive that it can feel overwhelming.
But that’s just how the powerful, who stand to gain everything from the status quo and lose from climate action, want people to feel, according to Camille Étienne. I spoke to the French campaigner about how to overcome the feeling of helplessness. |
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Camille Étienne at the Société de Lecture, 25 January 2024. (Société de Lecture/Magali Dougados)
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With her smartphone pressed to her ear, Camille Étienne paces around a tiny room in the centuries-old building in the old town of Geneva. Television network BFMTV is on the line to schedule an interview about the farmers’ protests that began to spread through France and other parts of Europe. Noticing she has company, Étienne glances over and sticks out her tongue in a sign of exhaustion.
The 25-year-old environmental activist, often referred to as the French Greta Thunberg, is in Geneva for the day to promote her book, Pour un soulèvement écologique (For an Environmental Uprising). She doesn’t usually agree to appear on the French right-leanning news broadcaster. “They talk nonsense,” she blurts out. But this time the stakes are high: farmers struggling from inflation are revolting against environmental norms they fear will add to their economic distress.
Read the full story on Geneva Solutions
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Here's what else is happening
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🔑UNRWA says it may be forced to cease activities by end of February.
Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said it risks having to close its doors “by the end of February”, after 13 countries, announced they would suspend their financing.
AFP/Barron’s (EN)
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📈Huge increase in cancers predicted by 2050.
New cancer cases are projected to increase by a massive 77 per cent between 2022 and 2050 – mainly as a result of tobacco, alcohol, obesity and air pollution, according to the Global Cancer Observatory.
Health Policy Watch (EN)
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🆘Armenia finds piecemeal help from the UN to manage Azerbaijan’s aggression, it says.
The UN system’s overall piecemeal response to Armenia’s requests reflects how hard it can be for a small country – stuck in conflict, with few resources and ambivalent alliances with big powers – to advocate for itself successfully.
PassBlue (EN)
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😷 WTO to pull the plug on extension decision on Covid tests and treatments.
After an arduous push uphill since the time developing countries led by South Africa and India, first brought the proposal to the WTO in October 2020, the “waiver” talks will soon be concluded, failing to reach consensus among members.
Geneva Health Files (EN)
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