Latest news with #TzeporahBerman
National Observer
08-07-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
How a Canadian climate activist came to believe ‘We're going to need a bigger treaty'
The Takeover has taken you inside two right-wing conferences where politicians, influencers and billionaires are openly plotting to dismantle climate policy and cut environmental regulations, while expanding the production of oil, gas and coal. The US is leading the charge with President Trump's 'drill baby drill' policies that ignore the Paris Agreement's net-zero goals and embolden the fossil fuel industry's disinformation. In this episode we look at an international non-profit group that is working from the ground up to fight against 'drill baby drill' and put in place a treaty that will force the fossil fuel industry to stop producing oil and gas. The leader of this movement is a Canadian woman, Tzeporah Berman, who felt compelled to act when she realized that the Paris Agreement did not even mention oil, gas and coal. The landmark agreement was signed in 2015 by nearly every country in the world with a goal of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Tzeporah couldn't figure out why oil, gas and coal wouldn't be mentioned when they are responsible for more than 86 per cent of carbon emissions. ' And then I started realizing, 'Oh my God, we're all playing into their hands.' They want it to be about emissions and net zero and offsets, et cetera. Like the tobacco industry before them, they just want us to not constrain their product from growing,' said Tzeporah Berman. From there she came to believe that the Paris Agreement wasn't enough to force the end to the production of oil, gas and coal — and that a whole new treaty would be needed with the explicit goal of constraining fossil fuels if the world were to actually avert the disaster the Paris Agreement is intended to address. As a long time environmental activist who worked as a Greenpeace campaigner against clear-cut logging in British Columbia and pipelines in the Alberta Tar Sands, Berman believed protesting alone would not bring change fast enough. What do you do when the world's biggest climate treaty ignores fossil fuels? Create your own. Check out episode 6 of The Takeover with Tzeporah Berman. Listen and leave a review on your favourite podcasting apps. 'Even today in government, there's this idea that there's nothing wrong with building more fossil fuel infrastructure as long as we have a plan to reduce our emissions,' said Berman. As she analyzed treaties – the Montreal Accord that saved the ozone layer, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Ottawa Treaty which banned land mines, she decided that's what was needed to stop the fossil fuel industry. That's episode six, The Treaty.
National Observer
08-07-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
The Treaty
The Takeover has taken you inside two right-wing conferences where politicians, influencers and billionaires are opening plotting to dismantle climate policy and cut environmental regulations, while expanding the production of oil, gas and coal. The US is leading the charge with President Trump's drill baby drill policies that ignore the Paris Agreement's net zero goals and embolden the fossil fuel industry's disinformation. In this episode we look at an international non-profit group that is working from the ground up to fight against drill baby drill and put in place a treaty that will force the fossil fuel industry to stop producing oil and gas. The leader of this movement is a Canadian woman, Tzeporah Berman, who felt compelled to act when she realized that the Paris Agreement did not even mention oil, gas and coal. The landmark agreement was signed in 2015 by nearly every country in the world. The goal is to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Tzeporah couldn't figure out why oil, gas and coal wouldn't be mentioned when they are responsible for more than 86 per cent of carbon emissions. From there she came to believe that the Paris Agreement wasn't enough to force the end to the production of oil, gas and coal.
