In the news this week: COP26, a space anniversary and the Booker Prize winner announced

Climate Crisis

It has been billed as a pivotal moment in the climate crisis, and now the United Nations Cop26 climate talks have finally begun, with world leaders gathered in Glasgow.

It is hoped these latest round of UN talks will drive action on averting dangerous climate change. The stakes are high which is why so many heads of key politicians and heads of state are in attendance.

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The Prince of Wales will co-host the Great Green Wall (GGW) session, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, before he joins the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to host a reception for the key members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and the winners and finalists of the first Earthshot Prize Awards.

The Scottish Event Campus, in Glasgow, is hosting the UN climate conference. (Picture: PA).The Scottish Event Campus, in Glasgow, is hosting the UN climate conference. (Picture: PA).
The Scottish Event Campus, in Glasgow, is hosting the UN climate conference. (Picture: PA).
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What we need, though, as someone said recently, is action not words. The world is warming because of fossil fuel emissions caused by human action. Extreme weather events linked to climate change – including heatwaves, floods and forest fires – are intensifying, and the past decade was the warmest on record.

Some countries have set out their plans to reduce emissions but we can expect more announcements in the coming days. There are key issues such as how we speed up the phasing out of coal power, and how more people can be protected from the impacts of climate change.

However, it is five years since the Paris Agreement for the first time united almost all the world’s nations in a single agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It was greeted as a crucial moment, but questions will be asked this week about whether everyone is doing what they promised.

Space anniversary

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While the focus is rightly trained on trying to help our ailing planet, interest in space science has been reignited in recent years thanks to a string of high profile missions.

The creation of the International Space Station (ISS) was a landmark moment and it’s strange to think that people have been living in space up there for 21 years.

The first crew, Expedition One, arrived on November 2, 2000 and someone has been on board ever since. This giant floating laboratory has been travelling at five miles per second since the first part of it was launched into orbit in 1998.

The International Space Station is an international project involving the US, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan and shows what humans can do when we work together – a message that hopefully isn’t lost on the politicians and bigwigs in Glasgow.

Literary prize

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While all eyes are on Glasgow this week, the literary world will also be keeping tabs on what’s happening in London on Wednesday when the winner of the 2021 Booker Prize will be announced. Six books have been shortlisted for this year’s prize, worth £50,000 to the winner.

The Booker Prize, first awarded in 1969, is open to writers of any nationality whose work is written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.

The ceremony will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, from Broadcasting House’s Radio Theatre. Douglas Stuart’s debut novel Shuggie Bain (reviewed in this newspaper) won the 2020 prize.