Cancun Climate Conference Ends, Falls Short of Science-Based Targets
“I was born in 1992. You have been negotiating all my life. You cannot tell us that you need more time,” Christina Ora of the Solomon Islands said last year when she addressed delegates at U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. This year, the negotiations continued and it seems our political leaders DO need more time to talk before taking action on this global threat, even as the window for action is shrinking.
Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent for Reuters, summarized the conference this way:
The two-week 190-nation conference in Cancun, a Caribbean resort, agreed on Saturday to step up action against climate change, including a goal of $100 billion a year to help the poor from 2020 and action to protect carbon-absorbing rain forests.
Almost all admit it fell woefully short of action needed. Cancun underscored that a treaty, as urged by Ora, is out of reach because of disparate economic interests among China, the United States, OPEC oil exporters and Pacific islands.
“Signs that climate change is happening and with catastrophic consequences are there — flooding in Pakistan, heat waves in Russia, China,” Norwegian Environment Minister Erik Solheim said.
“This is a huge step forward but of course not sufficient based on science,” he said of the Cancun agreements…Click here to read more.
Gwynne Dyer, author of Climate Wars, summed it this way: No Climate Progress at Cancun:
The UN climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, is nearing its end, but there will be no global deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions this year. However, there is some hope for the longer run.
…China is already the world’s largest exporter of solar panels, and India is the leading exporter of wind turbines, but these technologies are more expensive than cheap and dirty coal-fired power stations.
If the developing countries must choose the more expensive option, who pays the difference?
The old, rich countries who landed them in this dilemma, of course.
People in the rich countries don’t even understand that history, so they are still a long way from accepting that deal.
It won’t happen at Cancun, and it may be years before it does.
Maybe too many years. Click here to read the full article in the Sudbury Star
What do I think? I think that citizens around the globe need to unite, as we are starting to, and demand bold action on climate change, like our lives – and those of our children – depend on upon it. Because of course, they do.
Go to 350.org’s page “Stand Together for Bold Action on Climate Change” and leave a message of solidarity for those who are most threatened by the developed world’s addiction to fossil fuels. Then, get connected with other people in your community who are working for change. Change is not only possible, it is inevitable. The question is what kind of world will be left by the time the shift happens.
One of the key outcomes of the conference is the interconnection of the enviromental issues with the economic ones one of which is typically the issue of raising taxes in order to continue the process of cutting emissions.
Actually, Stephen Harper likes to frame placing a price on carbon as a tax, but the truth is with carbon fee and dividend, a steadily rising fee is placed on carbon-based fuels at the source — mine, well, port of entry — such that coal and oil become more expensive than wind, solar and other forms of clean energy within a decade. All the revenue from the carbon fee is then returned equally to all citizens, preferably in the form of monthly checks or direct deposits. This gives consumers the cash they need to cope with rising energy costs associated with the carbon fee.
Doesn’t sound like a tax to me, how about you?
Your new religion is even worse than the old ones.