You will need to make important decisions that will lay a solid foundation for an ambitious agreed outcome in Copenhagen, to shape and redirect humankind’s further development. (Yvo de Boer, executive secretary, United Nations Framework on Convention on Climate Change, December 2008)
It’s a conspiracy. You started it. We’re entitled. Not on my watch. Absolutely it’s a hoax. And best of all, we can’t afford to. Yes, leadership and vision do matter. There’s not much around however.
The most recent United Nations Environment Program report (mentioned in Earth Notes several days ago) concluded that increasing amounts of soot, particles, and cancer-causing chemicals have created a “brown cloud,” hanging over parts of the Persian Gulf and Asia, threatening health and food supplies in the region.
The only response from a large portion of the Indian scientific community was anger, directed at the U.N. and the West in general. Some called the report mere “propaganda,” others said any brown cloud was “seasonal” and temporary.
India was quick to point out that its greenhouse gas emissions were miniscule compared to the U.S. and Europe. They’re quite right, but apparently working as hard as they can to catch up. After all, it’s what “developed” nations do.
In Poznan, Poland this past Monday, delegates arrived for a two week meeting, a continuation of last year’s Bali conference, to hammer out proposals for the final meeting in Denmark in 2009 to, in theory, sign a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol.
China has stated publicly that climate change and greenhouse gas emissions represent a serious problem, but it’s primarily the West that needs to take the responsibility for “doing something” about it, according to China.
Of course, the ersatz Communist leadership has a tiger by the tail. The last estimates I saw said that China had to maintain an annual growth rate of at least 8% to create a sufficient number of jobs and a rising standard of living for more than one-billion people. Good luck.
Up until the global meltdown Indonesia was cutting down its rainforests and destroying its ecosystems as fast as possible. The wood was shipped to China, turned into furniture, and then sold in Japan, North America, and Europe. Indonesia is not likely to become enlightened anytime soon, and they too have a lot of people with rising expectations.
It appears that agribusiness is now applying more and more pressure on the Brazilian government to clear a larger portion of the Amazon. The Brazilians have periodically demonstrated a real understanding of the importance of the Amazon—beyond growing soybeans and raising cattle for the world’s meat-eating consumers--but they too have a population clamoring for all the stuff that the Norte Americanos think is so important.
It is as they say, a very sticky wicket. The U.N. currently rejects any mandatory greenhouse gas emission curbs on developing countries. It is a matter of “climate justice” the United Nations states. The U.S. Congress will not likely approve of a pact that places restrictions on U.S. emissions while allowing countries like China, India, and Indonesia to emit what they like. So what happens next?
Will the recession be good or bad for the environment? Could it be possibly the best of times to begin the transition to alternative energy, new ways of doing business, and some serious conservation, even though it might sound totally counterintuitive? Where would be the best place to begin? See Slump May Limit Moves on Clean Energy.
It’s going to have to come down to the United States taking the lead on climate change because no one else is going to. But we have a lot of education—and inspiring--to do first, not only in the U.S. but in the rest of the world as well.
Regardless of what sort of treaty the world community comes up with in Copenhagen in 2009, nothing will take effect until 2013. This hardly indicates to the “man” in the street, anywhere in the world, that global warming is regarded as a truly serious issue. Yeah, we’ll get to it … when the conditions are right.
As James Speth, dean of Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, points out, it will likely take a much bolder approach to move climate change legislation forward. Go to Taking Our Own Inventory.
In the United States at the moment, we are hearing that a new spirit of bipartisanship and cooperation is unfolding, and George Bush and his merry band of deadenders are working closely with the Obama team in the transition. Uh-huh.
Mr. Bush in his remaining days is doing his best to insure that environmental pillaging, among other things, continues unabated. There is no reason to assume that environmental “stuff” will work itself out under a President Obama. The hard work is yet to come.
Regarding climate change:
Soot darkens ice, stokes runaway Arctic melt-study
