"Social justice demands that the industrialised world digs deep into its pockets and pledges cash to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, and clean technologies to enable them to grow economically without growing their emissions. The architecture of a future treaty must also be pinned down – with rigorous multilateral monitoring, fair rewards for protecting forests, and the credible assessment of "exported emissions" so that the burden can eventually be more equitably shared between those who produce polluting products and those who consume them. And fairness requires that the burden placed on individual developed countries should take into account their ability to bear it; for instance newer EU members, often much poorer than "old Europe", must not suffer more than their richer partners.
The transformation will be costly, but many times less than the bill for bailing out global finance — and far less costly than the consequences of doing nothing" ... an excerpt from a joint editorial published in 56 newspapers in 45 countries on 12/7 just prior to opening of COP15Link
At the deal's heart must be a settlement between the rich world and the developing world covering how the burden of fighting climate change will be divided — and how we will share a newly precious resource: the trillion or so tonnes of carbon that we can emit before the mercury rises to dangerous levels.Link
Climate science suggests that a radical shift to net-negative emissions is the only solution, that talking about tons of carbon misses the mark and diverts our focus from the immediacy of the crisis: the Arctic ice cap is melting now, Bangladesh is drowning now, sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing severe water-stress now.
Christiania, Copenhagen: Home to Klimaforum09
Welcome to Klimaforum09, the ' alternative'COP15 conference ‘Bottom up Meeting, Windows of Hope,’ running concurrently throughout the next two weeks in Copenhagen's Christiania (aka Freetown) commune-style neighborhood, with 200 workshops, 70 exhibitions, films, theatre, and musical events AND guest speakers including Vandana Shiva, George Monbiot, Bill McKibben, Tim Jackson, Wangari Maathai and Naomi Klein.
"At Klimaforum09 we find the real people taking real action," said Nnimmo Bassy, Head of Friends of Earth International.. "Polluters must be hold accountable and policy makers must start listening to the people."
Day One
The Bolivian environmentalist and traditional healer Carlos Prado carries out a ceremony at the opening of the alternative climate meeting at Christiania, At the Climate bottom meeting traditional Buddhist values of simplicity and self-sufficiency were suggested as genuine solutions to counteract the western lifestyle which has promoted "building "sky-high" buildings, constant pursuit of gadgets and consumer modernity." aren't entirely part of -- of simplicity and self-sufficiency are genuine solutions to adapting to climate change ... People from international organizations such as the UN should come and study in the villages, and not in Harvard or Oxford, if they want to learn how to adapt to climate change." Link
Klimaforum is not about giving charity to the developing world its about taking responsibility and the industrialized countries cleaning up our own mess, Naomi Klein at the opening of Klimaforum09."This is the last chance to save the world."
Klein, who referred to the Bella Center (headquarters to the official UN COP15 talks) as "the biggest case of disaster capitalism" where the deal the world needs is not even on the table, said Klimaforum's role is that of "the truth-teller and the lie detectors. We're here to recognise the difference between a deal and success."
The author of The Shock Doctrine and No Logo also referred to the "branding extravaganza" of Hopenhagen: "The globe has Siemens logo on the bottom and the whole event is sponsored by Coke. That is a capitalization of hope but Klimaforum09 is where the real hope lies," she said.
Upcoming from Klimaforum
Global Day of Action: 12 December
The Flood: an estimated 3,000 citizens merge in the city center to converge on the Bella Center ...including representatives from "System Change, Not Climate Change" Climate Camp, Focus on the Global South.
We believe that rich industrialised countries, which have historically emitted the most greenhouse gases, must agree to urgent and dramatic cuts in their emissions starting NOW. This is fundamental if we are to prevent the most devastating effects of global warming, in particular on the world’s most impoverished and vulnerable people.
Offsetting emissions – paying other countries to cut emissions rather than taking action at home – is unfair, and will not achieve the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions science tells us are necessary:
* Paying someone else to do your homework for you is called cheating.
* Paying someone else to go to the toilet on your behalf is useless.
* Paying someone else to stand in line for you at the bank is unfair. Link
WiserCopenhagen
Ryan Fix, founder of PURE, reports live from Copenhagen. Slideshow, diary, great suggestions ....
What a day! The energy is quite wild here! On one hand, the tension is high, on the other, there is allot of excitement in the air! And then the city rolls on w/ every day life, many seemingly oblivious to what is going on in their home town, strolling right past massive unearthed trees, uninterested, like it was totally normal. Maybe we should light them on fire! To be fair, most people were totally blown away by Angela's amazing work. Sadly, the danish princess is hosting a state dinner right behind the trees on the 18th and they have to clear the place out by then. Really sad! I think Obama's security detail is worried there are snipers that could hide in the trees, or something! If anyone knows the danish princess, would you please ring her up and letter know her dinner guests really need to see this! Maybe this will get them to go back to the Bella Center and sign a powerful deal combating climate change!
Today was intense for sure! I started off at the Klimaforum09 for some amazing music, talks and exhibitions. Klimaforum is the global civil societies counterpart to the official UN conference. It is an open space where people and organizations from all over the world can meet, discuss, and develop a constructive response to the climate crisis. As they say, 'where politicians fail the people must take over.'
System Change, Not Climate Change
... A decent future for any of us might not depend so much on how hard we try to do what we’ve previously tried. Our fate and that of the rest of life on Earth might depend on how fast and how effectively we can learn to perceive and work with problems as a global whole. That’s our challenge. Even though our scientific traditions, education, fragmented societies and compartmentalized institutions focus narrowly, can we still see the big picture and work out what to do before time runs out?
Whole-system problem-solving is not the done thing and may feel odd at first, like pretending to be a superhero without even a cape. Fortunately, people are natural-born systems thinkers; we instinctively search for connections and new perspectives. Given an incentive (like, for example, the impending collapse of life as we know it?) we might surprise ourselves with what we can achieve collaboratively. Perhaps the opportunity of a peaceful sustainable planetary community has been waiting patiently throughout history, until this moment of crisis. from Climate Crisis: Fixing Systems, Not Symptoms by James Greyson
Best Copenhagen Resources
Timeline of Climate History
Photocredits
Klimaforum09 by fotograf_mark
Freetown Christiania, Denmark by s i a m.
Bolivian culture comes to Copenhagen by bbcworldservice
Naomi klein, Klimaforum09 by fotograf_mark
Pig statue by chientai of tatu
system change by chientai of tatu
GreenRoots is an environmental series created by Meteor Blades and Patriot Daily for Daily Kos. This series provides a forum for educating, brainstorming, discussing and taking action on various environmental topics.
Please join a variety of hosts on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 6 pm PDT. Each Wednesday is hosted by FishOutofWater.