Al Gore was our Cop at COP28 and when COP stops, he does NOT.
If we survive this oncoming evolutionary convergence and eventually humanity gives Al Gore his due, he will be seen as one of the great figures in all of human history, specifically for the part he has played, not only in warning us early on to the impending dangers of climate collapse, but also for his tireless efforts to save our sorry asses, as this ongoing disaster unfolds.
When he first spoke to Congress as the emissary of his environmental mentor James Hansen, who testified as his star witness, few listened, despite his statesman’s demeanor and eloquent oratorical skills.
His integrity, coupled with the prescient evidence presented by Dr. Hansen, as well as the sincerity of concern exhibited, planted seeds in me that found fertile, well-prepared soil productively nurturing my climate awareness ever since.
Recently, through NYTimes climate coverage and links to other sources, I have been following the sad display of human greed and denial that COP28 has been shining a bright light on, stripping naked the last tattered finery from the agendas of the petro-mafia and various world leaders who have as yet to comprehend that the environment is not something to be bent to their will.
It is more accurately an enraged rampaging beast that will soon shred these delusional ‘string’ pullers’ and pulverize their petty desires.
Like Greta Thunberg, Mr. Gore is seldom the focus of the media and as with her, some of this is due to the effects of a Rethuglican smear campaign, as well as, a deliberate sidelining of their climate activities by the MSM as not being news worthy in a world still largely in environmental blanket denial. This, ‘coincidently’, serves the interests of the FF fiends and corporate despoilers advantageously.
But as the ‘winds’ are changing in both direction and speed, these bad actors show signs of recognizing the treacherous waters they find themselves in, as they struggle to stay the course, while already plotting alternatives to hedge their bets.
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (Mr. Bone Saw) the sociopathic Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia is reported to be spending vast sums in the search for alternative sources of revenue for S.A. including investments in A.I. (which should give us all pause).
In the light of all this, I was pleased to find Mr. Gore mentioned a number of times and always in ways that made it clear that he was an important player in the proceedings of the conference. Perhaps, most importantly, a Bloomberg article of 12/5 focused on his plans to try and change a critical aspect of the procedural structure of future COP conferences.
More specifically, it addresses the manner in which critical decisions are made by a consensus of world bodies.
As it now stands, any country has veto powers over all the others, because in order to pass any resolutions, all countries must agree unanimously.
When one becomes aware of the source of this rule, clarity ensues.
From the Dec. 10 NYTimes article “Saudi Arabia Is Trying to Block a Global Deal to End Fossil Fuels, Negotiators Say” :
Saudi Arabia Is Trying to Block a Global Deal to End Fossil Fuels, Negotiators Say
“Saudi Arabia has a long history of throwing sand in the gears of climate talks. In fact, one reason that the U.N. climate body operates by consensus, with any one country able to block a deal, is that Saudi Arabia demanded those rules at the first climate summit in 1992 and has fought to maintain them ever since”.
Their purpose was clearly to hobble any attempts to move away from oil dependency and it continues to do this successfully, essentially sabotaging COP28 single-handedly.
But while the Saudis may have shoved this rule up our asses back then, El Niño will soon shove their asses up against the wall of climate collapse, pushing forward a radical power shift.
boatsie, from a wonderful series reporting on COP28, lays out the damage:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/11/2211017/-COP28-on-Verge-of-Complete-Failure-as-Phase-Out-of-Fossil-Fuels-Removed-from-Text?utm_campaign=recent
By the same restriction, any single country can veto the choice of the next host country, which is chosen by geographic procession, with apparently no other qualifications considered.
Putin is using this to weaponize selection against European countries who support Ukraine. As a result, Azerbaijan has been chosen to host COP29, which will make it the third oil producing country in a row to do so.
Here is Mr Gore’s pro-active response:
“Gore said he plans to gather advocates to push for decisions to be approved by a super majority of 75% of nations before COP29. It would be “extremely difficult,” he said, but “the stakes are so high that we have to try every strategy.” Bloomberg reports
Another times article from 12/4
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/04/climate/cop28-aljaber-fossil-fuels.html
reported on the flak that Sultan Al Jaber, the COP28 president and chief executive of the state-owned oil company Adnoc, was taking for climate denial remarks he had made shortly before in which he stated that there was
“ …no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5 “
The article then goes on to provide a quote from Mr. Gore responding to this
reality-morphing crap and glaring conflict of interest.
“From the moment this absurd masquerade began, it was only a matter of time before his preposterous disguise no longer concealed the reality of the most brazen conflict of interest in the history of climate negotiations,” Gore said in an email. “Obviously, the world needs to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible.”
This is both refreshingly blunt and reassuringly razor sharp — especially in the light of Mr. Gore’s congenial and gracious manner, as well as his highly developed diplomatic skills. It suggests to me that behind that public face is a force for reckoning. For Mr Gore, the Persian Gulf is only knee deep.
Although these very brief references to Al Gore are scant and slim, they provide enough substance to intuitively bolster my growing sense that COP28 has ultimately marked a productive shift in the power dynamics being played out. Clarity is empowering and if nothing else COP28 reveals the sharp divide between the FF agenda and global survival interests writ large for all the world to see.
A clear grasp of history and how it is shaped by human behavior can make the signs and patterns of change recognizable — suggesting the possibility that we are witnessing the opening notes of fossil fuel’s ‘swan song’.
But denial is a slippery shape shifter and such times as these enhance its seductive powers, necessitating constant vigilance to evade its siren call, which induces madness.
As such it may prove to be that my hopes are only dreams.
Perhaps Mr. Gore can help see that they are not.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/3/2209459/-Cop-Out-at-COP28
Post Script: on 12/12, I wrote this comment to Boatsie’s diary addressing the looming failure of COP28 to arrive at a consensus. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/12/2211292/-Overtime-COP28-Fuels-Fears-of-Potential-Collapse-in-Talks?utm_campaign=recent#comment_87618135
“It was clear from the beginning that COP28 was too compromised to produce any meaningful agreed on change toward the goal of fazing out Fossil Fuels. The Saudis have been putting considerable effort into sabotage, which considering that all they have to do to scuttle any agreement is vote against it, leaves me wondering what their end game is. Is this subterfuge an attempt to provide them and the other Arab states with some shreds of cover to shield them from too harsh a light revealing them as isolated in their self interest? I am hopeful that lessons will be learned from this COP and applied to 29…certainly majority rule would be the best place to start, especially as it was the Saudis who demanded the 100% rule back in 1992. I sense that the sands are shifting and suspect the Saudis know it — but I know that the most powerful player in all this will soon be El Niño on behalf of environmental collapse. “
The next morning I awoke to this news …..https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/climate/cop28-climate-agreement.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20231213&instance_id=110027&nl=the-morning®i_id=215213938&segment_id=152467&te=1&user_id=b1dd677400e4bbce2a6f950656063605
Along with my surprise, I was elated to have been wrong. What I found the most reassuring was not the inclusion of the words “transitioning away from fossil fuels” in the final agreement, as remarkable as that appears, but rather the change that reveals and portends. Words without action are meaningless and past COPs have produced plenty of meaningless words.
But in this case the startling reversal on the part of OPEC, Saudi Arabia and the Arab States in general, does seem to lend support to my supposition that the ‘sands’ are indeed shifting and that they’re ‘seeing the light’ through the cracks in the wall of denial as it finally begins to crumble.
This gives me great hope, as it conforms to the time frame of exponentially expanding awareness and concern, which can be gleaned from a familiarity with various historic parallels and an understanding of the nature of exponential change itself.
Thank you El Niño.