The Biggest COP-Out In History.
Saturday/19 December 2009
I'm back after having taken a few days off blogging to follow the
moment by moment spasms of the last days of COP15, Copenhagen, the
biggest COP-out in history. I've attended a protest at the office
of the Member of Parliament for this riding of Saanich and the Gulf
Islands, Gary Lunn and have become sleepless in Saanich.
A brief opinion:
COP15 is the biggest cop-out in history. Never before were more powerful people gathered in one spot with clearer evidence of peril facing our planet, clear and present danger directly in front of living children & grandchildren, their descendants, and large groups of mostly African people yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Never before was there a greater opportunity to veer away from the tipping point at which global warming and climate change become so severe that they are unstoppable, that they become entities which can only gather strength, grow and complete their own life-cycle, transforming our earth into something very different, one without us and without many other terrestrial life forms.
Instead of steering humanity from the brink, the richest and the most powerful have settled for playing a game of chicken, hurtling into the future and carrying an entire planet in the backseat. Risky business. Risky, risky business.
Here's what it's all about: It's about hanging onto the right to blast CO2 into the atmosphere as long as they can get away with it, about playing tactical, diplomatic games to one-up neighbours and reserve more of the atmosphere for more of their very own GNP, the Grossest of National Products, CO2. It's about political bullshit at its most rank.
Listen. If the human race has a horseshoe up its almighty yingyang, it might just stop short of the killer tipping point and settle for severe degradation of the biosphere, the elimination of many island nations, the flooding of major coastal cities, the inception of climate, water and food wars, the creation of billions of climate refugees and a few other choice odds and sodds.
But it won't leave much wiggle room. For instance, what if a slew of volcanoes spewed volcano innards for a year — would that be enough propel us into the end-game? If the atmosphere is chock full of greenhouse gases how much more can it take? The atmosphere has an upper limit on the amount of CO2 it can hold and still have a human race living in its lower bounds, the surface of the earth. We are almost kissing cousins with that upper limit right now. Species of life are dropping like flies. Pay attention. Due diligence is your responsibility.
Risky business.
What does it take to be considered treasonous against a planet?
Gag me.
A brief opinion:
COP15 is the biggest cop-out in history. Never before were more powerful people gathered in one spot with clearer evidence of peril facing our planet, clear and present danger directly in front of living children & grandchildren, their descendants, and large groups of mostly African people yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Never before was there a greater opportunity to veer away from the tipping point at which global warming and climate change become so severe that they are unstoppable, that they become entities which can only gather strength, grow and complete their own life-cycle, transforming our earth into something very different, one without us and without many other terrestrial life forms.
Instead of steering humanity from the brink, the richest and the most powerful have settled for playing a game of chicken, hurtling into the future and carrying an entire planet in the backseat. Risky business. Risky, risky business.
Here's what it's all about: It's about hanging onto the right to blast CO2 into the atmosphere as long as they can get away with it, about playing tactical, diplomatic games to one-up neighbours and reserve more of the atmosphere for more of their very own GNP, the Grossest of National Products, CO2. It's about political bullshit at its most rank.
Listen. If the human race has a horseshoe up its almighty yingyang, it might just stop short of the killer tipping point and settle for severe degradation of the biosphere, the elimination of many island nations, the flooding of major coastal cities, the inception of climate, water and food wars, the creation of billions of climate refugees and a few other choice odds and sodds.
But it won't leave much wiggle room. For instance, what if a slew of volcanoes spewed volcano innards for a year — would that be enough propel us into the end-game? If the atmosphere is chock full of greenhouse gases how much more can it take? The atmosphere has an upper limit on the amount of CO2 it can hold and still have a human race living in its lower bounds, the surface of the earth. We are almost kissing cousins with that upper limit right now. Species of life are dropping like flies. Pay attention. Due diligence is your responsibility.
Risky business.
What does it take to be considered treasonous against a planet?
Gag me.
