We await the latest round of climate negotiations to begin in Copenhagen as if some great contest is about to begin. Who will blink, who will win the advantage? How far will they go and what is politically possible?  Somehow the whole concept is like a bunch of people in a hot tub arguing over who gets to defecate in the water and with what regularity.

At the heart of problem is the belief that we are separate from one another, that as individuals we are islands of consciousness that operate in an environment that begins at the outer layer of our skin. What’s inside is self and what’s outside is other. To navigate this world of separateness we attach labels to everything even the intangibles like faith.

Inside our skin we have labels for our sensations and the feelings they invoke and we have a mental map of how our body works too. We  know that our beating heart is separate from the functioning of our bowel or the workings of the brain but there is an understanding that all this is connected and interdependent.

Inside the body as far as I know there are no negotiations going on; the brain needs blood and the heart delivers. It’s in our nature to understand the interdependence of the system, that without a functioning brain our heart would also die. This service the heart offers to the brain may described as a transaction but it comes without condition for benefit of mutual survival.

Outside our body it seems that we have lost sight of our part in a larger interdependent system.  As a species we spread across the earth evolving along the way to meet the conditions that we found, we developed language and cultures to make sense of it all but a human heart is still a human heart. We have accepted the borders placed upon us that create countries, nationalities and differences but with human ingenuity a white man’s heart can be made to beat within a black man.

As humans we depend on one another for all sorts of services and we have an elaborate way of conducting them and negotiating advantage has become the prime motivator. Creating profit is king and separateness allows this to system to function, winners and losers are just more labels.

When it comes to saving our planet, using a system based on seeking advantage through ‘negotiation’ for our mutual survival  is bound to fail. It might be possible for rich countries to continue pooing in the hotub for a little longer at the expense of the developing world but at this rate we’re set to join the Dodo. Its pretty clear that the only process bound to succeed is one where a safe level of global emissions is set and we all get a carbon allowance.

In times of peril our perceptions of differences diminish and in the past we have come together to pitch for a common cause.  Its at moments like this that we should see beyond the borders of label and country and touch our commonality, the hopes for our children and grandchildren and the future of our world. In Copenhagen we need leadership not prevarication; cooperation not negotiation.

I wonder just why it is that we don’t heed the warnings on climate change, why we don’t see the havoc we’re wreaking?

Perhaps it’s because most of us live on already dead parts of the planet. Surrounded by tarmac, concrete, brick and glass, dead stuff,  it’s difficult to see the important changes taking place in the living world.

In our man-made environment much seems the same year in, year out.  For instance, apart from the predominance of replacement plastic windows the road I grew up on 50 years ago remains largely unchanged. We’re more likely to notice a new shop front than the changes to our urban trees which, are already under attack from alien insects migrating Northward with the warmer temperatures.  From this aspect it’s easy to see how the ‘climate change skeptics’ can make plausible assertions that the whole global warming thing is a conspiracy by government to create Green taxes.

Yet our existence here in our dead zones relies entirely on the remaining living world, the great forests, oceans and last wildernesses. Whilst we very rarely and in some cases never see them we have them to thank  for moderating our excesses and for the air we breath.

In the coming days for the G20 our government will mobilise great numbers of police to protect ‘property’ in the dead zone, they will commit all the funds needed to ensure that edifices that represent a failed system are safe. Yet while the attention of the world’s press is focused on the ‘anarchists’ anarchy prevails in the living world. Chainsaws  untroubled by such attention will continue their destructive business as usual, unwatched the oceans will be plundered and the earth ripped for minerals.

* I feel angry that our governments can find money for banks but little to save our precious planet. *  See http://www.wefeelfine.org/

Yes we do have to act quickly but the financial meltdown is Not the most pressing issue our leaders must address. Another meltdown and which now seems certain is far more important.

Nicholas Stern, the man Gordon Brown hired to put a cost on climate change has cast doubt  on our ability to pin a 2 degree rise in global temperatures, a rise not without consequence but something future generations could adapt to. We have missed our chance.  He joins Scientists who have been reluctant up until now to loudly voice their concerns, many who are saying that rises of 4 or more degrees are now unavoidable. Irreversible changes to the eco-systems that support our life are likely to be subject to major shock, many will not survive. LINK

So while they run to the support of the financial system the eco-system can burn

We must demand that our leaders look into the eyes of their children… of all our children to see that we cannot deny them a future. This really is the last chance to preserve something that is worth handing on. If they can find billions of pounds and dollars to support a system that is unsustainable then they must find the funds to build a sustainable way of living in our world.

I feel sad when I see little babies and worry about what what kind of planet we will leave them

There are times when an image changes our understanding, speaks a thousand words.

I came across this graph the other day (1). It shows the carbon emissions of the major polluting countries verses the carbon released through deforestation. The image speaks for itself.

Today and every day thousands of hectares of ancient forest are trashed. When just one hectare of forest is cleared up to 200 tons of carbon is released into the atmosphere (2).

Something which, when intact is a positive carbon sink becomes through it’s destruction a hugely negative contributor to climate change. Carbon emissions from forest destruction out weigh even what the US pumps out.

It would be too simplistic to suggest that “Avoided Deforestation” could completely mitigate the emissions of the US or China but one thing is clear. Cutting down ancient forests to grow palm oil for bio-fuels is folly of the highest order. Yet this is the outcome of the west’s current affair with so called green fuels.

We need quick, cheap solutions to mitigate our impact upon the atmosphere. Clearly the first on the list is to stop cutting down the very thing that’s saving our arses. Extending the World Bank’s BioCarbon Credits scheme to include Avoided Deforestation would provide the incentive to developing nations and landowners to protect their forests and our climate.

Sign the petition to Say No to Deforestation

(1.) http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/5051_CF%20Forestry%20article1.pdf
(2.) http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1031-deforestation.html

OK so I slag the government off for not doing enough the day before they release their Climate Change Bill!

Well as far as it goes the new bill has to be aplauded but … as per my last blog they’ve got a job on their hands to meet the targets while they continue to bulid roads, runways and depend on economic growth to meet their policy plans.

Lobby your MP to make the their new climate bill fit for purpose!

The Climate Change Swindle seems to have wound people right up and I can understand why people feel so suspicious, i.e. it looks like Climate Concern is a government rouse to raise more taxes. It is exactly the above contradiction that feeds these doubts, if you apply taxes to apparently change one behaviour (frequent flying) but support the action (build more runways) it does indeed look like a neat fundraising opportunity.

Responses to the swindle

The Ecologist - George Monbiot – The Independent – The Guardian for C4

I’ve been avoiding my blog. It’s just every time I start to write I’m just too overwelmed by the stuff that goes round in my head to be able to put something down that isn’t a complete doom laden rant.

But I’m beginning to feel brighter. Apparently I don’t really have to worry about climate change after all. According to Channel 4 and “The Great Climate Change Swindle” it’s all a load of old tosh dreamed up by scientists to get their hands on juicy funding. Mind you Channel 4 seem to be on a bit of mission to find ways to raise funds themselves and what better way to boost ratings than a bit of climate controversy or minority bashing aka Jade Goody and her well chosen words on racial harmony.

But probably the best news is that the outlawing of incandescent light bulbs in favour of low energy bulbs is the key to cutting CO2 and saving the planet. It’s going to be a toughie and already there’s a row over light bulb subsidies but I’m sure we’re ready for the sacrifice.

I wonder then is that it? Is this the extent of our politician’s grasp of what is required to save the planet? No wonder things are moving apace on global agreement. Bio fuels and lightbulbs it is then; as long as we can get em cheap.

The one thing nobody inside government is talking about is zero growth. While taxes on air travel are being touted as a way to curb emissions no one is talking about abandoning airport expansion. Taxing motorists for road use is put forward as a way to raise green taxes and restrict the further growth of car journeys but the UK government is still wedded to a huge program of road building. Surely the easiest way to curb the growth in carbon producing journeys is to just not build any more runways or roads.

As I’ve said elsewhere on my blog the sums simply don’t add up for the environment and the things that live in it while we continue to avoid the simple truth that there isn’t enough planet to go round.

 

 

It was a moment to cheer the bringer of bad news, the consequences of Climate Change as judged by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was all over the news at the weekend. Any shred of dubious science for the sceptics to justify denial was blown away. From now on it’s a matter of ‘when not if’ and ‘actions not debate’ on climate change. Well sort of…
 
Just as the world’s scientists agree on the vital role the world’s remaining forest will have in moderating greenhouse gases the oil industry is bidding on the Amazon.

This weekend the BBC reported on the Peruvian government’s plans to grant oil exploration rights for an area the size of California.   (link)

The Peruvian economy has its problems and poverty has increased over recent years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has persuaded the Peruvian government that free market rules are the way to promote growth and address poverty. No doubt selling oil licenses gets brownie points with the IMF.

Despite what the IMF say’s growth doesn’t cure poverty (link), furthermore economic growth is linked to climate change through increased burning of fossil fuels. It’s time we rewarded developing countries like Peru for protecting their forests rather than grabbing their natural resources on the cheap.

Their early attempts though crude were effective. Before moving on to industrial scale gassing and incineration in purpose built crematoria the ‘Solution’ entailed loading people into box vans, attaching a pipe to the exhaust which vented into an airtight and locked cargo hold and taking a ride. It was a neat and convenient process; load up live Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals, make the short journey to the disposal site and unload the now deceased undesirables. Exhaust emissions in service of the Reich and the holocaust.

Today the developed nations of the earth hold the ignition keys to another genocide in the making. Climate change created by the economic activity of the wealthy nations is set to wreak havoc upon the poor.

The Stern Report, a government sponsored review of the likely economic impacts of climate change spells out in no uncertain terms the disaster that awaits us if we fail to act. It appears certain that large tracks of Africa will be uninhabitable scorched earth, low lying countries like Bangladesh will disappear as sea levels rise. Food scarcity will increase by up to 60% and millions and millions of people will die.

Gordon Brown gave Nicholas Stern the job of finding out the cost of combating climate change; according to Stern it’s 3% of global GDP. The alternative is perhaps the end of civilization. The job he say’s must start now; there is no time to loose. Yet we are bogged down in a war in Iraq that makes for as much distraction as the war on terror. All the time the earth warms and the options shrink.

Our leaders must act on the big projects but the keys are in our hands too. Our life styles are so connected to the causes of climate change that every time we drive to the supermarket we might just as well be driving a gas filled hearse to dump African babies in a convenient grave.

See the Stern Report
The Ecologist Review of the Stern Report