Copenhagen Climate Conference

“Truthiness” about Global Warming Rampant

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“Global warming” is the phrase of the decade, the Global Language Monitor declared this week.  Also making the top 25 words of the decade is “truthiness“.  This word was coined by political satirist Stephen Colbert to describe the  fondness for appeals to emotion and gut feeling, rather than facts, in contemporary political discourse.  He particularly applied it to the Bush administration’s penchant to make public statements that sounded true but contained little factual information, and even untruths.

Unfortunately, truthiness is rampant right now over climate change/global warming.  Websites such as “Friends of Science” and astroturf groups like “Information Council for the Environment” or the “National Resources Stewardship Council” have a truthiness ring to them.  The trouble is, “Friends of Science” is not a friend of science but is funded by oil and gas companies.  And the only resources that the National Resource Stewardship Council is worried about stewarding are those of those same oil and gas companies, which fund it as well.

Articles on climate change, whether on news websites or in local and national newspapers, are followed by a flood comments from deniers making unsubstantiated and misleading statements.  In response, I noticed a comment recently saying “Can anyone respond to this article, or only lobbyists?”

Don’t doubt that there is a war being waged right now for the hearts and minds of citizens in industrialized countries.  There are companies with extremely deep pockets who are very invested in maintaining the status quo.  They got rich by exploiting our dependence on fossil fuels, and they’d like to keep it that way.

But don’t take my word for it.  Whenever you hear a discussion/rant on climate change, make sure before you believe everything you are being told that you take the time to consider the background of the person or institution offering the information. Do the vast majority of the world’s scientists really have a conspiracy going to fool the rest of us?  Or are there vested interests out there willing to put time and money into confusing the issue?  If you want to investigate further,  DeSmogBlog is a good place to start, as are OpenSecrets.org and ClimateSight. But don’t take my word for it – check into it yourself!

Hope from Africa: Whatever Happens, Don’t Ever Give Up

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Tcktcktck – 5 days until Copenhagen.  And the global warmer deniers continue to be hot and bothered.  They persist in their focus on the hacked emails from the University of East Anglia which I wrote about on Monday. Senator James Inhofe is one of the people leading U.S.’s denial lobby; and he also happens to be the U.S. senator who receives the most money from the oil and gas industries.  Inhofe thinks that “global warming is debunked everytime he drinks a slushie and gets a brain freeze” (Jon Stewart).

As Copenhagen gets closer, if you are anything like me, you might be feeling the need for a dose of encouragement. Here’s some:

William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer’s book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has made it to Amazon’s top 10 Best Books of 2009, as well as Publisher Weekly’s Best Book of the Year.  It tells about how Kamkwamba, “a simple farmer in a country of poor farmers” built a windmill about of bicycle parts and other scrap pieces when he was 14, after being forced to drop out of school because of a severe drought in Malawi. He built his windmill to pump water and generate electricity for his home. Now every home in Wimbe, Kamkwamba’s hometown, has a solar panel and a battery to store power. His message to  “all the people out there – to the Africans, and to poor people” is to never give up.

“Trust yourself, and believe.  Whatever happens, don’t ever give up.”

Click here view a video of Mr. Kamkwamba speaking at the TED Global Conference this past July.

The situation that we are in is too important to let the deniers sidetrack us. Let’s take Mr. Kamkwamba’s words to heart, and keep up the good fight for a real, fair and binding treaty on global warming. Check out the links on my blogroll and take action.

Climate skeptics Have Heyday with Hacked Emails

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Climate change deniers are getting a lot of press out of hacked emails from East Anglia University’s Climate Research Unit last week.  They claim that the leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists to suppress evidence that global warming isn’t really occurring.

The timing of the illegal email hacking is very interesting, coming as it does days before the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Most of us won’t read the 13 years worth of emails that have been released, but there are several of the emails in particular that the skeptics are jumping on as “proof” of this world-wide conspiracy of scientists.  To read more details, check this link or this one, or to read the emails themselves click here.

As anyone who has ever written an email will know, publicized and taken out of context, we all have emails that could damage our professional and/or private reputation.  Although the emails do not provide any scientific evidence that would counter the scientific consensus that human emissions are altering the climate system, because they suggest the appearance of impropriety in the scientific process, they may be politically damaging. This is ironic, because the deniers have been subverting and distorting the scientific and public debate on this issue for years. As James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore write in “Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming”, the story of denying man-made climate change is

..a story of deceit, of poisoning public judgement- of an anti-democratic attack on our political structures and a strategic undermining of the journalist watchdogs who keep our social institutions honest.

The perilous situation that we are in is too important to let the deniers sidetrack us at this point.  As Greg Craven asks in “What’s the Worst That Could Happen: A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate” : What is the wisest thing to do, given the risks and consequences of this question?

In other words, what mistake would you rather risk, the possible harm to the economy that the skeptics warn us about, or the possible global disaster and upheaval that scientists warn us about? What is the more acceptable risk – the risk of not taking action or the risk of taking action?

To take action now, check out the 10:10 Campaign,which is encouraging citizens to show governments by example and cut their personal emissions by 10% in 2010.  Read more here and here about this UK initiative that is going global!

Substance, not Stalling, required in Copenhagen

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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be attending the Copenhagen Conference after all, it was announced yesterday, one day after Harper had said he wasn’t going to be attending.  No reason was given for the flip-flop.  At recent climate change conferences such as Bali, Canada has sided with the old U.S. administration, Australia, and Japan to block serious 2020 emission reduction targets.  The other delegates at the Bali conference went so far as to boo the U.S. delegation.  Finally, the delegate from Papua New Guinea, Kevin Conrad, challenged the U.S.:

“If you are not willing to lead, then get out of the way.”

To see footage of the Bali conference and Kevin Conrad’s rebuke to the U.S. (and by association, Canada, Australia, and Japan) click here.

Remember, it was in Bali that Canada was awarded the “Fossil of the Day” gold medal, the U.S. got the silver, and the two countries together shared the bronze!  These are awarded to the nations that were most active in blocking, stalling, or undermining the UN climate change negotiations.  While the other countries Canada sided with – the U.S., Australia, and Japan – have all had a change in leadership, here in Canada we are blessed to have the Harper Conservatives once again leading our nation’s delegation.  And they are insisting that Canada is working on the international front “actively and constructively through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to develop an effective international agreement to address climate change in the post-2012 period.” (personal correspondence from David McGovern, Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian International Affairs Branch). Mind you, this is what they insisted at Bali, as well.  As the Toronto Star said of Canada at Bali:

It is hard to argue that one is building bridges when they so obviously lead nowhere.

What can Canadians do?

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”      ~ Margaret Mead

Breaking news – Obama to Travel to Copenhagen

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12 days until the UN Climate Talks in Copenhagen, and momentum seems to be growing.

The breaking news on the Huffington Post this morning is that the White House will be announcing that President Obama is going to attend.  At least 65 other heads of state will also be at the Copenhagen table, although two big players, China and India, have not yet responded to the formal invitation sent out last week by the Danish government. Back in September, the first leader to commit to attending was Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown.  He asserted that it was heads of governments who would be able to negotiate and strike a deal.  With more and more heads of state following his lead, the chance that a fair, ambitious, and binding deal may be reached increases, although it is by no means guaranteed. To read more analysis of the gaining momentum, check out “Copenhagen talks ready for take off: 5, 4, 3…” on Grist.org.

The activist organization Avaaz.org is raising funds to send more negotiators from small, low-lying island states that are most affected by climate change.  The bigger, wealthier, more polluting nations can afford to send large numbers of  negotiators to Copenhagen.  However, for people living in small, low-lying island states, a fair, ambitious and binding global climate treaty is necessary for their countries’ very survival, but they often have trouble sending even one or two negotiators to UN climate summits. As a result, Avaaz.org is spearheading a campaign to help negotiators from smaller, climate-vulnerable nations attend.  Their website states:

At the Copenhagen talks in December, we can’t afford for voices of moral authority to go unheard.

If each of us chips in, we can help with airfare, food, and housing to help negotiators press for bold action — and for advocates to amplify their voices:

Click here to donate to “Their Voices Must be Heard” campaign now!

Grist in Copenhagen: How føcked are we?

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Tck Tck Tck – 13 days to go until the Copenhagen climate talks.

One of my favourite environmental news and commentary websites, Grist.org, is following developments leading up to Copenhagen, and will be sending several people to cover the conference.  Grist calls itself “A Beacon in the Smog” and offers environmental reporting with a humourous – albeit often dark – twist.  Check out the “Gristy guide to the COP 15 climate talks” here. Below is a video of comedian Eugene Mirman, who will be covering Copenhagen for Grist.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yC2fbInlug]

But of course the UN climate talks in Copenhagen are very serious business.  The folks at 350.org and TckTckTck are calling on people around the world to hold a “Vigil for Survival” in their community on December 11. Go to this link to find out more.

Tck Tck Tck – 14 days To Go…

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On December 7th in Copenhagen, 192 world leaders will meet to decide our future when they attend the UN Climate Change Talks.  Go to the tck tck tck website and click on “human impact stories” to read about how climate change is already affecting people around the world.

There are lots of websites that discuss the science of climate change, some more reputable than others.  Here’s one that I learned about over the weekend, Climate Sight.  It’s a thorough look at what is credible and what is not in the science of climate change, in contrast to the “craziness” of what is reported in newspapers and TV.  The purpose of Climate Sight is to:

to find, investigate, and eliminate the discrepancies between scientific knowledge and public knowledge on climate change.

It’s an impressive website which is even more impressive when you learn that it is written by a Winnipeg high schooler!

Through Climate Sight, I also found One Blue Marble, a website whose mission is to slow climate change and save the world. Their home page describes the situation we’re in this way:

If this was a Hollywood blockbuster, the clock would be ticking off the last 10 seconds as the sweat-spattered heroine makes the ultimate decision… Cut the red wire, or the green one… as the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.

It really is that serious.

If you are interested in learning more about Canada’s environmental record, check out  One Blue Marble‘s posts on the Alberta Tar Sands, and Canada’s Sorry Environmental Record, and their Red Letter Campaign.

We don’t inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children.                              ~Ancient Proverb



Canada Continues to Procrastinate on Climate Change Legislation

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Canada’s Conservative government is waiting for others to act on climate change, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said less than 3 weeks before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to negotiate an agreement on climate change.  Prentice said the further delay is necessary because Canada has to wait until a global treaty is reached, and a Canada-U.S. agreement on climate change is reached. *heavy sigh*

In contrast, American President Barrack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced yesterday that there is the need in Copenhagen to “rally the world” toward a solution to climate change. And it flies in the face of Denmark’s Prime Minister’s call to all developed nations to bring specific pledges to the table at Copenhagen next month.

It used to be that Harper et. al. had company in obstructing and procrastinating on climate change agreements, when John Howard of Australia and American President George Bush were on the international stage doing the same thing. In 2009, however,  Bush and Howard are gone, but Harper remains, trying to sound a little more green while at the same time doing nothing about this crucial issue.

Dr. Tim Flannery, scientist and author of  “‘The Weathermakers” and “Now or Never”  has expressed his disappointment in Canada’s lack of leadership and disengagement in what former World Bank chief economist Lord Stern has called the most important global meeting of this century. He points out that Canada, one of the top 10 global polluters,  is falling behind in achieving the targets scientists tell us we need to avoid runaway climate change.

The United States already has the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill passed by Congress and making its way through the Senate.  Australia has passed its own climate change legislation. Flannery points out that enacting legislation on reducing emissions requires a substantial amount of legwork, and that it would behove the Canadian government to already be at work on it. Flannery says:

Time is exceedingly short for Canada with its very different economy and very different approach to this problem to be able to follow the lead of the U.S. in any meaningful way.

Click here to see Tim Flannery talking about Canada’s inaction on this issue.

Contact Minister Prentice and let him know that Canada needs to become a leader, not a laggard, on climate change.  If you are a mom with a child or children 17 or under, go to Moms Against Climate Change to upload your child’s picture to remind Prime Minister Harper who he is representing in Copenhagen.

“Saving the planet isn’t about everyone doing everything.  It’s about everyone doing something.” Laurie David, producer of An Inconvenient Truth

Global Survival, Not Suicide, Pact urged by President of Maldives

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With world leaders backing away from reaching a legally binding treating on climate change in Copenhagen next month, President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives delivered a powerful message at the Climate Vulnerable Forum last week.

Here is an excerpt from his moving call to action:

“We gather in this hall today, as some of the most climate-vulnerable nations on Earth.

We are vulnerable because climate change threatens to hit us first; and hit us hardest.

And we are vulnerable because we have modest means with which to protect ourselves from the coming disaster.

We are a diverse group of countries.

But we share one common enemy.

For us, climate change is no distant or abstract threat; but a clear and present danger to our survival.

Climate change is melting the glaciers in Nepal.

It is causing flooding in Bangladesh.

It threatens to submerge the Maldives and Kiribati.

And in recent weeks, it has furthered drought in Tanzania, and typhoons in the Philippines.

We are the frontline states in the climate change battle.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Developing nations did not cause the climate crisis.

We are not responsible for the hundreds of years of carbon emissions, which are cooking the planet.

But the dangers climate change poses to our countries, means that this crisis can no longer be considered somebody else’s problem.

Carbon knows no boundaries.

Whether we like it or not, we are all in this fight together.”

President Nasheed goes on to say about Copenhagen:

“At the moment every country arrives at the negotiations seeking to keep their own emissions as high as possible.  They never make commitments, unless someone else does first.”

“This is the logic of the madhouse, a recipe for collective suicide.”

“We don’t want a global suicide pact.  And we will not sign a global suicide pact, in Copenhagen or anywhere.  So today, I invite some of the most vulnerable nations in the world, to join a global survival pact instead.”

To read the complete speech and sign a pact to stand with President Nasheed for the survival of all nations and peoples, go to the 350.org website. For more information about which nations are most vulnerable to climate change, and why, go the UK Government’s webpage “Act On Copenhagen”.


A Prayer for the Earth

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21 days left before world leaders meet in Copenhagen for UN Climate Talks.

As today is Sunday, I thought I would share an excerpt from A Prayer for the Earth, written by Tim Costello of World Vision Australia and Brian McClaren, a speaker, writer, and contributor to Sojourners “God’s politics” blog.

A Prayer for the Earth

Most gracious God, creator of all good things, we thank you for planet Earth and all creatures that share it.

Have mercy on us, Lord. Through ignorance and carelessness we have poisoned clean air and pure water. For monetary gain we have reduced verdant forests to barren wastes. In our craving for more we have plundered your beloved creation and driven many of our fellow creatures to extinction. Only recently have we begun to realize the dangerous future into which our current patterns of consumption and waste are driving us, especially in relation to Earth’s climate. Only recently have we begun to see our need to find a wiser and better way of life in the future, before it is too late and our choices are limited by the consequences of inaction.

We who join in prayer today believe the time has come, Lord. Please guide us now, our God, at this critical moment in history, to better fulfill our role as stewards of this fragile planet. Guide the leaders of nations who will gather in Copenhagen on Dec. 7. Give them courage to set noble goals that reach beyond short-range political expediency, short-term economic profit, and short-sighted self-interest. Impress upon their conscience our sacred duty to bequeath to our children and grandchildren a healthy and thriving environment rather than a world in climate crisis.

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