Time for New Thinking on the Climate Crisis

The UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen begins today!  If you are the praying sort, take time today to send a prayer that scientific and moral values will prevail, and our children’s future will be preserved.

Here’s a short video that won the Ecospot Video Grand Prize:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-S1xOG6FDQ]

And after you’ve watched it, if you are the emailing sort, contact your elected representative and let them know that you want a real deal in Copenhagen.  Let’s stop ignoring the 1.2 billion elephants in the room!

And if you’re ready to be inspired to more action, click on this link or go to #2 on my video list on the right to hear Al Gore’s address at TED in March 2008. Thanks to Krystofer for bringing this to my attention!

Open Letter to Canadians on Faith and Climate Change

Mardi Tindal is the Moderator of The United Church of Canada. The Hon. David MacDonald chaired the House of Commons Committee on the Environment from 1989 to 1993. Both will attend the COP 15 UN meetings on Climate Change in Copenhagen. In this open letter to Canadians, they explain why the Copenhagen Conference is a place where faith and science must meet.  Here is an excerpt from their letter.  To read the complete letter, click here.

We believe the United Nations Climate Change Conference is a place where faith and science must intersect.

These talks will almost certainly determine the fate of coming generations. The future of our children is at stake. Finding a way forward will require that we attend to the best science available, so we are firmly grounded in reality. But it also demands that we recognize the spiritual values that have guided humans for centuries so we can work toward a vision of wholeness.

Science tells us what is and, given certain parameters, what will come to be. Spiritual values teach us what ought to be. Only the two, working together, can see us safely through this perilous time.

Winter Trees

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Grist in Copenhagen: How føcked are we?

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…

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