Christine

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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Turn Copenhagen into “Hopenhagen”

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It’s 24 days until world leaders meet in  Copenhagen to decide the fate of the planet, and our children’s future.

Become a citizen of “Hopenhagen“, by clicking on this link to the Hopenhagen website and signing the climate petition.   It urges world leaders to seal the deal on a climate agreement that is definitive, equitable, and effective; to set binding targets to cut greenhouse gases by 2020;  and to establish a framework that will help and protect the most vulnerable countries and their citizens.   By signing the petition we have an opportunity to make our voices heard.  The world leaders meeting in December in Copenhagen will be presented with the petition with all the signatures.  Let them know that you care about the decisions they are making, for the planet and for our children.

Climate Inaction Will Cost a Third of the World’s Wealth, Lord Stern predicts

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We are in the middle of a recession that governments around the world have responded to by pouring hundreds of billions of our tax dollars into failing companies.  I’m not an economist, just a regular citizen who is amazed at what can happen when the political will is present.  That money appeared at the speed of light, because the cause seemed so pressing to those holding the government purse strings.  This must be extremely frustrating for someone like Stephen Lewis, the former UN special envoy to Africa, who for years has been calling on wealthy nations to live up to their financial commitments to fight AIDS in Africa.  And what Lewis was saying would save millions of lives was just a mere 5 to 8 billion dollars a year to ensure equal access to treatment for all.    This is chump change in light of the handouts that AIG, Goldman Sachs, et al,  have received in  the last months.

What does this have to do with climate change?  We are on the brink of global disaster, and still there is not the political will to turn this Titanic around before it hits that (rapidly melting) iceberg.   We , like that ill-fated ocean liner, are barreling full steam ahead, business as usual.  Apparently, most decision makers think fighting climate change  costs too much and is too painful to their country’s economy.  But that is false economic thinking. Former World Bank chief economist Lord Stern has estimated that to keep heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions below levels that would cause catastrophic climate change would cost up to two per cent of global GDP.  Lord Stern initially predicted that failure to act on climate change could cost from five to 20 per cent of global GDP, but recently revised that, saying the cost of inaction would be “50 per cent or more higher” than his previous highest estimate – meaning it could cost a third of the world’s wealth.

David Suzuki says it better than I can:

Let’s be clear. Resolving a global problem like climate change will cost money. But doing nothing will cost much more. The very survival of people, not to mention many other plants and animals that we share this small planet with, may well be at stake.

So, if you haven’t already contacted your Member of Parliament as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice, do so now.  Tell them it’s time to take decisive action on climate change at the UN Climate Talks in Copenhagen in December.  Urge the Conservative government to adopt the same level of coordinated response on climate change that was exhibited earlier this year at G20 negotiations on the economic downturn.

Once you’ve let your elected representatives know how important this issue is, you might want to take a page out of Lord Stern’s book as you plan your supper tonight.  He encourages people to go meatless as one of the best ways to combat climate change.  So, be green and skip the meat today.  And if you already are a vegetarian, and have written to your MP, pour yourself a cold one – or a glass of wine, if you prefer – and sit back and relax.  You’ve done your job of fighting climate change – at least for today!

The Yes Men’s Latest Hoax Exposes U.S. Chamber of Commerce

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Here in Canada it’s Remembrance Day, marking the anniversary of the Armistice signing, which ended WWI, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month;  so, to all of those people who have served our country, past and present, thank you for your dedication and sacrifice.

As today is a federal statutory holiday, you might have time to check out the video of latest political performance prank pulled off by the Yes Men.   Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are best known for posing as corporate executives to demonstrate how corporate greed is harming people and the environment. Or as their website puts it, Mike and Andy impersonate  “big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.”

This video shows them impersonating U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials holding a press conference reversing their position on climate change, and committing to stop lobbying against the Kerry-Boxer Climate Bill. It gets more interesting when an actual Chamber spokesman shows up and moves to break up the press conference.  Check out the video on the Huffington Post or go right to the Yes Men website for more info on their pranks.  Their movie, “The Yes Men Fix The World” was released in October in the U.S.  I can’t find any information about any Canadian showings, so we might have to wait until the DVD comes out in spring.

Moms Against Climate Change

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Moms Against Climate Change is an Canadian initiative that gives voice to mothers who want to protect the earth for future generations.   The leaders at the UN summit in Copenhagen will be making decisions on the fate of the planet and our children’s future.  The Moms Against Climate Change website reminds us that Stephen Harper will “do one of three things at the summit: advocate for aggressive targets necessary to stem the tide,  discourage them as he has in the past, or sit idly by.”  If you have children aged17 or under and want Stephen Harper to work for climate change instead of opposing real targets this time, you can go to the Moms Against Climate Change website and upload a photo of them.  The photo collage will be projected on a real wall in Ottawa and, later, in Copenhagen to remind Stephen Harper who he is representing at the climate change conference.

Change Does Happen – 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

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Watching a documentary on the fall of the Berlin Wall last night, I was reminded that a united Germany is something that most of us, two decades later, take for granted.  And yet, before the wall came down,  it was hard to imagine that it ever would.

The same is true for a more sustainable world.  Once the change is made, it will be hard for any of us to remember the “old-fashioned” way of life where we recklessly used up  fossil fuels and other nonrenewable resources.

If you want to see more about this historic event, CBC.ca has comprehensive coverage.

Al Gore on Stewart and Colbert shows

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Former American Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore was a guest on both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report this past week.  His book, “Our Choice” , a follow up to ‘The Inconvenient Truth”, was released internationally on November 3.

The links  I’ve used will work in Canada, where we are not allowed to access these episodes on You Tube like the rest of the world:).  Hope you have a few minutes to watch them – I especially enjoyed Gore’s cameo on the Colbert Report.

Brits put climate funding on the G20 agenda

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Yey!  Alistair Diamond, Britain’s finance minister, is trying to put climate change funding on the agenda in Scotland this week.  It sounds like he’s not getting a very warm reception, though.  Read more here and here.

Meanwhile, although climate change as a whole is disturbing, I am set to go out and enjoy what is forecasted to be a beautiful, above-normal day here on the prairies.  Hope you are enjoying your Saturday, too!

Send a message to the G20 Finance Ministers

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The G20 finance ministers are meeting this weekend in Scotland, and apparently climate change financing is not even on the agenda, although the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen are less than 5 weeks away and funding is a critical part of reaching a global agreement.   If you want to send a message to your minister now, and urge them to put climate change back on the agenda,  go this Avaaz.org link.