After COP15
As the end of the two weeks of solid negotiations reared its head, my optimism seemed to wane by the day. I was actually nick-named ‘Little Miss Cynical’ at one point…
My pessimism wasn’t null and void though – things didn’t end well; more like a pffft sound where there should have been a booom of change. But then again, the change we are calling for won’t happen in two weeks, maybe not even two years, because for us all to change our way of life from the ground up, we’ll need time and a lot of it.The tragedy is that when it comes to climate change, time is far from on our side…
It’s almost as if we were all holding onto hope until that very last minute, until Obama had his say, but with all his talk of needing to take action, his speech didn’t mark the United States doing anything drastic to make change. And when a major world power like the US cowers, it seems all other rich countries follow like sheep.
So we didn’t get a strong legally binding deal to tackle climate change, as we had all hoped. Instead, we got a politically binding deal called the Copenhagen Accord (that does not mention any CO2 emission cut targets or how we are going to keep the world temperature below 2ºC). Many argue that it’s better than a weak legally binding deal and at least this way we can work on the copy and move towards a legally binding deal. Glass half-full climate change perspective – I like.
After two weeks of early morning stunts and late night meetings; and of course the grand finale: our marathon 30 hour coach journey home (it seems Northern hemisphere transport systems don’t design things in mind for snow…), I am definitely looking forward to a solid rest.
But, even with these tired eyes and a battered climate-justice heart, these two weeks were immeasurable in experience, knowledge, and flashmob/marching/stunt-training. Witnessing what I think is our centuries biggest political poker game (‘The row over climate change isn't just a battle between rich and poor, it illustrates the futility of obsession with economic growth.’ - Jayati Ghosh) has been intense, overwhelming and positively challenging. We’ve started the movement, and this isn’t the time to give up.
Image: Greenpeace activists are led away after displaying banners before the official state dinner. From here.
(2 votes)
Yeah I think the Guardian put
Yeah I think the Guardian put it well in their article entitled "We're all eco-warriors now after world leaders failed us at Copenhagen"
Where James Garvey writes "It's likely that Copenhagen is a long-term disaster for the planet and its people, but it might have another, more immediate consequence for you right now. Your moral obligations might have just changed dramatically. In situations like the one we're in now, the demand for action shifts from our leaders to us. They missed what might have been our last chance to take to take concerted, worldwide action on climate change, so the rest of us have to do something about it. Their failure means that we're all eco-warriors now..
When things go smoothly, you do your civic duty by casting a vote, paying your taxes, and generally keeping out of trouble. It's enough to leave it to the ones in power to think things through and make certain choices for you. In rare circumstances, though, our obligations enlarge, and it's up to us to do the right thing when no one else will."
I couldn't put it better myself so a copy and a paste had to do!