Full feedIt ain't over till the fat lady sings
It’s the last day of the climate negotiations in Barcelona, I’m sitting in my hotel lobby after attending the final session at the negotiations in Barcelona and reflecting on all that has happened - and failed to happen - this week.
For all of the climate experts out there, please forgive me for oversimplifying what has happened behind closed doors between politicians but I’m just tryin’ to keep it real here.
• Industrialised countries have to stop pointing the finger and blaming developing countries. The issue of climate change is too important to be dealt with through political promises. We need a legally binding agreement that governments cannot ignore.
• The countries lowering expectations for Copenhagen are, not surprisingly, the same ones refusing to act – not to name names but… the United States, EU, Australia, Canada and Japan.
• There is enough time. All the pieces are in place. What we are actually missing is political will and leadership from developed countries.
There has been a lot of talk the last couple of days about a fair, ambitious, legally binding deal being impossible by December. But consider this - they also said we wouldn’t get the Climate Convention in 1992 - we did, they said Bush Sr. wouldn’t sign it – but he did; they said we couldn’t get Kyoto - but we did.
They said we wouldn’t get Kyoto into force, but we did. Then they said we wouldn’t get the U.S. back into the negotiations in Bali – but we did – and this, remember, was the Bush administration. We are at the “darkest hour before dawn” – a moment where it all looks incredibly bleak, but everything is still on the table. We’ve been here before and we won and we can do it again.
Expect the unexpected in Copenhagen.
There is no question that Copenhagen must be where we get a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal to stop the severe impacts of climate change. There is just too much at stake for us to wait any longer. They made us a promise two years ago to come up with a plan to stop climate change and the time has come to deliver that plan. In the words of the delegate from Grenada tonight, “Let’s get it on.”
See you all in Copenhagen.
Comments
OK a nice commentary, but given the shambolic performance that you put in to your side show, I think it loses its purpose. Scruffy appearance, garbled speech read from your laps, intellectually challenged content, and a complete failure to engage the audience - ONE question! Come on guys, you can do a LOT better - smarten up your act and people will listen to the voice of Greenpeace/WWF.
Posted by: Graham Wilson | November 6, 2009 11:38 PM
don't do this, be wary of nature's fury. u would not like calamities 'katrina' happen in your countries. learn from mistakes of others.
Posted by: siddharth | November 9, 2009 5:02 PM
Go Greenpeace!Industrialized countries hold as much of the blame as developing countries. Let's make a difference in Copenhagen, a difference that gets everyone involved.
Posted by: Thayne Ford | November 10, 2009 4:32 AM
I am a member of Greenpeace International. I support the effort to get a legally binding treaty to stop the severe impacts of climate change. I hope that one day Copenhagen will be remembered as the treaty that changed things forever and forced developing nations to take real action.
Posted by: Mary Lou Holmes | November 10, 2009 5:47 AM