I have so many thoughts crashing through my head at the moment. The Copenhagen Accord, which was announced today at COP15, falls so short of expectations that I cannot even begin to analyse the implications. It is not just the implications for averting catastrophic climate change, it is the political implications for every global issue we come across from now on. If we could not move toward change on this, what hope is there for anything else?
This is an emergency. Copenhagen was a chance for us to respond to that emergency. Instead our leaders sought to respond to science, with which they fundamentally agree, with an Accord that is downright mystifying to anyone who understands what is at stake. This is not just about the poor people, we will ALL lose with this.
I know people are sat there thinking that if it was truly a problem the leaders would have done something about it. The lack of political will shown by the US, China, South Africa and India has probably left most people thinking there might not be that much of a problem to answer after all. Or maybe, there is a quick technological fix that will be found at the last minute, it happens in the movies after all.
Well, let me just dispel the technological argument right now using the example of the search for a vaccine against HIV. We are over 25 years into the epidemic and a vaccine that will be distributed globally and provide sufficient protection and see HIV eliminated is, at the very least, 5-10 years away. Even if it is discovered tomorrow, once we get through all the trials and find the money for roll out and do all the things we need to do, elimination of this disease is probably 40-50 years away. We would have lived with pandemic HIV for around 75 years by then. Millions of dollars, man hours and lives will have been lost by the time we get there - if we do.
We do not have the same time luxury with green house gases and climate change as we do with the search for an HIV vaccine. We do not have 75 years or 50 years or even 25 years. We have 10. The compromises we make politically are as legally binding to the planetary ecosystem as the Copenhagen Accord is to the US, China and all those other countries. The climate is not going to wait while we slowly come around to the idea that we cannot sustain the constant growth in emissions. We have until 2020, at the very latest, for emissions to peak; after that we will have destabilised the climate to a point where there is no return.
When a person goes on hunger strike their body adapts to the changes in food and water intake. Their metabolism adjusts and they can live for many days without food. After a while organs begin to fail and after a certain point it is too late - even if that person starts eating again they will die. Our planet is no different, only it won't die, we will - in our millions.
Right now, I have no real feeling of hope about any of this. It may look better in the morning, but tonight it just looks like greenwash. Obama is right, the Copenhagen Accord is meaningful. It means that millions more people will suffer just because a few people wanted to stay rich for a little while longer.
We should all feel deeply ashamed about how we have failed our planet.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Countdown to Cop15
Well, I am up late and I have much time to kill so I thought I'd post here. In a couple of hours I am off to Copenhagen to join with thousands of others to ensure that our leaders - both elected and unelected - do not sign a suicide pact that'll condemn us all.
I cannot stress enough how much this summit means. In my own personal terms I am taking a 20 hour train journey at great cost so that I can play my small part in all this. It feels like nothing, but this is both the most and the least I could do. If I had had to walk there I would have done so.
I can understand that it seems crazy to many people. The media have cast those who can see the immediate importance of a strong climate change mitigation as liars, freaks, cheats, religious fanatics, treehuggers and anarchists. Over the past ten years climate scientists have grown frantic in their calls for something to be done in order for us to continue to maintain our civilisation with minimum disruption. The calls remain unheeded by much of the populace and almost zero political will has been forthcoming from those that govern us. Column inches abound but while journalists and politicians equivocate over scientific ideas long rejected by over 97% of climate scientists, we waste valuable time and large-scale ecological injustice is now almost inescapable.
Almost. We still have time and we absolutely must ustilise all our collective power to ensure that the Copenhagen Protocol if fair, ambitious and binding. A useless protocol, one that refuses to acknowledge all the science or one that is a suicide pact between rich nations, will ruin us. There is no exaggeration here; if you want an idea of the problems that will lie ahead for us all, please, just switch on the news.
So, what can you do?
Join your local climate change demonstration this Saturday. I will be representing myself in Copenhagen, you can represent yourself in your locality. Failing that contact your leaders and demand they take real action. Write a letter or an email. Phone them. Do something to let them know you will not sit still while they bargain away this planet's future.
Well I'm going to shower now. My train is in 3 hours and I'm nervous as all hell.
Good luck in your activism.
I cannot stress enough how much this summit means. In my own personal terms I am taking a 20 hour train journey at great cost so that I can play my small part in all this. It feels like nothing, but this is both the most and the least I could do. If I had had to walk there I would have done so.
I can understand that it seems crazy to many people. The media have cast those who can see the immediate importance of a strong climate change mitigation as liars, freaks, cheats, religious fanatics, treehuggers and anarchists. Over the past ten years climate scientists have grown frantic in their calls for something to be done in order for us to continue to maintain our civilisation with minimum disruption. The calls remain unheeded by much of the populace and almost zero political will has been forthcoming from those that govern us. Column inches abound but while journalists and politicians equivocate over scientific ideas long rejected by over 97% of climate scientists, we waste valuable time and large-scale ecological injustice is now almost inescapable.
Almost. We still have time and we absolutely must ustilise all our collective power to ensure that the Copenhagen Protocol if fair, ambitious and binding. A useless protocol, one that refuses to acknowledge all the science or one that is a suicide pact between rich nations, will ruin us. There is no exaggeration here; if you want an idea of the problems that will lie ahead for us all, please, just switch on the news.
So, what can you do?
Join your local climate change demonstration this Saturday. I will be representing myself in Copenhagen, you can represent yourself in your locality. Failing that contact your leaders and demand they take real action. Write a letter or an email. Phone them. Do something to let them know you will not sit still while they bargain away this planet's future.
Well I'm going to shower now. My train is in 3 hours and I'm nervous as all hell.
Good luck in your activism.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Rod Liddle: Fuck off and Die.
I have a grudging respect for people who get paid to write a weekly column. They have to deal with the pressure of putting down words to a deadline. On the other hand, they do get paid and they do get to shape the minds of thousands of people worldwide. It's a lot of pressure and occasionally some folk must feel completely overwhelmed by the task at hand.
One can only assume this is what happened to Rod Liddle when he sat down to write in The Spectator this week. Don't get me wrong, his column is usually dreadful, but this week he surpassed himself with one of the most racist ramblings I've read in years.
Here's his argument: multiculturalism in Britain doesn't work because two morally repugnant young men tried to murder a pregnant 15 year old girl.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/rodliddle/5601833/benefits-of-a-multicultural-britain.thtml
Go on, read it for yourself. I'm sure that it makes prefect sense to some people. But I just don't see how he's worked this one out. "Goat curry"? What the fuck does that even mean? Let's forget that one of these men is of Nigerian descent or that both these young men probably were raised and socialised in the UK. Those are just incidental facts that get in the way of the main thrust of the argument: people from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic communities make Britain a worse place to live.
The crippling recession, the unfair, unjust corporate favoured, neo-liberal policies of the Blair and Brown governments are bad, but what makes it oh-so-much-worse are the presence of African Caribbean "human filth". African Caribbeans commit the most crime in London (untrue, but let's stick with it for now) and they have contributed nothing good to this country other than food and music. I'm sure Rod Liddle doesn't think this is a racist stance. He's sure of the supremacy of British culture and traditions. He knows that if African Caribbeans weren't here, this country would be better.
It's not wise to focus on one person; Rod Liddle is not the only one to express such views. The appearance of this article simply indicates just how far to the right this country has moved. It also indicates the desperate and serious financial situation we are in globally. As the ongoing economic downturn converges to meet the very real possibility of climate catastrophe, those most responsible, with the most to lose, are looking for scapegoats and distractions. It's a story from history that is both familiar and immediately recognisable as the foundation of brutal, authoritarian, draconian regimes. It's a story that often ends in the state sanctioned murder and incarceration of minority and/or impoverished peoples. It's the raw bones of fascism, imperialism and colonialism.
As things around us begin to unravel, I expect to read more and more articles about racial hygiene (as it was once known). I expect the revival of ideas about racial and cultural superiority to continue to gain currency in science, media and the arts. But I also expect a backlash. I and many others will not sit still while this happens. I will stand up and be counted, so that Rod Liddle, Nick Griffin, Benyamin Nethanyahu and all their supporters know that they will not go unchallenged. We will not allow them to destroy our lives with their oppression, their violence or their limited visions for humanity. We claim this world for the good people and they can fuck off and die.
One can only assume this is what happened to Rod Liddle when he sat down to write in The Spectator this week. Don't get me wrong, his column is usually dreadful, but this week he surpassed himself with one of the most racist ramblings I've read in years.
Here's his argument: multiculturalism in Britain doesn't work because two morally repugnant young men tried to murder a pregnant 15 year old girl.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/rodliddle/5601833/benefits-of-a-multicultural-britain.thtml
Go on, read it for yourself. I'm sure that it makes prefect sense to some people. But I just don't see how he's worked this one out. "Goat curry"? What the fuck does that even mean? Let's forget that one of these men is of Nigerian descent or that both these young men probably were raised and socialised in the UK. Those are just incidental facts that get in the way of the main thrust of the argument: people from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic communities make Britain a worse place to live.
The crippling recession, the unfair, unjust corporate favoured, neo-liberal policies of the Blair and Brown governments are bad, but what makes it oh-so-much-worse are the presence of African Caribbean "human filth". African Caribbeans commit the most crime in London (untrue, but let's stick with it for now) and they have contributed nothing good to this country other than food and music. I'm sure Rod Liddle doesn't think this is a racist stance. He's sure of the supremacy of British culture and traditions. He knows that if African Caribbeans weren't here, this country would be better.
It's not wise to focus on one person; Rod Liddle is not the only one to express such views. The appearance of this article simply indicates just how far to the right this country has moved. It also indicates the desperate and serious financial situation we are in globally. As the ongoing economic downturn converges to meet the very real possibility of climate catastrophe, those most responsible, with the most to lose, are looking for scapegoats and distractions. It's a story from history that is both familiar and immediately recognisable as the foundation of brutal, authoritarian, draconian regimes. It's a story that often ends in the state sanctioned murder and incarceration of minority and/or impoverished peoples. It's the raw bones of fascism, imperialism and colonialism.
As things around us begin to unravel, I expect to read more and more articles about racial hygiene (as it was once known). I expect the revival of ideas about racial and cultural superiority to continue to gain currency in science, media and the arts. But I also expect a backlash. I and many others will not sit still while this happens. I will stand up and be counted, so that Rod Liddle, Nick Griffin, Benyamin Nethanyahu and all their supporters know that they will not go unchallenged. We will not allow them to destroy our lives with their oppression, their violence or their limited visions for humanity. We claim this world for the good people and they can fuck off and die.
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