Cancun - "An Enormous Sense Of Frustration, Bordering On Despair" Among Delegates - Irish Times

[hatrack]

EDIT

Environmentalist John Gibbons, who blogs on www.thinkorswim.ie, says there is “no doubt but that climate change has fallen off the public agenda compared with, say, 12 months ago. Then, there was cautious optimism pre-Copenhagen. And Obama still looked like he might deliver on “cap-and-trade” . That was then . . .

Now, he senses “an enormous sense of frustration, bordering on despair, in both the ‘traditional’ and ‘pragmatic’ environmental camps. Despair in some quarters is bordering on panic, as the numbers keep getting worse and worse”. For example, average temperatures in Greenland went up by 3.8-8.8 degrees last winter. This was “way ahead of projections” by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As a result, the New York Times reported on November 13th, many scientists now say that the melting glaciers will cause sea levels to rise by nearly one metre by 2100, and this “would pose a threat to coastal regions the world over”.

The year drawing to a close has been marked by “extreme weather events”, such as the record-breaking heatwave in Moscow last July and August when temperatures soared to nearly 40 degrees, or the monsoon floods in Pakistan, which submerged nearly a fifth of the country, affecting the lives of 20 million people.

The political context is not encouraging, particularly in the US. Last July, a climate change and energy Bill that would have inaugurated a “cap and trade” regime for carbon emissions was abandoned by Democrats in the US Senate after it ran into opposition from Republicans and even some fearful Democrats. Although President Barack Obama put his name to the G20’s recent Seoul summit declaration reaffirming “our resolute commitment to fight climate change”, the issue was far down the agenda – on page 16 of the 17-page document, way behind measures to promote “strong, sustainable and balanced growth”. The blinkers are on nearly everywhere. When Coal India, a huge government-owned company, offered 10 per cent of its shares to investors, the 510-page prospectus didn’t once mention climate change – even though coal is the most carbon-potent of fossil fuels and burning it contributes significantly to emissions.

EDIT

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/1129/1224284370715.html

[slackmaster]

1. At least they were smart enough to hold it in a warm place this year

Copenhagen was a poor choice of venue for this time of year.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Quite true

When your nation, town, or family faces bankruptcy etc, global warming will indeed get the back burner or worse.

[Nihil]

4. If only the "reward" for such selfish behaviour was directed to those who choose it ...

... instead of some unfortunate foreigners a few thousand miles away.

"Greed is Good" is the best justification you can find?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. I suggest you consult Maslow

Hungry or otherwise desperate people tend to worry about the immediate first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

[Nihil]

8. Maslow doesn't come into it. As I pointed out, ...

... "hungry or otherwise desperate people" are not the ones who are making
the decisions at Cancun (or anywhere else for that matter).

It is the lazy, the greedy & the 1%ers who are making the decisions.

The "hungry or otherwise desperate people" are the poor bastards who are
suffering as a result of the above decisions.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Actually it does

In the fourth paragraph of the OP, it was noted the drop in priority being placed on global warming by politicians. The reason is rooted in their electorate and Maslow. Both as individuals and nations, they are under immediate financial duress. In those cases, long term items will get ignored. In Ireland, people are worried about the here and now, not potential issues 50 years out.

Nothing out of Cancun is binding, there are no decision makers there...history has shown us that anything from there is voluntary and will be ignored if it gets inconvenient to that nation.

[GliderGuider]

10. I agree.

The situation is perfect to create a global collapse in public interest about GW and any mechanisms to deal with it, whether they are carbon taxes or alternative energy.

The only things that will go over big in this environment are energy efficiency and conservation programs. Anything that reduces the pocketbook strain should be an easy sell.

[Nihil]

11. I agree with your conclusion but not your justification for it

> Nothing out of Cancun is binding, there are no decision makers there...
> history has shown us that anything from there is voluntary and will be
> ignored if it gets inconvenient to that nation.

Totally (if sadly) agree with you on this.


> In the fourth paragraph of the OP, it was noted the drop in priority
> being placed on global warming by politicians. The reason is rooted
> in their electorate and Maslow.

Disagree on this bit.

Although it's a while since I looked at Maslow (your wiki link notwithstanding),
I really don't recall anything there about pig-ignorant lard-asses, spineless
politicians or jellyfish masquerading as "leaders".

The politicians take zero notice of the genuinely homeless, poor & starving
but bow & grovel to their paymasters. The latter group are not homeless, poor
or starving. They have no interest except greed. Hence my comment that the
decisions are being made by the 1%ers who are in it solely for their own
short-term profit, regardless of the impact upon the less fortunate members
of their own nation (much less any other poor, desperate "foreigners" in other
nations who are usually just viewed as "resource").


Like I said at the top of this post, I don't dispute that Cancun is largely
a waste of time, energy & goodwill - just that it has anything other than
greed causing it to be so.

[pscot]

3. Maybe they'll surprise themselves

[Ghost Dog]

5. Thing is, the economic powers in this world appear to have decided,

on balance, they think, that the big-money crony monopoly-capitalist system that enriches and enables them stands a better chance of survival and further entrenchment through a strategy of adapting to inevitable climate change and at best mitigating some of the worst effects (although a degree of population-reduction would be helpful, they think). Under the eventual totalitarian rule of behemoth corporations, technologically-speaking and in terms of social engineering, well, the sky's the limit, or rather it's not, they think. Just about anything you can conceive of would be possible, beyond even the likes of Dr. Mengele's or Dr. Goebbels's wildest dreams.

This, they can credibly threaten, must be the outcome of the current round of political and public perception-management activity, or else they will (continue to) crash the global economy.

[joshcryer]

6. Why would they have any sense of optimism when in the past decade we have done effectively *nothing*

It boggles my mind that anyone could even do this job.

[crikkett]

12. LESS than nothing!

We've made it worse.