No one asked me.
Nor you. You probably weren’t even waiting to be asked. Asked what? A question of immense historical importance. Knowing what we know about climate change, how should we choose to live? You weren’t asked. I wasn’t asked. No one was asked. Odd really, given the enormity of the issue. Odder still, when we are supposedly free citizens of a democratic society. No, we weren’t asked. We were told. We were told by the same people who told us Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. We were told by the same people who promised us we had entered a new financial age of eternal milk and honey. We were told: You want to live in a world two degrees hotter than it has been for the last 10,000 years. All the climate policies, all the carbon footprinting, all the windfarms? All designed to keep warming the world. Yes, to keep warming the world. And then, when we have got enough greenhouse gases in the atmosphere we will, as though the world is just one big oven, stop any more warming. Just turn the warming off. Why two degrees? Apparently climate change won’t become dangerous until after this point. Safe at 1.99 degrees. Safe at 2 degrees. Dangerous at 2.0001 degrees. Convenient. A nice even round number. That makes things easier. It’s also very convenient that it’s not a lower number. Two degrees. That might give us enough time to make some magic machines which will allow life to carry on as normal and get rid of all that nasty climate change stuff. How do we know that this is the dangerous limit? Because the scientists have worked it out. At least that is what the politicians, journalists and environmental campaigners tell us. Here’s a typical example, taken from a Guardian editorial shared with 56 other newspapers in Europe. ‘The science is complex but the facts are clear. The world needs to take steps to limit temperature rises to 2C’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/06/copenhagen-editorial It’s a lie. It is not a scientific fact. Deciding to warm the world by an average of two degrees is an opinion. There is no ‘two degree dangerous limit’ for everyone. The world, people, ecosystems are all too complex, too varied, to be reduced to such a simple measure. If the science tells us anything it is this. Two degrees is too much. The world’s coral reefs bleach into extinction at 1 degree. The weather is already going haywire http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/22/448839/march-madness-unprecedented-event-modern-us-weather-records-began/ And we are only at 0.8 degrees of warming. Climate policy has been dominated by the myth of a single dangerous limit. To no avail. The rate of emissions continues to set new records. We couldn’t be warming faster if we tried. The single dangerous limit idea is an oppressive lie, that has emanated from the powerful institutions of the West. It must be resisted. A new way of talking and thinking about climate change is long overdue. I will set out some options for this new way of thinking on this blog. It’s gonna be a long, complex and difficult path.
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Dangerous limits, parts per million, annual emission cuts, percentage increase in proportion of energy from renewables, fuel efficiency; these are just some of the forms the language of targets takes in the climate change debate. This is what is called an instrumentalist approach. It assumes climate change is a technical problem, like all the other problems we face, and that it can be solved by accurate measurement and the correct technologies. Describing climate change as a technical problem pushes questions of politics and values to one side. This is a mistake because climate change is an issue which forces us to ask - how do we want to live? See here for a fuller description of the problem with targets. What should replace the language of targets? A positive language which highlights the benefits that will accrue from moving towards a more equal, less competitive and less acquisitive way of living. The work of the Equality Trust provides ample evidence that more equal societies are happier societies, healthier societies. Current Western ways of life are economically bankrupt. People have ceased getting happier since the 1970's. Communities are breaking down, families are torn apart by the need to work long hours, politically the world is becoming increasingly unstable. We have all the marvels of technology at our fingertips, and yet 'have we ever felt so impoverished and isolated? (Zerzan, 2002). Has the future ever seemed so precarious? Has the reason for optimism ever been so difficult to locate? Now is the time to be brave, to imagine how our world could be better, how we might truly live in a way that honours our ancestors and offers hope and joy to the generations yet to come. Let us not ask how much of the modern world we can keep, and still avoid catastrophe. Let us ask how little we need to keep in order to be happy, and build a life worth living, that will be a testament to those who are to follow us. This report from the BBC reveals the ongoing futility of attempting to agree on cuts needed for avoiding more than two degrees of warming
Gulfs remain after UN climate change talks in Bonn Friday, 11 June 2010 20:59 UK By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News. UN climate talks have ended, with delegates speaking of an improved mood but with major gulfs remaining between various blocs. A last-minute spat between Russia and Japan and the G77 bloc of developing countries showed the differing goals in play at the talks in Bonn. But six months after the fractured Copenhagen summit, some were relieved that the process remained alive. Many delegates played down prospects of a new UN deal by the end of this year. The last day saw publication of a new document covering many of the most contentious issues, which may eventually form the basis of a negotiating text going forward to the next UN climate summit, to be held in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of the year. "Fifty-fifty is what I'd give this last week," said Grenada's delegation chief, Dessima Williams, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Continue reading the main story Even as the BP oil disaster continued... some oil-exporting countries were so desperate to protect the oil industry that they blocked efforts to expand studies of the climate change problem Annie Petsonk International counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund "We really revived a spirit here of wanting to work, of rebuilding confidence and trust," she told BBC News. "But the [new] text did not accommodate sufficient views, and is very imbalanced in favour of developed countries." Many other developing country delegates agreed; while on the other side of the coin, the US said some elements were "unnacceptable". Yvo de Boer, the outgoing executive secretary of the UN climate convention (UNFCCC), made one last plea to Western nations to raise their game. "The fact remains that industrial country pledges fall well short of the 25-40% range [from 1990 levels by 2020] that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said gives a 50% chance to keep the global temperature rise below 2C," he said. "It's essential that current pledges grow over the next few years, otherwise the 2C world will be in danger, and the door to a 1.5C world will be slammed shut." Public disagreement The meeting was prolonged many hours by a dispute concerning a proposed workshop to examine further emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol, which involves all developed countries except the US. CLIMATE CHANGE GLOSSARY Select a term from the dropdown: Suggest additions Glossary in full Russia, with Japanese support, argued that the workshop should cover emission cuts by all countries. What might appear a minor issue became a major sticking-point, with developing countries insisting that the rich countries had a historical duty to review and increase their emission pledges. Such issues have dogged the UN climate process for years, and led Artur Runge-Metzger, the European Commission's chief negotiator, to ruminate on what might transpire in Cancun. "The worst case is we would not see an outcome, we would not be able to conclude on the many items we are discussing," he said. "What the chances are of this is hard to say, but there many be things that are pointing not to convergence [between blocs] but to divergence. "We heard demands for example that 6% of our GDP should be transferred from rich countries to poor - these are extreme demands and... we only have two weeks negotiating time left before we meet in Cancun." On Wednesday, there was an unusually public disagreement between developing countries over whether to commission a technical review of options for meeting the AOSIS-favoured target of keeping the global average temperature rise below 1.5C - a move that the Gulf states blocked. "The discouraging news is that even as the BP oil disaster continued to unfold in the Gulf of Mexico, some oil-exporting countries - including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar - were so desperate to protect the oil industry that they blocked efforts to expand studies of the climate change problem," said Annie Petsonk, international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund. Mystery surrounded a subsequent incident in which Saudi Arabia's nameplate was apparently broken and placed inside a toilet bowl. The Saudis demanded an investigation, a request to which the UNFCCC agreed, with delegations of all flavours condemning a serious breach of diplomatic etiquette. But who was behind it remains unclear; and photos that are heavily rumoured to exist were kept under wraps. The UN process reconvenes in August for a week-long meeting in Bonn; there is likely then to be another preparatory meeting in China in October before eyes turn to the Cancun summit. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10297449.stm |
AuthorChris Shaw is a Senior Researcher with Climate Outreach Archives
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