The
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change/19th session of the Conference of the
Parties (COP 19)-- aka the Warsaw Climate Change Conference opened on November 11th,
2013 in Warsaw, Poland and has entered into its second week of
negotiations. The Warsaw Climate Change Conference is scheduled to end November 22nd, 2013
and is racing toward a goal to create a
roadmap for a globally binding climate change agreement in 2015.
As global emissions are
increasing, the challenge is to have significant agreements in creating a draft plan for next
steps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions
to be refined at the next major
conference. This would be the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties
(COP) to the UNFCCC and is expected to take place in December 2014 in
Peru.
We are depending on governments to reach
agreements. Yet, with business leaders
and carbon polluting companies standing in the way, the participation of civil society -- NGOs, trade unions,
faith-based organizations, indigenous peoples movements, is key to moving these goals forward. But we are all consuming and contributing to the problem. And we argue over who needs to cut back on consumption behaviors. We are all to blame in the ever entangled web of a global economy. And as we argue- Climate Change does not care who is to blame. Climate Change is now an equal opportunity disaster.
Judith Stephenson, Susan F
Crane, Caren Levy,and Mark Maslin recently published their study: " Population, development, and climate change:
links and effects on human health" ( The Lancet, 2013). Their findings conclude
that it is not population that is driving climate change but consumer behavior. See details at:
How do we change the
engine of consumer behavior that is driving climate change? Can we realistically
expect governments to do that? Climate
is a public good. According to the UNFCC “With climate change it is the emissions
of all sources in all nations that determine the concentration of greenhouse
gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. As a consequence, the climate change problem is
inherently a public goods problem. “ (see
http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg3/index.php?idp=383)
The dilemma that plagues the COP talks is clearly evident. How can Governments
convince corporations and all people to change their production and economic practices and consumption behavior and patterns. It is individuals that are at the crux of the problem!
Our global markets and
trade continues on steeped in oblivion as the problems associated with global warming increase. Who is to blame? This is a question where we all need to take
responsibility for addressing. As we complain about our governments, our governments are left
to operate in a void with the engines of market economics gone wild. It is
up to both consumers and governments to stop this runaway train of materialism.
Agenda 21, a program of
action that was agreed upon at the The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de
Janeiro in 1992) called for the “developing of national policies and strategies to encourage
changes in unsustainable consumption patterns”.
Yet, global trade is still increasing as more goods are demanded and shipped around
the planet. Our appetites for stuff and wealth is creating stresses on the eco-systems and the world’s climate.
With the gap between the
wealthy and the poor increasing each
year- here in the U.S. and around the
world--is it wealthy individuals that need to change how they acquire and
accumulate their wealth??
Greed exists at the top. How much wealth does an individual need? As individuals at lower levels and at the bottom struggle to cope -- land prices increases, housing increases and costs of basic goods and food increase. Meanwhile there is a grand disregard across the board for the health of ecosystems, and oimpacts on clean water and clean air.
(According to the U.S.
Census Bureau Report of 2011, “the nation's official poverty rate in 2011 was
15.0 percent, with 46.2 million people in poverty.” http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p60-243.pdf)
We need address this grand accumulation of and holding of wealth and of land access and development by the few as well as consumption and production patterns by the many.
path
towards a globally binding climate change deal in 2015 with the
publication of a proposed roadmap for countries to consider. - See more
at:
http://www.rtcc.org/2013/11/18/un-proposes-roadmap-to-2015-climate-change-deal/#sthash.87NhHuFn.dpuf
path
towards a globally binding climate change deal in 2015 with the
publication of a proposed roadmap for countries to consider. - See more
at:
http://www.rtcc.org/2013/11/18/un-proposes-roadmap-to-2015-climate-change-deal/#sthash.87NhHuFn.dpuf
