bangladesh & COP16: "real people don't live underwater"

by boatsie

फ़ेस् फ़ीयर् विथौत् फ़ीयर्

"Fear the threat until it comes. When it comes, turn and face it without fear." Sanskrit.

In no uncertain terms, officials and scientists representing Bangladesh at the Cancun talks made it clear yesterday that their country, which unabashedly occupies Ground Zero in the climate wars, is fearless and righteously proud in its determination to save itself by ensuring it receives an equitable share of fast track financing to assist developing countries in adapting to climate change.

"Loans are not an option for my country," said Bangladesh Minister of State for the Environment Dr. Hasan Mahmud. "We did nothing to create this problem and we should not be charged in solving it."

Unless something is done now, chances are in less than 40 years you will look at the map and Bangladesh will no longer be there. What will remain of this country will not be recognizable.

continued at Daily Kos....

LocaPower to the People! - Cancun can because locals can

by citisven

I don't know about you, but following all the different angles of negotiation at a conference as broad and multidimensional as the UNFCCC makes my head spin. I understand that dealing with a complex problem like climate change that literally affects every nation and every individual on earth offers no simple solutions, but the pitfall of trying to think about everything can be that you end up doing nothing.

This is why I'm very pleased to see that local governments and their representatives are gaining some real traction in Cancun.  

On Saturday, local governments took a huge step when the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) officially adopted the concept of "governmental stakeholders" for the first time in UNFCCC history.

continued at Daily Kos....

pakistan: climate = a human problem

by boatsie

In a stunning series of short films depicting last summer's biblical floods, Pakistan today issued a passionate and powerful appeal to the heart and soul of the international community.

Calling for COP16 negotiators to rise about politics and circumnavigate the complexities which have a stranglehold on both process and progress, a panel of Pakitani ministers, ambassadors and scientists called on the parties to reach agreement on an adaptation fund which recognizes and adequately addresses the disproportionate impact of climate change on the world's most vulnerable populations.

"Pakistan is on the front line in two wars, the war against terrorism and the war against climate change," said Khalid Sherdit, Director General of PDMA and General Relief, Punjab. "Both battles need global coordination and cooperation, Both are unpredictable. But in the war against climate change, there is no exit plan."

continued at Daily Kos....

Fossil Fools? Carbon Currencies & War Rooms

by boatsie

India’s Minister of State for Environment and Forests Shri Jairam Ramesh chaired a impassioned Saturday panel on "Equitable access to Carbon Space: A Paradigm for Agreement," promoting a 'shared vision' for negotiations based upon equitable 'carbon space' for developing countries

An enthusiastic crowd spilled out into the corridors to continue discussion after the expert panelists indicated keen interest in a few of the inspired ideas floated during the Q&A, all seemingly 'pie-in-the-sky' suggestions -- like advancing a shift from gold to a global carbon standard or replacing traditional finances with effort based systems as bargaining chips.

Later that evening, expectations ran high at the World Climate Summit, hosted by Carbon War Room co-founder and eco-gladiator Sir Richard Branson, who presented the first ever Gigaton Consumer Discretion Award to one of the  Global 1000 climate conscious companies.

Raising a buzz poolside today that if big news does breaks from Cancun, it just might come from a highly unexpected source.

continued at Daily Kos....

CONFESSIONS OF A REPENTANT CLICKTAVIST: WHY WE BADLY NEED FARMERS & GRANDMAS

by todbrilliant

I love Bill McKibben. And I love his team of whip smart writers and thinkers at 350.org. Right now, Bill is in Cancun at COP16 to observe and report. Recently, he had this to say -

"...after fifteen years of empty promises, it's pretty clear that Washington is playing the world for suckers . . .if we actually want to stop global warming, then we have to build a movement big enough to force change. Otherwise we're suckers too."

Right on, Bill. You see, Bill and 350 are building that movement, one big enough to combat the fossil fuel industry and, hopefully, all the crooked motherfuckers in Washington D.C. (sorry, but this includes our President, if only by willing association, if not slavish devotion) who see to it that the U.S. bullies the developing world into climate compliance. For Bill’s efforts in movement building, I commend him. Yet, as a fellow observer of the Climate Wars, I’m forced to wonder aloud whether any of us have really begun to build anything yet.

continued at Daily Kos....

The Tantra of Climate Change: Keep Holding Back

by greenmedia

Cross-posted to Green Media News.

Let's face it - Climate Change talk is boring. Most people just don't get excited talking about things like "MRV" (the monitoring, reporting, verifying and reducing of greenhouse gas emissions across geo-political borders) and those who aren't on the front lines of the climate change action movement generally don't have the attention span to focus on serious talk like this... well at least, not when "Dancing with the Stars" is on.

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DailyCancun: A Mayor Breakthrough!

by citisven

This week in Cancun, governments and NGOs from around the world are taking another shot at solving the climate crisis after last year's highly anticipated VIP-laden COP 15 conference in Copenhagen that created a big bubbly buzz and ended in a long contemplative sigh of nothingness.

While much of the approach to the Big Kahuna in Cancuna is still centered around cryptic diplomat speak that tries to accommodate everybody and pleases nobody, the one question that the indefatigable ecocity advocate Richard Register has been asking for over 35 years — Why on earth aren't they talking about cities??? —

seems to finally have been heard:

After cities were shut out at COP15, Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City and Chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, has been invited to speak at a high level panel at COP16.

HALLELUJAH!

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At COP16, UNFCCC and USA Look for Agreement to Agree

by greenmedia

Cross-posted to Green Media News.

In her opening remarks at COP16 yesterday, United Nations Climate Chief Christiana Figueres called for a "solid response to climate change, using both reason and creativity."

Meanwhile, one delegate on the ground reported feeling a strange mix of hope and frustration in the air as the negotiations were about to begin.

Figueres concentrated her remarks on the three issues she sees as the most important reasons why a global climate action deal needs to be reached and why the UNFCCC is the right body to be driving the process:

continued at Daily Kos....

dailycancun: traffic justice

by boatsie

Buenas noches de Cancun, where Day 1 of COP16 ends in a mishmosh of mucha confusión, conexiones pobres de Internet y los problemas de transporte that befuddle the mind, even of the most seasoned climate negotiator.

Adopt a Negotiator? How about find one? Coercing one to talk to you on the record? No small feat, considering the fact that those press credentials I was expecting were not forthcoming on my arrival last night. Turns out my stint as a member of tck's official reporting team affords me  "Observor" status. Meaning I get coveted access to Cancunmesse, the spectacular array of COP16 side events and unlimited access to the hundreds of NGOs huddling under one roof in this huge new convention complex.

No small feat, catching an interview with official delegates, who are already separated from the press in the official Moon Palace talks four miles away. Still, they all have to pass through Cancunmesse at least  twice a day as they shuttle off behind the Mexican government's extraordinarily 'military curtain.'

Ah, but quizá they have no idea what they are in for when they grant an old school reporter even limited access. In New York, to get a story you had to have cahones grande! For me, that meant the work day began en route to work.

continued at Daily Kos....

DailyCancun: Fossil Fuel Factual Fallacies: New York Times Called Out by Renowned Geoscientist

by todbrilliant

Enough is enough. Energy literacy is mandatory in 2010.

If the New York Times wants to continue to willfully position itself in the service of fossil fuel interests, so be it. But we're fighting back. Today's uppercut is thrown by geoscientist and PCI Fellow David Hughes.  

Read on for a detailed 'correction' of NY Times reporter Clifford Krauss' woefully misleading 17. Nov 2010 article, "There Will Be Fuel."

Full release with charts/graphs/data at http://www.postcarbon.org/...

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DailyCancun: Applying the lessons of Copenhagen in Cancun

by boatsie

David Turnbull is Executive Director of the Climate Action Network - International, a network of over five hundred NGOs in dozens of countries working to develop and advocate for global solutions to the climate crisis. He joins DailyCancun this evening to reflect back on the failures of COP15 and forward as he presents a vision of what we've learned and a vision of realistic goals we can hope to achieve at COP16 in Cancun

continued at Daily Kos....

dailycancun: mosaic:EARTH & HARMONY

by boatsie

"In a musical context, the word dissonance is defined as ‘a combination of tones contextually considered to suggest unrelieved tension requiring resolution.’ In other words, the creative resolution of dissonance is harmony.

Dissonance of the cognitive variety abounded at last week's G20 meeting in Seoul where world leaders once again declared they would "spare no effort" in addressing climate change. Yet when it came to acting on their promise to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, a measure which would cut nearly 6% of energy related CO2 while bolstering the growing clean energy sector, they were clearly not singing from the same hymn sheet."
Kelly Rigg, Executive Director of the GCCA

continued at Daily Kos....