Naomi Klein: Let’s “break every rule in the free-market playbook “

A more recent article by Naomi Klein puts Climate Change into perspective: it forms the imperative to change the capitalist system. I recommend ready the article, which was first published in The Nation, to follow her thoughts.

They have concluded that this can be done only by radically reordering our economic and political systems in ways antithetical to their “free market” belief system. As British blogger and Heartland regular James Delingpole has pointed out, “Modern environmentalism successfully advances many of the causes dear to the left: redistribution of wealth, higher taxes, greater government intervention, regulation.” Heartland’s Bast puts it even more bluntly: For the left, “Climate change is the perfect thing…. It’s the reason why we should do everything [the left] wanted to do anyway.”

Despite the righ-wing denialist being totally wrong in their assessment of the science, this view on the consequences “may be in considerably less denial than a lot of professional environmentalists” who still belief in a greening of the current business model.

A Darker Shade of Green

There is an interesting 28-min film coming out soon.

Over the course of a year, Global Justice Ecology Project has documented the impacts of and resistance to REDD, in Cancun and Chiapas, Mexico, in Acre, Brazil, and among environmental justice communities in California. A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests puts this work into the compelling form of a short, sharp video.

This critical 28-minute documentary, introducing concerns about REDD from the perspective of the people most impacted, was co-produced by Global Justice Ecology Project and Global Forest Coalition, and will be released next week. Watch the trailer now:

5 funny ways to save the planet (or at least to try it)

I’ve found this funny compilation on 5 crazy things to save the planet. My favourite is flooding the Death Valley (which is below sea level!) in order to prevent sea levels to rise at the coast. The article puts the most commonly known Solar Radiation Management (SRM) tactics – namely to make more clouds over the oceans, to have solar-shields in space and to wrap up Greenland – in one line with the Death Valley idea and a dam in the Street of Gibraltar (yes, some people really proposed this!). Interestingly, the author did not name aerosol dispersal, the #1 geo-engineering tactic nowadays, as a crazy idea. Why?

Bridge to Nowhere?!

The battle over the interpretation of COP-17 in Durban is raging with some prominent voices seeing a breakthrough while others feel fortified in their belief that the whole system of the UNFCCC is about to crash against the wall. While climate science is clearly backing the latter perspective, it may still be of a certain value to look inside the negotiations and judge pragmatically what has happened. The hbf has written quite a good analysis which sets foot into both worlds (here) and calls it “a largely empty package”.

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Other writers from the North have found more positive headlines (despite some of them sharing hbf’s analysis!). Andrew Light from the Center for American Progress sees Durban as the third pillar of a bridge into the future of international climate politics (see picture): “Durban was a critical success at a critical time in the history of this process.”

Finally, here is my assessment of Durban. This list is up to changes – I am happy to have more discussions with you on it:

Durban Debacle (from Payal)

Hi there.

I was in Durban at the COP-17 conference for the past weeks. I just saw my friend Payal writing a nice summary which i share. Thus, allow me to redirect you to her site:

Durban Debacle

Over thirty-six hours after the climate change conference countries agreed to a weak agreement that is lacking in ambition, equity and justice. While a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol has been agreed to, three major polluters Japan, Canada and Russia (and of course the United States) are not participating, the targets are much lower than what science demands, and there are a number of loopholes that essentially negate the targets. Forestry management rules are akin to cooking the books, and dealing with surplus AAUs has been punted to next year. It is not yet clear whether the commitment period is 5 years or 8 years long.

The meaningful and visionary components of the Bali Action Plan (BAP), a roadmap that aimed at getting the United States to take action against climate change and expand the focus of the climate change agreement to include mitigation in developing countries, technology transfer, finance and adaptation, have been lost. Negotiations on the BAP will end next year. While decisions have been taken on some issues, there are a number of pending issues that are not likely to be dealt with.

… more