World leaders are scurrying to the Copenhagen airport like rats fleeing a sinking ship. You’d think they were all in the Maldives right now or something, and they could see the water closing in over their heads (if you’ll permit me to mix a couple metaphors).
I hope there are two main takeaways from this fiasco:
1. We coordinated, we organized, we messaged, we demonstrated, we protested. It ultimately fell short, but we came together in unprecedented numbers and forged a global coalition. That’s a victory in and of itself. Let’s redouble our efforts. Only the most massive global public outcry the world has ever seen is going to push our bought-and-paid for politicians to take real action.
2. Like Naomi Klein just told the folks at the Fresh Air Center, it’s time to “take the kid gloves off with Obama.” As an American who gave not just my vote but my time and money to Candidate Obama, I feel betrayed by President Obama. He has sold us down the river on too many important issues, but none more important than global warming since all the others will be irrelevant in the face of runaway climate change.
Two years of planning, two weeks of negotiations, and all we got was a worse than half-assed deal cobbled together in the last two hours. You could say I’m feeling kinda down. Down, but not out. Obama, Sarkozy, Merkel, Brown – these people were never going to save us anyway. We will save ourselves.
This post originally appeared on Greenpeace International's Climate Rescue Weblog.
12.18.2009
12.16.2009
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being a Head of State at the Copenhagen Climate Talks
The head of the web communications team at GPI writes an awesome blog that he describes as "a glimpse behind the scenes at Greenpeace and a repository for lessons learned and experiments in online activism and social media."
He wrote a completely amazing post about how a simple, declarative statement such as "All countries agree to phase out nuclear power" can become something so convoluted and mangled throughout the negotiating process that it means very little and achieves virtually nothing. Something like this: "[All countries agree to {consider adopting plans to} {develop multi-stakeholder approaches, with the aim to {take measures to} {have instruments in place to} phase out {inter alia, where possible} nuclear power.]"
Go read the whole post, it's an instant classic and it will tell you pretty much all you need to know about how these types of negotiations work.
He wrote a completely amazing post about how a simple, declarative statement such as "All countries agree to phase out nuclear power" can become something so convoluted and mangled throughout the negotiating process that it means very little and achieves virtually nothing. Something like this: "[All countries agree to {consider adopting plans to} {develop multi-stakeholder approaches, with the aim to {take measures to} {have instruments in place to} phase out {inter alia, where possible} nuclear power.]"
Go read the whole post, it's an instant classic and it will tell you pretty much all you need to know about how these types of negotiations work.
12.13.2009
Oh yeah, by the way
I'm in Copenhagen covering the UN climate summit for Greenpeace. It's been totally exhausting but thoroughly exhilerating. I would love to be updating this blog, especially with pics and videos, but there simply isn't time. We're talking 16, 18 hour days here. So just follow my Greenpeace USA blog, and the Greenpeace International climate blog (technically I'm working for GPI right now), to get the full scoop.
I will post a couple videos here though, cuz they're from yesterday's 100k strong march on the convention center to demand climate justice. I was super proud and inspired by the Greenpeace contingent. We came STRONG. Here's a couple videos, one of the GP contingent of the march in general and one of my favorite float, this puppet master float we had.
I will post a couple videos here though, cuz they're from yesterday's 100k strong march on the convention center to demand climate justice. I was super proud and inspired by the Greenpeace contingent. We came STRONG. Here's a couple videos, one of the GP contingent of the march in general and one of my favorite float, this puppet master float we had.
Htown elects openly gay mayor
Becoming the largest city in the US to do so! Who'da thought Houston would be breaking barriers for LGBT people. But, there it is.
12.10.2009
Joe Vs. Joe
I'm currently in Oslo covering the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for Greenpeace International, but I felt compelled to take a break from my busy blogging schedule to blog about this.
I do not like Joe Lieberman. I think he's emblematic of everything wrong with our political system in America. I think he's an arrogant, self-serving, bought-and-paid for corporate shill, and nothing more. He is one of the chief obstacles to passing health care reform in the Senate, and he's threatening to stage a one-man filibuster to protect his corporate allies in the insurance industry. Yet in 1995 he actually drafted legislation to stop just such abuses of the filibuster. The man is just as hypocritical as he is narcissistic, it would seem.
Go here to send Lierberman a message asking him to grow a conscience and actually represent the people who elected him rather than the rich corporations who are buying him off.
I do not like Joe Lieberman. I think he's emblematic of everything wrong with our political system in America. I think he's an arrogant, self-serving, bought-and-paid for corporate shill, and nothing more. He is one of the chief obstacles to passing health care reform in the Senate, and he's threatening to stage a one-man filibuster to protect his corporate allies in the insurance industry. Yet in 1995 he actually drafted legislation to stop just such abuses of the filibuster. The man is just as hypocritical as he is narcissistic, it would seem.
Go here to send Lierberman a message asking him to grow a conscience and actually represent the people who elected him rather than the rich corporations who are buying him off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
