Much passionate concern is flying around regarding the United Nations meeting on climate this December in Copenhagen. We hear it from honest activists and from politicians who sound trustworthy on this most crucial matter. An example is Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Great Britain, who deserves a prize for eloquence in warning us of climate change.
However, there is something many people have not yet learned about politicians and technofixers seeking too much continuity.
What to do? In the absence of visible leadership on climate protection -- leaders that aren't sell-outs or technocratic dreamers -- I can only think of "do it yourself." (DIY. For ideas on DIY and living the future now, scan our Culture Change articles and contacts for networking.)
When the Prime Minister was quoted with solemn hope by the credulous news media on Oct. 19, I responded with the following statement for the Global Warming Crisis Council listserve. When my words were praised, I decided to release my statement more widely, as is:
Don't be taken in by Gordon Brown or any other approved savior regarding the climate crisis.
My prediction for the UN Copenhagen meeting is that it cannot and will not do anything but promise policies that hinge on the technofix, instead of actually moving toward the immediate slashing of greenhouse gas emissions. After all, how could any head of state or climate official in a corporate-dominated world really try to cut back on industrial activity to a significant degree? It would be not just political suicide but literally.
The only way that expected discussed "cuts" can be arrived at is by designing theoretical reductions from the switching of energy practices over time. Too much time, too many people, no way to adequately replace petroleum.
It does not matter how sincere or passionate any of the official international compromisers are who "represent' humanity. Their technofix is a lie, and that's what the so-called leaders are signed up for. So shouldn't the rest of us act accordingly, pro-actively? Perhaps a promise of reaction could be issued to them beforehand, announcing that we know they intend to only fail. At least it could make clear to a large audience, somehow, that we know that the process is set up for failure and that we're always being bullshitted.
Keep in mind that the passionate messengers of dire effects of climate change earn trust by identifying the problem, and then they revert to imbeciles or deceivers by claiming the answer is different energy technology to be expanded or developed. Never a cultural change, never the abandonment of the car, or rejection of the whole bankrupt System. A lot of people have been fooled by the technofixsers, the only "good actors" to get a consistent forum in the play of good cop/bad cop (the bad cops are fossil fuels & nuclear business-as-usual). The game is rigged and is a fraud, so another game (culture) is overdue.
Jan Lundberg
Culture Change
http://culturechange.org
The above is in response to
PM warns of climate 'catastrophe'
Brown: '50 days to save world'
BBC News
The UK faces a "catastrophe" of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves if world leaders fail to agree a deal on climate change, the prime minister has warned.
Gordon Brown said negotiators had 50 days to save the world from global warming and break the "impasse".
He told the Major Economies Forum in London, which brings together 17 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas-emitting countries, there was "no plan B".
World delegations meet in Copenhagen in December for talks on a new treaty.
'Rising wave'
The United Nations (UN) summit will aim to establish a deal to replace the 1997 Kyoto treaty as its targets for reducing emissions only apply to a small number of countries and expire in 2012.
Mr Brown warned that negotiators were not reaching agreement quickly enough and said it was a "profound moment" for the world involving "momentous choice".
"In Britain we face the prospect of more frequent droughts and a rising wave of floods," he told delegates.
"The extraordinary summer heatwave of 2003 in Europe resulted in over 35,000 extra deaths."
Grim warning
"On current trends, such an event could become quite routine in Britain in just a few decades' time. And within the lifetime of our children and grandchildren the intense temperatures of 2003 could become the average temperature experienced throughout much of Europe."
The costs of failing to tackle the issue would be greater than the impact of both world wars and the Great Depression combined, the prime minister said.
The world would face more conflict fuelled by climate-induced migration if a deal was not agreed, he added.
He told the forum, on the second day of talks in the capital, that by 2080 an extra 1.8 billion people - a quarter of the world's current population - could lack sufficient water.
Mr Brown said: "If we do not reach a deal at this time, let us be in no doubt: once the damage from unchecked emissions growth is done, no retrospective global agreement, in some future period, can undo that choice.
"So we should never allow ourselves to lose sight of the catastrophe we face if present warming trends continue."
Agreement at Copenhagen "is possible", he concluded.
"But we must frankly face the plain fact that our negotiators are not getting to agreement quickly enough. So I believe that leaders must engage directly to break the impasse."
Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth said Mr Brown had rightly identified the importance of securing a "strong and fair" climate deal.
Executive director Andy Atkins said the environmental and economic impacts of failing to tackle global warming would "dwarf anything seen before".
He said: "The next few weeks are crucial in determining the long-term future of the planet. The world must pull back from the brink and take urgent action to slash its emissions."
The Major Economies Forum is not part of the formal UN process and so firm commitments are unlikely to come from the meeting.
It is seen instead as a gathering where countries can explore options and positions in a less pressured environment.
To prepare the world for disappointment, the leaders of nations (read: mostly corporate tools) are lowering expectations. This is supposed to be tolerated as the spin poses "developed" nations against "less developed." Falling flat on their faces, the nation heads and their corporate masters are trying to remain in charge by leading us nowhere: anywhere but a vastly lowered energy future with the socioeconomic restructuring needed for a sustainable culture.
Meanwhile, reports from the corporate-cozy media keep us off balance by teasing us with hints that some agreement can be reached for a meaningful climate treaty. Or, at other times, it's back to the idea that no agreement should be expected -- as an acceptable fact of life. After all, industrialism is a given, a good, to be unquestioned. But really now! To preempt Copenhagen before we are betrayed once again, a movement would have to come forth that rejects the technofix-activists' prerequisite that we need the scale of energy practiced by modern living.
* * * * *
The above indented commentary and article appeared on the Global Warming Crisis Council listserve on October19, 2009. To join GWCC for news and commentary, sign up at: https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/gwcc
Alternatively, you can send a blank email to gwcc-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net
My book Petrocollapse: the Basis for Crash and Culture Change contains more analysis and suggestions for action, such as the Pledge for Climate Protection. See the book flyer at Petrocollapse: the Basis for Crash and Culture Change. Release is in several weeks. Order now at a discount off anticipated list price. Email me at jan [at] culturechange.org. - Jan Lundberg
This article is published under Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. See the Fair Use Notice for more information.
Culture Change mailing address: P.O. Box 3387, Santa Cruz, California, 95063, USA, Telephone 1-215-243-3144 (and fax). Culture Change was founded by Sustainable Energy Institute (formerly Fossil Fuels Policy Action), a nonprofit organization.
Some articles are published under Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. See Fair Use Notice for more information.
