UN Climate Change Summit

UN Climate Change Summit

by Deb Powers

Yesterday, world leaders met at the UN in New York for a one day climate change summit. There were some promising signs, a lot of high-flown rhetoric and a lovely closing from UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, who praised the nations for coming together to address and discuss changes that must be made in order to meet climate change goals. Overall, though, the Summit did little to further any goals or make any changes. Instead, it was reflective of some of the biggest stumbling blocks and concerns regarding global warming and climate change.

U.S. President Barack Obama gave a stirring and thought-provoking speech on the responsibility of developed nations to lead the fight against global warming, but critics expressed concern that he has the ability to shepherd meaningful legislation through the US Congress before the December COP20. While a U.S. climate change bill - commonly referred to as the cap-and-trade bill - passed the House of Representatives over the summer, the passage of a similar bill in the Senate is not as assured. Nearly all Republicans and some conservative Democrats oppose the bill, which they claim will raise the cost of energy to untenable heights. The member nations of the EU, which have been dealing with high energy prices for decades, are unimpressed by the argument. The EU is urging the US to step up and take the lead on reducing carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, one of the largest pro-business groups in the US is having some troubles of its own over global warming and climate change. As international leaders met in New York to discuss the issues, PG&E, one of the nation's largest utilities, resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its extremist position on climate change. Just a few weeks ago, the Chamber called on the US Environmental Protection Agency to hold public hearings on the validity of the science behind climate change and global warming theories. The Chamber envisions a Scopes monkey trial, which they hope will invalidate the science on which many of the global warming statutes will be based.

 Even as the Chamber attempts to cloud the image and stall efforts to reduce carbon emissions by subjecting established science to a circus-like trial, they are joining other global business leaders in demanding a seat at the table at COP20, claiming that their voices should be heard in the debate of what should be done about the phenomenon whose existence they deny. It seems disingenuous at best, self-serving to the point of subordinating the health of the people and the planet at worst.

The oppostion of business and industry leaders to legislation that will force them to change the way they do business is to be expected. The Chamber of Commerce in the US and similar entities in Canada, would prefer to "shape the conversation" in a way that ensures them continued profits while shifting costs in any direction they can find. To that end, they are putting their support behind "intellectual property" laws that will guarantee the developers of technology that they alone can profit from the technology that they develop. The costs of that development, of course, will be highly subsidized by the government and taxpayers - who will pay twice for it: once for the development, and later for the use of it.

The defection of PG&E from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce isn't the first, but it is the most visible to date. It sounds a hopeful note - that there may indeed be those in industry - particularly in the energy industry - who see that changing the way we do business, particularly in energy generation, will be profitable in the long run - and in more ways than one.

Global Warming by the Numbers

Global Warming by the Numbers

by Deb Powers

Remember paint-by-number kits - those marvelous packaged sets of canvas and paints that allowed anyone to be an artist as long as you could color inside the lines? Living a greener life and helping to reduce your own carbon footprint can be a bit like that.

You don't have to get all the separate pieces. You don't have to understand how cap-and-trade works, or if it does. You CAN dive in feet first, give up meet, stop driving your car and move to an ecovillage - like Brian Liloia at PlanetSave - but you don't have to. You can start small, or pick and choose your battles. And to make it a little easier for you, here's a roundp of blog posts from around the web that tell you how to do global warming by the numbers.

Five Ways to Prevent Global Warming That Big Media Won't Tell You The aforementioned Brian Liloia wrote about five BIG steps you can take to combat global warming. They include selling your car, eating locally grown food and moving to an eco-village. The comments are interesting reading, too. Heading into your senior year and thinking about college choices?

Check out the 12 Greenest Colleges and Universities in the US at Sustainablog and find out what the University of Colorado at Boulder, Oberlin College and the College of the Atlantic have in common.

From the Sierra Club, download these two pages and print them out as a reminder of 5 ways individuals and companies can fight global warming. Forward them to friends and hand a copy to your boss.

How's your love life? I couldn't resist including this post from HuffPo about Five Ways to Green Up Your Sex Life. And you thought global warming in the bedroom was a GOOD thing!

 Short on time? Being busy doesn't let you off the hook. If you only have half an hour, here's a post from Green Living with Five Ways to Help Save the Planet in 30 Minutes or Less. Set your timer and get started!

Speaking of timers, how about some games? The business of fighting global warming doesn't have to be grim and doom. You CAN have some fun with it. Check out these games with climate change as a central theme at Five Ways to Game Global Warming from Mother Jones.

And finally - as is fitting since I started with an article that talked about five MAJOR ways to change your life and stop global warming, here's a favorite article about Top 10 Lazy Ways to Fight Global Warming.