Over the next few weeks, leading nations will be deciding the fate of the Copenhagen Accord, the three-page climate change agreement recognized at last month\u2019s international summit but never [formally]\u00a0 adopted.<\/p>\n
If they embrace it, they\u2019ll also be embracing a process that sidestepped one the highest procedural hurdles of the UN system, unanimous consent.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 31, the first deadline of the Copenhagen Accord arrives. It isn\u2019t mandatory \u2014 the accord was recognized by the Conference of Parties at last month\u2019s summit but never adopted because six countries objected \u2014 however, Annex I countries that formally associate themselves with the accord agree to declare their 2020 emissions reduction targets by the Jan. 31 deadline.<\/p>\n
Many groups and individuals are now saying that the UN is probably the wrong place to depend on to solve the climate change crisis with a world-wide agreement that will never happen.\u00a0 Unanimous consent is not something that should be required for a climate change agreement; a majority agreement should be enough.\u00a0 Too many countries were involved in COP15 with too many disparate agendas and arguments ensued that weren’t even about climate change.\u00a0 Mostly, it was an economics summit — it became more about economic justice than climate change. Climate change is a crisis all its own. Do we fix it or does everything have to be determined right now on the basis of who pays what?\u00a0 It’s more important to get started.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s frustrating to see every conference on climate change break down into squabbles about money.\u00a0 There have to be better ways to think about how best to stop climate change and it’s obvious that better ideas are needed.<\/p>\n
350.org is one of the best and most persistent organizations working to solve climate change by including everyone and every idea they can. They are responsible for setting the original target of 350 ppm (of CO2 in the atmosphere) as the upper target for what the climate can endure and support life as we know it, based on the recommendation of scientist Jim Hansen.\u00a0 As you can see from the black icon on the\u00a0 left, the climate is currently over 387 ppm so we need to get that number down or all life on earth is endangered.\u00a0 CO2 is the main driver of global warming and climate change.\u00a0 Bill McKibben is the leader of 350.org and it was his 350.org movement which got 350 as the CO2 target at Copenhagen’s recent climate summit, and as the target goal in the mind of the public.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So much of the public awareness of the dangers of CO2 can be credited to Bill McKibben.\u00a0 Now after the lack of a binding treaty at the COP15 Copenhagen summit, McKibben is back with another plan:\u00a0 gathering ideas from everyone possible to form a new way to combat climate change.\u00a0 Essentially he agrees with me that the world needs to stop depending so much on the UN and regular chaotic meetings of nations to solve the problem.\u00a0 He feels we\u00a0 [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the next few weeks, leading nations will be deciding the fate of the Copenhagen Accord, the three-page climate change agreement recognized at last month\u2019s international summit but never [formally]\u00a0 adopted. If they embrace it, they\u2019ll also be embracing a … Continue reading