"But this year’s conference has been roiled by drama, as talks grind to a halt amidst the fumes from nearby refineries driving planetary heating." -- That's great writing, along with the great reporting.
"Other environmentalists think that COPs should be scrapped altogether, because they focus too much on corporate and national interests, while doing too little to address the existential crisis."
Well, when the bribery specialists ("lobbyists") outnumber the alleged diplomats, and "corporate and national interests" are exactly opposite the alleged interests of the conference, i.e., reversing the increase in global temperatures, the outcome becomes quite clear. Good God, it took how many of these conferences to even include the terms "phasing out" and "fossil fuels"?
Nah. More Kabuki Theater than any genuine effort to solve problems. You want to solve problems? Tell the bribery specialists to stay home.
This speaks volumes : “The reality of the situation is that $1.3 trillion pales in the face of the $7 trillion that is spent annually on fossil fuel subsidies,". The world humans have created is so backwards. I feel so enraged and heartbroken when I take all of this in.
What’s stopping the true activists and policymakers from holding an alternative COP with actual integrity? Now that the corrupt bullies have taken over, maybe it’s time to build a new one. Focus that energy on moving forward rather than fighting? (Channeling my inner Bucky Fuller here.)
The current climate COP process has become completely corrupted. It needs to be abandoned in favor of an alternative format that excludes all lobbyists for the fossil fuel industries!
I can't say it enough. Capitalism will kill us all eventually and this is a good example. Most of them don't care. They only attend these conferences to make more money, not spend money. Taking care of a dying planet is not on their radar in reality. All we can do is continue to protest and write about the atrocities and maybe, just maybe enough young people will start a change for the better. Certainly not the generations in charge now.
I'm not a young person at 42, but also feel abandoned in this fight. Its too bad the fight for action and solutions is getting harder at face value and we don't have any time left for the two steps forward (I'm being generous with that) one step back we keep running into. My person well of optimism has not gotten close to running dry, at the least. 💪
Why no mention of another elephant in the room - that 95% of the attendees got there via airplane? And how much of the money given to airline companies end up in the bank accounts of fossil fuel related corporations ... who give some of that money to hire "lobbyists"? "Lobbyists" don't work for free. How about a conference via zoom - so clean-air activists (and everybody) can stop donating money to organizations which should be defunded? Why not at least speak out about this?!?
If the nations involved aren't going to take phasing out fossil fuels seriously, they might as well cancel these COPs. At the very least, it would save the world the environmental cost of their travel there.
I am curious if the discussions on nuclear are focused on fusion, fission or both? Since our newly elected president will pull us out of Paris agreement, is there anything coming in his proposed policies which addresses adaptability? Don't they see that climate change and migration are interconnected?
Massachusetts is passing a new climate bill mentioning fusion. It's kind of bizarre to me (researchers or administrators seeking funding at MIT had a senator's ear?). I'm undecided on nuclear power, but we here in this state a few years back closed our nuclear reactor, and I'm glad we did as we didn't seem to be very good at running it. Now we're crossing our fingers that Holtec doesn't get away with discharging waste water into Cape Cod bay or allowing evaporation with some number of nucleotide particles.
"But this year’s conference has been roiled by drama, as talks grind to a halt amidst the fumes from nearby refineries driving planetary heating." -- That's great writing, along with the great reporting.
"Other environmentalists think that COPs should be scrapped altogether, because they focus too much on corporate and national interests, while doing too little to address the existential crisis."
Well, when the bribery specialists ("lobbyists") outnumber the alleged diplomats, and "corporate and national interests" are exactly opposite the alleged interests of the conference, i.e., reversing the increase in global temperatures, the outcome becomes quite clear. Good God, it took how many of these conferences to even include the terms "phasing out" and "fossil fuels"?
Nah. More Kabuki Theater than any genuine effort to solve problems. You want to solve problems? Tell the bribery specialists to stay home.
Thank you Arielle. This is the clearest most systematic summary I've seen. If only the news were better.
This speaks volumes : “The reality of the situation is that $1.3 trillion pales in the face of the $7 trillion that is spent annually on fossil fuel subsidies,". The world humans have created is so backwards. I feel so enraged and heartbroken when I take all of this in.
If it is any comfort, you are not alone!
It is a comfort!!
What’s stopping the true activists and policymakers from holding an alternative COP with actual integrity? Now that the corrupt bullies have taken over, maybe it’s time to build a new one. Focus that energy on moving forward rather than fighting? (Channeling my inner Bucky Fuller here.)
The current climate COP process has become completely corrupted. It needs to be abandoned in favor of an alternative format that excludes all lobbyists for the fossil fuel industries!
I can't say it enough. Capitalism will kill us all eventually and this is a good example. Most of them don't care. They only attend these conferences to make more money, not spend money. Taking care of a dying planet is not on their radar in reality. All we can do is continue to protest and write about the atrocities and maybe, just maybe enough young people will start a change for the better. Certainly not the generations in charge now.
I'm not a young person at 42, but also feel abandoned in this fight. Its too bad the fight for action and solutions is getting harder at face value and we don't have any time left for the two steps forward (I'm being generous with that) one step back we keep running into. My person well of optimism has not gotten close to running dry, at the least. 💪
Why no mention of another elephant in the room - that 95% of the attendees got there via airplane? And how much of the money given to airline companies end up in the bank accounts of fossil fuel related corporations ... who give some of that money to hire "lobbyists"? "Lobbyists" don't work for free. How about a conference via zoom - so clean-air activists (and everybody) can stop donating money to organizations which should be defunded? Why not at least speak out about this?!?
If the nations involved aren't going to take phasing out fossil fuels seriously, they might as well cancel these COPs. At the very least, it would save the world the environmental cost of their travel there.
"French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron"
He is president.
I am curious if the discussions on nuclear are focused on fusion, fission or both? Since our newly elected president will pull us out of Paris agreement, is there anything coming in his proposed policies which addresses adaptability? Don't they see that climate change and migration are interconnected?
Massachusetts is passing a new climate bill mentioning fusion. It's kind of bizarre to me (researchers or administrators seeking funding at MIT had a senator's ear?). I'm undecided on nuclear power, but we here in this state a few years back closed our nuclear reactor, and I'm glad we did as we didn't seem to be very good at running it. Now we're crossing our fingers that Holtec doesn't get away with discharging waste water into Cape Cod bay or allowing evaporation with some number of nucleotide particles.