Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
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Image by kriscip via Flickr
Image by BBM Explorer via Flickr“You’ve been negotiating all my life.”
That was a core line in a remarkable speech delivered on behalf of youth in the final stretch of two weeks of contentious, largely indeterminate climate treaty talks in Durban, South Africa. The talks went into overtime Saturday night (Durban time), with the leadership desperate to salvage at least a “Durban outcome,” akin to the “road map” produced in Bali in 2007.
The best way to track the finale and afterthoughts is by following the #COP17 or #UNFCCC tags on Twitter.
Climate
The Arctic in Transition
Enshrined in history as an untouchable frontier, the Arctic is being transformed by significant warming, a rising thirst for oil and gas, and international tussles over shipping routes and seabed resources.- The Big Melt series
- Postcards from the Arctic
- The North Pole Was Here (book) and teaching tools
- The Arctic Rush
Energy
New Options Needed
Access to cheap energy underpins modern societies. Finding enough to fuel industrialized economies and pull developing countries out of poverty without overheating the climate is a central challenge of the 21st century.- Africa’s Energy Gap
- The Power of Green
- The Energy Challenge series
- How to Spark an Energy Quest
Society
Slow Drips, Hard Knocks
Human advancement can be aided by curbing everyday losses like the millions of avoidable deaths from indoor smoke and tainted water, and by increasing resilience in the face of predictable calamities like earthquakes and drought.Naomi Klein’s Inconvenient Climate Conclusions
The piece is particularly relevant this week given the continued standoffs and disconnect between stated goals and behavior at the climate treaty talks in Durban, South Africa. Whether you embrace or dispute her conclusions, the article is a worthy and substantive provocation. I disagree with her in pretty profound ways, yet some of her points echo my assertion awhile back that greenhouse-driven climate change is “not the story of our time” but a symptom of much deeper issues.
( Do note the NYT Blogroll )
Peter Kent, Harper's Grand Dissembler
Harper promised that His Canada would punch above her weight on the global scene, and he was right. Oh sure he got us ramped up on a futile, inconclusive foreign war, but our true behemoth status is in greenhouse gas emissions. Miniscule little Canada, with our 35-million population, is the 8th largest emitter in the world. We're 35th in population, just behind Poland and Algeria but we're still ahead of Uganda and Morocco. We're almost a full third the size of Mexico. But size doesn't really matter when you're Numero Ocho.
Besides, Canada lags ahead in eight place only on total emissions. Compare us on per capita emissions and then we're a real contender for the finals.
opit said...
Have you checked out the Aussie reaction to their implementation of a tax protocol ?
You're not going to sell 'sensible restraint' when people are 1) spooked by economic crisis 2) realizing any such action moves industry/jobs from compliant nations to polluting ones ; natural reaction to market forces.
Meantime real provable issues are ignored while people try to make others 'see the light' about proposals that purport to predict the future. That is an innately impossible project even if some figures are later found correct - plus fudge factors are rampant in 'climate science.'
Maybe we should consider
http://www.journeyoftheforsaken.com/fracpage.htm
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Coal_Ash_Association
http://www.tarsandswatch.org/group-native-children-fort-chipewyan-alberta-protest-tar-sands-short-film-entitled-keepers-water
I keep files to stimulate interest and investigation
http://opitslinkfest.blogspot.com/2009/09/energy.html
http://opitslinkfest.blogspot.com/2009/07/water-wealth-power.html
The American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) is an umbrella lobbying group for all coal ash interests that includes major coal burners Duke Energy, Southern Company and American Electric Power as well as dozens of other companies (see below). The group argues that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste.
ACAA set up by front group called Citizens for Recycling First, which argues that using toxic coal ash as fill in other products is safe, despite evidence to the contrary.[1] ACAA helped set up the Coal Combustion Products Partnership (C2P2), a cooperative government-industry effort to "help promote the beneficial use of Coal Combustion Products (CCPs) and the environmental benefits that result from their use."[2]
Opening a remote border region to development threatens to destroy Central Asian wilderness and culture.
Gov. Schweitzer: Don't Sell Montana to Foreign Coal Companies!
In late November, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer sold interest in Montana coal mines to an Australian company, and has been in talks with a Chinese company that wants to buy coal from the state.
These deals not only perpetuate the use of dirty coal for energy around the world, but they also put land, wildlife, and the health of Montana's people at risk.
Montana has some of the world's largest untapped coal reserves.
Don't make NC State Government a Boys Only Club
North Carolina Republicans have outdone themselves with new district lines that will effectively oust half the state's women representatives
| Women in Britain are fed up |
Why British women are being turned off the men in charge of the country "who haven't got a clue what matters to women". The economy is declining, yet the cost of living is rising. And it's women who are feeling the pinch become tighter and tighter in the rise in household bills, food prices, and increases for those that use public transport and petrol for those that drive. The "boys" don't seem to care, as they ruthlessly cut and cull vital services, benefits, grants and support networks in Britain desperately needed by women and their families. And on the subject of the boys: could there be a more male-dominated government in Britain? A group of privileged public schoolboys running the country without a clue what matters to women. Do they honestly think tripling university fees and making women work harder and longer for their pensions is going to get our vote? But what makes me feel sick to my stomach is the cuts in social support for women's welfare. These men are disregarding and devaluing issues such as abortion, rape and domestic violence. Abhorrent behaviour from a party that I presume is still hoping to win an election at some point. |
Most voters agree with PM vetoing treaty changes - and half think we should now quit the EU
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