Taking Global Actions to Protect the Global Climate

Sphere: Related Content

Besides the Stand Up Take Action Against Poverty event in October, the next important event that this blog will be tracking is the World Climate Forum in Copenhagen in December of this year. Here are two pathways to learn from and help with this important goal below.

Millennium Development Goal 7. Environmental Sustainability is necessary to the long term viability of Millennium Goal 1. End Hunger as it will be developing countries that will suffer the worst impact on food producing industries.

Over 100,000 participants from 182 countries voted in the Avaaz global poll - 96% of people said, YES, let's go all out on climate this month and commit to a "global wake-up call" to world leaders on September 21st by donating $25.00 or whatever you can afford.

The goal of our wake-up call is a big one: to convince the world's leaders to meet at the final climate talks in Copenhagen this December and sign an ambitious, fair and binding treaty to stop catastrophic climate change.

Talks on the treaty have been building for years. Now, less than 100 days from Copenhagen, we're nearing a tipping point -- and a huge global roar could make the difference.

If we take this on, we won't be alone. Avaaz has been working closely with a new, massive coalition of global civil society groups, from Oxfam to WWF to Greenpeace, to multiply the world's voices for climate action. The joint campaign's name is Tck Tck Tck -- the sound of a ticking clock, as time runs short. Every group involved shares the vision of success in Copenhagen, and we can't succeed without everyone. The question is -- should Avaaz make this climate wake-up call its #1 priority through September 21?

From the United Nations Foundation on Climate Change and Copenhagen:

Dear Brian,

Disappearing land. Displaced communities. The end of indigenous cultures. These aren't consequences of war -- they're the disastrous effects of climate change.

For years we've associated climate change with polar bears and rising sea levels -- things that few of us come in contact with. But the truth is that climate change is just as much about people -- our decisions, our homes, our lives. Unless we act with urgency to reduce global warming, it is our lives and the things we enjoy that will be changing.

The UN is already hard at work to address this crisis. Since 2007, world leaders have been working on a comprehensive global agreement to combat climate change, with talks set to culminate this December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

But for change to really take root, we need people to help people. You have the power to pull together and influence the future of climate change, while we can connect you and your ideas to the global UN family.

Leading this campaign is UN Foundation president Timothy E. Wirth, formerly a U.S. Senator and Undersecretary of State. Senator Wirth has helped shape climate change policy for over 20 years, from chairing the historic Hansen hearings that first brought the dangers of climate change to a broad audience, to today's efforts to adopt meaningful climate action both in the U.S. and internationally.

So we have world governments, policy-makers, and environmental groups involved -- the only piece missing is you. Will you join us and help take action against climate change?

We'll be sending out information soon about Copenhagen and your stake in it, plus details about what you can do to pitch in. So look to your inbox for more on the most important part of the climate change discussion -- people.

With best wishes,





Reid Detchon
Vice President, Energy and Climate Program

Donate | Tell-a-friend | View in browser

1800 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036
© United Nations Foundation

Related Posts:

• RealClimate for Real Change to a WiserEarth

• One of the Morally Urgent Questions of Our Moment

Getting to Copenhagen, a Reason to Worry

Sphere: Related Content GinaMarie Cheeseman recently posted from Care2 Global Warming about Why the U.S. Must Take Action to Save Copenhagen.

One of the reasons the Barcelona talks were not a rousing success is because the U.S. refused to offer targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. Jonathan Pershing, chief U.S. negotiator, said little when questioned by reporters about U.S. targets. “I have no information to share with you on that… We are studying this question. It's a decision that is yet to be made.”

Unfortunately, the next day she is wondering Is Copenhagen a Lost Cause?

She, like I am, not very optimistic about the chances of a legally binding treaty coming out of Copenhagen in December.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin reported that some delegates at climate change talks last week in Barcelona were “contemplating the increasingly clear high-level messages that a legally binding agreement at COP 15 will not be possible." The Chair at B Barcelona, John Ashe, from Antigua and Barbuda, said that progress was “less than desirable.”

This story from Change.Org supports that view.

Obama Disses Copenhagen

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has laid out his benchmarks for success at the upcoming international climate change talks in Copenhagen, calling on developed and developing countries to do all they can do to cut emissions. But as Stop Global Warming guest blogger Mike Smith notes, it may be too early for Ban Ki-Moon to count on the Obama administration to dance to the same climate change rhythm. (Read more)

Why this is so discouraging is that the stakes are so great. GinaMarie Cheeseman in another post wrote that Kilimanjaro's Ice Cover May Be Another Climate Change Casualty. I added photos, video and links to additional resources. The preponderance of evidence is substantial.

In 13 to 24 years Ernest Hemingway’s short story, The Snows of Kilimanjaro may serve as a reminder of what the world has lost due to climate change. The snow-capped volcano in Tanzania might be ice-free within the next two decades, according to a study(pdf) recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.

More graphic evidence is available from NASA. Click on the photos for more information

November 1990

December 2000

Finally, from TED Video, Yann Arthus-Bertrand has captured the fragile beauty of the Earth. Through video and film, his latest projects bind together ecology and humanism.

Taking Global Action to protect the environment sooner better than later

Sphere: Related Content

I was late with getting the post out on the climate bill in my own state and I don't want to do that again. I have written about this before at the post Taking Global Actions to Protect the Global Climate, but there are actions coming up far sooner than the Copenhagen summit in December. Two days in particular, 21 September 2009 and 24 October 2009. These actions are from both the institutional and grassroots levels, both educational and activist. As usual, I am re-blogging, highlighting relevant points and providing a few more links.

The The UN Foundation Climate and Energy Team (Reid, Ryan, Jana, Kurt, and John) reminds us that Copenhagen will host pivotal UN-led negotiations toward a new international agreement to combat climate change.

The goal: to build a comprehensive framework to reduce emissions, hold all countries -- developed and developing -- to higher standards, and match the speed and scale of global response to the rapidly worsening climate change.

World leaders have their work cut out for them. But what they decide and how quickly they take action will have a profound effect on all of us.

The first step is to get educated on the issue. You can read more about the road to Copenhagen at our Web site, and see how climate frameworks have progressed over the past 20 years. And check out this glossary of common terms we'll be using as the campaign continues.

The problem is that a recent story 'Comprenhensive' climate treaty ruled out for Copenhagen that I found in the China Daily asserts:

The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Yvo De Boer ruled out the possibility that a “comprehensive” international climate treaty will be ratified at Copenhagen in December.

De Boer, speaking at a press conference during the ongoing Summer Davos in Dalian, Northeast China said it is "impossible to craft and draft" a detailed climate treaty in "the time that remains" to address climate change.

"That is not possible. But it is also not necessary," he said, "I think what Copenhagen has to achieve is a basic political understanding" on the essential issues of climate change.

I have not, as of yet, seen the story anywhere else yet, but it gives all the more justification for the grassroots actions initiated by Avaaz. More than 100,000, Avaaz members (over 96%), took part worldwide and voted to organise a massive global wake-up call on climate change on September 21,

Many will be registering a climate wake-up call event to take place in your local area on the 21st. The goal is to organise thousands of wake-up events (or "flashmobs") in public places all over the world -- showing a massive public demand for our lagging leaders to sign a fair and binding deal to stop climate catastrophe and unleash a new green economy this year. These events around the world will then be compiled into a powerful package and delivered to world leaders and the media at the UN climate summit the next day!

Click here to register a climate wake-up event in your area ,

"flashmobs" -- fun, peaceful demonstrations in which participants assemble suddenly in a public place, blending in with the crowd, perform an unusual action simultaneously for a few minutes, and then quickly disperse.

The Global Wake-Up Call is a joint effort of the TckTckTck Campaign, named for the "tck"ing of a clock as time runs short. Through TckTckTck, Avaaz is working closely with groups like 350.org, Oxfam, and Greenpeace; with the producers of the film The Age of Stupid (which will showcase the Wake-Up Call at their global premiere!), and with mayors, houses of worship, and famous entertainers to raise a cry that will be heard around the world.

It's an extraordinary moment for the global climate movement -- and just in time, on the eve of this year's final meetings of heads of government at the UN and G20 summits. The stakes are vast. The climate crisis isn't waiting, and neither can we.

It's also an extraordinary moment for Avaaz: the first time we've come together, massively and everywhere on earth, to move our online network into an offline community in action. If our leaders don't respond this time, we'll keep coming back -- bigger and bigger, bolder and bolder -- until they do. We all share a commitment to a better world. Now is our time to be heard.

Related Posts:

• One of the Morally Urgent Questions of Our Moment

• 7th of 8 days: 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals

• 2 Steps Forward, 2 Degrees Back

• Different Paths to Saving the Climate - All Up Hill

Thanks, Obama is going to Copenhagen

Sphere: Related Content

Bad news first, I am way behind doing posts for this blog and the situation with Copenhagen and the smoking e-mails has been moving too fast for me to keep up. Good news, before I was overwhelmed at work I was able to get my two cents in through a number of the organizations this blog supports. Better yet, all those emails from activists and slacktivists alike seems to have made a difference so the good people from CARE have let me know. I know that Avaaz (235,980 last count trying for 240,000) and 350.org are continuing the campaign and taking it to the streets of Copenhagen and streets around the world. Even if I can't keep up like I would like hopefully others can.

Dear Brian,

Thank you for sending a letter to President Obama encouraging him to personally attend the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

You made a difference! Thanks in part to your efforts, the president will be attending the conference. The White House statement confirming President Obama's presence said, ''The president believes it is possible to reach a meaningful agreement in Copenhagen. ''The announcement also called President Obama's decision, ''a sign of his continuing commitment and leadership to find a global solution to the global threat of climate change.''

Your commitment helps make the world a brighter place for all, and I look forward to working with you again soon. Together, we are helping to create a world without poverty.

Sincerely,

Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH
President and CEO

This is what I said beyond the template email plea to President Obama:

Whether they are afflicted because they are at the lowest rungs of the world economy or because they are one of the low lying nations facing extinction from global warming people or in danger of dying or barely surviving. It is the failure of the majority of nations not to have the political will to come together and address the issues. They had the will to promise under the Millennium Declaration, but not the will to fulfill the promise in particular Millennium Development Goal 7 Environmental Sustainability. COP15 would be a step in the right direction if nations put aside their own particular interests and look to the good of the planet.

We have a chance to take a positive leadership role in the world and bring needed change. We are now suffering from an international economic crisis and global climate damage. One billion are in even greater danger of overwhelming disaster. We have the greatest resources at our disposal on the planet, so we should take up the greatest responsibility. It is going to take a global effort and we should be a significant part.

The End of Copenhagen and we start again

Sphere: Related Content

I agreed to do a post on the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in support of OXFAM efforts. They came up with a pretty intense video to convince people to sign the petition against global warming. This is another Bloggers Unite effort. My current struggles at work meant that a number of draft posts are going by the wayside but I am putting together a post from a number of sources hopefully covering where everything ended up, kinda of.

When I woke up this morning the New York Times was reporting

Obama Presses China for Accountability on Climate

President Obama called on world leaders to move swiftly to address climate change, and, in a direct challenge to China, pressed for a global climate change accord to include a way to monitor whether countries are complying with promised emissions cuts.

The World leaders went through the final hours of direct negotiations. The UK Prime Minister has directly appealed to Avaaz to build the tidal wave of public pressure needed to reach a deal that stops catastrophic global warming of 2 degrees.

"What you're doing through the internet around the world is absolutely crucial to setting the agenda. In the next 48 hours, don't underestimate your effect on the leaders here in Copenhagen"

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown

On an emergency conference call with 3000 Avaaz member

They came up with 13,788,513 in response.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu told hundreds of delegates and assembled children:

"We marched in Berlin, and the wall fell.
"We marched for South Africa, and apartheid fell.
"We marched at Copenhagen -- and we WILL get a Real Deal."

President Obama also spoke.
"We are ready to get this done today but there has to be movement on all sides to recognize that it is better for us to act than to talk. Better for us to choose action over inaction; the future over the past. With courage and faith, I believe that we can meet our responsibilities to our people, and to the planet."

According to Foreign Policy Magazine

A frustrated U.S. President Barack Obama addressed U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen on Friday and urged countries to accept an agreement, even if imperfect, though he stopped short of promising new U.S. emissions cuts. "No country will get everything that it wants," he said.

Does any of this make any difference? Many say no, but according to GinaMarie Cheeseman of Care2 Global Warming even if it occurred A Failure At Copenhagen May Be a Blessing In Disguise

Perhaps when it comes to the very real possibility that COP15 may be a virtual failure, Time magazine said it best:

The failure of the summit may be a blessing in disguise, because when it comes to dealing with climate change, the last thing we need right now is yet another empty agreement and yet more moral posturing.

The Time article also said that the focus needs to shift from “trying to make fossil fuels more expensive” to “making alternative energy cheaper.” In short, we need a new industrial revolution

I am still trying to absorb it all and figure out what it all means.

After Copenhagen, Even More Reason to Worry

Sphere: Related Content

What Would Failure at Copenhagen Mean for the Poor and Developing Nations?

The Care2 Petitionsite reminds us that we need to protect the poor and vulnerable around the world from the effects of climate change. They are asking that we help the poor with the effects of climate change. ». Currently, they are at 6,744 with a goal of 10,000. I am 6,747. My two cents are below:

We are destroying our planet for us all, which is bad enough, we are also putting the greatest cost on the poor. Our governments need to be reminded that these funds are only a small down payment on what was promised in term of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and especially 7. Environmental Sustainability. It is not money that is so desperately needed now, it is political will and global collaboration.

The fact that they are the ones least responsible for the changes in our environment and yet they are likely to suffer its worst consequences has been established previously in this blog under the post the Ugly of the Good, the Bad and The Ugly of Climate Change

There is funding set aside in the House's climate change bill to help poor people adapt to the effects of global warming, but at 1 percent of available resources, it falls short. What's needed is another $3.5 billion for international adaptation programs.

Poor people should not bear an undue burden of the impacts of climate change or the global adjustments needed to address it. Urge the Senate to help poor people adapt to climate change. »

The consequences of failing at Copenhagen don't look much better for the rest of us.

What Would Failure at Copenhagen Mean for Climate Change for the Planet?

From Scientific American: This is the consequence of failure at Copenhagen: A marked shift in scientific effort from solving global warming to adapting to its consequences, a hodge-podge of uncoordinated local efforts to trim emissions - none of which deliver the necessary cuts - and an altered climate.

Climate experts, scientists and negotiators say that, absent international agreement, the children and grandchildren of those living today will negotiate a world where planetary geo-engineering is a part of daily life, sea-walls defend coastal cities, the world's poor are hammered by drought, floods and famine and our planet is heading toward conditions unseen for the last 100 million years. MORE

Tell President Obama the World Needs U.S. Action on Climate Change

Sphere: Related Content

The folks from Change.org, who are leading the Blog Action Day effort 2009 Climate Change tomorrow, tells us that the United States produces more than twenty percent of all greenhouse gas emissions with just five percent of the world's population. The United States, it would seem logical to conclude, needs to limit greenhouse gases and build a clean energy economy in order to achieve a sustainable solution to our global climate crisis. This is an essential step in not only achieving Millennium Development Goal 7. Environmental Sustainability, but all of the Millennium Goals and especially 1. End Hunger.

World leaders are about to gather in Copenhagen to negotiate a response to global climate change. It is essential that the United States takes action, both at home with current legislation (Boxer-Kerry climate bill) and at Copenhagen or the efforts to curb emissions will be severely hampered. David Adam warns in CommonDreams.org that Key differences between the US and Europe could undermine a new worldwide treaty on global warming to replace Kyoto.

Back in September of this year President Obama made a Climate Change Speech at at the United Nations.

President Obama recognized that climate change is an urgent global threat. Tell President Obama that to make good on this promise to restore America's responsible leadership in the world, and that the world needs him to lead Congress in taking bold and significant action to reduce greenhouse gasses.

Click here to encourage Obama to show bold leadership on the climate now >

Dear President Obama,

This December world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to negotiate a global response to climate change. As a world leader in greenhouse gas pollution as well as clean energy technology, the United States needs to take bold action by implementing comprehensive clean energy policies to curb emissions.

We join others around the world in calling on you to lead the United States in taking bold and significant action to reduce greenhouse gasses.

Brian Dowling

Click here to sign your name

Tell Obama and the Senate to Take Bold Climate Action!

Sphere: Related Content

I have done a few blogs discussing the upcoming Copenhagen meeting on Climate Change this December. So far things don't look optimistic, but as they say it is always darkest before the dawn. I am getting involved with another BloggersUnite event, this time 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more on that in another post. There are numerous avenues to take action whether full activist and going to Copenhagen to protest or slacktivist and simply clicking a petition button. I am trying for something in between.

The good folks at Care2 remind us that Barack Obama promised to take bold action on climate change. President Obama needs to stay strong -- we need a real climate bill calling for real change >> As world leaders prepare for the U.N. Climate Change Conference in December, it is critical that Obama steps up his efforts to pass strong and comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation here at home. Tell Obama to stay true to his word and transition us away from dirty energy >> I did, even though this video apparently says that he already knows. My words follow.

Failure at Copenhagen puts our planet on an unsustainable path. The questions of not now, when, if not us, who? cannot be ignored because it will not be the bottom billion of the world's economy that history will look to as they have no voice in this effort. It will be the leaders of the developed world and the leading economies who must answer. You have promised to work for the Millennium Development Goals, but none of the others matter if No. 7 Environmental Sustainability is not fulfilled.

Here are more reasons why from the Environmental Defense Funds (EDF).

With a climate bill pending in the Senate, the EDF tells us that they are doing everything we can to keep the pressure on for strong climate action.

You, like I did, can help by emailing your Senators and urging them to support a climate bill. I changed the default wording recognizing the fact that my Senators have been leaders in this effort, especially Senator Boxer.

Now is the time for the Senate to act. I strongly urge you to continue your ongoing leadership and support for strong climate bills and show our President that America is not only ready to support environmental legislation that helps our country, but that we are also ready to work with other countries to help heal our planet and create development that helps the bottom billion of the world's economy. The House has passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, HR 2454. This historic bill will place a cap on carbon, invest in America's green energy future, create needed jobs, curb our global warming pollution, and help free us from foreign oil. We have an historic opportunity to cap global warming pollution and put people back to work unleashing America's green energy economy.

Here are some sobering facts about climate and water to inspire you to take action:

7: Number of great rivers in Asia fed by meltwater from Himalayan glaciers (Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He).

2 billion: Number of people, mostly in India and China, who rely on meltwater from Himalayan glaciers for their fresh water.

2035: Date by which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and India's Energy and Resources Institute predict that much of the Himalayas could be glacier free.

66%: Amount by which the July-September flows would be reduced in the Ganga River if we lose the Himalayan glaciers.

37%: Amount of India's irrigated land is located in the Ganga region.

1 and 2: Respective rank of China and India as the world's producers of wheat and rice, food staples for all of humanity.

Sources for our climate and water facts:

• http://assets.panda.org/downloads/glacierspaper.pdf
• http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20081111/main5.htm
• http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/05/himalayas.glacier.conflict/index.htmlhttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/global-warming-melting-glaciers-shrinking-harvests.php
  

No Leadership or Consensus Regarding Climate Change as Nations Meet

Sphere: Related Content

The New York Times now has the same storyline as the China Daily News and that is that the new climate change agreement is in trouble. The problem is that there is neither a consensus nor a leader arising to form the consensus required as called for in this Note from the Secretary-General to Heads of States and Governments on Mobilizing Political Momentum for Copenhagen.

SCIENCE / ENVIRONMENT | September 20, 2009 No Climate Change Leader as Nations Meet
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR: As nations gather for a major summit meeting on climate change, none want to take the lead in fighting for significant international targets.

While virtually all of the largest developed and developing nations have made domestic commitments toward creating more efficient, renewable sources of energy to cut emissions, none want to take the lead in fighting for significant international emissions reduction targets, lest they be accused at home of selling out future jobs and economic growth.

The problem is that there isn't consensus at any geographical level even when there should be common goals.

SOUTH ASIA: Disunity Hovers over a Region Battling Climate Change - IPS ipsnews.net

KATHMANDU, Sep 20 (IPS) - As the Copenhagen Conference on climate change draws nearer, South Asia, which appears poised for severe threats from the impacts of climate change, faces a stiff challenge on two fronts.

For one, South Asia’s member states – home to half the world’s poor – need to convince the developed world to take steps toward the mitigation of future climate-related risks in the region.

For another, divergence of ideas among these countries over some crucial issues arising from the impact of this global concern on the region is a potential stumbling block to training some of the global climate change spotlight on South Asia.

The World Bank World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change demonstrates that this lack of cooperation and lack of consensus will most negatively impact the poorest of countries.

As Neil Bird of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog tells, us we still have long way to go on climate change: seven issues to consider from the World Development Report 2010.

Everyone talks about reaching a global deal over a successor to the Kyoto Agreement at Copenhagen, but as the World Bank’s new World Development Report comprehensively outlines there is a long way to go to secure an adequate response to tackling climate change.

The video makes a very important point in it's opening and that is that the World Development Report focuses on the impact of climate change on the developing world's struggle to rise out of poverty.

Our interest in climate changes starts and ends in many ways with our interest in development.

Marianne Fay - Co-director of World Development Report and
Chief Economist, Sustainable Development Network

Related Posts:

• One of the Morally Urgent Questions of Our Moment

• 7th of 8 days: 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals

• 2 Steps Forward, 2 Degrees Back

• Different Paths to Saving the Climate - All Up Hill

• Two Pathways For Having Your Say on Climate Control

Sustainable Environment and Sustainable Development - The World has a chance to keep a millennium promise this December

Sphere: Related Content

Another big event I missed because of real life/day job was 350.org and the more than 3000 extraordinary climate actions across nearly every country, from the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef to the summit of Mount Everest. Click to see the events map:

The 350 day of action is named for 350 parts per million, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere that scientists say would be the safe for the climate. (At the moment, we're at 387 parts per million and climbing fast.) Most immediately, 350 is the number world leaders need to lead with as they prepare to meet in Copenhagen this December to draft a new global climate treaty.

Quick links to more info about 350.org:

Of course, all this is leading up to the Copenhagen summit in December when 192 nations of the world gather again as they did back in 2000 and made the millennium promises which still remain unfulfilled. One particular fulfilled promise is now endangering us all unless positive and real action is taken and that is Millennium Development Goal 7 Environmental Sustainability.

What is becoming ever more apparent is the connection between global climate and poverty. CARE is thought of as an organization helping the poor in the far flung regions of the world, but it too is taking a stand against climate change.

CARE is working toward a world where people living in poverty can create opportunities despite the obstacles they face. But the reality about climate change is that it makes poor people even more vulnerable. Agricultural production is declining in the poorest developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Less reliable rainfall is effecting planting seasons, crop growth and livestock health, and leading to increased malnutrition.

In Zimbabwe, women make up 75 percent of the labor force in agriculture, and their livelihoods depend almost exclusively on natural resources. Droughts and the occasional cyclone, combined with limited resources for irrigation, left many women either waiting for the rainy season or suffering through floods that destroyed their crops and devastated their landscape. CARE worked with them to better manage their scarce water resources and modify their farming techniques in order to adapt to new climate conditions.

As President Obama told the United Nations recently, "Developing nations are already living with the unfolding effects of a warming planet: famine and drought, disappearing coastal villages and the conflict that arises from scarce resources. Their future is no longer a choice between a growing economy and a cleaner planet, because their survival depends on both."

The international community is negotiating a new agreement to guide global efforts to address climate change. These negotiations will conclude in Copenhagen, Denmark, in fewer than 50 days! The United States must help lead those efforts and forge strong agreements that cap emissions to prevent catastrophic warming and respond effectively to climate change affects already in motion.

Please contact your senators today and urge them to take the necessary steps to make the United States a global leader in the fight against climate change!

P.S. CARE has launched a new Web site just about climate change. Click here to view all the resources we have made available.

The Bad of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Climate Change

Sphere: Related Content

Nobody could look at where we are in terms of achieving Millennium Development Goal 7. Environmental Sustainability and believe that we are in good shape. The Bad is that addressing climate change is still being put on the backburner by too may people and too many governments. The months leading up to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference have seen a great deal of activity, the trouble is that most of it is in the streets and not the halls of government.

Here is some background. Neil MacFarquhar of The New York Times summarized the United Nation's session on climate change in this Video Library Player: U.N. Summit on Climate Change. He also covered Presidents Hu Jintao of China and Barack Obama, both of whom are acknowledging that a deal is an important goal, but are also stressing their own needs in U.S. and China Vow Action on Climate but Cite Needs. The problem is, has Neil MacFarquhar points out, that proposals lag behind promises on Climate.

At the start of October, New York Times ANDREW C. REVKIN was reporting that Obama Aide Concedes Climate Law Must Wait in U.S. / POLITICS|

An aide to President Obama said there was virtually no chance of a bill passing before global talks in December.

The Senate is a huge challenge — not impossible, but difficult,” Ms. Claussen said. “What we need is for the health care debate to conclude, and the president and the entire administration to work constructively and tirelessly to pass climate legislation as soon as possible.”

Thing are a bit better, thanks in part to activists and even slacktivists putting pressure on their government. According to Krittivas Mukherjee and Muriel Boselli of Reuters things are looking better at home, but Climate talks may go to last minute.

Reuters: UNITED NATIONS/LONDON (Reuters) - Official Washington sounded more upbeat on Monday than it has for weeks in sizing up U.S. President Barack Obama's chances of progress on a climate-change bill in Congress this year.
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer predicted the committee she leads would approve a bill before a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in December while Obama's Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he hoped all of Congress would pass a law by then.

It is still a nail-biter at Copenhagen though.

NEW DELHI/ PARIS (Reuters) - The world may have to wait until the dying seconds of a U.N. climate summit in December for a global deal to channel business dollars into low-carbon energy, industry and analysts said on Wednesday.
Senior executives warned progress so far in U.N.-led climate talks was inadequate to guarantee the future of low-carbon markets which could transform how the world gets its energy.

Related Posts:

• The Good of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Climate Change
• The Better of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Climate Change
• The Ugly of the Good, the Bad and The Ugly of Climate Change

2 Steps Forward, 2 Degrees Back

Sphere: Related Content

This is a cut-and-paste post from a variety of sources dealing with Millennium Development Goal 7. Environmental Sustainability, offering a number of useful links and opportunities for participation. Trouble is that time is now short. A moment of good news along the pathway, but then the realization that the pathway still continues uphill. The good news, tempered with a call for more needed action on the horizon, came from both the Union of Concerned Scientists and Care2. Last month in June:

House of Representatives took a historic vote to pass comprehensive climate legislation legislation that would put in place a nationwide plan to rein in global warming pollution and create an entirely new, cleaner approach to our nation's energy system.

But we will need your help to put a strong bill over the finish line. Specifically, you can help turn up the heat on the Senate to act quickly and ensure that we enact a final bill that helps build a revitalized clean energy economy, while reducing the threat of global warming.

Learn more about the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the Climate 2030 Blueprint, key elements of comprehensive climate legislation, why the time to act is now, and how UCS is working to ensure passage of a strong climate

The vote for the American Clean Energy Security Act on the House floor came to an ultimate margin of a mere seven votes, 219-212. Let's pause for a moment to celebrate our success -- and then gear up for what is sure to be a similarly tight vote in the Senate.

Read more about today's victory at Care2's Cause Channels, and leave a comment with your reactions to this sweeping climate bill.

The path get even steeper when we move from the national stage to the international stage of the G8 talks in Italy and later the global summit in Copenhagen. I am personally disappointed that Canada is among this group.

Avaaz has let us know that the the world has just months left to agree on a binding global climate treaty, this is the leaders' last in-person negotiation before the make-or-break Copenhagen summit, but that at the upcoming G8 summit, Canada, Japan, and Russia are trying to veto the 2-degree limit.

Avaaz has put together a worldwide petition, which-- an Avaaz team in Italy will deliver it directly to world leaders and through spectacular stunts on Thursday, (tomorrow) bringing global media attention to shame the climate-wreckers and press them to back down.

We urgently need at least 100,000 signatures -- click to sign:

The G8 leaders -- joined by eleven other heads of government at a parallel "Major Economies" meeting next door -- represent more than 80% of climate emissions.

We know last-moment pressure can change their policies: Canada's Harper, Japan's Aso, and other leaders could face elections, they can't afford global embarrassment. Sign the petition, send it to friends, and help rescue the climate target now:

They were at 93,757 when I signed. Found at the Global News Sources of this blog more news from IRIN GLOBAL: Twelve countries on climate change hit-list.

SOURCES FROM AVAAZ:

• G8 summit key to global efforts on climate change
• Background on 2 degrees threshold: "'Too late to avoid global warming,' say scientists"
• Canada, Russia Considered Climate 'Bad Boys' Among G8 Nations
• Make-or-break summit as G8 gamble on climate and economy
• EU's Barroso seeks two degrees Celsius pact at G8

Finally, some inspiration for the long journey along the path.

Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming introduces a new generation of writers and photographers with a personal connection to global warming. The 67 essays and images in this anthology are drawn from nearly 1,000 submissions about beloved places, people, plants, animals, and activities at risk from a changing climate—and the efforts that individuals are making to save what they love. A foreword by author Barbara Kingsolver serves as a powerful call to action.

The essays we selected represent a variety of perspectives, voices, and experiences. The authors follow in the long tradition of great American environmental writers, like Henry David Thoreau, who have broadened our awareness and sharpened our perspective about the world we share. And they are inspiring action to protect our planet from global warming.

Articles from Diigo Make Noise MDGs 07/11/2010

Sphere: Related Content

• Home - Wiley Online Library Transition Information

  Wiley Online Library will host the world’s broadest and deepest multidisciplinary collection of online resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social science and the humanities. Built on the latest technology and designed with extensive input from scholars around the world, Wiley Online Library will deliver seamless integrated access to over 4 million articles from 1500 journals, 9000 books, and hundreds of reference works, laboratory protocols and databases from John Wiley & Sons and key imprints including Wiley-Blackwell, Wiley-VCH etc

  tags: online home wiley

• UN Foundation and Devex — Making the Millennium Development Goals Happen "> - Annotated
  
  Over the coming months, Devex will host a global conversation on each of the eight Millennium Development Goals – we want you to share your success stories, thoughts on what obstacles remain, and ideas for how the development community is Making the Millennium Development Goals Happen.

  tags: millennium development goals millennium campaign mdgs United Nations

  • As development professionals, you are working towards realizing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – we want to hear from you about the on-the-ground successes and challenges you've experienced working on international development projects around the world.

• - World Population Day 2010 "> - Annotated

  This year World Population Day highlights the importance of data for development. The focus is on the 2010 round of the population and housing census, data analysis for development and UNFPA’s lead role in population and development.

  tags: United Nations world population

  • Reliable data makes a difference, and the key is to collect, analyze and disseminate data in a way that drives good decision making. The numbers that emerge from data collection can illuminate important trends. What striking situation does research reveal in your country? What do the numbers tell you about progress toward meeting the MDGs? Are certain groups getting left behind?

• The Responsibility to Protect—Five Years On

  The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) has become a prominent feature in international debates about preventing and responding to genocide and mass atrocities. Since its adoption in 2005, it has been discussed in relation to a dozen major crises and been the subject of discussion at the UN Security Council and General Assembly. This article takes stock of the past five years and examines three questions about RtoP: What is its function? Is it a norm, and, if so, what sort?

  tags: international UN Security

• The Environment and Climate Change: Editors' Overview. Takatoshi ITO. 2010; Asian Economic Policy Review - Wiley InterScience

  Asian Economic Policy Review

  tags: millennium development goals mdg7 environmental sustainability

• Reaching a Global Agreement on Climate Change: What are the Obstacles? "> - Annotated

  A successor accord to the Kyoto Protocol was supposed to be wrapped up in Copenhagen in December 2009, but negotiations are now expected to extend through the South African UNFCCC conference in 2011 since the Copenhagen talks failed to yield a binding agreement. To reach a comprehensive deal, major gaps between developing and developed countries must be narrowed. The gaps include the character of common but differentiated responsibilities, financial support, technology transfer, and trade subsidies and sanctions. The paper concludes with some options and recommendations.

  tags: millennium development goals mdg7 environmental sustainability

  • Reaching a Global Agreement on Climate Change: What are the Obstacles?

• Reconciling Economic Growth and Carbon Mitigation: Challenges and Policy Options in China "> - Annotated

  In this paper, we review some of the climate burden-sharing proposals raised by Chinese scholars to shed some light on China's perspective on the post-Kyoto climate architecture. Then we summarize China's current pollution abatement policies and measures, and analyze some potential policy instruments for China to reconcile its future economic growth and carbon mitigation, as well as some practical design and enforcement issues to be considered for the near term

  tags: millennium development goals mdg7 China environmental sustainability

  • As the biggest carbon emitter in the world, China is facing tremendous pressure domestically and internationally. To promote the international efforts to tackle climate change, the Chinese government announced its 2020 carbon intensity target and is actively taking part in the international climate negotiations.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Online Conversation Showcases Successes and Challenges of Development Professionals in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (prweb.com)
• UN Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner Calls on Private Citizens to Do Their Part to Help Achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goals (prweb.com)
• Experts say climate change to scatter regional market, MDGs. (news.xinhuanet.com)
• Obama's 36 Words (one.org)
• Act now: Ask President Obama to keep his pledge (one.org)
• New BBC series on the MDG's (one.org)
• Tell Obama to Keep His Promise to Cut World Poverty in Half! (socialactions.net)
• Millennium Development Goals 1010 (one.org)
• Everyone Counts: Quality Data Essential to Improving People's Lives, Says UNFPA (prweb.com)

Supporting the Boxer-Kerry Climate Bill

Sphere: Related Content

Blog Action Day is now two days away. I signed up to post something, this will be my third year being part of this joint effort to raise consciousness. This year the effort is in anticipation of the United Nations meeting in Copenhagen this December on a Climate Change Treaty.

I have been gathering material for a piece on Climate Control and Millennium Development Goal 7. Environmental Sustainability, but there is some information which should not be held for another two days. Recently, I wrote to my Senators in support of the Boxer-Kerry climate bill. It was, I admit, one of those online support letters provided by one of the progressive organizations to which I subscribe. I was respondent number 5,828. They are looking to reach 10,000. I also added my own "two-cents" to fulfill the purpose of this blog, and the fact that as Senator Boxer is my Senator, I would be asking her to support her own bill. So I added the following paragraph to the correspondence.

Now I fully realize that I am not only preaching to the choir, but to the one of the choir masters, but the relationship between environmental sustainability and economic sustainability in achieving world changing efforts such as the Millennium Development Goals is too apparent these days to be ignored. We need to do both, but we cannot go to Copenhagen or to Davos or some other conference claiming a leadership role until we have our own house in order. So even though you did not need to be asked, I am asking again.

The Senate's version strengthens bill passed by the House by:

• raising the 2020 target for greenhouse pollution reductions to 20 percent below 2005 levels.
• ensuring that revenues from carbon regulation goes to transit, bike paths and other green modes of transportation.
• giving the EPA the authority to regulate coal plants under the Clean Air Act.

The bill is being debated in committee, so if you think it needs to be made even stronger, you can tell your senators: Push for and pass a strong climate bill! >> At last count, they were at 7,006.

Two Pathways For Having Your Say on Climate Control

Sphere: Related Content

Two different pathways for getting involved with influencing the United Nations led conference on Climate Control. The first for the more extroverted and the second for the less so. This were dealt with before at the Taking Global Action to protect the environment sooner better than later post.

A staggering Avaaz announces 1000 events in 88 countries for next Monday's great global climate wake up call!

Check out this incredible list and map of over 1500 events for the great global climate wake-up call on Monday. Brazil has 153 events, France 95, New Zealand 26 --

Let's make sure leaders at the UN climate summit wake up on Tuesday morning to news that 1559 rallies, marches, meetings and "flashmobs" across the planet have flooded the airwaves and their phone lines with an irresistible call for action...

The press is reporting that urgent negotiations on a global deal to stop a climate catastrophe are in shambles - our leaders just aren't making the hard choices needed -- they're feeling more pressure from oil and coal companies than they are from ordinary people concerned about reversing the climate crisis and unleashing a new green economy. Sept. 21st is the moment to change all that.

Not all events are the same -- many Wake-Up Call events are thrilling in their variety -- monks will chant prayers, churches will ring bells, some will show the new cool climate film "Age of Stupid". Click to find an event nearby, RSVP, and tell friends about it:

Images and videos from the Global Wake-Up Call events will be combined and shown in 700 satellite-linked cinemas at the Age of Stupid's global premiere!

Here is the second pathway


You've heard about the drastic global effects of climate change -- severe heat waves, intense droughts, and rising sea levels. Many of us picture these impacts happening in far-off lands in arid deserts or on polar ice caps. But climate change hits closer to home than that: your home.

In our last e-mail, you read about how our world leaders will address climate change on a high level at Copenhagen. But now is our time to act -- when more than six billion of us can tell our leaders how climate change will forever alter our everyday lives.

Tell us what you'll miss most if we don't act soon. Visit the "It's Getting Personal" Climate Board, and share your quotes, videos, and pictures describing what's about to disappear from your life due to climate change.

It can be a person, place, or thing … written, taped, or photographed … whatever best captures the impact of climate change on YOU.

It's getting personal. Submit your story to the Climate Board and make your voice heard!

Together, we can bring this issue to the forefront. Thank you!

Best,

The UN Foundation Climate and Energy Team
(Reid, Ryan, Jana, Kurt, and John)


P.S. Want to learn more about climate change? You can browse our site and check out the climate glossary for more info.

Avaaz Wake Up Call WOW

Sphere: Related Content Here is the Avaaz take on the efforts for climate change across the globe last Monday. Some may question how much impact these efforts actually had, but one means of enhancing that impact is to reblog and mash these features into other outlets. I threw in the Gordon Brown interview from No 10.

Wow. Monday's Wake Up call was unbelievable - 2632 events in 134 countries, tens of thousands of phone calls crashing government lines, unbelievable creativity and diversity of events, directly reaching heads of state and cabinet ministers from Australia to Europe. Words can't describe it -- this video gets close:

Click here to learn more about the video.The Wake Up call was covered by hundreds of major news outlets and made the evening news everywhere from Germany to New Zealand. Europe's environment chief praised "the mobilisation of so many people by Avaaz.org", the UK Prime Minister became the first major world leader to agree to our demand to go to Copenhagen and said that with "the pressure that can brought by organizations like yours...what people think is impossible can become possible".

Maybe Senator Boxer should go to Copenhagen

Sphere: Related Content

I have said before that Senator Boxer is a leader in the Senate when it comes to environmental legislation. Some of her most significant work as been on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S.1733). Below is a some history on the bill from its latest passage out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to her original remarks introducing the bill.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a climate and energy bill sponsored by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA).

Th Environmental Defense Fund reminds us that Chairman Boxer and her colleagues deserve great credit for their commitment to move forward on solving our climate and energy challenges.

• the urgent need
  
• end our addiction to imported oil,
  
• create jobs
  
• cap the pollution that causes global warming

encouraged by the announcement yesterday that Senators Kerry, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will work together to craft a bipartisan bill to bring America greater energy independence and cap pollution.

Dear Friend:

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which I chair, has opened an intensive three-day schedule of legislative hearings on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, S.1733, a bill aimed at creating new, clean energy jobs, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and curbing the production of greenhouse gases. I am pleased to share with you my opening statement, available at this link. If you would like to see all of the testimony from the hearings, and see video or a live feed, please use this link.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

Dear Mr. Dowling:

Thank you for writing to me in support of clean energy legislation to fight climate change. I appreciate hearing from you.

I want to share with you the statement I made when Senator John Kerry and I introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S.1733).

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer

United States Senator

Senator Boxer's statement on the introduction of "The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act" on September 30, 2009:

I am very pleased to stand with my colleagues, national security leaders, veterans, business leaders, workers, environmental organizations, religious leaders, wildlife protectors, energy companies, state and local officials and so many others as we introduce the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.

This bill addresses major challenges of our generation:

.protecting our children and the earth from dangerous pollution;

.putting America back in control of our energy future;

.creating the policies that will lead to millions of new jobs; and

.through our example, inspiring similar actions around the world to avoid an unstable and dangerous future.

As Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I want to thank so many of my colleagues and their staffs, on and off the committee.

Senator Kerry's staff and my office have been a team, working together for weeks and weeks, and often late into the night. Colleagues and staff on the EPW Committee have been very important in this effort and their work is reflected.

We built on the successful House effort. Our bill has stronger targets in the short term and we have expanded our coalition in the business community.

In our bill, the basic promise to consumers has been kept. The promise to regions that rely heavily on fossil fuels has been kept as well.

The first major part of the bill includes authorizations, all of which would be eligible for appropriations and some which are eligible for both appropriations and allowances.

Some of these are enhanced from the Waxman bill; some are new. Here are some examples of these authorizations:

Investments in clean natural gas, new transmission infrastructure, nuclear R&D and worker training, and green economic development;

Agricultural and forestry offset opportunities;

Provisions to speed the transition to cleaner transportation, including investments in our transit systems, and incentives for efficient hybrid and electric cars;

Adaptation authorizations that include wildfire prevention, flood control, water infrastructure, and investments in coastal communities and wildlife protection.

Our bill gives a much stronger role to mayors and local governments.

The second major part of our bill sets up the Pollution Reduction and Investment incentives.

In this section we have strong principles laid out for market transparency and oversight and we set up an Office of Offsets Integrity.

Allowances in this section will be detailed in the chairman's mark.

We have put into this section a soft collar to address cost containment and limit speculation while maintaining the environmental integrity of the pollution cap.

And our bill does not add one penny to the deficit.

In closing, let me say that my state of California is going through hard times right now and it weighs on me every day.

But there is one bright spot. And that is clean energy jobs and businesses.

The Pew Charitable Trusts reports that 10,000 new clean energy businesses were launched in California from 1998 to 2007. During that period, clean energy investments created more than 125,000 jobs and generated jobs 15 percent faster than the California economy as a whole.

The latest economic study predicts up to 1.9 million new jobs in America if we pass our bill.

We know clean energy is the ticket to strong, stable economic growth ...it's right here in front of us...in the ingenuity of our workers and the vision of our entrepreneurs. And in studies and models.

The global clean energy market is estimated to reach two and a half times the size of the global personal computer market by the year 2020.

We know from venture capitalists that billions of dollars from the private sector will flow into this market.

Others will move ahead if we don't seize this opportunity.

If we do, we will be a leader in the world as we protect the earth and all who dwell here from a future that the world's most respected scientists agree is threatened if we do not act.

No one knows what challenges will face them in their time.

No one chooses their time. But you know what? This is our time.

Global warming is our challenge.

Economic recovery is our challenge.

American leadership is our challenge.

Let's step up right now.

Let's not quit until we have fulfilled our responsibility to our children and our grandchildren.

Thank you.