World leaders are preparing already for the UN Climate Conference which will open in Copenhagen on December 7th, 2009. They will tackle the formidable task of agreeing on a solution to global warming, the gravest threat civilization has ever faced. It is expected that up to 15,000 officials and media, including America’s President Barack Obama and heads of government from nearly 200 countries, will gather for the historic event.
The Conference will etch out a plan for the citizens of the world to act together to preserve the thin layer of atmosphere, soil and sea which enables us to live, in the face of rising temperatures which threaten to destroy habitability. It will be dealing with the stability of the biosphere, which is fundamental to life on earth. It appears that most of the world’s governments have at last accepted the fact the temperatures have indeed begun to rise and if the trend is not stopped, the future will be disastrous for life on earth as we know it now. The causes are clear and include carbon dioxide from power plants, factories, and vehicles.
Traditionally the huge, sprawling United States of America has been the biggest emitter of carbon gasses, but other world economies have grown to the extent that they equal, or in the example of China, have taken over the dubious distinction. Getting nearly 200 countries to agree to creating a world energy policy promises to be a difficult task. Twenty years ago, when scientists first predicted the affects of carbon emissions on the atmosphere, the threat seemed distant, but since then the changes have become obvious. In some countries, spring is arriving earlier, glaciers are melting at never-before rates and water shortages are projected to affect more people than any other impact of climate change. As well, the increase in violent storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes is worsening. For more information about the conference and global warming, go to www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/un-climate-conference-the-countdown-to-copenhagen-1242601.html.
Some leading climate scientists say that the earth can only tolerate a temperature rise of two degrees Celcius before mortal danger to human society. They claim that the damage already done has resulted in 0.6 of a degree. Global emissions have to peak very soon and then rapidly decrease. The Copenhagen conference must be successful in meeting an agreement or the results would be a catastrophe.
So what needs to happen at Copenhagen? First, the wealthy industrialized nations need to agree to tough new targets for cutting their carbon dioxide emissions. Secondly, the developing countries have to plan for their emergence along a different path, learning from North American and Europeans countries and their mistakes. Thirdly, the rich nations have to agree to help the developing countries with financial assistance.
In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol made an attempt to reduce greenhouse gases when 141 countries committed to reversing the damage placed on the planet after 150 years of industrial activity. Kyoto is a legally binding agreement between signed-up countries to meet emissions reduction targets of all greenhouse gases by 2012 relative to 1990 levels. But scientists and economists have faulted the Protocol as being ineffective and economically inefficient as well as inequitable, although it is still very much a part of the planning for the prevention of global warming. For more information on the Kyoto Protocol, and why its success has been limited, go to http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/11/problems-with-the-protoc.html
Climate scientists tell us that, to avoid an unacceptable amount of global warming, the world’s greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2020 at the latest and the new agreement expected at Copenhagen will likely last until that year. The world’s fight against catastrophe could be won or lost at Copenhagen. All the world’s citizens need to get involved today, by lobbying the policy makers in their country to support the Copenhagen Conference and by what they can in their homes and businesses to reduce greenhouse gases.
