Canada, The Yes Men, and what could be...

A wonderful thing happened yesterday, but only in make believe. The Yes Men, by way of a prank, made it appear as though Canada was going to completely reverse its climate change policy and set aggressive new carbon reduction targets. "Nobody benefits from a world in peril. Contributing to the development of other nations and taking full responsibilities for our emissions is simple Canadian good sense. We want to show the world that Canada is a leader on climate change." (Binding emission targets of 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050; and funding made available to less developed countries based on a percentage of Canada’s GDP.) Instead…we find ourselves in the final week of the talks in Copenhagen and the real results that will come from this Climate Change Conference will fall short of what is necessary to address this global problem. The Group of 77 (Representing developing countries and large emerging countries like Brazil, India and China) walked out of negotiations on Monday due to inadequate aid offers from developed countries. China is refusing to accept any type of international monitoring of its emission levels. The U.S. says that without this verification, it cannot support any deal. With the effectiveness of these negotiations at stake and the consequences the world will face from our collective actions at this time in history, isn’t it critical that the global perspective be focused more on global health from a human perspective and respect for the health of our planet rather than a political one. The Yes Men gave us that chance to see what it could be like. The push to achieve aggressive carbon reduction targets must continue.

56 Newspapers in 45 Countries

As the climate conference opened today in Copenhagen, an editorial regarding the urgency to face the world’s climate change issues was printed in 56 newspapers in 45 countries (and written in 20 languages). This message, intended to reach politicians and negotiators at the conference, highlights that people from around the world are focused on this critical moment in history and that significant action is required. We must put aside our differences and view this problem through the same lens.

"We call on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest modern failure of politics. This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west. Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone."

I applaud the efforts of these newspapers to give a voice for what has provided us with everything we know: our planet.

The Gravity of Insufficient Action

World leaders will be coming together for the United Nations Climate Change Conference December 7-18th. They must put the health of our planet first. It is not a question of whether they should come up with an agreement that begins to lead us away from this environmental crisis, but that our leaders must take significant measures while there is still time. The political, economic and health issues that we face today will only be more intensified from the stress we are currently putting on our planet. Our world must shift to understand the gravity of insufficient action. Although difficult to predict the consequences we will face from the lifestyles we live today, as well as the emissions we will continue to add to our atmosphere tomorrow; the need to reduce emissions is critical. The future well being of our planet rests on the shoulders of our generation.
The opportunity to bring our world together as one community and face this problem from a global perspective is upon us.