Feature story - December 2, 2007
It’s said that a week is a long time in politics. The burning question is whether two weeks is long enough for governments to finally wake up, smell the carbon and confront the biggest problem facing the world. Yes, says Greenpeace. Absolutely.
Real action for the climate means tackling the biggest emitters like coal fired power stations.
Here it is plain and simple: stop bickering. Put aside your
differences. Come up with a crystal-clear mandate so negotiators
can go full-bore over the next two years to agree deep cuts in
global warming pollution. And make sure that the long-neglected
issue of ending deforestation is firmly in the mix.
Real action for the climate
For years, governments have let us, their citizens, down by
failing to get to grips with the problem. They've left us
increasingly exposed to the biggest threat that civilisation has
ever faced. Before things get totally out of hand, governments have
to knuckle down to business in Bali and act on the basis of the
alarming scientific findings about climate change that they
themselves approved at the IPCC meeting only a few weeks ago. They
agreed that climate change can be beaten using means already at our
disposal or just around the corner. So let's finally see some real
action for the climate.
Without serious cuts in global warming pollution, the future
will be more frightening and insecure than we can imagine. And it's
no longer the dim and distant future we're talking about. We are
into the realm of IMTO - "In My Term of Office". One government -
in Australia - has already been thrown out partly because it
consistently stonewalled on climate.
Now major global corporations are at long last viewing action
against climate change as a growth opportunity and calling for
legally-binding commitments. It's the secure framework they need to
put big bucks into solutions, even if many companies have still to
put their own house in order.
Two weeks is a short time for a political turn-round. But it can
be done. Although not a single gram of carbon will be cut nor a
single sapling saved as a direct result of Bali - for these are
talks about talks - without agreement there governments may well
have lost the opportunity of ever putting the brakes on climate
change.
Want Bali in depth? Get ithere:
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