Saturday 5 December 2009

Verification and Polar Bears - a tour of COP15 news and Blogs


Today's post will take a look at some of the most interesting and insightful blogs and news items that are out there on the weekend leading up to the COP 15 global climate change conference. 

1) The World Resources Institute's blog today, On Global Warming: Trust But Verify compares the Copenhagen negotiations between China and US to the SALT talks between Russia and the US in the 1980's. The principle of trust through verification goes beyond nations and into corporate claims and actions and consumer trust. If we are serious about reducing GHG emissions, then it will take a unified effort between governments, organisations and consumers.

If there is joint trust through verified methodologies and data, then the "why should we when they aren't" argument begins to lose its appeal.

2) Senator Christine Milne's post on the official UN COP 15 website yesterday compared the quick and decisive action that world leaders took when we were faced with an economic crisis (one that we all agree was man-made) with the lack of concerted action that world leaders have exhibited in the run up to Copenhagen next week. Christine is the Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens Party and her post was part of the guest blogger series on the official COP 15 site. Her viewpoint highlights our global ability to act on issues that we think have serious consequences versus politicians ability to say just enough without saying much at all when they are unsure of the mood of their nation.
3) You didn't want to be accused of being a witch in Salem, a heretic during the Inquisition or a Communist during McCarthyism. If it worked for them, Gordon Brown put it to work for his COP 15 aims, commenting on the recent East Anglia University scandal, With only days to go before Copenhagen we mustn't be distracted by the behind-the-times, anti-science, flat-earth climate sceptics.
4) If you have been reading Dr Anne-Marie Warris' blogs here, you will know that funding is at the top of the Copenhagen agenda. Yesterday's Guardian article took the funding debate to a place which adds urgency to the issue. In a veiled threat to developed countries, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Bangladesh's finance minister, called on Britain and other wealthy countries to accept millions of displaced people. It might be safe, and unfortunate, but this may end up being the real reason that the developed world agrees to a wide-scale funding agreement with the developing world.
5)Artist Mark Coreth will be placing a Polar Bear ice sculpture in the middle of Copenhagen as the COP 15 begins. Coreth says the sculpture should melt within ten days, highlighting the effects of climate change on the environment. Gordon Brown's "flat-earthers" will be hoping for a serious cold spell.


Here are some video links of interest, 
1) The Official COP15 YouTube! channel stakes the claim that you will be able to ask world leaders your climate change questions, LIVE!  http://www.youtube.com/user/cop15?blend=5&ob=4
2) Google Earth and Al Gore have joined up for an introductory tour to the effects of climate change on the environment. This is the first in a series.

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