How did Copenhagen go? To hear some tell it we are now doomed, but don’t believe it. A COP15 accord was agreed upon by about 190 countries, and was impressive for many reasons, with COP15 bringing together leaders from all over the world in an unprecedented marathon work session. It was not a failure, but the Copenhagen Accord was also not legally binding. (Download the accord here. PDF ) Does the accord have to be legally binding?
Expectations (including my own) were far too high, so the conference seemed like a failure to many who were disappointed that super-human feats were not accomplished. These are human beings we are dealing with, after all, not Hollywood movie characters. In addition, many countries tried to stop the proceedings from reaching an agreement entirely.
In this episode, hear the final press conference which was an assessment of the entire COP15 by the executive secretary of the UNFCCC, and also hear a skeptics presentation (humorously done) by the Age of Stupid’s Franny Armstrong with George Monbiot. Armstrong broadcast the Stupid Show from Copenhagen every day the last week of the conference.
Enormous negativity from some activists, some media and some environmental groups who expected too much from the conference should not be taken seriously . . . it’s counter-productive and it discourages people from getting involved. We need more people involved doing more than ever. The next COP is in Mexico, next November, and there is one after that, and one after that, already planned. Hysterical pronouncements of doom are premature! Bill McKibben’s sad article is here.
Ed Miliband accuses China and other countries of trying to prevent an accord agreement.
US Airlines are already suing the UK, read here . . . and so it starts.
Global warming temperatures have been grossly underestimated.
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