Signing the wrong pact

The Guardian's coverage of post-Copehagen fallout included this telling quote from Lumumba Di-Aping, Chairman of the G77 grouo of over 100 of the world's poorest countries:

"[This] is asking Africa to sign a suicide pact, an incineration pact in order to maintain the economic dependence of a few countries. It's a solution based on values that funnelled six million people in Europe into furnaces."

This is strong stuff, and although it may feel over the top to some, it does seem to cature some of the impotent rage that developing countries must be feeling right now..

Quiet voices at COP15

One of the most exciting and heart-warming events is to see the latent energy of young people's passion turned into the kinetic force of action for good. For a number of years, organisations ranging from the UN to local authorities have created forums and networks of youth champions. Even without the endorsement or funding of a major funder, recent news from the energetic and focused Isabel Bottoms shows what can be achived with will and confidence:

Here's Isabel's note:

I am going to Copenhagen, and I especially want to tell you about what capacity it is that I am going in. Basically this year I decided to break free of delegations, and simply go there to try and be as useful as possible. So, with my friend Alex from CAT we have organised for a small team of 8 of us to get accrediation (allowing us to be inside the conference rather than outside with all the protestors) where we will support official delegations that are under represented in the negotiations. These are normally countries from the Global South who are often affected by climate change already, and they just don't have the man power or technical knowledge to get their needs and opinions across. Whilst we know us 8 aren't going to save the negotiations, we are hoping to help level out the playing field a little. We've already had over 8 countries ask for our support, so we are in the process of finalising which ones we will work with-yay or nay to the 2 dictatorships?! We hope you'll follow us on our blog that the 8 of us will be regaling our horrors on throughout the 2 weeks, and please spread the word! www.unfairplay.info

Ecotopia - latest update

I've just had this note in from James Parr, co-organiser of the 'Building Ecotopia' event that's running in London this coming Friday in the lead-up to the Copenhagen COP15 talks. Discounts are on offer for activitists and researchers, so sign up now if you fancy joining the 120 or so people who are already coming to make a difference. Here's James' note:

Dear Ecotopians,

The buzz is really starting to build now and the delegation that is joining us on Friday is truly inspiring and more than a little humbling.  As you may know, we have partnered with the Department of Energy and Climate Change and Bill Becker from the Presidential Climate Action Plan to create a positive vision of a sustainable future, similar to the Autotopia and Futurama visions that became a blueprint for 20th century America.

Our goal is to share this collective vision far and wide; starting with taking the results to the climate conference in Copenhagen, to be shared as a film, Ecotopia" and a strategic document detailing the paths to a sustainable society.

The output of this day will inform and contribute to the rollout of DECC's low carbon transition plan in the UK and the Presidential Climate Action Project in the US.

This amazing day will expose you to some of the most cutting edge thinking in sustainability and you will be working shoulder to shoulder with some of the smartest thinkers in the world.

We have two prices (both assisted). 150 for professionals and 75 for NGOs and academics.

Please find a more detailed description of the day here: www.cineforum.co.uk

SOME LOGISTICS: We are asking delegates if they kindly PRE-REGISTER on the web site. (It will make things a lot smoother for us on the day!)

Please go through the registration process on-line so we can also ascertain which workshops are of interest and your preferences for filming (there will be cameras rolling during the day for our film 'Designing Ecotopia'.) and we are creating a digital 'biography' of everyone to speed up the networking process.

http://www.fairknowledge.co.uk/Cineforum/Tickets.html

The first 2 tickets using the code: CSRguest will get complimentary passes.

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday,

Sincerely,

James

We still have choice

With the COP15 Copenhagen climate talks starting in a few days, there may not yet be much of a feeling of optimism in the crisp autumn air, and there is widespread recognition that the liklihood of a binding, realistic and strong set of emissions targets is small. We do however, have many choices still in front of us.

• Regardless of the COP15 outputs, we'd still be smart, at some stage soon, to make some choices about:
• When to start creating a robust plan for food resilience
• When to implement planning restrictions on low level coastal land
• When to integrate potential responses to peak oil and energy security into our strategies.

George Monbiot put it neatly in the Guardian the other day:

In its new World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency (IEA) maintains that, to meet new demand and replace old equipment and exhausted reserves, the world will have to invest $25.6tn in energy supply infrastructure between now and 2030. The industrialised nations would also need to pay a fortune to the Opec countries to maintain their oil and gas supplies: the IEA predicts that the oil producers' income will rise fivefold in this period, to $30tn. These costs will be much higher if oil supplies peak.If moving to a low-carbon economy looks implausible, so does maintaining the high-carbon economy. Whichever route is taken, staggering amounts of money need to be spent. As resources become harder to extract and concentrated in fewer countries, it shouldn't be too difficult to persuade world leaders that the money might as well be spent on exploiting ambient energy, which will neither run out nor allow us to be held to ransom.

Hopenhagen

If you haven't done so yet, link up to the Hopenhagen campaign that's been designed to raise awareness and action for the COP15 talks in Copenhagen in six weeks' time.