Copenhagen

On September 21, 2009,
the Second Circuit made an important decision on a case known as
Connecticut vs American Electric Power.
Without going into too much detail, this was a case where several groups like the Audubon society were trying to stop coal plant emissions because it was harming the value of their land trusts. The lower court ruled as other courts have, that Climate Change was part of the political realm, not the courts.
However, the appellate court overturned this decision on the grounds that the Energy company were causing a public nuisance, and nuisance cases have been heard by courts for decades.

The stance taken by the US Chamber of Commerce on climate change is damaging the confidence Americans have in business' ability to respond to current challenges. The Chamber has been fighting climate change legislation tooth and nail on behalf of the US coal industry that makes up a very small segment of their membership. Other business have taken notice, as the list of companies leaving the Chamber is growing. The Chamber chose to entrench its stance on the lead up to the Copenhagen climate conference and this resulted in the departure of Exelon Corp, Pacific Gas & Electric, PNM Resources, Mohawk Fine Papers, and Apple.

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, where no man had boldly gone before, in a land where the sun never set and the climate never changed, lived a lovely young princess called Airwick.

Wherever she went, gaily tripping around the land, singing her sweet songs, and dancing her pretty little dances, the air was fresh and clean smelling. And the good folk who inhabited the land were happy and abundant.

Then one day, a large and sweaty giant, known as Al Ogre, came and settled right in the middle of Princess Airwick’s kingdom.

Al was a goodly soul. He hurt no-one. But he did talk a lot. I mean, on and on and on and on. It burned your ears. You wanted to take the good folk of the kingdom and smash them into…I’m sorry, medication…now, where was I?

Oh yes. Goodly soul. But Al Ogre had a BIG PROBLEM. He had an Inconvenient Tooth. So, he could only imbibe liquids. And those liquids caused Al to emit the foulest, most toxic whitehouse gases.

Cross posted from Sustainable Futures

How do you like the creative title of this post – catchy, eh?

Cross-posted from Sustainable Futures

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the convening body of the Copenhagen climate talks. This is the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (meaning countries), so it is called COP15. Right now, there is so much attention focused on these talks that the terms Copenhagen and COP15 are used interchangeably. The actual governmental meeting is COP15 but there are numerous other conferences, events, and gatherings in the city during these 2 weeks.

My trip began appropriately by reading an in-flight publication distributed by COP15. Copenhagen had its first frost-free November in history. There was a wealth of green and climate related advertising in airport. Verizon had an ad featuring sustainability efforts; I have not seen this ad run in US. Church bells ringing 350 times Sunday afternoon roused me from a post-flight recovery nap. Why 350? That is the atmospheric concentration of CO2 (measured in parts per million) beyond which we risk irreversible change. We are already at 378 ppm and rising sharply, so the 350 movement really has a lot to offer.

Cross posted from Sustainable Futures

Do we only have fourteen days to seal history's judgment on this generation, as the Guardian and 56 other newspapers are proclaiming today?

In an unprecedented joint effort, an editorial calling for decisive action in Copenhagen will be published tomorrow by 56 newspapers around the world in 20 languages including Chinese, Arabic and Russian. Most of the newspapers have taken the unusual step of featuring the editorial on their front page.

The United States Senate is starting the debate on the Kerry Boxer Bill to address Climate Change.
This bill, addresses many issues such as funding Alternative Energy sources (including billions for 'clean coal'), increasing US security, and creating jobs.
But this legislation is missing a key element : language addressing Climate Change and human rights.
For Environmental Refugees both within the United States and internationally, Climate Change means losing their homes, land and culture. And because people displaced by Climate Change have no legal status, they have no recourse for their losses.

When will the time come that Climate Change talks will start considering Human Rights over Business rights?
There is a growing group of people in our world who are in a legal limbo,
Environmental Refugees.
Even though there are hundreds to thousands of people currently being displaced by Climate Change, they do not have a defined status as a group, hence they are not really 'refugees.'
And according to current predictions by Oxfam International, by 2050 there will be 75 million Environmental Refugees displaced due to Climate Change. Other models are predicting up to 250 million people.