| After the Catastrophe in Copenhagen, It's Up to Us * Every coal train should be ringed with people refusing to let it pass By Rebecca Solnit TomDispatch.com via Common Dreams, Dec 21, 2009 Buried deep in our subconscious, there still lays the belief that our political leaders are collective Daddies and Mummies who will - in the last instance - guarantee our safety. Sure, they might screw us over when it comes to hospital waiting lists, or public transport, or taxing the rich, but when it comes to resisting a raw existential threat, they will keep us from harm. Last week in Copenhagen, the conviction was disproved. Every leader there had been told by their scientists - plainly, bluntly, and for years - that there is a bare minimum we must all do now if we are going to prevent a catastrophe. And they all refused to do it. To understand the gravity of what just happened, you need to know a few facts about global warming that, at first, sound odd. The world's climate scientists have shown that man-made global warming must not exceed 2C. When you hear this, a natural reaction is - that's not much; how bad can it be if we overshoot? If I go out for a picnic and the temperature rises or falls by 2C, I don't much notice. But this is the wrong analogy. If your body temperature rises by 2C, you become feverish and feeble. If it doesn't go back down again, you die. The climate isn't like a picnic; it's more like your body. Two degrees is bad: 2C means we lose much of the world's low-lying land, from the island-states of the South Pacific to much of Bangladesh to swathes of Florida. But at every step up to and including 2C, if we reduce our emissions, we can stabilise the climate at this new higher level. If we go beyond 2C, though, the situation changes. The earth's natural processes begin to break down - and cause more warming. There are massive amounts of warming gases stored in the Siberian permafrost; at 2C, they melt and are released into the atmosphere. The world's humid rainforests store huge amounts of warming gases in their trees. Beyond C, they lose their humidity and begin to burn down - releasing them too into the atmosphere. Organic Consumers Association - 6771 South Silver Hill Drive, Finland MN 55603 To subscribe or visit go to: http://www.organicconsumers.org/ |