We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Gap Between Science and Pledges Likely to Outlive Cancún

by Matthew O. Berger from IPS

In contrast to last year's hopeful expectations about the climate change meeting in Copenhagen, the upcoming meeting in Cancun is much more subdued. It is only a week away and there have been very few articles about it.
On Tuesday, the U.N. Environment Programme released a report that concluded those reductions [the non-binding reductions from the Copenhagen Accord], even if fully met, are only 60 percent of the reductions needed to keep global temperatures from rising by more than two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, which scientists – and the accord – say is necessary to prevent catastrophe.