Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Cancún climate change deal falls flat, Kyoto Protocol on life support

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

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Cancún climate change deal falls flat, Kyoto Protocol on life support

by Betwa Sharma from The Christian Science Monitor.

This source provides the latest scoop from the UN Climate Conference concluded yesterday.

Two weeks of Cancún climate change talks ended Saturday, with a vague deal to help poor countries deal with climate change and the original Kyoto Protocol all but dead.

For another report and commentary, you might check this out.

The United Nation's climate change conference here in Cancun came to an end at around 4 a.m. this morning. It would be cynical to call it a bribe, but the Cancun agreements were largely reached because the rich countries continued their vague promises to hand over $100 billion in climate aid annually to poor countries beginning in 2020.

This from Foreign Policy in Focus is a more comprehensive analysis as of 12-9-2010