Hot air

It can’t have escaped your notice that just before Christmas one of the biggest meetings of all time was going on in Copenhagen to discuss the biggest threat the world has ever seen bar none. Namely our environment and how we the people of this planet can help save it from a catastrophe that will effect both us and generations to come. Now I watched the comings and goings, the political divides, the footage of negotiators running around the Danish capital trying to broker deals and placate diverse pressure groups. President Obama popped up with a huge entourage, spoke and disappeared again, only to speak once more without appearing with what he called a deal.

The only clear thing I could see was that no one was in agreement with anyone else. The South and Latin American countries would not sign (how much of that was to do with anti US sentiments rather than anything else is up for debate) Tuvalu condemned the final text, saying it would likely mean that their country would eventually be submerged if a higher drop in temperature was not adopted, while the Sudanese delegation said Africa would ‘incinerate’.

So what did we get in the end? An accord brokered by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa containing no reference to a legally binding deal, and no deadline for turning it into one. It was merely recognised by 193 countries not approved by them, which would have required unanimous support. This accord says that the world must limit temperature rises to 2 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This is not a formal target, mind you, just a recognition that this should be a target! By the start of this month all countries were supposed to have spelt out how this was to be attained by curbing carbon emissions. But the deal doesn’t impose any penalties on those that fail to reach their targets.
It allowed for $30 billion over the next three years to help under developed countries combat the effects of global warming and $100 billion by 2020. But this financial help is coming from a mixture of sources not just ‘no strings’ aid, including a lot from the commercial sector who will have their own agendas. The developed world’s efforts will come under ‘rigorous, robust and transparent’ scrutiny and then what? A registry will be kept on pledges on climate mitigation measures seeking international support, whoopee. Finally, a review of the accord’s implementation will be held in 2015.

So in answer to the question…what did we get? A huge and expensive meeting which only showed where the world is divided, an ‘accord’ which does too little and isn’t legally binding, and proof that politicians should never be allowed to make decisions which affect us all; they should be made to consult us beforehand. The only good thing I can see that has come out of the Copenhagen summit is that it is so vague that it can only be improved upon in the coming months and years.

A recent find on the internet recent had me wondering what other ingredients the following product had in it for someone to have thought of it: Soil Association-certified edible shoe cream made from pure coconut oil. It can also be used in skin care, as lip balm, in drinks and on toast!