President Barack Obama to Attend the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, Despite War, Accepts Nobel Prize

Summary:

Obama to announce carbon targets; attend Copenhagen summit later; accept Nobel Prize; surge in Afghanistan.






President Barack Obama is now to attend the later part of the Copenhagen climate change summit. "Based on his conversations with other leaders and the progress that has already been made to give momentum to negotiations, the president believes that continued U.S. leadership can be most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference on December 18 rather than on December 9,” said Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs. His decision to shift his schedule from the beginning of the conference to the end may have come from criticism from Greenpeace, which believed that it would be better if he attended the end when agreements would finalize.

Obama's now abandoned scheduled was to visit Copenhagen on December 9 right before accepting the Nobel Peace prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10. Some criticize the president for attaining a Nobel Peace Prize despite his recent commitment to place 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan, making the total number of troops to more than 80,000. As previously mentioned, national security is an externality of climate change; poorer nations will buckle once climate effects devastate populations from many severe climatic events. A surge in Afghanistan will tie up US resources with the potential to spread troops too thin if another conflict were to arise. National security is also expensive, $657B being the price tag for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars up until 2008. The USA and the world cannot afford to allow climate change to cause a costly conflict. Developing countries are asking for $10B a year until 2012 to begin to mitigate climate effects. Mitigation now and swiftly remains the best solution.

In finding the best solution, Obama is expected to officially announce in Copenhagen his administration's plan to cut carbon emissions of the United States by 17% of 2005 levels. He also has plans to cut emissions to 83% by 2050, which fits well with the prescribed 80% cuts in carbon emissions of rich countries that Lord Stern prescribed in the Stern Review.

The last time Obama addressed world leaders about climate change was September 22. In his speech to the United Nations Obama professes: "As we head towards Copenhagen, there should be no illusions that the hardest part of our journey is in front of us." Obama warns:" Unease is no excuse for inaction. And we must not allow the perfect to become the enemy of progress." In closing: "The journey is long. The journey is hard. And we don't have much time left to make it. It is a journey that will require each of us to persevere through setback, and fight for every inch of progress, even when it comes in fits and starts. So let us begin. For if we are flexible and pragmatic; if we can resolve to work tirelessly in common effort, then we will achieve our common purpose: a world that is safer, cleaner, and healthier than the one we found; and a future that is worthy of our children. Thank you."

Green Activism, May it be Nonviolent

Green Activist may need to act quickly because of the ticking bomb which is climate change, but they should do so peacefully

One only needs to look at violent protests of the past and realize that such discretion leads nowhere. The American civil war didn't give black citizens institutionalized equality; it was a nonviolent movement by Martin Luther King, Jr. a century later. King's nonviolent protests closely followed the teachings of Ghandi who said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Now it is zealous green activists that are trying to make the world see the consequences of climate change. Like past activists they have a choice in the way they speak: violently or peacefully.

Recently, there have been violent exchanges between officials and protesters at Ratcliffe-on-Soar. The coal-burning power station has been trying to clean up its act for years. Some believed enough was enough and took the fight to the streets. While a group from the 1000 protesters tried to break into the plant, a police officer was injured and airlifted because of severe head injuries. Twenty-two were arrested, as a section of the fence was torn down. The skirmish demonstrates the severe frustration people have with the energy company. However well intentioned, such work does more harm than good.

A more intelligent response by Climate Justice Action is to carry out a peaceful demonstration. Spokesman Tadzio Muller, describes a planned march in December to the COP15 Conference on Climate Change: where an army of protesters will pass police barricades as close as they can so that they can hold their own summit with their allies and any officials willing to discuss the planet’s future. The goal is that their collective voice will be heard, loud and clear.

Nicholas Stern said, "Only under severe public discussion will we account for climate change." This assertion agrees with the relatively new field of narrative psychology. McAdams (2000) posits that it is the internalized story that we share, repeat, and retell that confirms our cultural identity therefore our character and our future. Activists who often consider it a fight will take it there; those that recognize the need to work with the snail pace of government will take it there. Leaders are the ultimate influential storytellers. Whether they lead green organizations or whole nations, their followers are listening.

Fists or handshakes, swords or pens, violence or nonviolence, the choices we make will be added to the stories we tell and pass on. The stories by green activist leaders will be the identity/ideology of their membership and any future course of action. Since the dawn of time stories have passed from generation to generation teaching lessons to build upon: stories written on walls in caves, bounded in leather books, or screamed through a megaphone. If the ultimate purpose of words (written or otherwise) is to better the future for coming generations, may nonviolent action be in every chapter.