Copenhagen Update

Here's a collection of news articles and info I found most interesting:

Most Exciting Related News: David Suzuki Video Contest

The OneEarth video is one of five winners!

Most Intriguing: Climategate


I keep trying to post comments at YouTube to respond to other comments, but they aren't showing up. The climategate issue is one I've been trying to debate. Here's some links that clarify the issue quite well I think: Deltoid, a science blog, on the code issue, and Real Climate who points out, "More interesting is what is not contained in the emails. There is no evidence of any worldwide conspiracy, no mention of George Soros nefariously funding climate research, no grand plan to ‘get rid of the MWP’, no admission that global warming is a hoax, no evidence of the falsifying of data, and no ‘marching orders’ from our socialist/communist/vegetarian overlords. The truly paranoid will put this down to the hackers also being in on the plot though."

Because Phil Jones resigned temporarily does not prove he's guilty. He's stepping aside pending the investigation. Because they got more research money in the past few years for doing climate research does not prove that they fudged documents to increase their research documents. Those are classic ad hominem circumstantial fallacies. Because it's beneficial to take a certain stance doesn't prove that he's falsifying data in order to take advantage of those benefits, it might provide a motive, but no body.

And in case people are still wondering, 1,700 scientists in the U.K. formally backed the theory that climate change is caused by human activity.

Runner Up: The Danish Text or Climate Debt

A Danish proposal that was leaked to the media suggests that, "...emissions from developed nations should be reduced by 80 percent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels." It recognizes that the developed countries are the problem, and we will have to tighten our emission belts far more quickly than the developing world. In his book Heat, George Monbiot suggested a 90% decrease and a very thorough plan to get there. It's do-able, and it won't kill us, but it will be highly inconvenient. It involves lots of renewable energy, wind, water, and solar, and more efficient appliances and vehicles, and less driving, and way fewer plane trips. There's a whole chapter on grocery stores and the massive energy loss that could very easily be stopped with insulated closed doors on the freezers. And more attention must be paid to better ways to heat homes.

Gwynne Dyer agrees. He uses a slave analogy: "You can’t say let’s reduce slavery, let’s find a compromise and reduce it 50 per cent or 40 per cent.” It has to be let's stop oil and coal subsidies and turn our attention to renewables. But, he continues, "Almost everybody involved knows what the one really fair and effective deal would look like, although they feel doomed to settle for something much worse." The rich countries, that would be us, have to take the deepest cuts - far deeper than Harper's proposed 20% of 2006 levels by 2020 along with a cap and trade system. (This is another bit of news - Canada's the only one who's using 2006 as the base. That equates to about 3% from 1990 levels - the base everyone else is using. Oh Canada.)

Naomi Klein also agrees in Rolling Stone - but unlike Gwynne, who thinks the summit won't do anything, Klein thinks it's the optimum place to get everyone involved: "...a chance to seize the political terrain back from business-friendly half-measures." I agree. And really, what else have we got to work with?

Here's an excellent primer on the cap and trade system by the people who brought us The Story of Stuff:




And In Canada....

The big debate is whether or not carbon emission debt should be equalized or if Alberta should have to cut back the most because they're creating the most.