Some information on the upcoming UN climate talks in Paris relevant to our planets common future...
This is a helpful, updated site to get we, the public, informed on the universally dire climate changes that are decreasing our chances of survival as a species on a beautiful bio diverse planet. Currently we are at at high risk for; extreme weather events, ecosystem and livelihood collapse, toxic build up in our environments, loss of populated coastlines, vulnerability of the worlds poorest people and the inability for future generations to survive on planet earth. The social consequences of new population dynamics in a warmer world will be; increased conflicts, mass migrations, disease and starvation.
Now, we are inundated daily with piecemeal information about the state of our planet that we try to become informed about. We are told that individual acts of terrorism in city squares are the threats we must rally against. Fear mongering oligarchs tell us that the economy is weak, and this is a threat as great as any. We hear about threats to our value systems, threats to democracy, threats to the free flow of information... But in reality, what greater challenge, what more obvious threat exists than the decline in all the living systems on earth that offer to sustain our human lives?
Foreshadowing has clearly not been dark enough on these issues, especially for those of us in rich developed countries, where the buffer of wealth and infrastructure has blinded us to the consequences environmental changes are already having on historically exploited and impoverished populations around the globe.
It is important that we become well acquainted with these issues as they will blindside us, very soon. And though we have been warned, I am fearful we will not act in time to keep our planet below the catastrophic 2•C warming level. And then she's finished, that's it. And pardon me, I do not want to live on a sweltering post-apocalyptic orb at all... I prefer the crazed and naïve environmentalist fantasy of a future where kids have at least some food in their stomachs (dirt soup does not count) and where air is fresh enough to breathe and water is free for all of us to drink of. Just the basics really.
We have the information, and with it we must be compelled to engage and influence policy in any way possible and not continue to act the way we are. We must learn how to live with less and we must teach each other real skills to increase our adaptive capacity. Do anything to help local non-profits, write letters, sign petitions, use your voice to stand up for species without one, and most obviously become an advocate for fellow human beings who are screaming, yet systemically silenced. Wouldn't you hope you would have an advocate if you were going through hell to survive?
We (all of us) need a binding agreement in Paris following the failures in Copenhagen (etc.!) and the hope that there can be a better framework that parallels the severity of these interlinked issues. We need a treaty where governments are legally accountable to meet reduction targets post-Kyoto, or else we're totally fucked.