178 Days - Don't Know What You Can Do About Climate Change? Adopt a Negotiator!

It's easy to feel like there's nothing we can do to influence the Copenhagen climate talks. They're so far away — in both time and space — for so many of us.

But there is one way to stay virtually involved, and that's through Adopt a Negotiator. Young people around the world are shadowing their countries' climate negotiators at all the different climate talks (nice way to see the world, at least!). And we can track the trackers' observations.

Here's how their website describes what they're up to. Well worth keeping your eye on these young climate heroes in training!

A fair, ambitious, and binding agreement coming out of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (COP15) in December could mean the difference between a manageable future and dire climatic consequences. But who knows what really goes on at these meetings? For an event described as “the most important meeting in the history of the world,” scant little seems to be known about what goes on behind the scenes. Through Adopt-a-Negotiator, we are lifting the veil and shining light on this diplomatic process. Launched at the Bonn intersessional talks in June, we’ll track the negotiations through Bangkok, then Barcelona, and on to Copenhagen, following the lead negotiators and delegates from 12 key countries, and sharing news and updates of their positions along the way.

So join us and let the negotiators know that we are watching and willing them to negotiate a Climate Change deal that is safe, fair and will ensure that we all have a future.

Each of our Climate Trackers will follow the Lead Climate Negotiator from their country and update you with the latest information., so you can stay up to date and either support or put pressure on your country’s climate negotiator to aim for a safe and fair deal.

Some of Adopt a Negotiator’s Lead tracker’s include Anna Collins from the United Kingdom, Adam McIsaac from Canada, Andrea Cinquina from Italy, Ben Jervey from the United States, Cara Bevington from Australia, Eri Aoki from Japan, Florent Baasrch from France, Fontane Lau from China, Jonathan Sundqvist from Sweden, Juliana Russar from Brazil, Leela Raina from India, and Ole Seidenberg from Germany.

Adopt A Negotiator is a project supported by the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA). You can found out more about GCCA and its other activities at tcktcktck.org.

179 Days to Go - The Role of Children in Fighting Global Warming: Gardening

I keep insisting that children — everywhere — should have the right to a childhood. But nowadays, we need all hands on deck with this climate change emergency.

So how can children help out? They can learn how to grow food. They can participate in the great "homecoming" of people around the world to the land. They can plant seeds and watch them grow.

One spring, my students and I, with the help of a parent who understood grain growing, created a pizza garden (in the photo above) and planted wheat on an old farm that has since become a community garden. The families tended this garden during the summer, and then in the fall, the students picked the veggies and harvested the wheat with little kindergarten scissors. We threshed the wheat by hand (ouch!), and milled it in a parent's stone grinder.

We then made pizzas right after milling the wheat into flour. Oh my. Not only was this a fantastic experience for the kids (experiencing the circle of life) but the pizzas were absolutely delicious! I had no idea how much flavour we sacrifice for the sake of convenience.

I tell that story because I don't want anyone to think that I'm advocating a return to child labour. No. I am advocating a return to children understanding where their food comes from, and being able to grow it locally. Every schoolyard in the world should have a school garden, and children can grow food plants no matter where they live — even in the tiniest of apartments, with pots on a window sill.

This is something that children can contribute in our struggle to regain a stable climate. Because without that stable climate, there will be no agriculture, no ready food, and definitely no pizza.

Six Months to Copenhagen - Sometimes Conventional Wisdom is Wrong: Fear IS a Good Thing ...

... when the situation is a frightening one.

Hasn't it seemed just a bit counterintuitive that so many environmental groups and activists have kept saying, "We can't scare the public"?

We are facing the most terrifying possibility ever, and yet they insist we shouldn't spread "doom and gloom." Hey, dooming the future is a gloomy prospect!

But here is a voice of reason - from a respected author and commentator no less (mine would never be called a "voice of reason" as I am all for heart, soul, spirit, intuition, emotions, feelings, gut reactions, and mother's instincts - just to balance out all the reason in the world!).

Although Thomas Homer-Dixon, in an article entitled "Fear is Good" (pdf) (published 4 April 2009 in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper), is talking mainly about the economic crisis, he could just as easily be talking about the climate change emergency:

"Fear is bad, according to conventional wisdom.... The truth is that fear is good.... Today, if we were more afraid for our futures and those of our children, we would be doing much more to address potential problems - such as climate change ... that could derail our societies tomorrow.

"Fear serves a vital purpose. Our ancestors evolved the biological capacity for fear because it helped them survive, which allowed them to pass their genes to future generations. Fear signals that something might be wrong in our surroundings and that we could be in danger.... We should embrace fear, not scorn it. And we should listen to those whose fears might help them see dangers earlier and more clearly than the rest of us.

"In today's tightly connected world - under staggering demographic, political and environmental as well as economic stress - the burden of proof is now on the optimists. World-shaking crises are likely to appear with increasing frequency, and we'd be foolhardy to ignore people who warn of the dangers around us."

Me again: I say it's time for the "hope mongers" to get real and learn the devastating new findings on global warming, climate change, and carbon feedbacks. As I keep explaining, hope is not an action verb - and hoping, like praying, is not going to safeguard the future.

Take hopeful action, be an optimistic activist, but take action and be an activist! Make sure that action (not the denial that lurks in optimism and hope) comes first.

181 Days Left - Fossil Fuels Are Like Drugs: Just Say No!

Our friend and fellow climate change activist (and animal rights activist extraordinaire) Anthony Marr wrote today about the futility of the Bonn climate talks.

"First of all, the targets set will be grossly inadequate (guaranteed), and even so, countries can still violate them left, right and center — without penalty." He notes that there seems to be no mention of methane at the talks. Yet methane (from the thawing permafrost and the destabilizing methane hydrates at the bottom of the oceans and in continental shelves) is the scariest thing happening because of global warming. (Can you say "carbon feedbacks"?)

In a 6 June 2009 article by William Marsden for Canwest News Service entitled "Crunch Time for Climate Talks," United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary, Yvo de Boer, says that in the six months left, negotiators will try "to reach an agreement on what might well be one of the most complicated international treaties ever negotiated."

Well, Mr. de Boer, I know how to make it uncomplicated. Extremely uncomplicated. Just say no. Just say zero. Zero carbon emissions. Zero fossil fuel use. That's our goal. Our target should not be 350 parts per million, nor (a catastrophic) 1.5 degrees of temperature increase, nor 80% greenhouse gas cuts by 2050. Our target needs to be ZERO. As quickly as possible.

Zero is a good, clear number that creates a level playing field. Every nation in the world, every corporation, every human being can start striving now to reach zero carbon emissions as soon as possible.

Sheesh, considering that survival of the human species (and millions of other species) is at risk, you'd think governments everywhere would be tripping over themselves to be the fastest to cut their emissions.

Sadly, as Anthony points out ("It is about time we realize that we can no longer rely on our 'leaders' to lead us to any promised land. If we do, we WILL be led into a hell on Earth.... It is up to us folks, who have any true love for our children, life on Earth and the planet itself"), these talks are simply a stalling tactic.

Instead of racing each other to ZERO CARBON EMISSIONS, negotiators are looking for ways to put off making any cuts for as long as possible — thereby condemning us all.

Please, when you have some time (49 minutes and 8 seconds of it), watch Anthony Marr's video, M-Bomb: Doomsday Machine. It will explain why there is no time for procrastination. There is barely enough time left to just say no.