As the world leaders start to slip away back to the airport, some commentators are hailing a “meaningful agreement” has been reached at the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change talks. Others say that no deal of any significant kind has been struck.
Reaction from the Developing countries is general dismay. The Non-Governmental Organisations, “civil society”, feel they have been blocked from taking part. It’s been a complete shambles.
The time has come to start spelling out the future in graphic, technical detail – not just about the damages that Climate Change will bring – but about the only real solutions.
Real solutions do not include Carbon Trading, nor Carbon Taxation. They don’t include technofixes and technofudges like Carbon Capture and Storage and New Nuclear Power. They certainly don’t include partial commitment on Avoided Deforestation.
We have to say it and say it again : whether the leaders and corporations agree or not, the future is Carbon Emissions Reductions. The Consumer Economy is being eroded by the minute. Peak Oil, Coal, Natural Gas and Uranium are just around the corner.
Several key minerals and metals used in hi-tech manufacturing are facing acute shortages. Drought and flooding is compromising food harvests. Warmer nights are threatening forests and crops too. Freshwater stress is ramping up.
Things have to change. Things will inevitably change, whether we call for it or not, whether we have a Climate deal or not.
There are Limits to Growth and we’ve crossed several boundary conditions for serious change to be enabled.
The so-called “Recession” is probably permanent. Renewable Energy will have to be rolled out with increasing acceleration as Fossil Fuels face supply constraints. Some things in the Economies will just stop working.
Social services around the globe are already adversely affected, bringing productivity down. There has been a huge lack of investment in Energy, a trend which will be hard to reverse, since we need huge new systems to replace the failing Fossil Fuels and Nuclear plant.
Without a “Green” New Deal to start us on the path to Zero Carbon Energy the whole of the industrialisation of the Global North and West will have been in vain – Developed countries face the sharpest crash ever experienced.
I’m not telling you that a network or group will rise up, revolt and make this happen – I’m telling you it’s going to happen anyway. You won’t need to be prepared to make sacrifices for Carbon Emissions Reductions – sacrifices will come to you anyway.
Without a truly meaningful agreement on Climate Change, the global trade system, particularly in food, could partially collapse within five years. Just go ogle “Peak Rice”, and check the IRRI figures sourced from the USDA on global imports and exports of rice :-
https://beta.irri.org/solutions/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=250
Your standard of living is seriously under threat of extinction.