COP17 – the 17th annual Conference of Parties, aka the Conference of Polluters – began on Monday in Durban, South Africa. The Kyoto Protocol, to which most attendee nations (but not the U.S.) are signatories, is widely acknowledged to be in its death throes. As in previous U.N. climate conferences, civil society organizations are mounting a counter-summit, a step that is particularly important given the significant reduction in the number of NGOs allowed to register for the conference. But will global civil society be able to exert any influence on the powerful nations of the world? How much traction can a radical anti-capitalist critique of over-development gain under current conditions of global economic crisis? Will rising inter-imperial competition between nations such as the U.S., China, and Brazil spell the end of the Kyoto Protocol and a complete abandonment of all attempts to regulate the world’s increasingly chaotic environment? Ashley Dawson addresses these and other questions as he blogs from the conference.
I think today must go down in history as the moment when humanity collectively failed to secure its own future. It also has to be seen as one of the greatest crimes of the rich and powerful of the world … Continue reading “Failure”
This is the final session in a two-day workshop organized by the Transnational Institute, a group that bills itself as “a worldwide fellowship of scholar activists.” The overarching theme of the workshop was Defying Dystopia: Struggle Against Climate Change, … Continue reading “People's Alternatives”
Rosa Gonzalez of Green For All in Oakland was the facilitator of this session. She began by talking about the talks. They’re very challenging. On the way into Joburg, she got into a conversation with a cabbie that underlined people’s … Continue reading “Oral Testimonies from the Climate Wars”
Monday, December 5 This afternoon I attended a panel about the Rights of Nature with some of the foremost international proponents of the notion: Cormac Cullinan (lawyer and author of Wild Nature) Shannon Biggs (lawyer and director of Community Rights … Continue reading “The Rights of Nature”
Sunday, December 4 To put some perspective on the passionate calls for systemic change that I’ve been detailing in this blog, an article just ran in the New York Times announcing that “global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning … Continue reading “We're fucked!”
Sunday, December 4 Winnie Overbeck, Coordinator of the World Rainforest Movement, begins this presentation on Fake Forests. He was introduced by Wally Menne of Timberwatch. Winnie, he told us, is going to explain why we oppose industrial tree monocultures. My … Continue reading “Fake Forests”
Saturday, December 3 Today was the Global Day of Action against the UN COP17. Here in Durban, a large and very spirited crowd wound through the city towards the site of COP17 negotiations. Here are photos of the day, all … Continue reading “Global Day of Action”
Friday, December 2 REDD stands for the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. The idea is that forest-dwelling peoples around the world will be paid not to cut down their habitats. … Continue reading “REDD Teach-In”
Friday, December 2 The day’s activities began with a Climate Justice Tribunal. The model here, of course, is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which became a model for conciliatory justice after hearings in the transition to democracy during the mid-1990s … Continue reading “Climate Justice Tribunal”
Friday, December 2 Kamoji Wachiira (Kenyan-born senior fellow with the Canadian International Development Agency) presented this evening on contemporary land grabs. According to Wachiira, it is estimated that an area the size of Europe has now been grabbed in Africa … Continue reading “Land Grabs”
Thursday, December 1 Today the Democratic Left Front, a new formation in South African politics, organized a conference on Ecosocialism. The conference began with a youth delegation arriving on the wings of rousing anti-apartheid choral singing: There was some difficulty … Continue reading “Amandla! For Eco-Socialism”
Thursday, December 1 This session was organized by groundWork, a South African environmental justice and service organization. The panel began with a presentation by Mithica, a worker with the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance, a coalition of African civil … Continue reading “groundWork – building social movements in and beyond Durban”
Thursday, December 1 It’s pouring down rain with a tropical vengeance at the moment after several days of clear skies and fierce heat. This rain reminds me that it’s important to remember what climate change means for the 99% here … Continue reading “And the rains came…”
Wednesday, November 30 What is Climate Finance? The idea behind this is that the wealthy, polluting nations of the world need to pay poorer, less polluting countries – which also happen to be the ones getting it in the neck … Continue reading “Climate Finance”
Wednesday, November 30 Just came from an amazing event of the South African rural women’s movements. There were nominal speakers, but the real focus of the event were the groups of women who trooped in, dressed in traditional clothing, singing … Continue reading “Capitalism is Organized (Environmental) Crime”
