Rather than getting every small detail of a new global climate treaty done in Copenhagen, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer hopes the conference will reach agreements on four political essentials.
The essentials in Copenhagen
June 27th, 2009 · No Comments
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Breaking out of the Prisoner’s Dilemma
June 16th, 2009 · No Comments
With six months left to the Copenhagen climate negotiations the world faces multiple crises. All are a direct or indirect result of an economic policy that stimulates value creation on the short term with disastrous effects on the medium or long term. Sustainable development forms the core of the solutions for these crises.
Between 1992, when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was singed, and 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol’s objectives must be realised, 7300 days have passed and worldwide CO2 emissions have been reduced by 5,3%. Between December 2009 and 2020, which is 3650 days, the world should lessen over 30% in their CO2 emissions. That means that in half the time we must realise six times more emission reduction than in the twenty years before. These figures show that if we want to solve the multiple crises we need to act now.
There have been attempts to speed up this process but all failed. One of the most important reasons was the enormous distrust between nations to implement and execute the proposed plans. The USA are waiting for countries like China, India and Brazil to take action, but these countries are waiting for the USA to take the first step. This ends in a deadlock of ‘show me the money’ versus ‘show me the action’.
This deadlock is a classical example of the prisoner’s dilemma in which people act on self-interest combined with rational considerations. Here ‘rational’ means acting according the logic of the ‘homo economic’: maximum gain for the lowest cost. People take conscious decisions in each others disadvantage. This implies that we will always tend for the second best option. The risk that the other party involved will betray you is simply too big; in the case of climate negotiations this suggests free rider behaviour. When you take responsibility yourself, it is possible for the other party to resist taking action. So when you think of it in a ‘rational’ manner, the USA and China will never come to a consensus since it’s is in their self-interest to keep polluting the environment even though it works in their disadvantage on the long term.
The only way out of this deadlock is via the reinsurance of mutual trust between countries and their representatives. Only then countries will choose the best option based on the presumption that the other party will do the same: they have faith in the fact the other party wont betray them. The problem is not longer a problem of different interests but one of the same interest and only one option: the best.
Facing the current multiple crises there is great need for reinforcement of global trust. The only way we can achieve that is via diplomacy: the global, intercultural and only manner in which all countries of the world communicate with each other. We can’t solve the current problems alone, we need to work together and we need to act now.
Based on ‘Het milieu is een prisoners dilemma’ by Rob Wijnberg.
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HOME: It’s Too Late To Be A Pessimist
June 6th, 2009 · No Comments
‘If we can improve the images of the world, perhaps we can improve the world’Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders’ words have perhaps never been more relevant to a movie than in the case of Home.
Following directly on from Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Home is, of course, a film with a message that sets out to shift people’s perceptions, make us aware of the tectonic movements at work and incite us to act. Although there is a general trend in our societies towards an awareness of ecological issues, concrete action is still too little, too slow—which constitutes in some ways the creed of the movie: It’s too late to be a pessimist.
But Home is more than a documentary with a message, it’s a magnificent movie in its own right. Every breathtaking shot
shows the Earth—our Earth—as we have never seen it before. Every image seems to be saying, “Look how beautiful the Earth is, look at what we’re destroying, and above all look at all these wonders that we can still preserve.”
When I started working on the project with Yann, I was convinced that the idea of shooting a movie entirely from up in
the sky, without interviews or archive footage, was the right one, but I couldn’t pinpoint why. One conversation enlightened me: “From the sky, there’s less need for explanations.” Absolutely! One’s vision is more immediate, intuitive and emotional. That’s what sets Home apart from all the other movies on the environment—which are all equally necessary in this crucial period
for humanity. Homeimpacts directly on the sensibility of anyone who sees it, bringing us to awareness, through emotion initially, in order to change the way we see the world…
It’s probably the “less need for explanations” that also enables the film to come through on its original aim of embracing the major ecological issues that confront us—and showing how everything on the planet is interconnected—in under two hours. And as the film was shot without a script, that was quite a challenge.
Besides the content, the movie’s specificity lies just as much in the manner of its distribution. Yann is a generous man, whose deepest desire from the outset was to share the movie with the whole world, for it to be seen by as many people as possible on every continent and, therefore, that it should be free!
When he told us of this aim at our first meeting—with my partner Marie de Masmonteil—I thought that it was simply impossible. His reference point was his exhibition “The Earth From The Air”, which—eight years after it first opened—is still being shown free of charge around the world and has so far been seen by over 100 million people. But the cost of producing a movie is far removed from that of a photo exhibition! Moreover, movies can only exist thanks to the revenue that they gene-
rate. How would it be possible, in that context, to show the movie free of charge except by appealing to very generous donors, which takes time, a lot of time? But the man is as impatient as he is stubborn and the battle to save the planet is urgent, an absolute priority… He is also persuasive and inspires trust. So I committed myself to this adventure, not really sure where we were headed, but genuinely converted to the cause and absolutely convinced that the film should be made, even though everything could come to a halt as fast as it had got moving.
The incredibly spontaneous commitment of Luc Besson made the project credible and viable. It was indispensable for a film studio of international standing to be involved in the operation from the get-go. It was the commitment of François-Henri Pinault and every company in the PPR group that enabled us to realize the unthinkable aim of the film being virtually free all around the world. And it was the determination and drive of Yann Arthus-Bertrand that brought so much energy and talent together to win this incredible challenge for the common good, for the good of our planet and all its inhabitants. It’s probably a drop in the ocean compared to the task that awaits future generations, but I am sincerely convinced that it is our duty to make our contribution, however large or small. “Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth,” claimed Archimedes. My only wish today is that Home will give millions of people on every continent a place to stand.The incredibly spontaneous commitment of Luc Besson made the project credible and viable. It was indispensable for a film studio of international standing to be involved in the operation from the get-go. It was the commitment of François-Henri Pinault and every company in the PPR group that enabled us to realize the unthinkable aim of the film being virtually free all around the world. And it was the determination and drive of Yann Arthus-Bertrand that brought so much energy and talent together to win this incredible challenge for the common good, for the good of our planet and all its inhabitants. It’s probably a drop in the ocean compared to the task that awaits future generations, but I am sincerely convinced that it is our duty to make our contribution, however large or small. “Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth,” claimed Archimedes. My only wish today is that Home will give millions of people on every continent a place to stand.
(from producer’s note by Denis Carot, Elzévir Films)
Watch the movie now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/homeproject
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Good 50×70 poster contest: Climate Change
June 1st, 2009 · No Comments
Ever thought you can’t combine a serious topic like climate change and biodiversity with beautiful design? Here’s the proof you can!
Good 50×70 called out a poster design contest on climate change. Click here to watch the results…
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Using Human Rights Law to Address Climate Change
June 1st, 2009 · No Comments
What are the legal and human rights implications of climate change?
As the evidence becomes stronger and the science more serious, people in countries, companies, institutions and professions everywhere are taking up the issue of climate change and sounding the alarm.
Among these concerned global citizens are lawyers and legal professionals. To gather this community together, law students at the University of Washington organized a conference called Three Degrees: The Law of Climate Change and Human Rights Conference. On May 28 and 29, members of the legal community and others came together to further explore the possibility of using human rights law as a way to address climate change. According to the conference organizers, “the application of both codified and customary international and national human rights law will be critical in addressing the massive humanitarian crises ignored by technical market solutions to climate change and moderate political reforms.”
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Green growth is essential to any stimulus
April 20th, 2009 · No Comments
By Ban Ki-moon and Al Gore
Economic stimulus is the order of the day. This is as it must be, as governments around the world struggle to jump-start the global economy. But even as leaders address the immediate need to stimulate the economy, so too must they act jointly to ensure that the new de facto economic model being developed is sustainable for the planet and our future on it.
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The crisis can be an opportunity to rethink the global economy
April 5th, 2009 · No Comments
Interview with Jacques Weber by Meriem Bouamrane
With the financial and economic crisis tightening its grip around the world, many researchers, organizations and institutions are being galvanized into action. Terms like Green Deal or Global New Green Deal are circulating and, with natural resources becoming scarcer, there is talk of creating a tax system based on ecosystem services. Here, the economist and anthropologist Jacques Weber, Director of Research at the International Centre for Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD) in France, analyses the ins and outs of an idea that is gaining ground: a shift towards green economics, to ensure that the global economy emerges from the crisis on a surer footing than before.
What is your analysis of the current crisis?
[...] The current crisis is indubitably financial in origin and would have happened sooner or later. But the fact that it came after steep price rises for petrol, minerals and food suggests that the crisis is one of objective rarity of non-renewable and renewable natural resources. It is the expression of this crisis that is financial.
Could the crisis be a blessing for sustainable development?
If the crisis is a result of the growing scarcity of natural resources, the ailing economy can be an opportunity to tackle this scarcity directly to make sure the problem doesn’t recur. It can be an opportunity to rethink both the global economy and national economies, and to redefine international institutions to serve the cause. [...]
Continue reading the interview in this extract [.pdf] from “A World of Science“, Vol. 7, No. 2, April-June 2009
Related links:
:: A World of Science (full version, Vol. 7, No. 2, April-June 2009)
:: A World of Science (UNESCO’s quarterly science journal)
Source:A World of Science
02-04-2009
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Green Economy Initiative
April 4th, 2009 · No Comments
Mobilizing and re-focusing the global economy towards investments in clean technologies and ‘natural’ infrastructure such as forests and soils is the best bet for real growth, combating climate change and triggering an employment boom in the 21st century.
On 22 October 2008, UNEP and leading economists launched the Green Economy Initiative (GEI) aimed at seizing an historic opportunity to bring about tomorrow’s economy today. The GEI, which will initially run for a period of two years, has three key elements: the Green Economy report, that will provide an overview, analysis and synthesis of how public policy can help markets accelerate the transition towards a green economy; The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), a partnership project focusing on valuation issues; and finally the Green Jobs report, published in September 2008, that looked at employment trends.
Joint Statement – Towards a Green New Deal: Economic stimulus and policy action for the double crunch
A Global Green New Deal – Policy Brief
Or read the Ideas 4 Development Blog: Elements of a Global Green new Deal
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Earth Hour
March 27th, 2009 · No Comments
Tomorrow, from 8.30 PM onwards for one hour, the world will cast a first truly global vote: between the planet or global warming.
Last year, 2.2 million people and several companies in Sydney switched off their lights for one hour, resulting in an equivalent of 48.000 cars being taken off the road and saving 10,2% energy in the city. This year again…?
Read it at voteearth2009.org
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A green economy is a healthy one
March 23rd, 2009 · No Comments
MPs highlight need for UK to work towards creating an ambitious climate change, and a modern and sustainable economy
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