Re: I'm afraid I'm in the same camp as you. We're totally fecked. nm 📂 Archived Message Posted by Ian M on November 4, 2021, 8:05 pm, in reply to "I'm afraid I'm in the same camp as you. We're totally fecked. nm" Not even bothering to look at whatever rubbish they're coming out with this time... Will wait for the critiques. Several people given a platform by XR in this vid, some points more solid than others. Worth watching or skipping to the end for Esther Stanford-Xosei's analysis: XR Political Circle statement: ***** https://docs.google.com/document/d/12d6dHwv0JH_3CZItS11eFPG41-95HBsIofZ5Tqv-At0/edit A CORRUPT COP CAN’T SOLVE A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY I. A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY The wildfires, the storms, the lethal heatwaves, the droughts, the melting glaciers, the sea level rises we have experienced in recent years are only a taste of what the world’s richest nations are setting us up for.1 Ecosystems are being destroyed. Species are being wiped out. Tipping points are looming and may already have been passed. There will be no going back.2 And this is what was predicted by scientists.3 Lives and livelihoods are being shattered and millions of lives have already been lost. Hundreds of millions are already being hammered by the fallout from the still growing carbon economy and the breakdown of our climate and nature. Their children’s futures are being betrayed. Your children’s futures are being betrayed. They will not forgive.4 Yet governments, in bed with fossil fuel companies5 and other anti-climate industries whose armies of lobbyists stalk the halls of parliaments across the world,6 have largely ignored these warnings and knowingly continued to allow the expansion of the sources of death and destruction.7 Decades of denial, inaction, and exponential increases in carbon emissions have led us to this point.8 We have emitted more carbon since governments have been meeting to address the climate crisis than in the entirety of human history beforehand.9 Our governments committed to try and keep global warming under 1.5C six years ago. Rich countries promised to provide $100bn a year by 2020 to support decarbonised, sustainable development in poor countries.10 But since then global carbon emissions have continued to rise.11 Since then governments have spent more subsidising fossil fuels than they have on policies to meet their commitments—using taxpayers’ money to fund their own destruction.12 Since then the UK government, as host of COP26, commissioned a report from the International Energy Agency that stated categorically that there could be no new fossil fuel projects from now on if we are to stay below 1.5C—yet the UK government, like many others, continues to licence new projects. Since then the rich countries, responsible for 92% of excess emissions in the atmosphere, have broken their inadequate promises to the poor countries13 Since then the ecological destruction has accelerated apace.14 They cannot say they did not know. This is a crime against humanity. II. CORRUPT COPS COP operates by consensus. But consensus requires buy-in from the richest, most powerful states and states in thrall to environmentally destructive industries. Those states have been vetoing real action on climate change at COPs for 26 years and counting.15 They have done this because national strategies for COPs are decided by national governments in advance. And the national governments of rich countries are systematically corrupted by corporate capture—not just policy capture but capture of their imaginations, of their ideas about what’s possible. Political donations, campaign funding, powerful industry associations, ‘astroturfing’, revolving doors between government and industry: the pattern is repeated across the rich world.16 In the US, many legislators are funded by the fossil fuel industry,17 which also funds a vast network of lobbyists, think tanks, and political action committees devoted to preventing and rolling back environmental legislation.18 In the UK, fossil fuel interests have given millions of pounds to the ruling Conservative party in the last ten years;19 current cabinet ministers have taken donations and gifts from the fossil fuel industry and climate deniers,20 and have had one-on-one meetings with polluting energy producers nine times more often than with renewable energy producers.21 The five largest oil and gas companies in the world alone have spent over $1bn on misleading climate-related branding and lobbying just since the 2015 Paris Agreement.22 The big polluters and their allies even get to influence the COPs themselves. They are there as partners and sponsors and as lobbyists, greenwashing with one hand while obstructing meaningful climate action with the other.23 Meanwhile, government delegates, civil society campaigners, journalists, and indigenous activists on the frontline of resistance to environmental destruction by polluting industries driven by demand from rich countries will effectively be excluded from COP26 by poverty and vaccine hoarding by rich countries.24 Local environmental activists will be prevented from disturbing the negotiators, sponsors, and lobbyists by exclusion zones around the conference.25 Everything will be arranged so as to smooth the path to inaction. COP26 is a corrupt process, effectively designed to allow death and suffering on a massive scale. III. THE GOOD COP WE NEED A good COP would be a fair, collaborative process giving equal voice and equal power to ordinary people from across the globe, informed by experts in the science and impacts of the CEE, listening to those on the front line, and with the power to bind the world’s governments. No corporate lobbyists, no sponsorship, no distractions and no shady deals behind closed doors. A fair global conference of the people, not a corrupt conference of the parties. A good COP would legislate that the rich countries responsible for most of the emissions and ecological destruction to date must fund mitigation of the costs for developing countries of leapfrogging fossil fuels in favour of renewables, adaptation to the now unavoidable impacts of the crisis we have allowed to rage across the world, and compensation for the loss and damage already suffered mostly by those that have done the least to cause the crisis.26 Tasked with addressing the climate and ecological emergency, a good COP would opt for a wartime-style mobilisation of resources and infrastructure now, with national policy details decided via genuinely democratic processes such as Citizens’ Assemblies and funded primarily from the wealth of those in the corporate and financial world who have been most spectacularly enriched by the carbon boom, not ordinary people.27 It would bring about a fair global green transformation, radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions not only from power generation but also from agriculture, transport, and construction. It would subordinate all financial and trade arrangements to multilateral environmental agreements.28 A good COP would reject our addiction to growth at all costs in favour of an economic approach that prioritises well-being instead. It would tackle not just the energy system but the overuse of resources as a whole, especially the overconsumption by the wealthy top 1% of emitters who emit twice as much CO2 as the poorest 50% of humanity. In the near term it would agree drastic measures to limit the overconsumption by the wealthy that is the key driver of the climate and ecological emergency.29 A good COP wouldn’t aim for ‘net zero’ by 2050,30 a terrifyingly shaky bet on as-yet unproven technology31 and the absence of dangerous tipping points and feedback loops32 that guarantees overshoot of the Paris Agreement target.33 Recognising the catastrophic effects at 1.2C now, it would aim for real global zero by 2030. There would be a programme of restoration and preservation of ecosystems at a massive scale. There would be an inspiring global research and development programme into greening production of all goods and an overhaul of the broken finance system. The solutions exist already. Both the financial crisis and COVID have shown us how Governments can mobilise vast resources in response to an emergency. The price of renewable energies has plummeted.34 We could swiftly ratchet up the efficiency and durability of our products, and ratchet down our resource use.35 The UN explained in a report ten years ago how to transform the food system to ensure good nutrition for all that doesn’t cost the earth.36 Governments have many tools at their disposal to regulate harmful activities and to incentivise sustainable ones. Researchers have repeatedly shown that many of these changes would not just cut carbon emissions but save people and governments money and improve our health and wellbeing.37 We are the generation that must remake the world to save it. The wonderful news is that doing so would create a fairer, healthier, happier future that we could be proud to pass on to our children. NOTES 1 See https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-2021-sees-widespread-climate-extremes-despite-a-cool-start; https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/; https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/. 2 See https://ipbes.net/global-assessment; https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/. 3 See e.g. https://www-legacy.dge.carnegiescience.edu/labs/caldeiralab/Caldeira%20downloads/PSAC,%201965,%20Restoring%20the%20Quality%20of%20Our%20Environment.pdf; https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16092015/exxons-own-research-confirmed-fossil-fuels-role-in-global-warming/; https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/24/us/global-warming-has-begun-expert-tells-senate.html; https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/ipcc_far_wg_II_spm.pdf; https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/wg2TARspm.pdf. 4 See e.g. https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/impacts-climate-change-one-point-five-degrees-two-degrees/; http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20595. 5 See e.g. https://influencemap.org/site/data/000/257/North_Sea_Oil_and_Gas_Taxation_Lobbying.pdf; https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2016/02/25/revealed-gas-industry-millions-pounds-lobbying-policymakers/; https://bylinetimes.com/2021/08/03/cop26-the-uk-government-still-in-the-thrall-to-fossil-fuel-lobbyists/; https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/FFP%20Briefing%20-%20Big%20Oil%20and%20Gas%20buying%20influence%20in%20Brussels%20-%20Oct%202019.pdf; https://www.desmog.com/2019/11/25/revealed-super-wealthy-tory-donors-ties-climate-science-denial-and-fossil-fuels/; https://influencemap.org/site/data/000/542/InfluenceMap_COVIDClimateLobby_report_July2020_FINAL.pdf; https://theferret.scot/oil-licensing-authority-leaders-shares/. 6 See e.g. https://influencemap.org/report/Industry-Associations-and-European-Climate-Ambition-fdaeeb57dc404c90aaf2f82bbd729733. 7 E.g. despite having passed the Climate Change act of 2008 and being widely regarded as world leading on climate change, the UK passed legislation in 2015 making it a legal obligation to maximise recovery of fossil fuels (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/7/section/41/enacted). Soon afterwards, they introduced policies that collapsed the installation of both solar power and onshore wind, costing tens of thousands of jobs (see https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/17/uk-solar-panel-subsidies-slashed-paris-climate-change; https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/statement-on-ending-subsidies-for-onshore-wind). For similar stories elsewhere, see e.g. https://influencemap.org/report/Corporate-Climate-Policy-Footpint-2019-the-50-Most-Influential-7d09a06d9c4e602a3d2f5c1ae13301b8; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0489-6. 8 See e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/oct/09/half-century-dither-denial-climate-crisis-timeline; http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4102144.stm; https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2020.13; https://www.salon.com/2020/10/04/the-political-theater-of-climate-change-a-62-year-history-of-inaction/; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2241-z; https://thinkprogress.org/scientists-slam-new-york-times-climate-story-for-whitewashing-role-of-big-oil-and-gop-63fbc3a85b09/; https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/08/nyt-mag-nathaniel-rich-climate-change/566525/. 9 https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-co-emissions?tab=chart. 10 See https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/english_paris_agreement.pdf; https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/climate-finance-roadmap-to-us100-billion.pdf. 11 https://www.statista.com/statistics/276629/global-co2-emissions/. (A reduction in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to be anomalous: see https://news.sky.com/story/global-co2-emissions-bounce-back-to-pre-covid-levels-study-finds-12233434.) 12 See https://irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2020/Apr/IRENA_Energy_subsidies_2020.pdf; https://assets.bbhub.io/professional/sites/24/BNEF-Climate-Policy-Factbook_FINAL.pdf; https://www.world-energy.org/article/10688.html; https://1bps6437gg8c169i0y1drtgz-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020.05.26_Still-Digging-report_final.pdf; https://www.cleanairfund.org/publication/global-funding-2021/. 13 https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/ODI_WP_fairshare_final0709.pdf; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/rich-failing-help-fund-poor-countries-climate-fight-warns-un-chief-antonio-guterres. 14 See https://www.cbd.int/gbo/gbo5/publication/gbo-5-en.pdf; https://ipbes.net/global-assessment; https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/4783129/LPR/PDFs/ENGLISH-FULL.pdf. 15 For example, under US pressure the Kyoto Protocol, as an inducement to ratification, included carbon markets. These have since both failed to stop rising emissions and paid out billions to polluters. In Paris in 2015, meanwhile, the US (eventually with Chinese support) got the necessary mandatory reductions of emissions based on established legal principles and basic fairness replaced by a voluntary, non-binding framework. Once again, the ‘successful’ result of the Paris COP has failed to prevent emissions rising, let alone ensure that they fall rapidly, as is so obviously required by the climate catastrophe already unfolding. See https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-011104; https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/climate-injustice. Leaked documents show that even this year, countries with major fossil fuel and meat industries have been lobbying to weaken the conclusions of the IPCC’s assessment, in its latest report, of the options available for limiting global warming: see https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2021/10/21/leaked-climate-lobbying-ipcc-glasgow/. 16 See e.g. https://www.desmog.com/2018/05/09/mapped-revolving-doors-between-uk-government-energy-industry/; https://influencemap.org/report/How-Big-Oil-Continues-to-Oppose-the-Paris-Agreement-38212275958aa21196dae3b76220bddc; https://influencemap.org/report/Big-Oil-the-Price-of-Carbon-and-Obstruction-of-Climate-Regulations; https://influencemap.org/report/Industry-Associations-and-European-Climate-Ambition-fdaeeb57dc404c90aaf2f82bbd729733; 17 See e.g. http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-industry-influence-in-the-u-s/. 18 See https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/climate-denial-machine-how-fossil-fuel-industry-blocks-climate-action; https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/politics/energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1; 19 See https://www.desmog.com/2019/11/25/revealed-super-wealthy-tory-donors-ties-climate-science-denial-and-fossil-fuels/; https://www.desmog.com/2021/06/24/north-sea-donors-gave-tories-420k-as-government-considered-oil-industrys-fate/. 20 See https://www.desmog.com/2021/09/17/analysis-how-climate-conscious-is-boris-johnsons-new-cabinet/. 21 See https://www.desmog.com/2021/09/10/uk-ministers-met-1-on-1-with-fossil-fuel-and-biomass-producers-nine-times-more-than-renewables-since-kwasi-kwarteng-took-energy-portfolio/. 22 See e.g. https://influencemap.org/report/How-Big-Oil-Continues-to-Oppose-the-Paris-Agreement-38212275958aa21196dae3b76220bddc. 23 See e.g. https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2021/07/07/oil-gas-transition-climate-cop-lobby/; https://www.corporateaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CA_COP24_CorpSpon_08.pdf; https://www.corporateaccountability.org/resources/inside-job-big-polluters-lobbyists-in-the-inside-at-the-unfccc/; https://theferret.scot/environmental-boycott-events-sponsored-fossil-fuel/; https://www.desmog.com/2021/09/02/cop26-law-firm-fossil-fuels-environmental-damage/; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/01/uk-held-private-talks-with-fossil-fuel-firms-about-glasgow-cop26. It was recently announced that major fossil fuel companies will not have a formal role at COP26 (a welcome contrast with previous COPs), but representatives will nevertheless be involved at fringe events and the companies remain embedded at the national government level.. 24 See https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/14/climate-activists-vaccines-cop26-hoarding-crisis-talks; https://www.bond.org.uk/news/2021/09/cop26-global-south-youth-press-for-inclusivity. 25 https://glasgowgazette.co.uk/cop26-glasgow-sec-exclusion-zone-to-ban-cyclists-and-pedestrians/. 26 Compare https://www.climatechangenews.com/2021/07/15/developing-nations-put-numbers-table-next-climate-finance-goal/. 27 George to add reference. 28 For examples of programmes along these lines at domestic level, see https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/fairness-and-opportunity; http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id-moe/16561-20201124.pdf; https://www.greennewdealuk.org. 29 https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/confronting-carbon-inequality; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378020307512; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y; https://hotorcool.org/event/launch-of-1-5-degree-lifestyles-towards-a-fair-consumption-space-for-all/; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-020-0579-8?proof=t%C2%A0; https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/s3fs-public/file_attachments/dp-a-safe-and-just-space-for-humanity-130212-en_5.pdf. 30 See https://theconversation.com/climate-scientists-concept-of-net-zero-is-a-dangerous-trap-157368. 31 See e.g. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-018-0229-8; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/26/leading-scientist-criticises-uk-over-its-climate-record; http://priceofoil.org/2019/08/12/the-ieas-misplaced-techno-optimism/; https://wsimag.com/economy-and-politics/66356-the-net-zero-greenwash. 32 See https://www.igsd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Science-Supporting-Need-for-Fast-Near-Term-Climate-Mitigation-Sept2020.pdf. 33 George to add reference. 34 https://www.inet.ox.ac.uk/images/SSEE-New-perspective-report-summary.pdf; https://www.inet.ox.ac.uk/publications/no-2021-01-empirically-grounded-technology-forecasts-and-the-energy-transition/. 35 https://www.creds.ac.uk/the-uk-can-more-than-halve-its-energy-demand-by-2050-and-improve-quality-of-life/; https://cat.org.uk/info-resources/zero-carbon-britain/research-reports/zero-carbon-britain-rising-to-the-climate-emergency/; http://breadprintandroses.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/thenewmaterialism_241112.pdf. 36 http://www.srfood.org/en/report-agroecology-and-the-right-to-food. See also https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/017/85/PDF/G1701785.pdf. 37 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378021000662?via%3Dihub; https://ashden.org/news/our-co-benefits-vision-better-lives-through-climate-action/; https://www.c40.org/researches/measuring-benefits. ***** cheers, I Message Thread: Pay the polluters to stop! - Der November 3, 2021, 3:22 am Re: Pay the polluters to stop! - Raskolnikov November 3, 2021, 7:06 pm I'm afraid I'm in the same camp as you. We're totally fecked. nm - Der November 4, 2021, 6:24 pm Re: I'm afraid I'm in the same camp as you. We're totally fecked. nm - Ian M November 4, 2021, 8:05 pm Excellent. Properly referenced as well. Maybe a bit too much reliance on alternative energies. - Der November 5, 2021, 7:05 am « Index   Searching