Copenhagen's blow to the planet
Capitalism triumphed at Copenhagen. In its battle to the death with planet Earth, the planet took another heavy punch with the failure of any binding agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Green MP Jeanette Fitzsimons summed it up well: "It's a disgrace and a tragedy for the future of our children."
The tragedy was preceded by lots of fine speeches and reassuring words from world leaders but when the huff and puff cleared, the people and the planet lost again.
The statement brokered by US President Barack Obama pushes the problem well into the future. It declares an aspiration of 80% reduction in emissions by 2050, which is intended to keep temperature increases to two degrees. Obama called it a historic breakthrough but that's just political spin. It will sound reassuring to many but it has no chance of success without binding, measurable emission reductions in the key capitalist economies which represent just 7% of the world's population but are responsible for more than 50% of emissions.
The best assessments show that global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak within five years if climate catastrophe is to be averted. Obama and his friends have lost us another year.
I was never an Obamaite and I hope his backing capitalism against the planet, added to his facilitating the trillion-dollar bailouts of the US banks and his surge in the war in Afghanistan, will wake up the dreamers. "Yes we can" was a rallying cry for the corporates to get behind him as he continued their programme in the White House.
The mainstream news reporting pointed to the main fracture line at Copenhagen being between rich, developed nations and developing countries and on the surface there was evidence to support this. However, the main fracture was between capitalism and the planet.
Multinationals hold the same sway over the governments of developing countries such as India, Brazil and South Africa as they have over the US political machinery. In each of these countries the people and the environment are under attack from capitalist enterprises with enormous political and financial muscle.
The brutal truth is that the third rock from the sun is a finite entity while capitalism for its very survival requires endless economic growth. It's like a pyramid-selling scheme which requires more and more consumption, the exploitation of more land, resources, people and the environment to continue its destructive growth. While the planet and its life support systems need sustainability, capitalism needs expansion. It's a cancer on humanity.
Capitalists generally have tried to downplay climate change for years to avoid facing the inevitable. Others believe they can just create a new market to fix the problem and so we have the carbon market with its so-called cap-and-trade solution. Others don't bother with any of this because they see that capitalism already has an ultimate solution.
The final solution is to just let the marketplace revalue the planet's resources as climate catastrophe hits. (Sorry Tuvalu!) The rich will inherit the earth and the poor will perish.
The only hope rests with the tens of thousands protesting in the streets of Copenhagen and around the world.
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Minto you have it wrong. The poor nations were trying to use Copenhagen to guilt rich nations into paying them money, That is wrong.
The idea that CO2, cause by rich people, is imperiling poor people is very sketchy scientifically. It is a shameful fraud.
There are many definite factors causing grief for poorer people including local over population (I promise I'm not causing that), as well as deforestation, tsunamis etc - all of which are local problems not being caused by greedy capitalists.
Instead of thanks when rich people send in food aid and medical teams, we're getting the blame and being told to pay more. That is wrong.
Just to show you that I'm no right-winger I pay a lot of tax without trying to dodge it. I also voluntarily pay a few thousand dollars a year to foreign aid charities. I think there is some moral duty for relatively rich people, which even our "poor" are on a global scale, to help out poorer people. But I do not at all believe that we should be guilted and blamed into it by scaremongering and dodgy science.
Even if global warming is catastrophic I'd rather live in a Capitalist Wasteland than in your Green Fascist Utopia.
"the people and the planet lost again"
The beauty of capitalism is that 'the people' can bring even the largest of big bad corporations to its knees any time they like, by choosing not to buy its products and services.
Companies that damage the environment are no different - If 'the people' care about the planet as much as you think they do, such companies will perish.
I have sneaking suspicion that our great grandchildren will look back at this time in human history, shake their head and ask "what were the thnking?"
I agree with Corey S #5. History will condemn us. The appaling waste of resources and money used to facilitate this conference is disgusting. Millions could have been saved and emissions curbed if they all just stayed at home and attended a global video conference. I also believe future generations will look back at Obama and question just what the hell people saw in him.
IF the planet is warming and IF that is being caused by humans THEN the way to deal with it is to stop encouraging ALL societies to spend money on junk.
SO - tax consumption, not effort. Reduce income tax to 10% flat, move GST to 25% basic, 75% for junk, and 0% for wholesome foods and any other stuff that ordinary people (not leftie wierdos) would count as reasonable.
Make petrol twice as expensive, and double the price of electricity rather than whinging when gas goes up by 5 cents or electricity increases in price. We shouldn't moan that these things get too expensive to waste.
Reduce benefit levels to such an extent that meaningless consumer society junk isn't affordable to anyone who depends on other folks' efforts for their cash.
With such a policy we could reduce our emmissions overnight.
Unfortunately those who have been bashing the environmental drum have only done so as a smokescreen for their 'dumb everyone down, make everyone equal' agenda. Why else would Greenie Sue B waste two private members bills on smacking and the youth minimum wage, and Keith Locke on a republicanism referendum. Hardly the sort of image they portray on their billboards at election time, eh?
This is at last being recognised - be prepared for a mass exedous of the reds from the greens to the next big cause sometime soon...
George #7
Not a bad plan actually....
Green MP J Fitzsimmons and other people of commonsense are NOT to blame for climate change.They know National and Labour leaders from NZ and other despot countries cannot run primary schools, plane trips in Antartica ,guide Russian cruise ships from Marlborough sounds ect-So that is why the Greens and some of the voters object to the government running Nuclear Power Stations.We will be burning coal and oil for decades to come.Thanks NZ public service, for destoying our childrens future and have a bloody great xmas and NY.
Global warming is a fairy tale. Just look at the record cold periods around the world. In NZ we have all sorts of record cold periods. But for whatever reason people insist on being strung along on this warming gabbage. All NZer's who work will pay for this and probably be the only people on tha planet that does.
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Copenhagen was indeed a blow to the planet, caused by 150 private jets, hundreds of limousines not to mention the thousands of tonnes of hot air emitted. What a total farce; what a total shambles; what a total waste of money and time all in the name of the most gigantic confidence trick ever pulled on a gullible public.
How ironic that both the USA and Europe are experiencing their harshest early winters in decades. My main regret is that the greatest snowstorm of the last 1000 years did not descend on Copenhagen marooning all the pompous windbags like Fitzsimons, Grosser, Cheval and above all Prince Chales for the next three months prefeerably forcing them to live in ice caves and fish through ice holes or even better eat each other. And today in Wellington we have the predicatble sight of a rent a fruit loop parading through the streets