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These international environmental conferences are hard work, but somebody has to do it, right?
London, Paris, and Dubai — locations in October and November of 2023 of international conferences on global climate change. Signs that at long last, serious attention is being paid to this existential threat to humanity? Not hardly.
First out of the gate was the gathering of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship in London in the last week of October. Hosted by the right-wing Canadian psychologist, self-help guru and provocateur Jordan Peterson, the ARC’s inaugural conference featured a parade of speakers telling a sympathetic audience (including the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy) to stop worrying about climate change and learn to love fossil fuels and industrial growth.
A typical presentation was that of an American speaker, Mike Shellenberger, who said that he is not at all worried about sea-level rise because — and in the reporting I saw, this was the totality of his argument — “I have been to the Netherlands, one-third of which is below sea level.” (Three thirds of the people of the Netherlands are in near panic as rising sea water threatens to overcome their aging defenses.) The number of hurricanes making landfall on the US is declining, he said, ignoring the facts that the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin is increasing, and that the US hurricanes are far more destructive than they were in the past.
While not explicitly about climate change, a related event was this weekend’s Worldwide Freedom Initiative in Paris, another assembly of extreme right wingers including the new speaker of the US House, Mike Johnson, who adjourned the House for a long weekend, eight days away from another possible government shutdown because there is no federal budget, so he could jet off to Paris to address the party. A gaggle of Trump cronies were there as well, including the CEO of the faltering Trump social platform Truth Social, former Congressman Devin Nunes. His boss Donald Trump phoned in good wishes to the group. The “freedom” they worship is, of course, freedom from all government restrictions on wealth creation — things like taxes and environmental regulations.
Last, and in some respects least, is the 2023 United Nations conference on climate change — known as COP 28 — celebrating 28 consecutive successful years of the war on climate change. Every year, environmental czars and politicians from around the world mount their private jets and (leaving a haze of contrails behind them) converge on a posh Middle Eastern facility to talk about what a good job they are doing saving the environment. This year they will convene in Dubai on November 30.
If the past COP gabfests are any indication, this year’s celebrants will continue to studiously ignore the fact that worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide — the principal agent of global warming — continue to increase, as they have steadily for at least a century. The only exception was a brief decrease in the Covid-pandemic year of 2020. Any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, once the formal goal of the United Nations, is long gone.
Instead of acknowledging their utter failure, the delegates will sip fine wines, nibble on caviar and talk about promises to do something really significant to counter climate change by, oh, say 2040 or so. Really, they mean it this time. Then they will jet home, leaving behind a global sheen of partially combusted jet fuel.
So you see, it’s silly to worry about the future of the world in the face of multiple existential threats. Our leaders are ready to fight on our behalf until the last barrel of jet fuel has been burned. After that, we’re on our own.
Good morning to you too, Sunshine!
Seriously though, thank you Tom. In an era of obfuscation, lies, and propaganda, a bit of straight talk is a welcome relief.
“…the play is the tragedy, ‘Man,’
And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.”
Edgar Allan Poe 1843
Andrew Glikson, who is an Earth and Paleo-climate Scientist(he is a pretty big deal in Australia) … we are already above 2 degrees: and the Arctic is higher than that considering it’s the Arctic. Also, I happened to fly from Atlanta Georgia to Burbank California, and flying over very large cities and viewing LA at night all I could think was this will not stop this Human-centered world till we are forced to stop and that will not be good for anybody by the time that happens. I was always hopeful but I dare say I have become a doomer.
So you see, it’s [BEYOND] silly to worry about the future of the world in the face of multiple existential threats.
That’s a little more accurate but perhaps just stating that it is inane to worry would be more elegant. Maybe we should(?) have every broadcast medium put Bobby McFerrin’s big hit on an infinite loop. Your 10 Reasons… article of 27-Nov (and that by Alan Urban) have some obvious(?) omissions/understatements and, as such, miscalculate the remaining time for any surface-dwelling life on this rock to continue. As just one example, bear in mind Agent K’s remark to Detective Edwards, “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.“