Conferring this time in Cancun on climate change

Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

Wasting and inspiring

More than 190 country representatives meeting in the luxury resort of Cancun to discuss ways of decreasing global carbon emissions are using up “as much energy as a small village in England, the equivalent annual usage of 4,500 UK households; or the same amount of carbon as a poor African nation such as Somalia would pump out in two weeks.” Environment correspondent Louise Gray was writing today in the Telegraph. Citing Mexico’s government figures, she writes, “The total carbon footprint of the Cancun Climate Conference is 25,000 tons.”

From the conference, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman today interviewed environmentalist and writer Bill Mckibben. This is some of what he had to say.

“Physics and chemistry [not politics or power] are driving the tune…and we are still going to lose the war just as badly as everybody else. … ‘It’s like a family reunion aboard the Titanic.’

“At the moment, power rests in the hands of the fossil fuel industry and their allies in governments around the world.… The oil industry and their friends in the U.S. government are winning most of the battles but we are going to keep trying.…

“Until we build some independent outside movement, power to push back, we are going to get, at best, scraps from the table.… [The conference at Cancun] gives us new impetus to do it.”


Sources and notes
“Cancun Climate Conference ‘using as much energy as a village for a year’ — The Cancun Climate Conference is using up as much energy as a small village in England for a whole year” (Louise Gray), December 7, 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/8187328/Cancun-Climate-Conference-using-as-much-energy-as-a-village-for-a-year.html
“Bill McKibben: Climate Talks So Weakened by U.S., Major Polluters that Walkout Could Be Good News for Planet,” December 7, 2010, http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/7/bill_mckibben_climate_talks_so_weakened

Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist who writes frequently about global warming and alternative energy and advocates for more localized economies. His books include The End of Nature (1989), The Age of Missing Information (1992), and Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (2007). http://www.billmckibben.com/bio.html

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