Grist — A Beacon in the Smog by Billy Parish 10 Dec 2009 6:35 AM Today is "Young and Future Generations Day" here at the
International Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen, and I'm here with my
wife Wahleah and our two-year-old daughter Tohaana. Along with over a thousand other young people, mostly wearing orange t-shirts today, we're doing
everything in our
power to convince world leaders to commit to
a fair, ambitious, and legally binding international agreement based on
a target of 350 parts per million (ppm), which is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. Less than 400 miles away in Oslo, Norway, President Obama is accepting the
Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary
efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between
peoples." If ever there was a time and place to live up to that honor, now, in Copenhagen is it.Four former Nobel Peace Prize winners have endorsed
a target of 350ppm. On December 12th, 2008, at the international climate talks in Poznan, Poland, Al Gore (2007 winner) said to a huge crowd: “Even
a goal of 450 parts per million, which seems so difficult today, is
inadequate. We need to toughen that goal to 350
parts per million.” On December 20th, His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama (1989) wrote: "It is now urgent that we take corrective action to ensure a safe
climate future for coming generations of human beings and other
species. That can be established in perpetuity if we can reduce
atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350ppm. Buddhists, concerned people of
the world and all people of good heart should be aware of this and act
upon it." On August 25, 2009, Rajendra Pachauri,
office Professional 2007 serial, who accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC said, "As
chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, I cannot
take a position because we do not make recommendations. But as a human
being I am fully supportive of [350ppm]. What is happening, and what is
likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious
and very determined at moving toward a 350 target." And on October 23,
windows 7 starter 64 bit, 2009, two days before what CNN called the "most
widespread day of political action in the planet's history",
Archibishop Desmond Tutu, who has been an ambassador for the 350
campaign and won the Peace Prize in 1984, wrote in USA Today:
"Many top scientists agree that there's a
number the world needs to know. It's 350 — as in 350 parts per million
of the heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The growing
consensus is that it's the most carbon we can have in the atmosphere
without causing terrible climate havoc. Since we're already past that
level, at 390 parts per million, it also implies that we need much
swifter political action than governments have supported in the past to
reverse this trend."It is time for President Obama to join them. It may
not be the politically pragmatic path, but it is the only path with the
potential to lead to peace and prosperity. The
climate crisis is a unique challenge in human history and Copenhagen is
a unique opportunity to rise to that challenge. As Bill McKibben
writes, "the adversary here is not Republicans,
windows 7 generator key, or socialists, or
deficits, or
taxes, or misogyny, or racism, or any of the problems we normally face
-- adversaries that can change over time, or be worn down, or
disproved, or cast off. The adversary here is physics."The
physics says the limit is 350 ppm. That is the upper limit for carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere if we want Earth to continue to resemble the
planet we've come to know and love. Despite the fact that we are 390
ppm and climbing and his
inaugural promise to "restore science to its rightful place" Obama and
the US delegation are negotiating in Copenhagen with a stated target of
450ppm. Fortunately for us, there are some world leaders who do not view the
climate crisis as a primarily political problem. Ninety-two nations,
all poor and
vulnerable to the early affects of climate change have endorsed a
target of 350ppm. President Nasheed of the Maldives has stated "we will
not sign a global suicide pact, in Copenhagen or anywhere." And
Ambassador
Lumumba, coordinator of the G77 and China Group in Copenhagen made it clear that the $10 billion of "aid" proposed for African countries by
Europe and
President Obama is 'not
enough for Africa to buy the coffins to bury us in’ if the climate
crisis is allowed to continue. This weekend, people are organizing candlelight vigils around the world calling on world
leaders to break through the political logjam. Many will be outside
American consulates and embassies, and at Senator's offices throughout
the United States, because without U.S. leadership here, the negotiations will likely fail. On the Young and Future Generations Day, I look at Tohanna and wonder
how she'll feel in 20 years. Will she look at me and my generation and
ask why we didn't do more? What will I tell her? If we don't get this right,
microsoft office 2007 Pro Plus key, right now, what will you,
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say to Sasha and Malia in 20 years? That it wasn't politically
feasible? That we didn't know the extent of the challenge we were
facing? We know the science. We know the consequences. The United States and
you, President Obama, need to continue "to strengthen international
diplomacy and cooperation between
peoples" and commit to a fair, ambitious, and legally binding agreement
based on a target of 350ppm.
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