Governments talk a lot about climate change but few put actions behind the words.
Everyone seems to agree that something needs to be done to insure that the Earth is around for the next several generations. There have been a number of different Summits designed to address the issue of climate change and how best to adjust things to slow the change or reverse the negative effects caused by industry and the human population.
The sticking point of every meeting seems to be the same few issues. Every country wants to know what the others will do to fix climate change. There is no guaranteed way to monitor countries and insure they adhere to any agreements. And most importantly, no country wants to do anything until someone else does it first.
According to some experts, the recent Climate Change summit held in Copenhagen was a failure. The major goal of the Conference was to create a Copenhagen Protocol that would come into effect when the Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012. The best thing that came out of the meeting is that there is now more talk about climate change than there was before. Many involved with the Copenhagen Conference are hoping that the new awareness will push governments to make determined steps toward change. The main problem that many saw with the conference was the number of participants. There were 192 countries involved. Consensus was required to pass any initiatives. One country would want concessions from another country before agreeing to point A and the other country would not be interested in passing point A and would not agree to the concessions.
A downside to climate control talks is the publicity given to the price of the conferences. The 24-hour news cycle honed in on the amount of carbon emissions that participants were incurring by traveling to the conference. Limo companies in Copenhagen ran out of cars to provide to attendees. The weather turned foul and it is estimated that around 1,200 limos were used to move attendees around the city. Many attendees flew to Copenhagen in private jets. The 140 jets overwhelmed the airport and had to be flown to other cities to await the call to pick up their passengers and fly them home. Many delegations stayed at top hotels.
Estimates put the total monetary cost of the conference at around $215 million (USD). Some critics claim that the emissions produced by the conference were as high as some African countries. The Copenhagen conference also drew a large number of protestors. 45,000 green activists protested the talks and added to the pollution and chaos of the gathering. Copenhagen officials had to construct a temporary prison facility just to house any trouble makers. The 5,000 reporters that trailed all of the attendees and protestors did their share to increase emissions and overall cost of the conference.
This brings back the argument that most countries are so busy pointing the finger at others that they do not see the need for personal change. The world may need countries to take notice if the Earth is going to survive, but each country has to choose to make the decision to change.
Change is never an easy path. Governments can talk continually about making changes but actions speak louder than words ever will. The only way for government climate change talks to do any good is if one country begins to follow through on the changes suggested. One country at a time is the way that climate control talks will begin to protect the Earth for future generations.
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Lets be honest here, COP15 was a success in that governments finally realised that they couldn’t agree on anything…. the joys of being a politician, we’ll all kick the bucket while they’re still arguing. My take on all this is that it’ll be businesses that take the lead though innovation and the realisation that we need some solutions to seucre this planet for our Kids.