Environment

At the start of the UN's long-awaited Copenhagen climate summit, officials are pulling out all the stops to spin the conference as a success, no matter what actually happens. Barack Obama's announcement that he will briefly pass through Copenhagen was a headline story, as was China's commitment to reduce their economy's "carbon intensity," merely lowering their rate of increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

In his new book on climate change, Now or Never: Why We Must Act Now To End Climate Change and Create A Sustainable Future, eminent scientist and author Tim Flannery refers to two vital concepts. The first is "tipping point." The climate tipping point is the point at which the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere reaches a level sufficient to cause catastrophic climate change. The second is the "point of no return." This is reached when the concentration of greenhouse gas has been in place sufficiently long to give rise to an irreversible process.

Worldwide, industrial mono-culture farming has displaced traditional food production and farmers, wreaking havoc on food prices and food sovereignty. This is particularly true for the global south, where land has been concentrated for crops destined for biodiesel and animal feed. In response, peasants and small farmers organized actions in more than 53 countries on October 15 for International Food Day as an initiative of Via Campesina, one of the largest independent social movement organizations, representing nearly 150 million people globally.

A small path descends from the town of La Jagua, crossing a field and forest until it ends at a cliff overlooking the Magdalena River. Pairs of buff-necked ibis take flight announcing their local name, "cocli cocli." Above the beach where children swim, the rock is carved by erosion and dotted with small holes occupied by birds. The landscape is dotted, too, every 100 meters, with concrete markers declaring the land, river, and everything else a "public utility" that Colombia has given to the energy company Emgesa as part of the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project.

Two recent studies have shocked the world in regard to global warming.  A phenomenon that was to happen "possibly in our lifetime" has evolved into a threat capable of transforming the world in ten years time. A recent, extensive study of the northern polar ice caps released by climate expert Professor Peter Wadham, concluded that the Arctic Ocean would be "mostly" ice free in 10 years during the summer months.

If conventional media wisdom is to be believed, President Obama's top climate and energy adviser Carol Browner's admission in early October that there will be no climate legislation coming out of Congress this year pretty much dooms the upcoming UN climate talks in Copenhagen.