This year’s U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow may be the whitest and most privileged one ever, with thousands from the Global South unable to attend because of lack of access to COVID-19 vaccines and travel restrictions. The global inequity in vaccine access mirrors the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis that has fallen mostly on poor countries least responsible for emissions, says climate activist Dipti Bhatnagar in Mozambique.
On October 31, world leaders will descend on Glasgow, Scotland, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 26, in a last-ditch effort to defuse the climate emergency by limiting global warming to less than 1.5°C. Reaching that level would still bring violent storms, deep flooding, gripping droughts, and problematic sea level rise, but it would avert even more severe consequences. Global temperature has risen by nearly 1.1°C since the industrial revolution.
Instead of focusing on ‘micro consumerist bollocks’ like ditching our plastic coffee cups, we must challenge the pursuit of wealth and level down, not up
There is a myth about human beings that withstands all evidence. It’s that we always put our survival first. This is true of other species. When confronted by an impending threat, such as winter, they invest great resources into avoiding or withstanding it: migrating or hibernating, for example. Humans are a different matter.
This week, as governments prepare to head off to Glasgow, Scotland, for the UN’s COP26 climate negotiations, the B.C. government released the long-awaited update to its provincial climate plan, dubbed its “CleanBC Roadmap to 2030.”
[Note: Mine was just one of many, sometimes very eloquent, presentations to Council on the topic Future of False Creek South: Advancing a Conceptual Development Plan and Addressing Lease Expiries. The meeting extendedover three days because of the large number of presentation, (over 170 signed up to speak), and only very few were in favour of the plan. The presentations may be viewed/heard on the videos of the Council here starting on Oct.
