The upcoming 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21/CMP11/), otherwise known as “Paris 2015” being held from November 30th to December 11th, will be crucial. There is growing awareness at the grass roots level that climate change needs action. Last year, over 300,000 people took to the streets in New York and there were many similar protests in 161 countries around the world.
Mary Robinson, the first woman President of Ireland (1990-1997), is now a passionate advocate for global justice for the victims of climate change and has set up the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice to take this work forward.
She recently mentioned frightening figures in a TED talk. She quoted scary statistics such as 2.6 billion people (about a third of the world’s population) still cooking on open fires resulting in about 4 million deaths annually from respiratory diseases caused by inhaling smoke.
Climate change is resulting in higher sea levels, drought, and heatwaves. The ultimate irony is that the nations who have contributed the least to greenhouses gases are the ones who have to bear the brunt of the human suffering.
Try telling that to all those climate change deniers out there, including about 30 percent of the Tea Party Republicans – a fringe block who still believe that climate change is just not happening! They seem to be living on another planet, if you ask me. Even one of the leading GOP presidential candidates, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, seems to be living somewhere else when he says:
“We are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing to change our economy, to change our climate, to change our weather.”
On a more enlightened front, The Guardian UK launched their “Keep it in the ground” campaign which is gaining momentum. Keeping fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas in the ground will mean massive investments in cleaner energy sources and technology.
In this compelling video, people around the world make a plea to Bill Gates to divest The Gates Foundation of its fossil fuel investments (US $1.4 billion) to help climate change. Bill Gates has called the divestment issue a “false solution” but is investing $2 billion in renewable technology projects over the next five years.
President Obama’s recently unveiled Clean Power Plan is ambitious and will save lives. The plan calls for no more public financing for coal-powered power plants. It also advocates cutting power costs as we invest in solar, wind, and new technologies that will lead to new jobs and better health for everybody. If implemented by 2030, there will be fewer than 3,600 premature deaths in the US alone.
Why am I optimistic about Paris 2015? You might think I am foolish – I mean, they are still trying to get some agreement on how much money rich countries can give to poorer countries to help them cut emissions.
Here is the good news. Current commitments are due to expire in 2020 and 150 countries have already sent in their plans on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. That represents 90 percent of the world economy.
The 2° Celsius limit is no longer feasible because the planet has already used up too much of its carbon budget because of too many emissions. The new target is 2.7° Celsius, which will afford the potential for a 50-50 chance of surviving catastrophes.
Costs of renewable energy are falling. Solar energy technology is becoming more and more efficient. Burundi hopes to have a solar field to provide up to 15 percent of their electricity. Morocco will have five solar plants in place by 2020 and will become a major energy exporter to Europe. India has promised to have 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
The best news of all? Republicans are waking up! Well, maybe. According to Bloomberg, a University of Texas survey shows that the GOP now has 59 percent of respondents who have accepted the fact of climate change, compared to 47 percent six months ago.
On the other hand, Rubio is still a Presidential candidate, not to mention Donald Trump who says that global warming is bullshit. Yes, I am still optimistic because neither of them will be at Paris 2015!
Featured image courtesy of Flickr under a Creative Commons license
