Global warming already kills 150 000 people every year

50 facts that should change the world, Jessica Williams Impacts of global warming: - Heat waves as silent killers which slumps crop yields and leads to malnutrition - Forest res e.g. 650 000 hectares of forest burnt down in France - Diseases spread more quickly in warmer temperature i.e. mosquitoes and rats thrive. Many of these can be preventable but it comes with cost and many poor countries already struggling to provide healthcare services. Conict between those who believe we should do everything to reverse the climate change and those who believe we should adapt to it. Responses: - Under IPCC 2007, Scientist already conrmed the phenomenon of global warming (very likely which means 90 per cent sure) and predicted the temperature could rise up to 6.4 degrees by the end of century. - In 2006, a former chief economist of the World Bank, Sir Nicholas Stern concluded starkly: global warming could shrink economy by 20 per cent, creating a major disruption to economic and social activity, on a scale similar to those associated with great wars and rst half of the 20th century. He prescribed that emission needs to be cut by 60-70 per cent and the bulk should be borne by the rich world. - Prescription was set out and now it was up to government to take up the challenge. Stern was optimistic that we have the time and knowledge to act. But only if we act internationally, strongly and urgently. - Politicians are starting to respond - maybe not enough. e.g. UK Labour government and Conservative opposition battled to outdo each other for green vote, with Tory leader, David Cameroon proposed a target 80 per cent emission cut by 2020. EU agreed on goal of 20 per cent by 2020 although McKinsey consulting rm warned it could cost to up 80 billion euros a year. - The US traditionally seen as the big bad enemy in this movement, shows encouraging signs that things may be changing. All Democratic and Republican candidates have made climate change a major part in their policy platforms. - Each action taken - no matter how small - plays some part. Greenpeace suggests a twelve-step plan to saving energy (and the planet): choosing energy efcient appliances and bulbs, turning off electricity when not in use, etc. - Talk to your electricity provider about switching to a green tariff. The more people do it, the more pressure on these companies to invest in renewable clean energy sources. - Changing to environmentally-friendly lifestyle. e.g. fewer car journey, take public transport and infrequent travel. Get active and sign up to the online petitions on climate change. e.g. WWF Conclusion: - The impetus to make a change will only come of we, as individuals, keep piling pressure on our governments to put the future of our planet at the very top of the political agenda. e.g. 350.org making movies and video to raise awareness on this. - The scientists and the economists have started to ball rolling - working out what could happen, having the guts to spell it out and scaring the governments into doing something. If we all act together, then maybe we can prove the scenario wrong. Because lets face it - there really isnt any alternative.

American discards 2.5 million plastic bottle every hour. Thats enough bottles to reach all the way up to the moon every three weeks
50 facts that should change the world, Jessica Williams Statistics: - Every hour, British households throw away enough rubbish to ll the Royal Albert Hall - Estimated 25 million tonnes of litter scattered along Britains streets and grass verge - Mountain of rubbish grows by 3 per cent annually, 81 per cent end up in landlls. - In US, ofces use enough papers to build a four-metre-high wall between Los Angeles and New York annually. - Developing countries are catching up. China discards more than 45 billion pairs of chopsticks and cuts down 25 million trees to do it. - Dhaka dumps 10 million plastic bags every day. - Two man-made structures can be seen from outer space: The Great Wall of China and the Fresh Kills landll near New York. - WWF: if everyone in the world consumes as much as the average Westerner, we would need at least another two Earths to cope with all the waste. - A third of all food that Britons buy ends up being thrown away - resulting in 6.7 million tonnes of waste. Responses: - Buy and consume less, recycle and reuse more. e.g. US recycles about a tenth of household rubbish, Britain 11 per cent, Swiss 56 per cent (Geneva nes 100 Swiss francs for littering) - Make recycling a habit by initiating kerbside schemes and imposing nes. - e.g. Germany, Netherlands and Austria boast recycling rates over 45 per ccent - Environmental groups starting to express concerns about electronic waste - e.g. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates 250 million computers become obsolete and 130 million mobile phones discarded yearly. - E-cycling: unwanted machines are reconditioned for sale in developing world or dismantled to get the valuable materials. - A number of manufacturers US started to offer incentives for e-cycling and Britains ve main mobile phones operators participated in recycling unwanted headsets. - One major problem experienced by environmental movement: making people to see that even the smallest actions have a consequence. - Environmentalists realise that to get people to change their behaviour, it has to be as easy and painless as possible. - Kerbside recycling is the most effective step a local council can take to reduce waste. - Its important to lobby the business community to use greater range of recycled products and pressing consumers to purchase greener products. - Making recycling a habit is not complete without providing market for recycling products. - Target on recycling rate to 35 per cent imposed by EU to its member by 2015. Large nes will be levied on errant government for unmet targets. Conclusion - Dont stop there! Join opt-out lists for junk mail, read newspaper online, take your old clothes to car-boot sale, etc. - Once you get started on your own mission to save the planet, it can pretty hard to stop.

Durban deal may do little to cool heating planet

Reuters, 12 December 2011, Jon Herskovitz Critics: - the plan was too timid to slow global warming - world largest emitter China needs to be weaned from coal and developed countries must spend heavily to change the mix of sources from which they draw their energy - little political will to implement these costly plans - UN process is seen as bloated, broken and largely incapable of effecting sweeping change. - Environmental Defense Fund, US group campaigning against pollution: the challenge is we begin with the lowest common denominator. - Countries need to be ambitious in their commitments and refuse to use these negotiations as just another stalling stool. - Domestic political constraints make it even more unlikely. - Kyoto Protocol is accused not doing enough to make a dent in emission - A newly binding deal by 2020 brings worries that any new provisions will have been diluted in negotiations to the point of being meaningless. - China, US, India (worlds three biggest emitters) are not bound by Kyoto. - The three accused by environmental lobby groups for years of blocking tough measures and all three cite domestic priorities in their defence. - Populations and the planet are put at greater risks. - Government are kowtowing more to corporate interests than the interests of the people - Myer, a veteran of the UN climate talks, called for a greater ambition on emissions cuts and nancial support for industrial change and for a more collaborative spirit. - Myer: We are on the path to 3-3.5 degree Celsius increase if we dont make aggressive cut by 2020. And there is nothing to suggest this deal will alter that. - Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: Durban is a collective failure to stem the destruction caused by climate change on the most vulnerable people and called this unacceptable Optimist: - Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS): at least there was agreement to keep on talking. All is not lost yet Opponents to reversing climate change efforts: - US: does not have a broad enough coalition to sign off on a global climate deal - India and China: curbing emission will hurt their fast-growing economies and put hundreds of millions of people at risk as they try to escape poverty. Vocabulary: - wean: accustom - envoy: messenger or representative - kowtow: excessively subservient to

Assessing the Climate Talks - Did Durban Succeed?

Hufnton Post, 12 December 2011, Robert Stavins, Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program Durban Outcome: - A second ve-year commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol - A non-binding agreement to reach an agreement by 2015 to bring all countries under the same legal regime by 2020 Success? - Solving the climate problem: No. - A path to solve the climate problem: No. - But it was a positive direction and increased likelihood of meaningful long-term action. Signicance of Durban: 1. Putting more esh on the bones of the Cancun Agreements: - A workable bottom-up, pledge-and-review approach - Work done on Global Climate Fund to mobilise public and private funding on climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries; more specics on technology transfer; mechanisms to enhance transparency; and international scheme to reduce deforestation. 2. A Second Commitment Period for Kyoto Protocol - Kyoto Protocol is fundamentally awed as basis for addressing climate change problems since it draws distinction between countries in Annex I and II - Putting a more stringent target to EU - US, Japan, Canada, Russia refuse to take up the second commitment 3. The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action - It is potentially important - Copenhagen Accord and Cancun Agreements began the process of blurring the Annex I/ II distinction. - Now, the COP-17 decision for Enhanced Action completely eliminates such distinction. - Pledge to create a system of GHG reduction including all Parties by 2015 the will come into force by 2020. - A real departure and mark the a signicant advance along the treacherous, uphill path of climate negotiations. The Path Ahead - Durban did not undo the progress made in Cancun but built upon it and moved forward. - It wont satisfy 350.org crowd. - Must greatly annoy the opponents of sensible climate policy. - This is what success like for the exceptionally difcult global commons problem.

FactBox: What UN climate talks agreed in Durban

Reuters, 11 December 2011, Nina Chestney Details of main points: 1. Extension of the Kyoto Protocol 2. Legal Form 3. Ambition At the request of EU and AOSIS, delegates agreed to launch a work plan to identify options for closing the ambition gap between countries current emissions reduction pledges for 202 and the goal to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees. However, it did not manage to extend the emission cut pledges made in both Copenhagen in 2009 and 2010 in Cancun 4. Transparency 5. Finance Green Climate Fun to channel up $100 billion a year by 2020 to poorer nations, but achieved little understanding where the money will come from. 6. New Market Mechanisms Mechanisms would operate under UNFCCC and bear in mind different circumstances of developed and developing countries. EU wants new market mechanisms to cut GHG emission outside Kyoto Protocol anchored in international law, in order to avoid fragmentation of international carbon market. 7. Carbon Capture and Storage Carbon Capture and Storage to quantify for carbon offsets under Clean Development Mechanisms (a scheme to reward government or companies who invest in clean energy projects in developing countries with carbon credits which they can sell for prot) 8. Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) Its a private funding and market-based mechanisms 9. Joint Implementation (JI) Delay decision on whether to decouple the future of JI from that of Kyoto until next years talk.