AS I write this, climate talks are winding up in Lima, Peru.
Twelve long days of how to abate and address the climate change debacle that is threatening to destroy our planet and civilization.
Perhaps it may mean nothing to others especially the leaders of governments that control the UNFCCC-COP 20 talks. Whatever happens in Lima will be a signal as to what will happen in the COP 21 in Paris next year.
We fear that nothing will change. Already, people who speak loudly against the issue especially to mitigate and reduce Greenhouse gases have been silenced and forced not to attend the climate change conference.
Furthermore, it appears the massive climate change march held in New York City, Paris and many other cities in the world will be ignored.
Frankly, the people and the citizens of the world are fed up in disappointment. And it will get worse as the threshold of a 2 degree Centigrade will be breached; the atmospheric carbon dioxide has breached the 400 ppm mark.
There will definitely be more super typhoons, more freak storms, flash floods, severe droughts, a drop in agricultural yields and increased poverty.
Is it not enough for all these calamities to knock some sense to our leaders? Perhaps, a few but not those who do not believe and are engrossed only with greed and power.
Don’t they know that all the riches in the world will go into a deflation of printed worthless paper; and that there will be nothing to buy, eat nor drink?
After the historical announcement made by President Obama and the Chinese leaders, nothing concrete has been achieved.
What has happened is a divide between the poor and the rich, the affected and those in their comfort zones.
In the most recent Financial Times, Barney Jopson and Ed Crooks wrote about the Climate Change corporate split widening in the United States.
The Obama administration environmental policy is deepening divisions between big businesses on climate change, mirroring polarization among US states over an issue that will drive more legal and political conflict next.
A White House plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power stations has exposed the growing rift between consumer businesses that support the proposal and industrial groups that are vehemently against it.
President Barack Obama is seeking to make action on climate change a central part of his legacy, but the plan from his environmental regulator is already threatened by lawsuits and Republican opponents in the US Congress.
A group of 220 companies, including well known US names such as Kellogg’s, Levi-Strauss, Mars, Nike and Starbucks have signed a letter in support of President Obama’s plan. European groups including Adidas, IKEA and Nestle and companies agree that climate change poses “real financial risk” and tackling it is one of the greatest economic opportunities of the 21st century.
While the corporate divide grows and the threat of an economic, social and environmental collapse is imminent, climate change talks in Lima as of this writing show nothing concrete.
We must act with resolve now. Perhaps, a boycott of the industrial polluters is in order. Perhaps, more marches and Arab springs are upcoming and the war for resources continues.
Perhaps, we are in the wrong forum and the United Nations has become irrelevant in tackling global issues.
Perhaps, the polluters must face crimes against humanity and be jailed.
We cannot go on like this and wait until we are destroyed by the likes of super typhoon Yolanda and Ruby.
We must act with resolve -- we do not have the luxury of time
(By: Antonio M. Claparols – President ESP)