Our leaders are reckless fools

Another day, and another conference in which the participants accomplish nothing meaningful:

The United Nations climate conference ambled toward a conclusion on Friday, with delegates saying that the meeting would produce no more than a modest set of measures toward a new international agreement two years from now. As usual, the biggest dispute was over money.

The talks, the 19th annual meeting of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened nearly two weeks ago in the shadow of a devastating typhoon in the Philippines. The disaster added momentum to a proposal by poorer nations for the creation of a new mechanism to compensate developing countries for damage from climate-related disasters.

With the clock winding down and the talks likely to extend into Friday night, the so-called loss-and-damage proposal remained alive. But the wealthy countries that would presumably provide financing for the plan were offering a weaker alternative that would wrap it into an existing area of the climate treaty.

The dangerous and thus compelling problem we face is, of course, reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world, not compensating some of the billions who will become victims of the growing climate chaos. But why would the 1% and their retainers work towards reducing global temperatures when going with the flow of history is much less taxing.

A bit more than 25 years has passed since James Hansen testified before Congress. What remains to be done? Everything?

Related articles

• Climate talks walkout highlights need for new political push – UNEP head (trust.org)
• Philippines Tragedy Shows Urgency of Warsaw Climate Summit (theepochtimes.com)
• EPIC FAIL: UN climate talks fall apart as 132 countries storm out (dailycaller.com)
• UN climate talks in Warsaw: what you need to know (theguardian.com)
• Coal industry tries to crash Warsaw climate talks, gets spanked (grist.org)
• Coalition snubs UN climate summit (theage.com.au)
• Warsaw climate change talks falter as EU and developing countries clash (theguardian.com)