Copenhagen

This post will contain most of what you need to know about Copenhagen and the Climate Change negotiations.


First, Grist published a list of "myths and facts" about the negotiations.

This story from Mother Jones gives some general news, something to notice is Obama's chief negotiator rejects the idea that the countries that caused climate change owe money or aid to countries that are victims of climate change. This is surprising and saddening. The European Union's position is the opposite but the EU is still reluctant to give up too much money. At the same time Australia is dedicated to reducing emissions, but not by a radical amount, and demands that the creators of climate change put up the money to help the victim countries.

Poor countries, victims of climate change, demand quick action and help from the perpetrators. This is will be one of the greatest strains at the negotiations, since there is no international court poor countries have to beg for action instead of sue for it. If the climate negotiations were a domestic Tort case, the rich would pay and the poor would be reimbursed for damages.

Religious leaders are having their say about climate change and the negotiations, the Archbishop of Canterbury is speaking out and urging countries to reach an agreement that protects the citizens of the world from climate change. The church bells rang 350 times, 350ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere is the target to avoid climate catastrophe.

Protesters are angry, not just about the negotiations but about treatment from riot police. Many have been arrested and treated inhumanely. Some of the mass arrests did not occur when protesters acted out of line, there of course are the violent anarchists present. Peaceful protesters were arrested, not allowed bathroom services, heat, food or drink. An investigation into the Danish police force is being campaigned for.

Sarah Palin had her views about climate change published in the Washington Post, of course they were inaccurate and help to rally ignorant people to march to their own demise.

While the majority of Americans are worried about climate change and think that their actions affect it they are unwilling to change too much, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Advances in technology will be one of our saviors. Scientists have been able to use paper and nanotubes to create a battery. The comments on the article ask "The result is a highly conductive sheet that can carry a charge" Sounds more like a capacitor than like a battery to me. Did I miss something?"

1/18/09: The Environment is the focus once again

The importance of the financial bailout will show its self in the near future. The point of the financial bail out is to ensure cheap credit to everyone, cheap credit is the driving force of our economy. This article from the NY-Times talks about the future of many businesses that are looking at a future that demands payment on loans of which companies do not have money for. This issue is going to rear the rest of its head in the next year as many companies fall out of the market.

Environmentalism used to be so simple: find the bad guys and make them stop. Well, we are finding that environmentalism is effective when it is practical not just reactive. The EU is very progressive and loves all out bans like its ban on GMO. The EU is trying to decrease production and use of synthetic pesticides but it will be at a price. It will mean increased pests, increased instances of infection from things like malaria, and a higher cost of producing some agricultural products. Everything comes at a price, and when it comes to "banning bad things" a comprehensive approach is needed.

Bush has made some last minute envrionmental decisions, some good, some not so good. This is a really good coverage of the changes and some commentaries on their effects and circumstances. It is from National Geographic.

The Detroit Auto Show revealed plenty new cars mild changes to the combusion engine model. The chevy Volt is the star thus far, it is an electric car with a regular engine, it goes 40miles on the electric then if uncharged starts running the oil burning engine. The electric car seems to be the favorite and it makes sense when you consider that electric cars depend on electric energy generation that at this point depends on hydroelectric dams and coal fired power plants. The great thing about electric cars is that the more energy we generate from renewable sources the more the electric car is environmentally friendly.

While buying one of these new cars from Detroit seems like the environmental thing to do, it may be more environmental to just use an old well preserved car that gets fairly good mileage. Or, vehicular conversions to biodiesel or other renewable systems could be more environmental. This article from the ChristianScienceMonitor gives some commentary.

Democrats from the House of Representatives in the American Congress are pushing for more than $80 billion to be spent on "the environment." If you want really good details on this current issue the Scientific American provides a great news article that lays it all out.