Copenhagen March

Posting awfully late, so any updates about the "deal" that was struck in Copenhagen will be stale. Those of you that are curious (if you're not curious you should be) will already have read the reams that have been written, so I won't go into it here.
Needless to say, the delegates failed to step up to the plate and surprise everyone with courageous leadership, bold moves, and real solutions to what is most certainly (and without scientific doubt) a global climate crisis. Their message to us seems clear: Solve it yourselves, because your governments are incompetent. Thanks, guys. We will try.

In addition to many workshops, meetings, and other awesome events, I checked out the march that featured 100,000 people and every cause imaginable.

Communists? Of course. It still surprises me how the rest of the world views communism as a legitimate if a bit misguided political movement (much like republicans) rather than an insult.

The green energy folks were there too, sense of humor intact.

Anarchists never miss a march.

Reminding the crowd "Respect our police" and "Don't Be Idiots", some Danes turned out to with some always prudent advice.

The Jubilee Debt relief peeps were out in force.

Role playing enthusiasts, welcome at any event, were present and accounted for with a reminder that we need to role a natural 20 critical-hit in the fight against climate change.

I originally thought this was a pride flag, but after seeing a lot of rainbows in many context here in Europe I'm starting to think that maybe it has more of a "diversity" connotation than an expressly gay one.

Marijuana supporters again remind everyone their theory that there is a very simple answer to many of the worlds ills...

This guy might not have a huge sign and bunch of people carrying it, but my feeling is that he is on the right track.

good idea

This picture was taken through a Copenhagen store's front door. "Look guys, here's the till, its empty, please don't break a window for no reason."

I have also left the figurative till in the window for the past month. But there are posts coming soon.

Climate Scoreboard

Sorry this tool doesn't look great here, but click on the climate interactive logo and check it out. It is a real time update of the climate talks in Copenhagen... It puts together all the different proposals and treaties on the table and synthesizes them into where we're at right now. It's basically a short hand calculator for where they're at in Copenhagen.

Warning

1992!? How have I (we!) not heard of this?

http://deoxy.org/sciwarn.htm

If you don't click through (but you should), this is what's up... 1,700 of the world's leading scientists, including the majority of Nobel laureates in the sciences, want to tell us something:

"Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about."
(emphasis mine of course)

We give people Noble prizes because we deem them to be the smartest among us. I would venture that these guys don't just go signing their name to whatever white paper passes through their inbox. But MOST of them signed this, along with a lot of other top dogs. Why wasn't this news story of the decade? The guys that spend all their time studying natural systems are very worried. Or WERE very worried, 17 years ago. I'm sure their feeling much better now seeing the way things have played out.

COP 15 starts tomorrow. I wonder if our "leaders" feel the same sense of urgency our best scientists felt 17 years ago... Good grief.

What are we going to do?