SOLD: Beautiful Happyzine

By Sean Weaver

A short note on international climate change negotiations in relation to the US mid term election result:

The international UN climate negotiations are attempting to build an agreement that will follow on from the Kyoto Protocol that ends on 31 December 2012.

Many commentators indicate that it is highly unlikely for any international agreement to be reached concerning national emission reduction targets and a global emissions cap until the US has passed Federal legislation mandating a domestic emissions reduction programme.

The US mid term election result (with the swing to the Republicans) makes it highly unlikely that Obama will be able to pass any domestic climate change mitigation legislation in this presidential term.

This may mean that the earliest likelihood of an international climate agreement at the UN is December 2013, and this in turn is dependent on Obama winning a second term, because the Republicans have shown a strong resistance to any realistic emissions reduction programme at the Federal level.

This is all exacerbated by the current state of the US economy, which is currently in a phase of

• record and unprecedented inflation
• record and unprecedented public and private debt
• record and unprecedented savings failure
• record and unprecedented demographic trends (baby boomers heading into retirement and needing to be supported by a contracting workforce)
• the likelihood of escalating oil prices
• the likelihood of a persistent downward trend in US house prices (i.e. steadily diminishing assets)
• a money supply system that is dependent on growing the economy by the interest rate annually
• unrealistic assumptions in Washington and the electorate about the ability of the US economy to grow rapidly in coming years.

Accordingly, it looks increasingly unwise to rely on international (or even domestic) policy developments to deliver realistic climate change solutions. The onus therefore is on communities, local governments, and private sector interest getting on with the task irrespective of the national and international policy processes.

Are there solutions at hand? Yes. Are they all costly? No. Are there options to reduce emissions whilst reducing costs to households and businesses? Yes. In short, a large proportion of low carbon innovations are cost-negative (i.e. they have a net positive effect on the bank balance).

What we need is a movement that gets on with this task and puts its energy into building strategic partnerships in all directions to make these things happen. It is therefore perhaps worth considering appealing to local governments, community and business interests for the implementation of initiatives that are good for the climate system and good for the economy at the same time. Successful implementation of climate solutions will help to strengthen policy options and demonstrate to governments that they can afford to adopt more ambitious national and international policy goals.

Examples of cost negative low carbon innovation:

• Energy efficiency
• Waste-to-energy (biogas, biomass electricity)
• Renewable energy generation
• Carbon forestry
• Reducing energy demand

I am working in this space and encourage others to do so as well.

Sean Weaver is the founder and host of Ekodo – a professional development life-skills programme for compassionate agents of change. He lives in Wellington. See the Ekodo Facebook group here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47683391767

Sean is also a climate change solutions consultant through his business Carbon Partnership.

Tags: green economy