What's With The Climate? » climate change

The Leh Cloud Burst: a First-Hand Account

Linkesh Diwan — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:47:25 +0000

Midnight, August 6, 2010: “Link, wake up! Water is coming in from the roof!” My mother and I were in Leh, Ladakh, staying at “Eco-Homestay,” the house of Mr. Sonam Gyatso and family, in Lower Sankar. The house was made in a hybrid of traditional and modern construction techniques: the main hall in the house was concrete, while rooms surrounding it were made of sun-dried mud bricks, and roofed with Poplar beams, a mesh of willow branches, and a thick pad of fine clay-like mud. The house incorporated passive solar building techniques, such as a direct-gain room, and a Trombe wall, and had solar-powered lighting. It had been raining since evening, and by midnight the clay roof was saturated and began to leak.

We were in Leh for the express purpose of meeting with Helena Norberg-Hodge, the founder of the International Society for Ecology and Culture [http://www.isec.org.uk/], co-founder of the International Forum on Globalization [http://www.ifg.org/], founder of the Ladakh Ecological Development Group [http://ledeg.org/], and founder of the Women’s Alliance, Ladakh. We had learned of her online, seeing an article of hers in CounterCurrents.org, and watching her video “Ancient Futures.” She is the only person who has critically witnessed the “development” of Ladakh, from complete self-sufficiency in an exceedingly fragile eco-system, to the disaster under which it writhes today. She has seen how “development” pulls people into a money economy, increases the distance between production and consumption, brings reliance on fossil fuels (especially apparent in Leh where fuel and commodities are trucked in over a hazardous two-day journey from lower altitudes), results in urbanization and rural-urban migration, and brings psychological impoverishment to the people it is inflicted upon. For 35 years, she has been working to bring safe, stable, and ecologically sound development to the region through her organizations. Her work today, no longer limited to Ladakh, is focussed on spreading economic literacy among people throughout the planet, educating about the deeper impacts of globalization and today’s consumer mono-culture. Garnered from her years of observation and research, she has an important message for humanity today, which is what prompted us to go and meet her.

Rain is more or less foreign and new to Ladakh, as are tourists. People there say that it never rained in Ladakh, though records show an insignificant average annual rainfall of less than 3.5 inches. Villages exist like oases around rivers and tributaries, the only green in the otherwise rocky, arid landscape. Geographically, Ladakh is situated in the rain shadow of the Lower Himalayan mountains. Water for drinking and irrigation in Ladakh comes from glacier melt, which was historically replenished every year by winter snowfall. Today, anyone in Ladakh — even children — can tell you their memories of large glaciers, now only tiny silver slivers on the tops of massive black mountains in the distance. Going and gone are the pure waters that came from those glaciers. Each generation, and now each year, looks toward the mountains apprehensively, watching their water supply — their life-blood — melt away.

Before bed, Stanzin Tashi, Mr. Gyatso’s son, had been playing with my camera, trying to take pictures of the lightening. It was a ferocious storm, with constant, menacing thunder, and an incessant volley of lightening up and down the valley. The whole family was a little nervous, since they had never seen such a storm before. Mom and I weren’t particularly worried, having experienced tropical storms in Kerala. Only later did we realize that tropical storms belong in the tropics, not the highest mountain desert of the world.

Ladakh, at an altitude of 3,500 meters, is geographically considered to be part of the Tibetan Plateau. They do have violent storms there, usually very brief and very destructive hailstorms, which come few and far-between. In the winter, there is lots of snow, and it is so cold that the schools give a three month holiday. People cluster around little stoves in the center of each room, burning wood and dung to keep warm. As shown in Helena Norberg-Hodge’s book “Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh,” (watch the movie online for free at: http://bit.ly/bIOl2B) traditional Ladakh had a completely sustainable life-style. The people were self-sufficient in all their needs: food, water, and warmth. For thousands of years, life had continued there more or less undisturbed by foreign cultures, even though the valley was a focal point for traders travelling the Silk Route, and traders from Tibet and China. Everything about life in Ladakh had a view toward the future generations; resources were shared and balanced, ensuring that they were never depleted, and the population was self-regulated to ensure enough for everyone. There were no squalid poor, no filthy rich. The people were strong, honest, and trustworthy. Only recently has all of this changed, as “modern world culture” invades and converts people to it’s individual-centric, greedy, consumerist ways.

As I awoke, I noticed water pouring down the walls, and saw that the storm was still in full force. Mr. Gyatso and I went up to the roof and started bailing with a dustpan and a bucket. Gradually the rain died down, and we removed most of the standing water. By around 3 AM, the rain had subsided, the storm had moved farther down the valley, and the roof was no longer dripping; we went to sleep.

Prayer Wheels near the Leh Gate.

Two nights previous, Nubra (a nearby town) had suffered significant damage from a cloud burst, and radio had reported some 12 deaths. On the morning of the 6th, the radio was silent and phones unresponsive, so Mr. Gyatso went out to take stock of the situation. When he came back, he was in shock. ”The BSNL office, the Bus Stand, the Hospital, everything below the [entrance to Leh] gate… all gone.” That’s all he could say. He had never seen anything like it, nor had anyone else in living memory. (The entrance to Leh is grandly decorated by a colorful and ornate Buddhist gate over the road, with prayer wheels and chortens on either side.) Apparently, a cloud-burst had happened in a ravine above the Leh Gate, causing a huge torrent of water to rush down the ravine into the road, picking up stones, mud, bricks, cars, people, and houses as it went. All communication channels were taken out — no electricity, no telephone, no radio, no internet.

The remains of the BSNL office. I'm told that it was quite a large building. All communications were knocked out.

Many of the fatalities have been blamed on poor planning: due to the mad influx of “development” to the region, many houses were built in places where, traditionally, no building should stand. We call it “tradition” and scoff at it, but in truth we are mocking a set of codes that have been developed and refined for thousands of years. A Ladakhi saying goes to the effect that “Water must have it’s way,” essentially, that the flow of water must not be blocked. Had this simple command been heeded, much of the destruction could have been avoided, but today’s globalization pattern eschews and destroys anything and everything that doesn’t fit the consumer mono-culture — it ignores the Earth upon which it stands.

A car smashed against a building destroyed in the flood. Helena Norberg-Hodge is visible in this photo.

Mom immediately swung into action, and she and I headed out by 9 AM with a shovel, some water, willing hearts, and two hands each. When we got to the gate, we saw unbelivable devastation. The flood had left behind mud about a story deep, buried houses, toppled steel-and-concrete structures four stories high, crunched cars… it was much like the Tsunami of 2004 in South East Asia. Numb with shock, a crowd of people were helping a JCB (backhoe) dig at the top of the pile, looking for survivors. We helped there a bit, then continued down the hill towards the hospital. The destruction became more and more massive as we went. The air was dry, causing passing vehicles to raise clouds of dust from the now-dry mud.

We later heard opinions expressed that the traditional mud-brick construction of the majority of the houses which were destroyed was responsible for the deaths; had it been modern cement and steel, they say, the houses would have remained. On the ground, however, next to a four story cement and steel structure that had half toppled over, was a single story mud-brick house that had received the full brunt of the flow but was still standing. Not that it made a difference: people in both structures died in the deep flow of mud, but the difference in structural integrity was astonishing, and is worth taking note.

This building is two or three stories tall (not sure because I haven't seen it before this), and the mud surrounding it is up to the top story.

As we continued down the path that the water had taken (we were walking on the mud left behind, between four and six feet above normal ground level) we went past the municipal buildings, the location of the destroyed BSNL office, and down towards the hospital. The destructive power of fast-flowing water is amazing: bulldozers and road rollers had been piled up against a fence; four buses were smashed into the back of a building; a water tanker was driven up a satellite dish; the bus stand was cleared; Innovas, Santros, Qualis’s, Sumos, all were strewn around the landscape, crushed sometimes beyond recognition; houses were wiped out without a trace. We are sure that every time we walked on that mud, we were walking over dead bodies.

Reaching the new hospital building, we joined the people working there. The construction of this three story building had been just finished, it’s plumbing and electrical was almost done, and miraculously, it had survived the flood. The ground floor was full of mud about two feet deep, and patients were already being brought in from the old, single-story, mud-filled hospital. Mom went up to see what she could do in the wards, while I joined some people clearing the mud for streachers and other equipment. Another major miracle: the hospital’s drug and equipment store room had been untouched, as had the only petrol pump in Leh, about 100 meters farther down.

This is the new hospital building. Note the height of the mud on the sides: over one story high.

A fire truck was positioned near the hospital, and supplied water to wash off the various pieces of equipment that were salvaged from the old wards: oxygen and nitrogen tanks, suction machines, X-Ray machines, beds, streachers, etc. Once washed, the equipment was dried and immediately put to use. After a bit, I too went to the wards, and got involved in dressing wounds. Most of the patients had full-body cuts and scrapes, about 90% of their skin scratched or missing, with head injuries, and many broken ribs.

Many of the patients were Bihari. Did you imagine that only tourists went to Ladakh? There are almost as many Bihari laborers in Leh as there are Ladakhis! Due to the economics of globalization, the poor Bihari has become the laborer for the rest of India, going to the most remote corners of the country, slaving for cash to send to his farming village, so that they can buy food that they can’t grow, as their fields are filled with mono crops meant for the export market. It continues to amaze me that farmers, who produce the only truly essential commodity, are taught to see their profession as backward, and are cheated into living in the money economy as poor, starved skeletons. Squeezing the rural poor is good for the GDP, however, since it creates a large, cheap labor pool, which encourages construction, which generates investment opportunities for the rich. ”To he that have shall be given, and from he that have not, shall be taken even that which he has.” The “poor” (”undeveloped”) had culture, now even that is being taken away by today’s globalized, greed-based corporatocracy.

Choglamsar, a town about 7 kilometers down the valley from Leh, was worst hit — reports said it was mostly wiped out. For several hours that morning, army lorries were bringing up loads of dead bodies every 10 minutes, and an unfinished shopping complex was turned into a temporary morgue, after the official one, and another hall, had filled up. The bridges and roads to other villages were completely wiped out, making the only escape for tourists in those parts a three day trek. A friend of ours who had gone trekking just before the disaster told us (when she finally made it back, days later) that the Ladakhi social fabric is still sufficiently intact, despite the onslaught of modernization, that families in the town she was in were opening their guesthouses free of charge for people whose homes were destroyed. Helena Norberg-Hodge, in a message she wrote to Ladakhis at this time observed that if such hospitality could be extended throughout the region, than the huge amounts of money that is usually spent for conventional emergency relief could be saved and put to better use. What better response than a community response? Low-cost, highly efficient, localized, and personal; that is the way of the future.

From Mrs. Norberg-Hodge, we learned that in Buddhism, as in Sanathana Dharma, there is an emphasis on accepting change, part of the reason that “development,” and the associated impoverishment of people has been readily accepted in Ladakh and throughout India. However, today’s change is not natural, evolutionary change, it is change that is actively brought about due to an economic structure that is destroying human civilization. Globalization is truly the spread of consumerism and an economically unsound mono-culture. In her film, “The Economics of Happines,” Helena Norberg-Hodge points to our common misconception of globalization, that it is about increasing international understanding and collaboration. Today’s globalized economies import and export about the same amount of each commodity, creating a needless increase in transportation. Need is manufactured, and products created to fill that need, leading to a gigantic, senseless waste of resources. Helena showed us how apples in the UK were flown to South Africa for washing and waxing, and then flown back for sales. The recent shutdown due to volcanic ash in Europe demonstrated the perilous aspects of the global economy. Consumerism is exported and expounded to all parts of the planet, impoverishing truly rich, though “undeveloped” people. All of this leads to an increase in the usage (wastage?) of energy worldwide, heating our Earth, polluting our water, killing our soil. When we speak of the world’s regions most vulnerable to climate change, islands and beaches top the list, but this experience in Ladakh convinces me that all places on Mother Earth are equally, and extremely, endangered.

The next two nights, the Government issued a warning, telling all people to leave their houses and congregate at higher ground, and many people went to the tops of nearby ridges. As it was, people were jumpy and nervous; several times during the day, on mere rumors, people ran up the mountainsides fearing more flooding. The shock and grief of everyone in Leh was palpable. We met many people who told us that their whole family had been washed away… The family we were staying with climbed up to the Shanti Stupa, which is built on a small rocky hillock. Both nights we got back from the hospital, they were already gone, and we had no idea that this warning was issued, so we slept in our beds, somewhat nervous, but not knowing what else to do. By God’s Grace there was nothing more than mild rain!

Since all roads were damaged (sections washed away, blocked by mudslides, bridges gone), the only way out was the airport. Airlines were operating extra flights out of the Leh Airport, and everyone who could was trying to get out. The embassies of various countries had requested all their people to evacuate. Any ticket was valid for any flight (if you waited in line for a free seat). As our seats were confirmed for the 12th, we decided to wait and help in the hospitals until we left. We were grateful to be useful at such a time. We took photos of the patients to show Holy Mother Amma for her blessing when we got back, and she saw them on the night of the 13th.

A picture of the Candlelight Procession.

Ladakh has been an interesting case-in-point since it was opened to “modernization” in 1975. It is a microcosm of what happens to a people, culture, and ecology, when the consumer mono-culture and globalization hits it without consideration of ancient wisdoms for living with Mother Earth, and regulated intelligent development. The crises that has now hit Ladakh will, most unfortunately, hit again and again, and is not necessarily confined to Ladakh. If humankind does not learn from the increasing incidence of natural and man-made disasters, we have nothing to look forward to but mass extinction. If we seek to change our ways, the only real way to look is towards Localization — the bringing together of producer and consumer, and the creation of ethically-oriented communities, not to be confused with backwardness and isolationism. We need to think globally, and live locally, if we seek genuine development —true globalization.

Candles at the end of the procession.

On the 11th night, the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) organized a candle light march from the petrol pump at the bottom of the hill to the LBA grounds in the Leh Market, in prayerful support of the people affected. Vehicles were stopped to limit the dust, but the wind blasted everyone with it anyway. Going down to the hospital before it started, clouds were gathering quite menacingly at the head of the valley, and it looked as if it was raining heavily in the next valley over, causing no slight misgivings among all the people! We bid farewell to all our friends in the hospital, and joined the march by the Leh gate. Angmo-le, Mr. Gyatso’s wife, was with us and sang a beautiful Buddhist chant as we went, as did many other groups. The procession culminated at the top of Market Road, placing all the candles in a circle, with everyone’s collective prayers for peace and harmony.

Video of the Candlelight Procession.

The following morning we flew out of the valley, over the majestic mountains, and down into Delhi. Personally, I was quite sad to leave the mountains; they are so beautiful and make easy a constant recall of the great power of God.

The tremendous loss of life in Ladakh is clearly a direct result of climate change, which in turn, is a direct result of the spread of economic globalization and with it the energy-intensive human and agricultural monoculture. As we are all aware, the floods that started in Ladakh continued down the Indus River, now displacing 13 million people in Pakistan. Submerging much of the Sindh area, it has become the biggest natural disaster in recent history. We were grateful to be able to render practical support and service to the great people of Ladakh, and pray that humans return to a loving and respectful relationship to each other and to Mother Earth, before it is too late.

It’s good not to be a tourist, it’s much more real to be family.

Credits: Much of the information in this article has been gained from our interactions with Helena Norberg-Hodge. See also: “Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh” by Helena Norberg-Hodge, and www.TheEconomicsOfHappiness.org

Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College aims for Carbon Neutrality

What's With The Climate? — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:49:04 +0000

On August 6th, the Climate Change Group (CCG) of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, in association with Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) organized a plantation activity in collaboration with the District Forest Office, Ludhiana. 585 students planted saplings individually in the campus of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College with the message, “Plant a TREE: Join Your Hands to Make GNE Carbon Free!”

Dr. MS Saini (Director), Dr. HS Rai (Dean – Testing & Consultancy), Dr. JN Jha (HOD – Civil) and Pr. YS Brar (Dean – Student’s Welfare) inaugrated the drive by planting a sapling. Dr. HS Rai – Chairman, CCG, elaborated on the effects of global warming and motivated the young entrants to professional college to play its role in countering global warming.

Students of the Climate Change Group at GNEC planting a sapling

Event coordinator Gurmehar Singh on behalf of CCG & IYCN discussed the importance of “youth participation to combat climate change.” Students joined hands with great enthusiasm to make GNEDC green by planting 585 saplings at various locations in the campus. “Our GNDEC already has a large green belt, this will be certainly a great addition to it,” said one of the first year students. The Climate Change Group also promised to organise such activities in and around Ludhiana in near future.

Leh Cloud Burst caused by Global Warming

What's With The Climate? — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:29:08 +0000

Photo: AFP

LEH cloudburst was an impact of global warming, feel scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. They said extreme events have been increasing in monsoon season due to warming.

“The normal average temperature of the Northern Hemisphere is 15 degrees Celsius. However, it has been observed that it has gone up to 15.7 degrees Celsius. The low pressure areas shifted to North-West due to warming that helped the monsoon winds reach Leh area, which generally gets very low rainfall even compared to dry places in Rajasthan,” said Nityanand Singh, a senior scientist at IITM.

He said the mixing of cool dry continental polar air from north and warm moist meritime tropical monsoon air from south resulted in the cloudburst. “Such phenomenon were observed during Mahabharat era when the average temperature of the hemisphere had gone up to 16 degree Celsius,” he said.

Singh said this year Pakistan, China, Tibet, Manchuria and most of the North West countries have been experiencing such extreme phenomena. “This is the impact of global warming on monsoon rainfall in South-East Asia,” he said.

Another senior scientist at IITM, J R Kulkarni, also said it has been observed that extreme events have been increasing in monsoon season. “We will study the Leh cloudburst at IITM as it was a rare phenomenon,” he said.

Kulkarni said when the cloudburst occurred in Leh, easterly winds were blowing in the area. “Convective system was formed over the region which started the rainfall. The clouds may have been 10 to 15 km in the depth that caused intense rains,” said Kulkarni.

He said such phenomenon occurs in deserts too.

When it was raining heavily in old Leh city, the Leh air force station only a few km away received only 12 mm rainfall. “The rain gauge at Leh air force station recorded only 12 mm rainfall. Since cloudburst is a localised event, it can happen.

However, we do not have the exact figures of rainfall since there was no rain gauge in that area,” said Kulkarni.

He said in mountain areas such as Leh installing network of automatic weather stations and radars is necessary. “Radars can observe the development of clouds every six minutes and warn of any calamity at least three hours before it happens. It can minimise the losses,” he said.

Original Post by Siddharth Kelkar from Indian Express

Celebrating Friendship Day with Trees (IYCN Chhattisgarh)

Kartikeya Singh — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:51:54 +0000

The Chhattisgarh team in the IYCN Office, New Delhi

Nature Bodies had started as a vibrant eco-group of young people studying in schools of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. They invest their time and soul in what they do best – maintaining the fragile ecological balance and restoring the natural beauty lost to urbanisation and modernisation (in their localities). Nature Bodies has earned a many accolades and much appreciation in India and abroad for their innovative projects which include solving the traffic chaos in their city, cleaning up the lake of water hyacinth using an insect, vermi-composting, starting a medicinal garden in a school, and conducting tree plantation drives among many other things. As a closely bonded group full of enthusiasm, they have been well-mentored by their environmental studies teacher, Mr. Panu Halder. He has been running this group since 1999 against all odds. Under his valuable and creative guidance, several students have been a part of nature bodies and still continue to be.

In June 2010, Nature Bodies decided to scale up their activities in Chhattisgarh using the larger platform of IYCN and joined the network. An IYCN Chhattisgarh Advisory Council has been established with students represented from nearby towns such as Pendra, Raipur, Bhilai, etc. The group began with a massive membership drive and organised a launch event for the IYCN Chhattisgarh Advisory Council on Friday July 30, 2010. The event was attended by over 250 students from different parts of Chhattisgarh as well as teachers. The RJ of radio station 94.3 “My FM” Bilaspur, Mr. Anupam, was the chief guest. His message to the gathering was to organize more environmental activities and for a call unity in efforts.

Friendship Day with Trees, Chhattisgarh

Since June the team has organised a whole set of activites including most recently, celebrating Friendship Day with the trees. Banners were made by hand and were tied to the trees symbolically saying, “trees are our friends” calling for their care just like they care for us. Moving forward, a state-wide “green transport campaign” has been planned on the eve of independence day (August 15) in which everyone in the state, from ministers and senior government officials to teachers and students, will be using bicycles to commute.

Srikakulam Tragedy: Where Fishermen turn into Beggers

Kartikeya Singh — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:55:22 +0000

Corruption runs deep as the lush wetland region of Srikakulam was cited as a “wasteland” in a detailed project report (DPR) for the construction of a mega power plant in the area. India is signatory to an international treaty called the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands which seeks to preserve these dwindling habitats rich in biodiversity and extremely important for a host of ecological services that they provide. How does one classify a wetland as a wasteland? This is no simple mistake. The fact that this project has advanced as far as it has, is a tragedy for India. 2,500 inland fishermen are without jobs as a result of bunds being created and wetlands being filled in. They are turning to begging. Is this the future we want?

Who will Win the Great Power Race?

Kartikeya Singh — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:03:25 +0000

Cartagena Dialogue Provides Breath of Fresh Air

Kartikeya Singh — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:14:23 +0000

“There is nothing wrong with being helped to go on living. And that is what this[climate change] issue is all about,” stated a senior official from the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia. I am at a ministerial gathering of 28 nations of the Cartagena Group/Dialogue for Progressive Action convening in the beautiful island of Bandos in the Republic of Maldives. The participants are from Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Malawi, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Samoa, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Uruguay, UK and the European Commission. The Cartagena Group/Dialogue is an informal space, open to all countries that want ambitious and comprehensive outcomes in the UNFCCC, and that are committed, domestically to becoming or remaining low carbon. These are “forward looking” countries, willing to work positively and proactively together within and across regional and UNFCCC groups. The aim of the Group/Dialogue is to openly discuss the reasoning behind each other’s positions and to explore areas where convergence and enhanced joint action could emerge. That is precisely what I see happening.

A representative from an industrialized nation stated clearly, “don’t push us, [to be even more ambitious] or you are not going to like it.” While the words may seem a little jarring, that was not the intent. The purpose was to make clear that negotiators and country representatives sent to UNFCCC talks can only do so much as they are at the mercy of the political winds of the countries they represent and might suffer backlash from voters. It reaffirms that if large industrialized (and rapidly emerging) economies are to take strong action, it requires the majority of the citizens of those countries to have the will. And while we witnessed the lack of political will to pass through climate and energy legislation before the congressional mid-term elections in the United States this week, countries small and large gathered at Cartagena have provided a glimmer of hope, giving a breath of life to the stale atmosphere that lingers within the UNFCCC post Copenhagen. The truth is that the stiff negotiating environment of the UNFCCC rarely allows for a common space for understanding country positions and barriers to creating a comprehensive agreement. This is especially true given such forums are reduced to a debate over choice of words in what is essentially a legal contract. This is the second meeting of the Cartagena Group/Dialogue with regular meetings planned in the future. The arrival of this group is also important as Copenhagen revealed that even large groupings such as the G-77 are beginning to fracture due to the rise of BASIC. The latter’s demands conflict with many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developing Countries (LDCs) who are calling for a 350 ppm or 1.5 degree Celsius warming target. It remains unclear what future groupings could be like within the UNFCCC and there is no formal “Cartagena Group.” The current impasse in the UNFCCC requires new alliances and I suspect with time, a “G-X” will emerge to break the deadlock.

Ethiopia, a nation that is often recalled for chilling images of the devastation from the droughts and famines of the mid-1980s, has announced its commitment at this event to become carbon neutral by 2025. The nation, which can be considered a cradle of humanity’s agricultural experimentation and development had only 5% of its original forest cover remaining in tact by the early 20th century has seen that percentage grow to approximately 30% today. Last year, it planted 7 billion saplings, second only to China. Joining it in this commitment was the small pacific island of Samoa which pledged to become carbon neutral by 2020. The Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda pledged that the tiny Caribbean island nation would slash its emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020. Costa Rica and the Maldives also reaffirmed their commitments to go carbon neutral by 2021 and 2020 respectively. And while no industrialized country has yet made such a commitment, Norway is developing its own carbon neutral plan for the year 2030.

The Cartagena Group/Dialogue will continue to discuss ways to deepen and enhance access to carbon markets for all nations, leverage the finance commitments from Copenhagen, and tackle MRV structuring (the measuring, reporting and verification component of mitigation commitments). All of this is in hopes that Cancun can pave the way for a breakthrough at the Earth Summit in South Africa in 2012. “While expectations for Cancun might not be high, we certainly cannot lower ambition.” The Cartagena Group gathered here in one of the most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts made that clear.

IYCN Hyderabad Turns One

What's With The Climate? — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:24:53 +0000

350 Global Day of Action, October 24, 2009, Charminar, Hyderabad

This June, the IYCN chapter in Hyderabad turned one! One year of climate campaigns and workshops and an immense amount of learning for any and every member of IYCN in the city! Hyderabad is labelled a lazy city for many reasons but when the need arises to address an issue that is close to the heart of the city, one will not find more passion and concern than in Hyderabadis.This is not intended to be a progress report for the IYCN Hyd chapter and its activities but rather an opportunity for us to narrate our experiences that the Hyderabad team enjoyed last year and what lies in the year ahead.

From the first Hyderabad Youth Summit on Climate in June 2009, that proved to be the launchpad for kicking off IYCN’s activities in the city, it has been a rollercoaster ride for many of the members. Andhra Pradesh has seen a recent flurry of organizations and activities that are addressing different environmental issues. Besides the veterans like WWF, CSA, Greenpeace, DDS, APNGC et al, new bodies and networks like the Andhra Pradesh Environment Connect, Lets unite for a greener tomorrow, SOUL, Planet 3 protection alliance and a multitude of small environment clubs across schools, colleges and corporate campuses have added to the variety and diversity to the people and the ways deployed to tackle the environmental crises. This is evidence enough of growing awareness and people taking up action irrespective of any support from the Govt. or otherwise.

The campaigns and workshops we organized brought us closer to organizations and individuals from various backgrounds and it is always wonderful to recollect the fact that a majority of the people out there are concerned about the issues we fight for and are only waiting for the push that will come through mobilization and/or being an example of change ourselves. This aspect runs across the country and is one of the major reasons for IYCN to begin engaging people beyond campaigns and get into projects and influencing policy at different levels of Govt. operation. It is always easy to convert the cynicism that proliferates the status quo into a element of motivation and encouragement when we work in a team and look at the examples of change that people are busy creating around us. Often quoted examples of Pragati Nagar in the city that banned plastic in the entire colony or the first green commercial (CII-GBC) and residential green building from Hyderabad remain positive influences for many young groups which need to see and understand the possibilities out there.

Most if not all the members of the chapter are young people who are exposed to an incredible amount of information and activities happening across the world. With communication becoming global and easier, one can expect to find a sense of dissonance and delusion to the events of our time amongst the youth. A changing climate does not merely change the temperatures but affects the political, economical and social spheres in many unknown ways. This is a crucial aspect that IYCN Hyderabad works on by networking and working with different organizations that are not necessarily working on climate change at the surface. Events around Bhopal, contemporary media, human rights, peoples struggles, energy issues and a lot more. Sensitization aside, this gives the person a holistic experience and an opportunity to piece things together and view them in relation to climate change.

2010 and the years ahead hold a lot of promise with new teams settling in and new opinions and ideas entering the organization and we have moved into a new office as well. IYCN Hyderabad with the Great Power Race is aiming high to reach out to campuses across the city and create massive awareness that will definitely result in a few projects being executed on the ground. Communication is one of the major focuses this year and employing innovative ways of communication through art, audio, video are underway. Documentation can always be an Achilles heal for NGOs that fail to record their activities and to avoid that, documentation of all activities meetings will be done through effective and innovative means for benefits in the future. Partnering with more organizations and continuing to explore and understand new areas that find a relation to climate change will be a key focus for the team here. IYCN recently started a chapter in Kakinada and that gives us immense pride.

Ideas are endless but with the aim of structuring and institutionalizing our work, a long term and a focused approach will be adopted to sustain the organization and its key activities. IYCN Hyderbad is always open to new people with new ideas and an interest in anything under the sun. You could love football, enjoy watching the stars or just wish to sit quiet, we have a need for you and we know how you can help protect the environment and become a part of our global network. Here’s to more learning and more action!

Petrol Subsidy Removal an Opportunity?

Kartikeya Singh — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:08:31 +0000

Image Courtesy Rediff Business

A long awaited and perhaps much needed realignment of national petroleum product prices with the international markets was announced today. The cost of petrol will increase by Rs. 3.75 per litre, kerosene by Rs. 3 a litre, and LPG costs will rise by Rs. 35 per cylinder. While petroleum prices are freed, diesel prices are to rise by Rs. 2 per litre and it remains to be seen when if at all, its prices will also be freed to align with international markets.

This has caused some tension within the UPA government and many are claiming that the “common man” will suffer the most. Watching the news tonight, I could not help but notice that all the people being interviewed on television were residents of urban metro areas (namely Delhi). Most of them seemed to be quite well to do and were filling up their tanks at petrol pumps while being interviewed. While many of them complained of the price hike and took the side of the “common man,” some were in support of the increase, citing that the government is overburdened by the subsidies (the burden it is to be relieved of is approximately Rs. 24,000 crore annually in petroleum product subsidies).

BRT Corridor, New Delhi

While watching the dialog, I had a bit of deja vu. In 2008, when the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) corridor opened up in Delhi for trial runs, there was a great outcry from this same class of the people, highlighted in the mainstream media. Not enough attention was given to the “common man’s” benefit from a more efficient, extensive, and properly planned public transportation system. In an independent survey conducted by a coalition of civil society groups, it was revealed that many “common” citizens (those who did not own private vehicles but instead rode on buses, walked, or used bicycles) were actually in support of the BRT. It is unfair to say that the middle class will not be impacted and that the price of commodities and services will not rise in the near future due to their reliance on petroleum for transport and processing. Yet, we must find within this decision, the opportunities to free our nation from the hydrocarbon-trap. The government simply cannot keep subsidizing these fuels.

We must look at this subsidy removal in three ways: 1) its potential to spur investment in, and the greater use of public transportation and 2) the potential of private industries to seek renewable energy solutions to meet their needs (thereby increasing investment in the renewable energy sector) and 3) an opportunity rapidly deploy decentralized energy systems for rural areas and the “common man” which is dependent on kerosene for cooking and most importantly, for lighting.

Railways transport and urban mass transit systems are poised to gain from this hike in prices. Should our cities focus on integrated transportation plans with seamless connectivity (i.e., between a metro and a BRT) and comfort, it might allow for the capturing of more commuters who currently use private vehicles. Companies like Infosys in Bangalore have already had a hand in shaping their cities transit plans and seek to gain from the improved productivity of their employees through decreased and hassle free commuting time. It is hoped that this subsidy removal coupled with the steady signals from the central government on climate and energy policy, will help strengthen private investments in the renewable energy sector.

Biogas plant in Kerala, photo credit: Bob Spicer, Open University

Finally, we arrive to the plight of the “common man” in the form of LPG and kerosene use. With approximately 400 million people in the countryside still living without access to electricity, the monthly ration of 3 to 4 litres of kerosene goes a long way in providing for lighting needs. It has been argued for some time, that the subsidy for kerosene could perhaps be switched for solar lanterns, or solar home lighting systems–thereby switching to a cleaner more sustainable fuel. Why not use this opportunity to strengthen research and development in the solar industry and scale up deployment of solar lighting systems for those villages and hamlets where grid extension will never be feasible? Similarly, research and development of family-type biogas plants stopped in the 1970’s with the last innovation being a modified Chinese technology called the Deenbhandhu model. Is the hike in LPG and kerosene (where it is used for cooking) also not an opportunity to renew our efforts in maximizing the vast bio-energy potential of the country?

There is a lot to be said. Let the debating begin!

Great Power Race: Race for the future

Chaitanya Kumar — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:03:15 +0000

The world has witnessed another earth day go by and another environment day breeze past us with little or no difference to the day next. Symbolic actions for environment and climate have come a long way in the world with increasing participation from public and more pressure on the leaders, but Govt.’s across the world are still callous and work in denial of the environmental crises the world is currently undergoing. The Copenhagen conference is an example of the gross injustice perpetrated on the people of this world. The youth from India, China and the US have seen their nations fumble and falter at important negotiations and act for their own narrowed interests. The gauntlet has been thrown to the public and we need to be ready to take it up. It is time for climate solutions and the power of communities and groups to implement them with or without Govt. intervention. We are witnessing signs of it with key nations racing for clean energy and the examples are here

“Asian Nations Could Outpace U.S. in Developing Clean Energy” – The Washington Post, Jul 7, 2009
“Obama Says U.S. Must Win Clean-Energy Race” – The Los Angeles Times, Oct 24, 2009
“China surges ahead of U.S. in clean energy race” – The Hindu, Mar 26, 2010
“China leads world in clean energy investment” – The People’s Daily Online, Mar 29, 2010

The Great Power Race (GPR) is a clean energy competition between universities and other college/school campuses in India, China and the US. The aim is to kick-start hundreds of new climate solution projects on campuses and in communities in all three countries and to demonstrate to governments and businesses our generation’s leadership in transforming our world towards a green economy.

From installing compost pits to solar panels to changing light bulbs to growing local food, campus teams are encouraged and trained to take up various projects that reduce their dependence on dirty fossil fuel and emit less greenhouse gases. The competition is a one of its kind where teams will be allowed to communicate with each other across nations and share best practices thereby learning and understanding the differences and challenges of executing clean energy projects.

The Indian Youth Climate Network, Chinese youth climate action network, Energy action coalition and 350.org are the main organizers of the competition in the three countries. The competition is in 4 phases and will last till April 2011. Phase I ends by June 30th and the race is on for the maximum registrations from countries. Phase II involves training and execution of projects with the winners being declared in Cancun, Mexico during COP16 and the final two phases will accept more registrations and the winners will be declared in mid 2011. Eminent personalities in the field of environment from all three countries will be chosen to judge the projects and an elaborate point system has been designed to evaluate projects across various criteria.

The Indian youth climate network, a registered society working on issues of climate change and sustainable development is the main organizer of GPR in India. With a wide network amongst youth in the country, IYCN aims at helping support multiple climate solution projects in India.

Campus teams can register or follow the race at www.greatpowerrace.org or www.facebook.com/greatpowerrace and please help spread the word to your friends, family and the world.

These Days On Earth

Kartikeya Singh — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:09:43 +0000

Lightning strikes the ash cloud rising from the E. Volcano in Iceland

April 22, 2010 marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. I reflected on the stories of the first earth day initiated by Gaylord Nelson. The atmosphere was much different back then with environmentalists organizing national “teach-ins” in the United States to educate the public and companies about environmental issues. People boycotted companies blaming them and consumerism for much of the harm caused to the planet. Today, earth day has entered the mainstream and is celebrated everywhere including the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This is a celebration that there is finally a market for environmental goods and services, brought about through a decades long battle waged by environmentally conscious citizens wanting a cleaner planet through responsible consumerism. While we all took one day to celebrate the earth this year as we do every year, I chose not to express my thoughts on April 22nd, 2010. Instead, I’ve chosen days later to make a point: earth day should be every day. Though it serves as an important reminder to us about our planet, earth day as we have come to know it was initiated at a crucial point at the start of the modern environmental movement. Today, we need more than just one day, we need each and every day. We have to embody the spirit of the planet in every decision that we make.

Just two days ago I sat across the table from Donald Worster, considered to be the father of the discipline of environmental history. I could not help but think about the history of mankind’s relationship to the planet. I read with great curiosity about Earth Day and the United States’ struggle to come to terms with its domestic environmental challenges. No, there are no burning Cuyahoga Rivers today, and the legendary smogs of the 1960’s in the United States are a distant memory. And yet while the US can claim to have won many battles domestically, it has failed to address many global problems (the Montreal Protocol being the exception). Many say that history repeats itself. Thousands of miles away, rising economies like India, China and Brazil are struggling to ensure that they do not repeat the same mistakes of the United States in their efforts to “industrialize.” I am not sure that they are succeeding. Maybe we in India are only taking history lessons from the industrial era or industrialized places.

Humans have been known to create healthier environments in some parts of the world. Many indigenous communities in the Amazon and in parts of Africa have been known to increase nutrient contents of soils in the areas they inhabit thereby creating “dark earths.” These nutrient rich areas can have greater diversity of flora and fauna as compared to the surrounding environment. This is an example of environmental infrastructuring: changing the natural environment for the betterment of not only the community but for the ecosystem at large. It could be argued that without the presence of these communities the ecological diversity might be lower and that humans are in a sense functioning like key stone species–vital to the environment.

When was the last time that you could say that we humans are vital to the survival of planet earth? BBC recently had an interview with scientist James Lovelock where he stated that saving the planet is a “lot of nonsense. If it’s going to be saved, it will do so itself, as it always has.” He distinguishes this very clearly from the saving of human civilization on planet earth and the saving of the planet itself. In a recent research project I have learned about the work of a member of the IPCC, Professor Lindzen of MIT, and his hypothesis of an “Iris Effect.” The hypothesis is remarkable in that it suggests that in response to the increased global temperature from climate change, the planet is producing less cirrus clouds (the thin ones high in the atmosphere) that are vital to the flux of the planet’s heat radiation. In a sense the planet is attempting to regulate its own temperature in response to climate change. Tying this into Lovelock’s famous “Gaia hypothesis,” we can see how the planet may be functioning as a living breathing organism. At first I became excited at the thought that we may be out of the climate disaster and that there may be hope after all. But unfortunately, Lindzen does not account for the fact that the increased heat will make glaciers and ice caps melt resulting in rising ocean levels. Yes, perhaps with time the planet may resume some sort of a new balance, but not in my life time. Probably not in the life time of many generations to come.

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland recently serves as a very important reminder to us of the power of nature. Having grounded all flights out of northern Europe, that volcano has disrupted life for millions, yet given us greater pause as to the power of the planet than any one day out of the year possibly could. No. There is nothing wrong with Earth Day. However the challenge that confronts us requires us to celebrate the spirit of the earth every day through all our decisions. The challenge forces us to think about how we might serve as key stone species, vital to the planet’s biodiversity, not vice versa. That is how we make the most of our remaining days on earth. Happy Earth Day: May 1, 2010.

Aye you climate fool, wake up!

Chaitanya Kumar — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:18:43 +0000

Working in a youth organization that is striving hard to address a global issue, it has always intrigued me to witness first hand, some of the debates and arguments that young people have on the issue of Climate change in this highly inter connected world. Climate change has become synonymous with a lot of problems that plague the planet in the 21st century and this presents a vast framework to discuss and address serious issues that have now found a growing link to our climate.

While I sit and watch these debates, I cannot but feel the need to talk about the recent controversies that have surrounded the science behind climate change. I am not a scientist nor an expert on any science related to climate but these controversies and dilemmas certainly leave me to fetch for information and make up my mind! The climate gate scandal found an opportune moment to reveal itself just before the Copenhagen summit and the subsequent revelation of IPCC on its Himalayan blunder have only added to the voice of the climate skeptics. If we were to busy ourselves with refuting the refuters, the real issue of climate will never be addressed. A recent article in the Economist talks about the need for action more so because of the uncertainty in science to decipher the real nature of the problem.
All this leads to two simple questions in my mind. How does one gather accurate and unbiased opinion on critical issues? And how does one reconcile to the uncertainties that are unavoidable and identify key areas of work? Both these questions have risen from the fact that the elements that have made information accessibility easier have also given us the opportunity to present diverse and often contrasting opinions on an otherwise straightforward issue. The climate is definitely not simple but to a reader trapped in the world web of information, constantly bombarded by arguments and counter arguments, the dilemma is created and fortified every day. So what is right and what is wrong? What is fake and what is not?

So where do we get our information and how do we perceive it? Climate news to be specific is everywhere these days and thousands of organizations, web portals and media outlets have popped up in the last 2-5 years to occupy this new found advertising space. With the freedom to communicate in their choice words, the perception of the problem and how to tackle it, we are bound to expect misinformation, redundancy and sheer nonsense. The reader on the other end is taken for a ride and if his/her work depends on the accuracy of such information, we begin to see the trauma settling in. The ease at which information flows is sometimes shocking. The word virus gets a whole new meaning in this age where content creation is child’s play. An amusing yet baffling example is that of a woman MP in New Zealand who believed in an email hoax and wrote to the health minister to ban dihydrogen monoxide without realizing that it is plain water. Now one can easily imagine the embarrassment and the trauma of such a situation. Our perceptions are driven by multiple factors but wading through online trash to ultimately arrive at the truth is a tedious job that many are not prepared to take up. So how does one gather the right information? Is there a website or a hot line that one can access? Unfortunately, there is no one-stop-shop for all our information needs and there is no regulator to weed out misinformation. We are being made fools everyday but it is only up to us to remove the blinds on our minds!

The uncertainty in climate science will always prevail and while some sinister forces aim to detract any action on reducing emissions, the negative implications and the growing inequity of an unsustainable world are beyond doubt and this has to be the real basis for any action. Climate change is considered an umbrella to address many other grave issues and this aspect is vital in uniting voices against ill-intentioned skepticism. Development, inequity and justice are but a few issues that drive the moral and ethical argument under climate change and they need to be supported and persistent. And this is where I believe skepticism based on theories does not apply and cold reality that is irrefutable takes charge. One does not have to look far or depend on sketchy information to understand these ‘real’ issues, look keenly at your surroundings and it will all reveal itself.

“There is more to unlearn than learn for the current generation to tackle the existing problems”. This leads me to my second question of reconciliation and the focus area of work. What does an environmentalist, an activist, a student or any stakeholder in society do while addressing social evils? And how can banter be tackled that is rigorously working to keep your audience fooled? The simple answer again is to see the reality and speak about it in absolute terms. There are no two sides to social ailments and when one speaks out with conviction and belief that arise from upholding the truth, there is no skeptic that can bring them down.

On this fools day, I wish to open my mind to the real problems facing us and avoid getting defeated and fooled by the non-issues that are forced upon us.

Happy Fools Day!

It’s not the Science that Matters

Linkesh Diwan — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:17:36 +0000

As more and more writers cry foul, saying that our current way of life is fine, and the status quo is worthy of retention and worship, I feel that it is necessary to put the Science in perspective. The duty of Science is to find out why things that happen are happening, in the hope that if something is wrong, it can be corrected. As far as I’m concerned, things are wrong, and we can correct them. But writers of late have begun casting slurs on the name of Climate Science, saying that there is a conspiracy theory among millions of scientists all across the globe.

But while people debate whether it is right or wrong, we must remember that, after all, the Science of Climate Change does not matter that much.

What really matters is:

Monsoons are failing, crops are failing,
droughts are prevailing, along with floods.
People are hungry, children are wailing,
“development” is sucking our Earth’s blood.

I cannot drink the water in the streams,
nor eat the snow that falls from the sky,
some would have be believe that nothing has changed,
but I know that the worst is yet to pass by.

I visit the city and can’t see the next block,
the smog is choking, people’s hearts are locked.
In the countryside too, the problems exist:
people struggling hard, just to subsist.

The river that flows past my friend’s house,
once over his head, he remembers,
Is now but a brook, the flow only seasonal,
Ten years of change have thus rendered.

The rice which once grew aligned with the season,
now withers and dries before harvest.
The rain comes without pattern or reason,
lays waste to the crop and farmers divest.

Bees, the very pillar of food production,
are gone from a whole district in China,
are disappearing fast, abandoning their function
poisoned by our toxins in the clima.

The Coral, the treasure-chest of beauty and life,
is bleaching and dying before our eyes.
Killing ecosystems – do we have the right?
We don’t! Yet we do it; ask yourself “Why?”

“Develop!” is the cry of the bygone age.
It’s farce and inequity now bare,
To increase in prosperity at the expense of the Earth,
Is not just, not right, not kind, not fair.

To Survive we must remember that which sustains us,
and give thanks to the many on who’s efforts we live
From Aardvarks to Zorillas, they all live in service,
Creating the global web that our Ecosystem is.

Why do we, as humans, break the sacred chain,
create waste for which no other life has use?
Our chemicals are found everywhere, even in the rain,
our behaviour has become inter-species abuse!

Our plastics are choking the ocean,
smothering out huge swaths of life.
Toxic, inedible are the fish that lie therein,
among so many life forms deformity is rife!

Our style of living has a visible cost,
hidden only by our willfull blindness.
Cancer and disease, to us are now tossed,
our body’s symptoms of environmental unkindness.

The way to redemption is clear, clean, and pure,
“Simple Living, High Thinking” – true development for sure,
The rights of all people to eat, drink, live, and think,
The same for all is our duty to ensure.

I pray that this poem will have an effect:
Remember that life is not just to get.
Now you are here, now do you live,
But when you lie dying, you will think:
“What did I give?”

Reposted with Permission from Tale of Grace.com

Bin Laden – How to respond

Deepa — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:11:03 +0000

This has been crossposted from www.itsgettinghotinhere.org

Climategate was a well coordinated, strategic and devestating attack on the Copenhagen climate talks in December last year. With unprecedented moves from U.S. and China in the run-up, the world’s media and attention was hooked onto the alleged manipulation of data at the University of East Anglia. That stolen information framed the entire negotiations, and set it up for failure.

Today the prospect of a clean-energy economy faces a new threat.

Osama bin Laden has called for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States for climate change, according to a new audiotape released today. Right-wing media outlets including The Daily Telegraph, Drudge and Fox News, are already seizing on the al-Qaida leader’s comments. All this on the same day that the American administration formally announced it’s 2020 carbon targets, and a 39% increase in wind-power.

Those in the struggle for a clean-energy economy and safe climate future, should ask themselves why bin Laden would come out with this statement. This is the man who has shown no concern for human life, indeed revels in killing innocent people – why does he now care about rising sea-levels?

His plan is to drive the wedge between the climate cynics and climate activists even further, and it’s already working. This is the perfect story to kill any federal climate bill in the U.S. In fact it’s the perfect strategy if you desire chaos and destruction.

Any association with him immediately demonises the climate movement, and will maintain the stranglehold of oil-rich nations over the American economy. More worryingly in the long term, a world in the throws of extreme weather and an unpredictable food-supply is rich pickings for a fanatic totalitarian.

1. So how should the environmental movement respond?

2. Immediately and unequivocally condemn his comments. We can’t let ourselves be aligned with a terrorist. Bin Laden isn’t an environmentalist and cares nothing about climate change (because that would mean caring about people).

Whatever your feelings on climate change; don’t use his comments for your cause, because actually he will be using you.

How will we remember Copenhagen

Deepa — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:40:08 +0000

I wrote this poem on new years and thought I would share it:

The morning that followed
Our message was echoed.
A failure! A failure!
My heart in despair.

The science lost, funding tossed,
No commitment in sight.
A stench of injustice,
The result: A failed plight.

“What more did you expect?”
Accusing voices chimed,
“Your efforts are a waste
Of carbon, cash and time”.

Is it a failure?
Were we mistaken?
How will we remember
Copenhagen?

How will we remember
Copenhagen?

I will remember the:

Forming of three fifty
In hundreds of states.
The Hundred thousand
Who marched till late.
Millions worldwide that stood,
And more that signed
In protest for the rights
For all Human Kind.

I will remember the:

Largest mobilisation
In world’s history.
Working in unity.
Despite culture or country.
Rising above divisions
In the “social order”;
Be religion, gender
Or a political border.

I will remember the:

Youth in the negotiations
Who brought heart and tears.
A champion for the voices,
The leaders needed to hear.
The Indigenous people
In the justice fight,
For our Mother’s Land to
Which we have equal right.

I will remember the:

Largest gathering
Of Heads in one room.
Of countries pleading,
To save them from doom.
Prayer to protect nations.
Have you seen such heart?
In a Global affair, it
Is a hopeful start.

But a start is all it is.

Do not ignore the Truth.
Two degrees is death to
Africa, the islands,
And our generation.
In our success there still
Remains a challenge,
A long way to go, it
Needs our dedication

It will take:

One goal.
Seven continents.
A hundred paths.
Thousands of leaders.
Millions of voices and
Billions of hearts.
To arrive at our
Destination.

Many may call this vision naive.
But perhaps naivety is all we have?
As long as there is love in the world,
We are on the right track.

Where there is love,
There is hope.
Where there is hope,
There is inspiration.
Where there is inspiration,
There is change.
And if there is change,
We can stop climate change.

The Farmer’s Dilemma

Kartikeya Singh — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:52:51 +0000

Battle until Dawn over Humanity’s Survival

Kartikeya Singh — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 06:02:29 +0000

It is 6:13 am and in the Bella Conference Center I am listening to the chair of the AOSIS (Association of Small Island States) trying to fight off uncontrollable tears. I am almost certain that the Group of 77 (a behemoth of 130 plus developing country states) is coming to an end. Countries are divided and I am witnessing accusations fly across the plenary. Why has it taken us so long to arrive at this point? We sit here with the “Copenhangen Accord” staring at our faces. It is a document full of hot air and is not what billions of people across the planet had been promised to deliver atmospheric restitution.

Once again the developed nations have managed to gain somewhat of an upper hand in the wake of greater sacrifices of the larger developing countries. That aside, negotiators had feared from day one of the talks that the documents and the process of negotiating would not mature to the point required in order to allow negotiations to move into the high level segment where over 100 Heads of States would come to sign a just climate deal. Their fears were realized. The process has been deeply flawed and the voices of nations regarding lack of transparency, conspiracy to kill off the Kyoto protocol has been true. I often found myself being witness to the injustice within the UNFCCC process (where had I not gone to certain meetings, I would have missed out on joint drafting sessions which I assumed were only scheduled G-77 coordination meetings). Text messages were sent, rooms were changed, information was not available to all.

All of this, in the wake of the greatest climate conference the world has ever seen since the birth of the Convention some 18 years ago. Why did it take us so long? How did we get so bitterly entrenched in this process? I have seen and learned more about the process as a negotiator in the last 2 weeks than I could have my entire life. As a result, I have become deeply disillusioned. Two nights ago, at the launch of the Maldives “Survival Kit” for nations, President Nasheed had all but given up on the process and called on youth to take to the streets and make this the absolute issue in politics. For nations like the Maldives that lie 1.5 meters above sea level at their highest point, this is an issue of their survival.

I would agree. After a bitter impasse, and stalling of the talks due to the flawed process, negotiators had still not made progress on many of the key issues. In the group discussing “enhanced action on mitigation” I found myself transported back in time as if no progress had been made between the developed and rapidly developing countries on any of the points on emissions reductions. On the issue of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions by developing countries, the parties talked in circles and could not arrive at any concrete conclusions. Finally the Heads of States arrived adding further confusion to an already impossible situation. Having lost a day and half due to the boycott of the talks by members of the African Group and other major developing countries didn’t help but probably was the only thing that kept the two track process (the Kyoto protocol) alive. Late last night, the heads of 25 nations were invited as part of a “friends of the chair” group to help broker a deal: United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Maldives, Grenada, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Algeria, Denmark, Germany, Korea, Bangladesh, France, Gabon, and three others. The leaders of this group tried to hammer out a rough document to provide the basis for further negotiations. This was the Copenhagen Accord.

The deal is far from perfect. It is non-binding for starters and has a range of base years from which the many countries putting up targets can choose. If one looks closely, there is probably no way that it meets the 2 degrees guard rail target that we need at the MOST in order to avert a run-away climate disaster (even though it claims to use 2 degrees as the upper limit). It is far from what the islands need, far from what the Least Developed Nations require and still leaves many questions to be resolved. Yet it is the only thing that can salvage the absolute and utter lack of trust and faith that has been built up over the last two years between parties of the United Nations.

Climate poses the biggest question to humanity as to whether or not we are going to be able to save ourselves. That is after all, what we are trying to do here. At this time, what we need is trust, faith, and greater understanding to move forward. I am only 25 years old. I fear bringing children into this world and as I sit here listening to nation after nation make statements in favor of or against supporting the passing of the Copenhagen Accord, I am now as uncertain as ever as to the future of humanity. We have not attained “climate justice” here today. Nor have we secured our future. Outside over 200 protesters mobilized to arrive at the conference center to organize a “Shame Vigil.” Mind you civil society suffered the most fatal defeat during these talks by having been forcibly locked out in the final days. However, with an unprecedented over 45,000 registered delegates to the talks I think we have indeed arrived at a crucial point where the movement is unstoppable and will only continue to grow.

It is 7:00 am on December 19th and I am unsure as to what the outcome will be. I leave you with this:

“In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.” –Severn Suzuki (age 12), Rio Earth Summit 1992

India expects negotiations to be extended

Snigdha — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:26:17 +0000

Cross posted from CSM Equitywatch

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declares that a fair deal can only be reached through further talks

In a speech immediately following President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated unequivocally that negotiations would need to continue until 2010, to strike any kind of agreement that would enhance global action on climate change.

“To settle for something that would be seen as diminished expectations and diminished implementation,” he said, “would be in our view a very wrong message to emerge from this conference. We should therefore reaffirm categorically that our negotiations will continue on the basis of the Bali mandate.”

Singh also emphasised and re-emphasised the importance of equity in any global climate deal, adding, “any new regime will have moral credibility and authority only if it acknowledges that every citizen of this globe has an equal entitlement to the global atmospheric space.”

Like all the leaders who spoke before him, Singh described plans for voluntary domestic action on climate change. However, unlike President Obama, who suggested that “America has made our choice; we have charted our commitments,” and that the rest of the world must follow, Prime Minister Singh said that India would be willing to consider additional actions as part of a fair global deal.

Given the enduring gulf between the expectations expressed by world leaders this morning, it would seem highly unlikely that a deal can be concluded in the coming hours.

However, it’s not yet clear whether any of the political texts drafted earlier today could provide a high-level agreement that would satisfy all parties; or if not, how an alternative would now be developed.

Obama speech in COP15

Snigdha — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:23:09 +0000

Copenhagen, Denmark
December 18, 2009

Good morning. It’s an honor to for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. You would not be here unless you – like me – were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. That much we know.

So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge – the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, our ability to take collective action hangs in the balance.

I believe that we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of this common threat. And that is why I have come here today.

As the world’s largest economy and the world’s second largest emitter, America bears our share of responsibility in addressing climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility. That is why we have renewed our leadership within international climate negotiations, and worked with other nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. And that is why we have taken bold action at home – by making historic investments in renewable energy; by putting our people to work increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings; and by pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean energy economy.

These actions are ambitious, and we are taking them not simply to meet our global responsibilities. We are convinced that changing the way that we produce and use energy is essential to America’s economic future – that it will create millions of new jobs, power new industry, keep us competitive, and spark new innovation. And we are convinced that changing the way we use energy is essential to America’s national security, because it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help us deal with some of the dangers posed by climate change.

So America is going to continue on this course of action no matter what happens in Copenhagen. But we will all be stronger and safer and more secure if we act together. That is why it is in our mutual interest to achieve a global accord in which we agree to take certain steps, and to hold each other accountable for our commitments.

After months of talk, and two weeks of negotiations, I believe that the pieces of that accord are now clear.

First, all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change. I’m pleased that many of us have already done so, and I’m confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020, and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.

Second, we must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we are living up to our obligations. For without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page.

Third, we must have financing that helps developing countries adapt, particularly the least-developed and most vulnerable to climate change. America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion in 2012. And, yesterday, Secretary Clinton made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing by 2020, if – and only if – it is part of the broader accord that I have just described.

Mitigation. Transparency. And financing. It is a clear formula – one that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord – one that takes us farther than we have ever gone before as an international community.

The question is whether we will move forward together, or split apart. This is not a perfect agreement, and no country would get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached, and who think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. And there are those advanced nations who think that developing countries cannot absorb this assistance, or that the world’s fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.

We know the fault lines because we’ve been imprisoned by them for years. But here is the bottom line: we can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, and continue to refine it and build upon its foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be a part of an historic endeavor – one that makes life better for our children and grandchildren.

Or we can again choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year – all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.

There is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, and we will do what we say. Now, I believe that it’s time for the nations and people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.

We must choose action over inaction; the future over the past – with courage and faith, let us meet our responsibility to our people, and to the future of our planet.

Thank you.

Confused, Connived and Caught Red-handed

Chaitanya Kumar — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:59:43 +0000

The international negotiations on Climate Change were never set to give the world the real deal that it hoped for. All the world leaders, diplomats and statesmen made statements that could have made a cynic turn hopeful of an outcome of the negotiations but alas, here at the final day of the negotiations, the mood can be best described as confusing, conniving and sickeningly desperate.

Days and weeks before the negotiations began, a pale sense of gloom already crept into the minds of civil society and the negotiators themselves as the size of the task ahead of them grew gargantuan with every passing day. Nothing was done and now at the end, confusion and desperation prevails which is the result of a last ditch attempt to saving the COP and signing a deal.

As the news pours in, even a political deal seems to be a distant reality. India and China threaten to walk out of the negotiations for being continuously put under pressure to accept a Danish text and disobey the Kyoto and the BAP process. The third Danish was rejected and rightly so. Denmark is dragging its face through the mud to get a deal signed. The BASIC text which was to be reformed after taking into consideration the strong proposals by the African countries and the AOSIS is still in the docks. A COP15 Copenhagen declaration is expected that will only have the essentials with confirmed figures on issues like REDD that has seen good progress. Emissions cuts and finances are still in the dark and a shared vision under long term cooperative action may form partial Annex texts of the declaration.

The youth delegations and civil society is completely disappointed and angry at the negotiations and the world leaders who have once again failed to deliver. This is nothing less than a criminal offense on the world and the leaders have been caught red handed.

” Only a miracle can make sure we have a legally binging deal in Copenhagen” – Jairam Ramesh.