I took this excerpt from my favourite environmental activist and lawyer, Laura. Her blog on zizzoclimate.com is intoxicatingly emotional to read. As you may recall, she's in Copenhagen for the COP 15. News from Denmark is that though "the" deal is most likely not going to be made, smaller deals that have significance and power are. News on Canada, the oft-chastised nation for its lack of commitment to any change:
"Apparently, Canada has agreed to go forward with a 1990 base year in the Kyoto Protocol track of the negotiations, which is a HUGE shift from its usual stance of insisting 2005 or 2006 as the base year. This is fairly significant for Canadian trackers as it means that Canada has conceded a major policy position, hopefully more concessions are coming from a lot more countries. They are also trying to find some sort of acceptable language on the transfer of technology from developed to developing countries (to facilitate mitigation and adaptation technology use around the world) while dealing with Intellectual Property Rights. Although there have been some positive steps taken today, there is a long way to go before a fair, ambitious and binding treaty is agreed upon. It cannot happen in one day. We are all looking forward to the next COP (hopefully in 6 months in Mexico) where more details can be ironed out. We must keep this momentum going."
My favourite blog to date though is entitled, "Obama Cometh". Great job, Laur...
"President Obama comes tomorrow morning and hopefully that will breath some further life into the negotiators. Many groups are calling on him to “earn” his Nobel Price here.
Incidentally, his arrival makes mine a bit more tricky as when the President comes to town the bridge between Sweden (where I am staying) and Denmark (where I need to go) will be shut down. I hope that is not a metaphor for what is to come."
Thanks for keeping us lay folk abreast of the enormity of this conference.
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