Your Environment
By Lisa W. Lillelund
“Climate Talks a Step in the Right Direction”
Thursday, Dec 31, 2009, Beverly Citizen, Beverly, Mass,
www.wickedlocal.com/beverly/news/lifestyle/columnists/x1437798473/Your-Environment
The International Climate Change Talks in Copenhagen, December 2009 — a victory or
a failure? Some environmental groups claim the outcome of the negotiations a failure
since they wanted stricter emissions reductions and a legally-binding treaty.
But to me, the recent meetings in Copenhagen were a victory for the simple fact that
delegates from 193 countries, including leaders from 119 nations, came together for faceto-face meetings to discuss ways to reduce the harmful effects of pollution on our
environment. Maybe they weren’t all in agreement on what and how much should be
done to reduce harmful emissions but they were all there to address this important topic
and work towards an agreement.
Any of you who have worked on a team, committee or board know how hard it can be
with just a couple people to agree upon a common mission, agenda or action plan.
Reaching an accord with 193 people from different nationalities is truly a difficult task
for any organization. The fact that world leaders supported the United Nations’ efforts to
bring the world together for the common purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions
is remarkable in itself.
As Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council pointed out in
her letter to supporters on Dec. 21, “The results were not all we’d hoped for, but it was a
very significant step forward. There were more leaders than have ever gathered for any
one issue in the history of the United Nations. In the end, they approved a global climate
accord by a margin of 188-5, with countries like Cuba and Sudan opposed. The U.N.
calls that consensus; I call it a win by a landslide.
Here’s the bottom line: the countries around the world are now united around the need to
act to keep global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees centigrade, as
the Copenhagen Accord provides.
Climate change is the single greatest environmental ill of our time. Few expected
Copenhagen to present us with a tidy solution to this daunting challenge, and indeed it
did not. But what it HAS given us is an urgently needed start down the path of
coordinated global action.”
Except for the NRDC, several environmental organizations of which I am a member and
supporter disappointed me with their “all or nothing” approach. They often complained
about the compromises that were being discussed in order to reach an accord. To me a
failure would have been if people left the table and the talks. Fortunately they all stayed
and many delegates put in 15-hour days. Some critics seemed to forget the difficult and
often delicate nature of negotiations and how compromise is often a necessary part of
reaching an agreement.
Many news organizations outside the United States reporting on the Copenhagen talks,
expressed relief that the United States is finally taking some responsibility for the
pollution that it emits. President Obama’s speech in Copenhagen was welcomed by many
nations as an expression of global cooperation and leadership not heard by the previous
U.S. administration.
Following are excerpts from President Obama’s speech on Dec. 18 in Copenhagen:
“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. …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…
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.”
As many Americans point out, “the road from Copenhagen leads straight to
Washington.” It is essential that not only our president and our representatives are willing
take action but also our senators. Hopefully, citizens, organizations and corporate leaders
around the United States will support negotiations in favor of an historic, first-time clean
energy bill to pass in the Senate, even if it is not perfect.
Lisa Lillelund is a sustainability consultant, a Beverly resident and a regular columnist
with the Beverly Citizen. She welcomes your comments at lisa@mangonetworks.com.