Copenhagen climate talks
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What’s missing in the Copenhagen accord?
Climate delegates finally finished two years of negotiations Saturday by “taking note” of the two-and-a-half page Copenhagen Accord hashed out Friday night. It reminded me of a marathoner who slow-walks the course, hobbles across the finish line seven hours late, and then declares victory. Yes, there was a semblance of a deal by Saturday, but […]
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Copenhagen outcome: a real climate catastrophe
President Barack Obama negotiating with, from left, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller, and Israeli President Shimon Peres, at the Copenhagen climate conference.Photo: White House/Pete Souza This piece appeared first in The Daily Beast. Saturday morning witnessed one of the most extraordinary and dramatic debates in the 17-year history of […]
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Letter to Bill McKibben: don’t blame Obama for Copenhagen
Dear Bill, Yesterday, in response to the end of the Copenhagen negotiations, you issued a press release with 350.org titled “The President has wrecked the UN (and the planet),” in which you wrote: “The president has wrecked the U.N. and he’s wrecked the possibility of a tough plan to control global warming. It may get […]
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Thomas Friedman talks COP15, Mother Nature, and Father Greed
Thomas FriedmanHours before the outcome of the Copenhagen conference was revealed, I sat down with New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman to discuss the implications of the historic summit. No matter what happens in Copenhagen, said Friedman, what matters most is what happens at home: Where the U.S. goes, so goes the world. But we […]
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Obama hits the reset button on the foundations of international climate agreements
Shortly before leaving Copenhagen yesterday, President Obama announced that the terms of an interim, “political” agreement, the Copenhagen Accord, had been reached with the leaders of Brazil, South Africa, India, and China which very well may lay the groundwork for a new international agreement on climate change. Commentators are already lining up to decry this […]
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‘There will be no decisions about us, without us’
COPENHAGEN—The anger in Juan Carlos Soriano’s voice was clear when he rose to a podium in the Bella Center Friday afternoon. And it was easy to understand why: the climate-treaty talks were (and still are at this writing) stuck between competing draft texts, none of which offer plans to keep global warming within safe scientific […]
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An unwelcome lesson in power politics
350.org’s Bill McKibben at a candlelight vigil Dec. 17 in Copenhagen.Matthew McDermott via FlickrCOPENHAGEN — Late last night, after the word had come down that the climate talks had ended in a four-way, non-binding, unfair, and breathtakingly unambitious agreement between the United States, China, India, and South Africa, a crowd of young demonstrators from around […]
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The Copenhagen Accord
The Conference of Parties formally took note of the Copenhagen Accord this morning after an emotional all night debate, during which many countries expressed deep disappointment with the outcome, but a determination to use it as a stepping stone to more rigorous action. This procedure allowed the Accord to be formally acknowledged by consensus, despite […]
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Rachel Maddow on Obama’s ‘diplomatic acrobatics’ in Copenhagen
Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell explain the strange circumstances that led to Obama’s climate deal in Copenhagen: [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1012000&w=425&h=350&fv=launch%3D34486093%26width%3D400%26height%3D320] Spread the news on what the føck is going on in Copenhagen with friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, or smoke signals.
