Copenhagen: Ouch

From the full text of the White House, the agreement made in Copenhagen is "not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change". Ouch. That was the whole point of the meetings. Earth as we know it is done for, because we, collectively, as humans are extremely self-centered and short-sighted. What a blow. One of the reasons mentioned for these disappointing results are that we are in a time of "significant differences between countries." I'm sorry, don't differences between countries go by the wayside when we're talking about LIFE ON EARTH!? What petty creatures humans can be.

Here's a great sum of what we are left with, from Friends of Earth:
"Climate negotiations in Copenhagen have yielded a sham agreement with no real requirements for any countries. This is not a strong deal or a just one -- it isn't even a real one. It's just repackaging old positions and pretending they're new. The actions it suggests for the rich countries that caused the climate crisis are extraordinarily inadequate. This is a disastrous outcome for people around the world who face increasingly dire impacts from a destabilizing climate." from

I am not so naive to believe that this would be an easy process, and of course I recognize the huge differences between countries, and the problems that arise diplomatically for these reasons. However, my eternal optimism hoped for some legitimate and real agreements being made at this summit. *depressed sigh*

There have been papers leaked from the UN that indicate that the whole shebang was Greenwashed from start to finish--these papers indicate that no agreement was ever to be reached at this summit, and that, in fact, the only agreement was to be to allow increases in global temperature even MORE. (What!? Who thinks this is a good idea? For real!?)

From National Geographic's photos of the top 10 environmental losses in 2009, number one is climate, and Pimm, a conservation biologist at Duke University says, "I think [global warming] would probably be my pick for the gloomiest story" of 2009.


Update: Kofi Annan writes a much more eloquent article than mine entitled "Climate Change Puts Us All In The Same Boat. One Hole Will Sink Us All"