Success or crash? Or something in between..

Walking the corridors of ICC in Durban I saw Todd Stern, the US envoy on climate change and the leader of the US delegation here in Durban.
That man has a lot in his hands and maybe on his conscience for the climate change negotiations. Some years ago there were some hope that US could play a constructive part in the climate regime. Today no one counts them in. The discussion is centered around those who are willing to take the situation serious, which is not the case from US officials who actually seems to believe that you can postpone the reaction of the planetary system! And they are still the worlds second largest emitter as country and per capita the highest, if you don´t count some of the extreme small gulf states

Why are the US so passive and also sometimes obstructing? There are of course many reasons but one must be the climate sceptics but were are all the people of faith in US? Why can´t they speak out about the injustice in how we treat the natural resources? Were are the preaching about the role of human to protect the gift of life in the world we living in? The protection of the equilibrium of the ecology that we are depending on? The responsibility to act with the must vulnerable in our mind?
I know that there are good signs in the faith families in US but they also need to influence the society and the debate and the decision makers.
Well, that is not only true for the US, it is a task for the whole worlds faith communities. That could make the job of Todd Stern a little lighter and a more constructive for the climate and the justice...

Climate Talks - again!

After being very silent I take up the writing on this blog. I am at the COP 17 in Durban South Africa. As always  there are a lot of people from all over the world gathered.. Some officials from their countries and some from civil society.
If we just should listen to the people on the streets there are nothing to discuss. We need to lower the emissions of greenhouse gases and transfer resources to development countries.
If we just should listen to the scientists there is no doubt that we are on the edge of something really serious and we need to drastic lower our emissions and put money to development countries for adaptation and technology transfer.
But if we listen only to the official delegations from the rich countries and the growing economies (read powerful) there are lots of other problem to be solved. Maybe we could lower the emissions by 2019 and do it slowly without risking the economy.
This is so wrong. It´s like telling a patient who is severe ill that we have the medicine and it works and we can give it to you but we have to wait until it is cheaper. That maybe when you are dead but it will be a real good cure!
Yesterday the ecumenical movement was out on the streets of Durban together with other groups to show our concerns and the demands for action from the leaders of the world. This is the momentum for transition! To create a new world built on sustainable and just structures for people of the world. The truth is now that the richest 7% of the world's population created half of the world's emissions while the poorest 50% accounted for only 7% of emissions. And it is about time to change this for everybody's sake.

Climate change in the Holy Land

Yesterday I spent visiting people, places and organisations around Bethlehem. To enter this part of the world I have to pass the wall that is a big disgrace to the whole world. I thought that everybody understood the mistake of building dividing walls after the iron curtain.

Anyway the visit was a tremendous experience. First I got a guided tour in the landscape to see the very strategic building of settlements and then I went east in the direction of the Dead Sea. The birdlife was exiting and the view astonishing.

But the change of weather patterns are clear to people hear. The rain is much less then it used to be which is a problem to people relying on water harvesting. Even if there is a natural cycle of the amount of rain this is a warning of what might be more in a near future. And water is a big issue here. Some people have a lot of water and some are short of it. As it is on the rest of the planet. Some uses a big part of the resources and a majority is left with what is left.

Water and human rights are connected. I think that we have to see the same thing in Climate Change. There is a connection that must be stressed. Just look at the WCC webpage you will see that this is something that must be taken seriously.

I got the privilege to meet with Palestinian authorities, NGO:s, educational people and faith communities to discuss the problem related to climate change.

Again the response I perceived was that there is a need for capacity to meet the demands that climate change puts on a society. And with the political situation in this place of the world the capacity is small. Anyway the people expressed a great engagement in the issues and a genuine will to meet the challenges of climate change. Should be a sign of hope to all of us. A light for all of us from the place where the angels proclaimed peace on earth to the shepherds at the night of nativity!

Climate Discussions in Jerusalem

Today I am in Jerusalem to meet with an international course at the Swedish Theological Institute.

Together with people from Asia Africa South America and Europe we have talked about the threat of climate change and the response or the needed response from faith communities, theologians and faith communities to this.

It is nice to be in the surroundings of the old town with all of the layers of religious life that is enshrined here. The communalities of the faith families as well as the conflicts.

If we could just see this as a richness to meet the threat of climate change and not a dividing thing the climate combat could serve as a tool for deeper understanding and that is needed both for peace and for peace with the earth

Denial - will not solve the problem!

Read on Scientific American site about the denial of human induced climate change in the US.

It is easy to get depressed when you hear that so many people think that climate science is fake!

It is like the ancient old testamental time when the prophets that said the truth but those who delivered a comforting message was believed.

Now, was´nt there an american peace prize laureate that said something about inconvenient truth? Is he still there?

2 degrees - not enough!

The scientists James E. Hansen and Makiko Sato published an article where the message is that 2 degree target and 450 ppm that UNFCCC and IPCC suggested as what the world should aim at to avoid a the most serious results of climate change is far from safe!

It will be very serious results if we are satisfied with that scenario.

Now, hove come that there is such a big gap between what is pointed out from the scientific world and what the political world are ready to do!

So it is even of more importance that faith people around the world get their message to their governments -For Gods sake and the planet and all the people living there; Get you act together and take responsibility and ACT!

Nordic meeting!

Last week a group of people working on environmental issues in different Nordic churches met to share and discuss how to cooperate in the best way around environmental and climate change issues.

In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and northern Germany there is a whole lot of good work going on. Certification with a church identity, creation time materials, action on climate change, study materials and so on.

Hopefully this will be a starting point for a broader sharing and cooperation in the churches of Northern Europe.

I am glad to be a part of this ecumenical network!

Copenhagen - Nordic Churhces together

Today and tomorrow representatives from different Nordic churches will meet in Copenhagen to look at what we can do together as churches in a Nordic context on issues like climate change and sustainable development.

Hopefully this will be a much more fruitful meeting then the UNFCCC meeting December 2009.

I think it is great that we as faith communities are reflecting over why this is a subject that is a part of our identity as churches and at the same time thinking of what we can do on a practical level.

To come somewhere with the huge assignment we have to change from an unsustainable and unfair world order to a efficient, sustainable and more fair world we need to look at our values, at our spiritualities. We also have to walk the talk. To pray and act at the same time!

So let´s hope for a small Nordic Ecumenical step towards a greater engagement of the faith communities.

Food prices and Middle East Crisis

In the media for the last weeks the protests against the regimes in Middle East has been in focus. Often social media as Facebook and Twitter is mentioned as the vehicle that drives the protests. And perhaps that is the truth. But maybe not the whole truth.

There are also an underlying force in the sky rocketing on the food prices in the world. And this is not just related to a greater demand due. It is also related to the lower yields last year and it seems that it is related to climate. For example the heatwave in Russia led to a less crop then usual.

Today we face that the world market is rising and that also may be an underlying reason for the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen etc.

Climate Change is not an issue only for environmentalists. It is about democracy, freedom, human rights, sustainability and about to have food on the table

Faith communities in Cancun - does it matter

The UNFCCC meeting in Cancun is running on overtime and every delegate seems to to their best to avoid a failure like we seen in Copenhagen.

Also the WCC have as the last of everyone in plenum made its statement. But does it matter if the faith communities is present or not? Do they add anything more than just another voice that we can hear from other environmentalist or social justice groups.

Actually I think it matters.
A document on why churches are present in Cancun from the group that attended the Cancun meeting was delivered and it ends like this

The holistic approach to climate change that churches proclaim also includes the spiritual dimension which must not be overlooked or ignored in the deliberations over political and economic interests. The hosting of ecumenical or interfaith celebrations during the COPs, as well as other explicit expressions like demonstrations and messages from local congregations and communities, stress the particular contribution that faith based groups and organizations can and must bring to the debate. It is our hope that the ethical and spiritual considerations will be taken seriously in the follow-up deliberations after COP 16.

There is, therefore, a moral obligation for the churches and faith communities to participate in the negotiations of the international community in Cancun and in the future. Their contribution is twofold: to urge the world to act for a more just and equitable world and and the same time, rooted in their spiritual teachings, convey a message of hope to the whole world.

That is a good reason why.

Cancun - last hours

Cancun meeting is in the last 24 hours now. All the states are doing their statements and the buzzwords changes all the time. Japan needs to be talked into that they stay in the Kyoto protocol. And what about historical emissions? In the LCA document or not?

Anyway the hope is that Cancun delivers a kind of road map, even though that word relates to Bali meeting 2007.

The world need to step every step, even if it is small, to reduce the climate impact.

The hope is still there but it needs to be fed by states and organisations that take the lead and act for a low carbon tomorrow.

Yes we CanCun! Maybe...

Now I have arrived in Cancun for the COP 16. It is the forth time that I am at a COP.

The mood could be marked as low expectations but with some hope.

There is no real spirit of "Yes, we can!" It is more like: "Well, maybe we can, if somebody else start".

But still. I miss the references to moral obligations to act. I miss the justice perspective that points out the need and rights for the developing regions of the world to develop and leapfrog the fossil driven development.

So lets see what happens during the last days.

Cancun - hopes and fears

Even though the expectations of the upcoming negotiations of UNFCCC at COP16 are low there are some hopes and some fears.

The hope is that at least the promised money for quick-start funds for adaptation will be raised and that it will be additional to other development aid money. One of the few positive things in Copenhagen was the promises from US and other to deliver this money for development.

The other positive thing with Cancun is the low expectations! In Copenhagen everybody raised their expectations for some years, and that seemed to lock the processes. This time with a post-Copenhagen depression over the las year no one expect anything to come out of the meeting. This might be a good ground for a good grounding work for the next meeting in Durban, South Africa 2011. At least EU seems to have gone back to keep and prolong the Kyoto protocol so that there will be some kind of legally binding treaty to hold on to.

The fears? Well, it must be that the parties just don´t see the urgency anymore and dig the trenches even deeper and pointing at the other telling the to act and escalate the blame-game. And the result will be a much more insecure, unequal and unjust world and unsustainable in every aspect.

Statement from Budapest

The conference in Budapest on Poverty Wealth and Ecology is over and the statement is published on the internet.

The call is a good call that I think underline some of the more important perspectives. The call to EU institutions is for example;

· Climate justice, and therefore both social and ecological values, should be a central goal of policy-making. In industrialised countries economic growth should no longer be seen as an aim in itself.

· European countries and the EU should politically and financially support green growth in developing countries in order to allow for the development of renewable energy.

· Tax systems must be reformed in order to be at the service of just, participatory and sustainable societies and communities, as well as to promote justice on the global scale.

· Prices on goods and services should reflect true social and ecological costs and benefits.

· Coal-fired power stations and nuclear power stations should be replaced by renewable energy as soon as possible, richer European countries should support poorer ones in so doing.

· A redistribution of wealth and income as a key element of environmentally sustainable societies is necessary.

· The redistribution of wealth and sharing of technology between rich countries and poor countries affected by climate change are crucial elements of climate justice and have to go along with additional support for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

· The EU should commit itself to more ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets regardless of policies of other large economies.

· The market sphere needs to be informed and limited by the public sphere and the real “core economy” – namely our ability to care, teach, learn, empathise and live in solidarity.

· People living in poverty and social exclusion, including marginalised migrants, shall participate in the definition, design and implementation of all measures which affect them according to the principle “Nothing about us without us is for us”.

And the call to the churches are

· be prepared to use their influence and positions to take a firm stand and to take a risk where necessary when it comes to conflicts following God’s preferential option for the poor.

· make use of the WCC statement on Eco-Justice and Ecological Debt in their approach to governments and in their relationship with official institutions, companies and church members.

· acknowledge the close link between the fight against poverty and the struggle for climate justice in their strategic and practical approaches.

· reflect on the impact of their policies as well as the lifestyles of their members on both the climate and on vulnerable and poor peoplw

· be pioneers and examples on the way to sufficiency by implementing practical programmes on reducing CO2 emissions, e.g. environmental certificates for parishes, increasing the knowledge and solidarity as well as exemplifying different sets of values and fulfillment as alternatives to consumerism and striving for life according to the “principle of enough”.

I think there are some real good and interesting standpoints in this that should make churches more wiling to act. Because that is what we need now.

The full statement can be find at http://www.ceceurope.org/news-and-media/news/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=230&tx_ttnews[backPid]=17&cHash=5917295165

Today is the third day of the meeting in Budapest about Poverty Wealth and Ecology. People from Europe and all other continents to discuss how the three different subjects are related and what churches should and could do about it.

Obviously there is a clear linkage between them. The change of the climate is a result of the way the world produces wealth and the results of a climate change is to often strikes the poor people most and first.

So we are in a world were we got to change. And if we will not change the the climate will beyond what we can handle. And that is the about the only thing we don´t want to change.

But we need to change our way of thinking of what is growth. We need better instruments to say what is wealth. To just measure it only with "money" is not enough. Money is just an instrument to create the prerequisites for our way of living together and it is important but not enough to describe what makes a good life.

We are looking after it in Budapest but we still haven´t found what we looking for.

Cap and Trade - no more in the US!

The website BusinessesGreen.com writes "Business seem to have called time on the US's only national carbon trading market, blaming an absence of legislation as emissions-trading laws remain mired in Congress.The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) operates a cap-and-trade scheme which, since its launch in 2003, has attracted major players such as Ford, Bank of America, IBM and Intel.Members made a voluntary but legally binding commitment to meet greenhouse gas emissionreduction targets either by cutting emissions or by buying emissions permits sold by members.The scheme relied on the government setting mandatory caps on emissions – legislation that has not emerged after the Democrats abandoned plans for cap-and-trade legislation over the summer. Republican gains in today's mid-term election would likely push the possibility of legislation even further off the agenda."

There are a huge criticism against the cap and trade system saying that this will not speed up the lowering of greenhouse gas emissions. This system is used inside the EU but it has not really done that much to emission targets. The financial crisis did a much better work in this aspect. At least Cap and Trade can be one way to get business into the work but the resistance against any climate legislation in the USA seems to killed the voluntary CO2 market. And if the Republican get a lot stronger today the climate policies seems to come a lot more far away in the coming two years. This is not a good day for all of us struggling to change the view on a sustainable world and a more just world in the coming years. But still ; We can Hope and we can act....

Payroll skeptics!

The Climate Action Network Europe (CAN-E), a network of NGOs, has issued a report accusing major European companies of donating funds disproportionately to candidates in the US Senate election who are known for their denial of climate change.

Among the donors are chemical manufacturers Bayer and BASF, oil company BP, energy provider GDF/Suez and steelmaker ArcelorMittal.

According to publicly available figures, the eight companies examined by CAN gave a total of $306,100 (219,400 euros) to Senate candidates, of which 78 percent went either to known climate change deniers or to senators who voted against the Obama administration's cap-and-trade legislation, seen by activists as a major contribution to the fight against climate change.

This is the news from Climate Action Network (the quotation is from the website of Deutsche Welle.

I can respect people who can be skeptic to science and want to try the scientific statements in a search for truth. That is the method of all good science. Hypothesis are right until they are proven wrong. But to keep a point of view with reasons that is more about what we want the world to be are not especially smart or honest. It would of course be much more convenient if you just could go on with business as usual but this not make the lie a truth.

Now it is even worse when you get paid to be skeptic when you have influences on the political decision making. This seem to be the case and that those who kept USA from taking steps to a more progressive climate policy and to take steps forward in the international climate policy discussion where getting the big bucks from big industry. It is a shame. And it seems like the elections i USA coming weeks will slow down the climate process in one of the most important countries of the world. And it will be done with money from the business world. Why cant they see that the future needs another way of thinking!

But we have to trust the word; The truth shall set you free.

Not to brilliant, mr President!

(Reuters) - Climate change is not a threat and the consequences of global warming will not be catastrophic, the President of the Czech Republic said on Tuesday.

Vaclav Klaus is a vocal sceptic on the topic of global warming. He published a book in 2007 in which he said global warming had turned into a new religion, an ideology that threatens to undermine freedom and the world's economic and social order.

"Global warming in the last 150 years was modest and future warming and its consequences will not be dangerous or catastrophic. It doesn't look like a threat we should respond to," he told a lecture in London on Tuesday.

Now, this is not so clever Mr President! You act more or less like the good prophets of the time of the old testament. They said everything is fine. Don´t change anything. But those prophets were never remembered. They were just there to make the world easier and smooth for those with power.

No mr President this is not a new religion, but you seems to keep up with the old religion that have devastated the planet for the last centuries; the cult of mammon. I think you better come to your senses and understand that climate-research of today gives us information that we have to respond to. And then we need to get "religious" in that sense that we have to act for the most vulnerable. Just as the old testament prophets said in the old testament.

EU takes one step forward - and a bit closer to were they been!

Good news are not so frequent when it comes to climate change negotiations. But today we have one.
EU was very proactive in 2007 during the UNFCCC negotiations at Bali but one year later they were very defensive and withdraw their ambitions.
Today the good news is that EU is going to Cancun for the COP16 negotiations with the ambitions to prolong the Kyoto protocol.
In these days after the breakdown i Copenhagen this is good news.
The problem is that the world need to do much more than what was in the Kyoto protocol. And that has been known since the Kyoto protocol was formulated in the nineties.
But in these days we have to celebrate everything that is not a step backwards. Even a step back to original ambitions is a good step.
Now, let´s hope that EU raises their bid in Cancun and go for a 30% cut of emissions to 2020 to challenge the other nations in Cancun.

Climate change in the arctic - a risk for geopolitical conflicts

Climate change is not only about environment. It is about food, water, equity and lifestyles. All issues that I have tried to address on this blog.
But the implications of climate change is also about peace.
Due to change in the climatic systems we will probably see a diminishing ice shed of the Arctic. This is highlighted in an article in the Guardian today. That will lead to possibilities to get natural resources that has not been in reach for the different states before. So the tensions between Russia, USA Canada Norway and others will be a new problem that we already can see some signs on.
So if you want to create peace - save the climate and let the natural resources, especially the oil, be untouched for some more years. Go for renewable energy and act for peace.