Founder and Publisher, Culture Change Media
Berkeley, California, February 21, 2005
Enele Sopoaga is one of the prime leaders of the world, although he is
“only” the United Nations ambassador from Tuvalu which has a population of
10,000.
Tuvalu is threatened by certain sea-level rise from global warming. The
island nation in the South Pacific is no higher than four meters above sea level.
A one-meter sea-level rise would not mean only some proportional destruction of
Tuvalu, for the extreme weather associated with climate distortion means that
averages mask the inevitable high-water disasters.
To put this in global context, an international news development dated January 23, 2005 should sober everybody up: “Global warming has already hit the danger point that international attempts to curb it are designed to avoid, according to the world’s top climate watchdog (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman Dr. Rajendra
Pachauri).”
His Excellency Enele Sopoaga came to Berkeley, California on February 14, 2005 to
take part in a “Valentine Gift to the Planet” and celebration of the
world’s adoption of the Kyoto Protocol on February 16th. This international treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions is shunned and
violated by the U.S. and Australia, renegade nations evidently not part of the world community of nations.
The implications of that status can be historic and
involve war. And what may seem sufficient politically today - Kyoto
Protocol’s 5% cut in emissions between 2008 and 2012 compared to 1990 levels -
is but a prelude to what must and will be done "tomorrow."
Tuvalu may be stepped on today by powerful bullies erasing an entire
nation’s future, but other countries are already suffering too; hence the creation
of the Association of Small Island States. Arctic nations have also made appeals
to the U.S. and other polluters destroying the climate. These helpless victims
who have lived by the sea for thousands of years can be ignored and even let die, but
the answer to “who would be next?” is possibly “Everyone, eventually.”
By the time the clear
danger of “Hitler coming up the driveway” would be recognized by
"people who matter,” it is too late. It is not only the low-lying regions, such as the
high-populated Bengal Basin, and the island nations, that stand to endure near
total destruction. As the greenhouse effect may have already attained
runaway status, the entire biosphere may be at risk. Fortunately, there
are still effective approaches on climate change that are outside the corporate
mind-box.
Ambassador Sopoaga gave a heartfelt speech at Berkeley city hall’s Peace
Bell, referring to war for oil as an element in policy causing global warming.
He understands fully the consequence of our fossil-fuels dependency. In his
remarks he called for (1) a shift to renewable energy and (2) a reduction in
fossil energy consumption. He also spoke of world-subsidized insurance programs
and other means of mitigation for climate change.
The technofix versus radical conservation
However, His Excellency’s first two priorities need to be reversed. For it is the
immediate slashing of energy consumption, especially in the “developed
world,” that will yield the greatest and fastest possible relief for Tuvalu,
the Inuit peoples, and all of us - including other species. Unfortunately, the
environmental movement is dominated by those funded to tout almost exclusively
the technofix approach. They in effect contend and pretend that present consumption can simply be modified and fine-tuned,
regardless of (A) today’s and tomorrow’s overpopulation and (B) the impossibility of any known package of
alternative fuels to fully substitute for petroleum.
 www.CultureChange.org under e-letter #86. Maps related to this article are posted on SustainabiliTank database.) Permalink | Leave a comment for this article### |
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