A blog from the Copenhagen COP15 Summit about Climate Change, alternative energy
and... stuff!

What would a good climate deal look like?

December 24th, 2009

This was a question asked to the audience by George Monbiot. I was too shit-scared to stand up in front of hundreds of people and speak, so here is my version in text!

After watching so many different people speak over the last few weeks – I think a good climate deal would look like this:

1. No Carbon Trading

Carbon trading is a flawed idea, full stop. It was created by a bunch of already rich people to let them profit from global warming, whilst not actually stopping emissions. The system is overly complicated and open to all kinds of corruption. Leaving the market to solve a problem created by the market is like giving a fat kid pies to lose weight. You can read more about Carbon Trading here

2. A strategy that looks at stopping carbon at the source, instead of by attempting to reduce demand

This was a point brought up by George Monbiot, a really important one. A selection of science papers published last year stated that we can only use 60% of the current reserves of fossil fuels to avoid the detrimental 2 degree temperature rise. Currently we are trying to reduce demand through taxes and carbon trading. If we continue to allow people to prospect for more oil and keep drilling, stocks of oil will increase as demand drops, causing it to become very cheap, therefore discouraging people to kick the habit.

3. A legally binding agreement

This is really important, as without a legally binding agreement you can’t enforce anything. If you look at this table you can see just how much countries have actually increased their emissions since they signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, making it not worth the paper it was written on. A legally binding agreement could be regulated by an international body, with offenders being tried in an international court like the Hague.

4. A ban on GM crops

We need to reverse the privatisation of life and get back to nature. GM seeds are floating their way into small farms and cross pollinating, enabling the owners of the GM seed to claim rights to the crop. This is taking away people’s ability to grow their own food like they’ve done for years, (or “food sovereignty”, as it’s known). Monsanto own 90% of GM crops; that’s called a monopoly. The main reason that Organic is more expensive currently, is because standard, pesticide based crops are heavily subsidised by governments. The standards of Organic we have currently would be enough to supply all our food needs – we don’t actually need GM crops.

5. A sharing of ideas and technology on a worldwide scale

If the green technology race does kick off, intellectual property rights will only hold us back. If a company invents a new standard of power, it can patent it, own the rights to it and charge a fortune to anyone who wants to use it. On the other hand, if people are sharing ideas with each other, we will move ahead much quicker as we have more heads involved. As there is no patent on it, it will be cheaply available and poor countries will be able to afford to implement it.

In 1961, JFK gave a speech about putting a man on the moon. In 8 years they were there – that’s the kind of effort we need right now.

6. A fund for developing countries to cope with the damage already done

This should be managed by a newly created institution and NOT via the World Bank. If you know the history of the World Bank, you will know they have spent the last 30 years dangling the carrot of financial help to developing countries, whilst making them privatize everything, in order for international companies to come in and buy the lot at a grand sale bonanza price. One suggestion was to put a large sum of money in a bank somewhere and let developing countries draw out the interest only, so we wouldn’t have to keep topping it up.

3 Responses to “What would a good climate deal look like?”

1. Tweets that mention What would a good climate deal look like? | Climate Change Stuff -- Topsy.com says:

   December 24, 2009 at 1:34 am

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by paulcollins, Cozza. Cozza said: New post: What would a good Climate deal look like? http://bit.ly/8j5F5u #copenhagen #cop15 #climatechange [...]
2. BOB says:

   July 21, 2010 at 5:42 am

   
   

   Medicamentspot.com. Canadian Health&Care.No prescription online pharmacy.Special Internet Prices.Best quality drugs. No prescription drugs. Order drugs online…

   Buy:Viagra Super Force.Zithromax.Super Active ED Pack.Cialis Super Active+.Cialis Professional.Propecia.Viagra Professional.Viagra Soft Tabs.VPXL.Cialis.Viagra.Soma.Viagra Super Active+.Levitra.Cialis Soft Tabs.Tramadol.Maxaman….
3. JOSEPH says:

   September 5, 2010 at 10:36 am

   
   

   CheapTabletsOnline.Com. Canadian Health&Care.No prescription online pharmacy.Best quality drugs.Special Internet Prices. No prescription pills. Order pills online…

   Buy:Cialis Professional.Cialis Super Active+.Zithromax.Propecia.Soma.Viagra Soft Tabs.Viagra Professional.Cialis Soft Tabs.Cialis.Levitra.Viagra.Viagra Super Force.Tramadol.Maxaman.Viagra Super Active+.VPXL.Super Active ED Pack….

• Photos of stuff