INVITACIÓN CEREMONIA GANDHI, 2 DE OCTUBRE

 

INTERNATIONAL CALL OF KLIMAFORUM10, CANCUN

INTERNATIONAL CALL OF KLIMAFORUM10, CANCUN
Para version en espanol oprima aqui...
We call upon all social movements, autonomous organizations of indigenous people, nomads, peasants and fishermen, workers, women, youth, teachers, students, neighbors, social activists, environmental, ecological and animal rights activists, professionals, pensioners, thinkers, scientists, and citizens in general to participate in the Klimaforum10, to be held in Cancun – Puerto Morelos, Mexico, between the 26^th of November and the 11^th of December 2010, in parallel to the COP16 hosted by the United Nations.
CONTEXT
This year we have witnessed new manifestations of extreme weather conditions, which are clear consequences of the climatic disaster. The floods in Pakistan have killed thousands and have displaced at least 20 million people. In China 3,400 people were killed in only one day and more than 12 million have lost their homes. 17 countries have registered record breaking temperatures. Russia suffered a severe heat wave and fires and recorded its maximum temperature ever. On the 5^th of August, a NASA satellite detected a massive section break off the glacier Petermann, off the north coast of Greenland. Mexico has suffered several catastrophic floods throughout 10 states, as well as the severe consequences of hurricane Alex in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila. All these symptoms confirm the signs of the growing tendency of extreme weather anomalies.
THE KLIMAFORUM10 INITIATIVE
Following the failure of the official Copenhagen summit, a group of 30 Danish NGOs passed the Klimaforum baton to representatives of Mexican NGOs. The Klimaforum09, involved some 50,000 activists in more than 300 events. The organising committee was established in February and meetings immediately began with Mexican NGOs to work together to create an autonomous environmental summit, free from corporate or governmental intervention in parallel to the United Nations COP16 summit.
Klimaforum10 opens a space for all the people, where they can gather, debate on constructive solutions, propose and find consensus towards coordinated international action in the face of the climate crisis. Where governments fail, the people shall prevail.
OBJECTIVES

• Strengthen the global movement towards climate justice.
• Evaluate and influence the decisions made at the COP16.
• Facilitate a space for unification, understanding and agreement among grassroots movements and autonomous organizations that are challenged by climate change.
• Provide support and visibility to constructive proposals.
• Offer a space where solidarity, reciprocity and cooperation can be intensified.
• Reduce costs and the environmental impact of spaces, services, and accommodation of its participants.
• Inspire new ways to create summits reducing environmental impacts.

THE KLIMAFORUM10 ORGANIZATION 
Participants can host discussions, workshops, round tables, seminars, forums, assemblies, international conferences, meetings and cultural acts, by submitting these activities on our website, or by emailing the KF10 secretariat which will facilitate the scheduling of activities together with the Organizing Committee.
The committee proposes the following thematic guidelines:

• NUCLEAR ENERGY-FREE WORLD
  Pacifism; Demitiralization; Deglobalization; Global democracy.
• ABANDON OUR DEPENDANCE ON FOSSIL FUELS
  Peak Oil; Radical reduction of energy consumption; Renewable energy.
• SACRALIZE WATER
• The spiritual, ecological and social dimension of water; Desertification; Privatization of water.
• SAVE ANIMALS AND PLANTs
  Radically reduce animal product consumption; Trade of endangered species; Rejection of genetically modified organisms.
• PROTECT FORESTS AND JUNGLES
  Are trade mechanisms a real solution? REDD, REDD+; Preservation of forests, reefs and mangroves.
• RESTRUCTURE AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND LIVESTOCK
  La Vía Campesina; Elimination of large fish and livestock industries; Relocation towards local production and consumption; Rejection of patenting seeds and forms of life.
• REDUCE TRANSPORT AND URBANIZATION
  Discourage car use and transport in general; Depave; Diversity in soil use; Neighborhood and cooperative autonomy.
• MINIMIZE WASTE
  Radical reduction of packaging; Eliminate disposables; Relocate waste management.
• ECONOMIC DEGROWTH
  Ecology over economy; Elimination of national indexes of economic growth and the GDP; Reject Free Trade agreements; Reject consumer society and slave work.
• CLIMATE JUSTICE
  Recognition of the historical climatic debt; End the plundering of the Global South; Climatic Tribunal; Mother Earth Rights.
• ACCELERATING THE TRANSITION
  Strengthen networks of ecological communities; Encourage food sovereignty; Halt extraction of fossil fuels and metals; Local autonomy; Equalize wealth and work; Promote cooperatives to support the most vulnerable.
• ANCIENT CULTURES REVIVAL
  Preserve traditions, languages, handcrafts and cultural wisdom; Encourage local solutions for local problems.
• FALSE SOLUTIONS
  Market mechanisms: carbon trading, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD, REDD+, REDD++); Remove World Bank from administrating environmental funds.

These are a few of the theme proposals; participants can submit additional guiding thematics. Activity requests will be confirmed by email, and program updates will be posted on our website.
HOW IS THE KLIMAFORUM10 DIFFERENT?
Space for the activities

• Environmental-friendly tents will be provided which can host approximately 50 people, with the object to promote increased participation and create a wider range of proposals.
• There will be additional bigger spaces for conferences and lectures.
• Organizations and institutions, that wish to do so, can reserve spaces for expositions, promotion or other uses in the main field.

The venue
An atmosphere in harmony with nature, a safe and beautiful space, away from the urban and consumer lifestyle, located on the cenotes road to Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, at just 15 minutes from the COP-16 and 30 minutes from Cancún.
Global EcoVillage
Located just steps away from the center of activities, a natural habitat where people from different parts of the planet can live and learn in sustainable co-existence during the course of the summit.

• Camping space for approximately 2,500 people.
• Medical assistance services with dry toilets and low-impact showers.
• 3 Nutritious vegetarian meals a day.
• Access to all activities of Klimaforum10.
• For more information and to secure your space, visit our webpage:

Reducing the ecological footprint of the event
Most summits are dependent on the services of hotels, restaurants, taxis and public transport, however in the face of the current paradigm, to us it seems incoherent that a summit that seeks to address environmental issues should conform to the guiding tendencies, especially considering environmental impacts that an event of this magnitude can create. This is why we have been seeking the best solutions at our disposal to reduce our environmental impact.
Amongst them: the capacity to host thousands at walking distance thus preventing unnecessary emissions, activity tents with dynamic ventilation, dry toilets, recycling stations, our no packaging policy, nor corporate advertising nor multinational products, our vegetarian diet.
This is only a fraction of what can be done, which is why we ask for everyone's support to make this event achieve its objectives.

THE KLIMAFORUM10 COMMITTEE
Klimaforum10 has confronted some severe obstacles from the moment it formed his Promotion Committee on the 2nd of February 2010, with the representation of small grassroots organizations in Mexico. It represents an authentic political expression, a defiant voice that seeks to protect the rights of nature and its sentient beings. In September the Klimaforum Mexico A.C. was legally registered with the objective of administrating funds and managing the requirements of the summit. At the same time, the Klimaforum10 Organization Committee was created.
WE NEED YOUR COLLABORATION TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
Klimaforum10 aims to organize a forum with complete political autonomy. For this reason, it is not financed by governments, big companies or corporate NGOs who generally try to impose their hidden agenda. We hope that you, fellow activists, all understand the great economical limitations we face and that you are willing to help us cover the costs of the Klimaforum10 People´s Climate Summit by contributing with an entrance fee of 5 US dollars a day for your visit. In case of any proceeds, these will be transferred to ecological projects, which will be selected by the participants in an open democratic assembly on the 11^th of December. The guidelines for this assembly will be debated in the forums during the summit.
The stabilization the climate is essential to the survival of all species on earth, it's a matter of intergenerational justice. People of all ages and creeds unite in the demand for effective solutions that will preserve life on the planet.
We, the people have the capacity and the necessity to solve these issues with understanding, solidarity and perseverance. We have the possibility to create another world!

For more information on Klimaforum10, updates, volunteering, costs, visas and so on, please check out our website:

www.klimaforum10.net

THE KLIMAFORUM10 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Adriana Matalonga, Eugenio Cabrera, Gabriela de la Vega, Jorge López, Kareen Kohn, Lucrecia Noemi Mazadiego, Miguel Angel Rosas, Miguel Valencia, Pedro Pliego y Raquel Rodríguez
General information: info@klimaforum10.net

Secretariat: tel: +52 55 53953801 (9a.m. – 3p.m. México D.F. GMT-6h)
International: Valérie Parent
secretariat@klimaforum10.net
skype: klimaforum10
Ibero-America: Ricardo Guzman
ricardo.secretariado@klimaforum10.net
skype: klimaforum10mx
Other tel: +52 (55) 5395- 7336, 5212-1886, 5540-7866 , 5553-2340

--
Miguel Valencia
ECOMUNIDADES

Compas indígenas, campesinos, trabajadores, mujeres, jóvenes, maestros, estudiantes, vecinos afectados por mega proyectos, ambientalistas, ecologistas, defensores de los animales, artistas, jubilados, profesionistas, pensadores, científicos:

Compas indígenas, campesinos, trabajadores, mujeres, jóvenes, maestros, estudiantes, vecinos afectados por mega proyectos, ambientalistas, ecologistas, defensores de los animales, artistas, jubilados, profesionistas, pensadores, científicos:

La próxima COP-16 de Cancún del cambio climático puede fácilmente resultar fracasada o producir resultados muy pobres - existen varios países que quieren que esto suceda, como EUA, China, India, Sudáfrica, México y varios países europeos - no obstante, decenas de miles de personas de todos los continentes vendrán a esta cumbre a exigir que esto no suceda, a exigir respuestas adecuadas a la amenaza climática que sufrimos y, también, vendrán a buscar alianzas con grupos asistentes a esta cumbre que sufren en otras partes del mundo una violencia parecida a la que ellos sufren, por operaciones tanto gubernamentales como empresariales, petroleras, industriales, agrícolas, pecuarias, transportistas, urbanizadoras, desarrolladoras, o de otro tipo.

El Klimaforum10, Cancún, forma parte de la estrategia política fuera de la cumbre de  organizaciones sociales, por lo que será una gran ocasión para obtener información de primera mano sobre el cambio climático y asuntos sociales y ambientales en otros países, así como de conocer personalmente a muchos distinguidos defensores de la Madre Tierra; será una gran ocasión para intercambiar ideas con muchas personas de otros países y establecer amistades, relaciones y acuerdos de trabajo solidario con representantes de movimientos y organizaciones que tienen luchas parecidas a las nuestras en otras regiones del mundo.

Los huracanes, las tormentas, los eventos climáticos tan devastadores que se han presentado en este año en México, nos obligan a tomar conciencia de la formidable amenaza que representa el cambio climático para los mas vulnerables. Nos obligan a exigir Justicia Climática; nos obligan a buscar cambios radicales en nuestros modos de vida y en las formas de gobierno que padecemos. Es urgente actuar conjuntamente frente a esta catástrofe climática; frente a esta injusticia climática.   

Tengo el gusto de informarles que la Convocatoria Internacional del Klimaforum10, Cancún ha sido ya difundida internacionalmente entre miles de organizaciones sociales de varios continentes; una buena parte de ellas realizan acciones locales e internacionales en relación al cambio climático. Hemos invitado a todos los expositores o ponentes en el Klimaforum09 de Copenhague y esperamos invitar, también, a muchos de los asistentes a la cumbre de Cochabamba. Empezamos a recibir ya solicitudes de espacio en el foro y en la Ecoaldea.

Quiero informarles que el Comité Organizador del Klimaforum10, Cancún, ofrecerá especial consideración a integrantes de redes y organizaciones de la base social mexicana: locales, regionales o estatales, en los espacios del Klimaforum10Cancun, siempre y cuando sean presentadas las solicitudes de espacio antes del 10 de octubre de 2010. Pueden registrar sus solicitudes de espacio para presentar sus actos o exposiciones; pueden confirmar su deseo de participar en los debates ligados a los ejes temáticos sugeridos por el Comité. También, pueden hacer sus reservaciones de alojamiento en nuestra Ecoaldea. Hacer estos registros y reservaciones en nuestro sitio de internet www.klimaforum10.net  o con nuestro Secretariado: Valerie Parent: klimaforum10@gmail.com

                  Ricardo Guzmán: klimaforum10@hotmail.com

Teléfonos: 52 (55) / 5395-3801

 

 

--
Miguel Valencia
ECOMUNIDADES
Red Ecologista Autónoma de la Cuenca de México

 

MEXICO: Civil Society Divided Ahead of Climate Summit [climate justice now!]

By Emilio Godoy

MEXICO CITY, Jun 4 (IPS) - With less than six months before Mexico hosts the next global climate change summit, Mexican environmental organisations hosting the parallel civil society forum are divided on how to carry it out -- which some fear could ultimately weaken their role at the negotiating table.

The differences are centred on the scenario for bringing together non- governmental organisations (NGOs) in Mexico's Caribbean resort city of Cancún, where the 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) to the United Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held Nov. 29 to Dec. 10.

At the COP 15 summit held in Copenhagen last December, the NGOs organised the Kilmaforum09, and some of the Mexican environmental groups want to repeat that formula, while many others want an approach that better reflects the Mexican and Latin American reality.

The disagreements "arise primarily because of power imbalances," Miguel Valencia, one of the 10 members of the Klimaforum 2010 Mexican organising committee, told IPS.

"The big international NGOs, like Greenpeace and Oxfam, are well connected and tolerate too many things from the governments. They accept programmes and issues in the summit negotiations which are unacceptable to the social movements," he said.

Following the failure of the official Copenhagen summit, a group of 30 Danish NGOs passed the Klimaforum baton to representatives of Mexican NGOs. Last December, the parallel forum, also known as the Peoples' Climate Summit, involved some 50,000 activists in more than 300 events.

The organising committee was established in February and meetings immediately began with Mexican NGOs to work together to create a civil society space for the Cancún summit.

The first major open meeting took place during the Peoples' Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, held in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, Apr. 20-22.

At that event, a group of Latin American NGOs issued a statement saying, "While we respect and value the experience of the Klimaforum, it responds to the European, and more specifically, Danish, context."

"An attempt to transfer or import it to our region would not respect the reality of our struggles, the identity or history of the mobilisations in our hemisphere," argued the NGOs opposed to imitating the Copenhagen civil society forum.

The split among the Mexican NGOs came at a May 12 meeting in Mexico City, when it became impossible to overcome the differences on how to best represent the interests of the people at the Cancún summit.

On one side are the Klimaforum10 organising committee and about 50 Mexican NGOs, and on the other are the Mexican affiliates of big international groups -- including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Oxfam -- and the usual leaders of local environmentalism, such as the Mexican Centre for Environmental Law.

Gustavo Ampugnani, Greenpeace's Latin American policy coordinator, played down the discord.

"They are two spaces that coexist. Perhaps some are more interested in influencing the official negotiations, while others have lost faith in that process," Ampugnani told IPS, referring to organising committee member Valencia's harsh criticism of the role played by the major international environmental groups in the UN-sponsored talks.

The dispute generated concern among some of the European NGOs planning to participate in Cancún. They are hoping the situation can be resolved, and avoid the creation of two opposing forums claiming to represent global civil society -- as was predicted at the divisive May planning meeting.

Members of the Danish organising committee of Klimaforum09 issued an open letter in regards to the space for civil society at the Cancún summit.

"It is our hope that we may learn from Klimaforum09's experiences, mistakes and successes, in a way that contributes to the further strengthening of the grassroots and civil society movements throughout the world, and the further development of the movement of movements, which is so vital if we really want to change the system and save the climate," wrote Mathilde Kaalund- Jørgensen and John Holten-Andersen.

COP 15 ended in failure when the more than 120 participating governments produced only a non-binding agreement. It is hoped that the Cancún summit will reach an accord that provides continuity to the Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force in 2005 and will expire in 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol requires the 37 industrialised countries that ratified the agreement to reduce emissions of greenhouse-effect gases (responsible for global climate change) by at least 5.2 percent, based on 1990 emissions levels.

"The worst that could happen is that the position of civil society in relation to the negotiations comes out weakened and the effort is diluted," a source close to the Mexican NGOs dialogue for COP 16 told IPS.

European funds intended for Klimaforum10 have been frozen, according to the organising committee, which has opted to move forward, regardless of what the other Mexican NGOs decide.

Klimaforum09 cost more than 125 million dollars, provided mostly by the Danish government.

Klimaforum10 organisers asked the Mexican government and the Cancún municipal government to provide the facilities for the events programmed for their civil society meet.

In Valencia's opinion, the fragmentation "weakens the position of civil society" in the larger context of the Cancún summit, where "we'll end up with four or 10 different peoples' summits."

But Greenpeace's Ampugnani countered that "Mexican civil society is diverse, and that should be celebrated. What has occurred is not going to affect civil society's position in relation to the formal negotiations."

The letter from the Danish committee states: "We urge all concerned and radical voices to come together to create a diverse and determined forum for the social, political and ecological movements." (END/2010)

 

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51725

--
Miguel Valencia
ECOMUNIDADES

Wiki sobre descrecimiento - Beyond growth

Se está creando un espacio  wiki sobre decrecimiento por parte de diferentes personalidades a nivel mundial:

http://beyondgrowth.wikispaces.com/
-------------------------------
Welcome! This is a wiki linking you to the many existing repositories of information on post growth, degrowth (décroissance, decrescita, Decrecimiento, decreixement) and steady-state thinking. Whilst a more comprehensive wiki on these issues can be found at Degrowthpedia, this site aims to provide a set of the most crucial quick links. Many areas cross over, conceptually and practically, with these movements but here you can see some holistic thoughts on what distinguishes these movements from the mainstream. Please feel free to contribute in order to expand and keep this page up-to-date!

Some key organisations and working groups include: Centre for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy; Adbusters; The International Society for Ecological Economics; Yes! Magazine; New Economics Foundation, New Economics Institute, Appropedia, Sustainable Economics, Institute for the Social and Economical Study of Sustainable Degrowth, E.F. Schumacher Society, Post-Autistic Economics Network, Association for Heterodox Economics, Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, New Economy Working Group, Institute for New Economic Thinking, Freegan.info, Post Carbon Institute, Civil Society Engagement with ECological EConomics, Institute for Collapsonomics, The Cambridge Trust for New Thinking in Economics, Indigo Development, Italian Degrowth Network, Movement for Degrowth and Happiness, Catalan Degrowth Network, Vancouver Degrowth Network, A Degrowth Network emerging from 2nd Int. Conference on Degrowth, Québécois décroissance movement , After-growth wiki, Global Network for Growth Objection, The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, Swiss Degrowth Network, Danish Degrowth Network, Better Not Bigger Alliance

Key blogs: Steady State Revolution, Beyond Growth, Make Wealth History, Post Growth, The Daly Blog, Free Degrowth
Key Journals: Journal of Cleaner Production (Special Issue), Journal la Decroissance,Journal of Ecological Economics, Real World Economics, Limites, Entropia, Silence, L'Ecologiste, L'âge de Faire
Key videos: Degrowth

Key Twitter info: Use this Twitter list to add/follow relevant people. Relevant Twitter hashtags: #postgrowth #neweconomy #altcurrency #ecologicaleconomics #steadystate #degrowth #decroissance #collapsonomics #thrivability #sustainability #susty #population #carbon #transition.

You can contact the founder of this page via donmaclurcan (at) gmail (dot) com or on twitter: @donmacca. If interested, check out his work on Dave Gardner's film: Hooked on Growth.

 

 

Radicalismo ecologista entre objetores al crecimiennto

The radicalism of ecologists is being revived by growth objectors (Aries en Francaise) http://bit.ly/cJgMkn #decroissance #neweconomy

 

Descrecimiento, acción y meditación

Desde luego que la meditación es un acto revolucionario, pero sin acción, en el inmovilismo al que esta sociedad capitalista condena a la gran mayoría de las personas, no avanzamos un apice en la buena vida, se profundizan los desastres sociales y acabamos viviendo oprimidos; el descrecimiento signfica acción en estos momentos.  Precisamente el consumismo y la colonización de imaginario paralizan a la gente y la vuelven incapaz de ocuparse de lo que a todos nos afecta y de salir de la contemplación de su ombligo. Me parece poco adecuada la meditación sin la acción, como la accion sin meditación. No se trata de figurar, o de leer o no leer, o de ser ecoactivista distinguido o no, se trata de hacer lo que cada quien puede hacer en la medida de sus circunstancias´y sus profundas . Aqui no hay competencias a ver quien es mas descrecentista. Ya he dicho por muchos años, y lo he vivido, que una vida frugal es la base de una acción pertinente. Sin acción, simplemente no tendríamos este grupo de descrecimiento o el Klimaforum10, Cancun, una actividad que por otro lado cualquiera puede considerar futil, sin embargo, nos divierte mucho. Sin gusto por las cosas que uno hace no vale la pena hacer nada. En nuestro medio, ejercemos los actos gratuitos que son base del descrecimiento; es decir: actos en los que no va de por medio un negocio.

Mucho sobre lo que hemos trabajado en descrecimiento se apoya en las enseñanzas de Gandhi y de su gran maestro Tolstoi. Por medio de la revista Ixtus, en la trabajó mucho Jean Robert, hemos profundizado en las propuestas de Gandhi. Desde hace varios años estoy en contacto con Sonia de Otto que reside en Gujarat, India y quien introdujo en México la Universidad de Gandhi que realiza muchos trabajos en Tepito, Tlateloloco,y otros barrios, además, en Real del Catorce y otros pueblos. Participo con la promoción, como lo hemos hecho en años pasados, de la proxima ceremonia ante la estatuta de Gandhi, el 2 de octubre, junto con muchas escuelas esotericas y no tanto, como los de la Generación del 2 de Octubre del 68. Me reuní con ellos este domingo pasado para hacer los preparativos. Ya les enviaré la invitación

No obstante, creo que cada quien tiene su forma de conseguir su vida frugal. A mi me gusta mucho la filosofía de Spinoza, sobre la que hice mi disertación en el seminario de descrecimiento de Copenhague que dio pabulo a la invitación a organizar este tremendo Klimaforum10

Pero, no se puede ignorar el efecto político que tenían los ayunos de Gandhi, al igual que otras de sus actividades simbólicas, como la fabricación de su vestimenta en publico y su marcha para obtener su propia sal. Hay muchos en el mundo que han resultado profundamente impresionados por estas actividades. Los actos simbólicos tienen un poderoso efecto político y cultural. Si dejamos de utilizar el celular o el auto, si dejamos de tomar agua embotellada, si vestimos con frecuencia con vestimenta fabricada artesanalmente, si caminamos una media hora al día por nuestro pueblo, barrio o colonia, y si sobre todo, producimos algun alimento en nuestro hogar, podríamos no sólo tener una vida menos desagradable sino ayudar al cambio cultural que se requiere para que todos tengamos un "buen vivir" como quieren los indigenas de Sudamerica. Los actos simbólicos me parecen la via hacia otra vida en la Tierra mas alejados del Sistema.  Independientemente de que podamos tener una vida peor o mejor en el futuro, por medio de nuestras acciones- no me interesan las "mañanas que cantan" preconizadas por los socialistas, podemos encontrar formas de "vivir bien" por medio de nuestros actos simbólicos. 

MIguel Valencia Mulkay

Convocatoria internacional del Klimaforum10, Cancún (con lema y fecha) + PFD (esp.&ingl.)

CONVOCATORIA INTERNACIONAL DEL KLIMAFORUM10 CANCÚN

For English version click here

Convocamos a los movimientos y organizaciones autónomas de indígenas, nómadas, campesinos, pescadores, trabajadores, mujeres, jóvenes, maestros, estudiantes, vecinos, activistas sociales, defensores de los animales, ecologistas, ambientalistas,  profesionistas, jubilados, pensadores, científicos y ciudadanos en general, a participar en el Klimaforum10, que tendrá lugar en Cancún – Puerto Morelos, México, entre el 26 de noviembre y el 11 de diciembre de 2010, en paralelo a la celebración de la COP-16 de las Naciones Unidas.

CONTEXTO

Este año somos testigos de nuevas manifestaciones extremas del desastre climático, como las inundaciones en Pakistán que han matado a miles de personas, desplazando a más de 20 millones; en China, matando a 3,400 personas en solo un día y más de 12 millones de personas que han perdido sus hogares; 17 países registraron sus temperaturas máximas históricas; la ola de calor e incendios en Rusia, donde el pasado julio se documentaron, tras 130 años de registros, temperaturas máximas históricas; el 5 de agosto un satélite de la NASA detectó que una masa de hielo se desgajó del glaciar Petermann, al norte de Groenlandia, se trata de la mayor pérdida que ha sufrido el Ártico en 50 años. En México ha habido inundaciones catastróficas en más de 10 estados así como las desastrosas consecuencias del huracán Alex en Tamaulipas, Nuevo León y Coahuila, que confirman la tendencia creciente a mayores eventos climáticos extremos.

LA INICIATIVA KLIMAFORUM10

Convencidos desde hace muchos años de la gravedad del cambio climático y de la falta de resultados de las cumbres gubernamentales frente a este problema, e invitados muy especialmente en 2009 por el Danish Board del Klimaforum09 para dar continuidad a esta exitosa iniciativa de Copenhague, movimientos de la base social mexicana decidimos organizar una cumbre ambientalista autónoma, sin influencias corporativas ni gubernamentales, en paralelo a la COP-16 de las Naciones Unidas. Los movimientos de la base social convocados por el Klimaforum10 dispondrán en Cancún de un espacio abierto a todos, donde puedan reunirse, debatir respuestas constructivas y encontrar consensos de acción internacional a la catástrofe climática; un espacio en el que salga enriquecida la sociedad.  Ante la cumbre donde los gobiernos fracasan, los pueblos avanzan.

OBJETIVOS

• Fortalecer el movimiento mundial por la justicia climática.
• Evaluar e incidir en las decisiones de la COP-16 de Cancún.
• Propiciar el acercamiento, entendimiento y acuerdo entre los movimientos de la base social y las organizaciones autónomas que enfrentan en el mundo el desastre climático.
• Visibilizar y dar impulso a las propuestas constructivas frente al cambio climático.
• Ofrecer un espacio que permita intensificar la solidaridad, la complementariedad y la reciprocidad.
• Ofrecer el costo más bajo de un espacio digno con mínima huella ecológica para los asistentes del Klimaforum10.
• Inspirar una nueva forma de hacer foros con baja huella ecológica que sirva de referente a futuras cumbres.

ORGANIZACIÓN DEL KLIMAFORUM10

Los participantes pueden proponer la organización de charlas, talleres, mesas redondas, seminarios, foros, asambleas, encuentros, jornadas internacionales, actos culturales en el Klimaforum10, bajo la modalidad de actos auto convocados, por medio del registro de estas iniciativas en el sitio de internet o ante el Secretariado del Klimaforum10, que gestionará ante el Comité Organizador la programación más conveniente para las partes.

Otra forma de participación activa puede ser en mesas de trabajo, como en los siguientes ejes temáticos que sugerimos:

• ELIMINACIÓN DE LA ENERGÍA NUCLEAR:
  Pacifismo; Desmilitarización; Desglobalización; Democracia Global…
• SALIR DE LA DEPENDENCIA DEL PETRÓLEO Y EL CARBÓN
  Pico del petróleo; Reducción radical del consumo de energía; Energías renovables.
• SACRALIZAR EL AGUA
  Dimensión espiritual, ecológica y social del agua; Desertificación; Privatización del agua.
• SALVAR LOS ANIMALES Y PLANTAS
  Eliminar el consumo de productos animales; Tráfico de especies; Rechazo a los transgénicos.
• PROTEGER LOS BOSQUES Y SELVAS
  ¿Los mecanismos de mercado son los adecuados? REDD, REDD+; Conservación de bosques, arrecifes y manglares.
• REESTRUCTURAR LA AGRICULTURA, PESCA, GANADERÍA, GRANJAS
  La Vía Campesina; Eliminación de los grandes potreros, establos, granjas y piscicultura industrializados; Relocalización de la producción y el consumo; Rechazo a patentar semillas y formas de vida.
• REDUCIR EL TRANSPORTE Y LA URBANIZACIÓN
  Desincentivar el uso del auto y del transporte en general; Despavimentar; Diversificación del uso del suelo; Autonomía de los barrios y los ejidos.
• MINIMIZAR LOS DESECHOS
  Reducción radical de los envases y embalajes; Eliminar los envases desechables; Relocalización del tratamiento y acopio de  los residuos.
• DESCRECIMIENTO ECONÓMICO
  Ecología encima de la economía; Eliminación de los índices nacionales de crecimiento económico y del PIB; Repudiar los Tratados de Libre Comercio; Acabar con la sociedad del consumo y el paradigma del trabajo esclavizantes.
• JUSTICIA CLIMÁTICA
  Reconocimiento de la deuda histórica; Freno al saqueo de los países del Sur Global; Tribunal de justicia climática; Derechos de la Madre Tierra.
• ACELERAR LA TRANSICIÓN
  Fortalecer las redes de comunidades ecológicas; Incentivar la soberanía alimentaria; Dejar el petróleo y los metales bajo tierra; Autonomía local; Redistribuir la riqueza y el trabajo; Cooperativas para la supervivencia de los más vulnerables.
• FLORECIMIENTO DE LAS CULTURAS
  Recuperación de saberes, idiomas y tradiciones; Soluciones locales a problemas locales.
• FALSAS SOLUCIONES
  Mecanismos de mercado: bonos de carbono, Mecanismo de Desarrollo Limpio (MDL), Reducción de Emisiones por Deforestación y Degradación de los bosques (REDD, REDD+, REDD++);…

Estos son algunos de los temas sugeridos, participantes pueden registrar temas adicionales, la programación será confirmada por correo y comunicada por internet.

¿EN QUÉ ES DISTINTO EL KLIMAFORUM10?

Espacios para realizar actividades

• Se tendrán tiendas con capacidad no mayor a 50 personas, con el objeto de propiciar una amplia participación de los asistentes en los debates y crear diversidad de propuestas.
• Habrá espacios más amplios para conferencias y plenarias.
• Habrá además, carpas disponibles para las actividades de instituciones, organizaciones o de grupos que decidan reservarlas para su uso específico.

El lugar

Una atmosfera en comunión con la naturaleza, un espacio seguro, hermoso, alejado del concepto urbano y consumista, ubicado en la ruta de los cenotes en Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, a solo 15 minutos del COP-16 y 30 minutos de Cancún.  Leer mas…

EcoAldea Global

A solo unos pasos del centro de actividades se encuentra la EcoAldea Global, que incluye:

• Espacio de campamento para alojar a 2,500 personas aprox.
• Servicios con sanitarios secos, duchas con un bajo impacto ambiental, atención médica y internet.
• Alimentación vegetariana y vegana.
• Entrada libre a todas las actividades del Klimaforum10.
• Para más información sobre la EcoAldea Global y asegurar su espacio visite nuestro sitio en internet.

Minimización de la huella ecológica

La mayoría de las cumbres hasta hoy son dependientes de los servicios de hoteles restaurantes, taxis y camiones aunque de cara al paradigma actual seria incoherente que una cumbre que busca aliviar los problemas climáticos siguiera esta misma manera de proceder, especialmente si se considera el tamaño de la huella ecológica que un evento de esta magnitud ocasiona; por eso hemos buscado las mejores formas a nuestra disposición para poder minimizar nuestra huella ecológica. Entre ellas las carpas con ventilación dinámica, baños secos, sistemas de reciclaje, nuestra política de espacio libre de empaques, y libre de anuncios o productos multinacionales, la dieta vegetariana y sobre todo la capacidad de poder acampar a miles de personas a solo pasos del centro de actividades, evitando los transportes o emisiones innecesarias. Pero esto es solo una fracción de lo que podemos crear en conjunto, necesitamos la colaboración de todos para garantizar el buen desempeño de Klimaforum10.

LOS COMITÉS DEL KLIMAFORUM10

El Klimaforum10 ha tenido que enfrentar grandes obstáculos para lograr su celebración, desde que se conformó su primer Comité Promotor el 2 de febrero 2010, con representantes de pequeñas organizaciones de México. Constituye una expresión política auténtica de la base social mexicana, una lucha que defiende la voz de los pueblos en la conservación de la naturaleza.

En el mes de septiembre se constituyó ante notario público la Asociación Civil Klimaforum México A.C. con el objeto de transparentar los fondos que se reciban y su utilización. En el mismo acto, se creó el Comité Organizador del Klimaforum10.

NECESITAMOS DE TU COLABORACIÓN PARA QUE ESTO SUCEDA

El Comité Organizador del KF10 ha querido realizar este foro con plena autonomía política con ayuda de pequeñas organizaciones de la base social, por lo cual no está financiado por gobiernos, grandes empresas u ONGs corporativas las cuales suelen imponer sus agendas ocultas.

Esperamos, compañera/os que comprendan las grandes limitaciones económicas con las que estamos trabajando y que estén dispuestos a cubrir los costos de la organización de esta Cumbre Climátca de los Pueblos con el pago de la entrada de 5 dólares por el día a los vistitantes.

En caso de existir excedentes económicos, estos se destinarán a proyectos ecológicos, los cuales serán seleccionados por los participantes mediante una asamblea democrática general el 11 de Diciembre. Los lineamientos de esta asamblea se acordarán durante el evento mediante debates.

Estabilizar el clima es esencial para la sobrevivencia de todas las especies en la Tierra, se trata de un asunto de justicia intergeneracional.  Personas de todo tipo deberían unirse para exigir soluciones efectivas que conserven la vida en la Tierra. Nosotros, los pueblos, tenemos la necesidad y la capacidad para resolver estos asuntos con comprensión, solidaridad y perseverancia. ¡Tenemos la posibilidad para crear un mundo distinto!

Para más información sobre el Klimaforum10, actualizaciones, voluntariado, tarifas, visas y demás por favor dirigirse a la página de Internet:

www.klimaforum10.net

 

¡Cambiemos el sistema - No el clima!

19 septiembre 2010

COMITÉ ORGANIZADOR KLIMAFORUM10

Adriana Matalonga, Eugenio Cabrera, Gabriela de la Vega, Jorge López, Kareen Kohn, Lucrecia Noemi Mazadiego, Miguel Angel Rosas, Miguel Valencia, Pedro Pliego y Raquel Rodríguez

Contacto: info@klimaforum10.net

Secretariado: tel: +52 55 53953801 (9a.m. – 3p.m. México D.F. GMT-6h)

Internacional: Valérie Parent

secretariat@klimaforum10.net

skype: klimaforum10

Ibero-America: Ricardo Guzman

ricardo.secretariado@klimaforum10.net

skype: klimaforum10mx

Otros tel.: +52 (55) 5395- 7336, 5212-1886, 5540-7866 , 5553-2340

 

Alemanes, contra energía nuclear

Es la mayor manifestación desde el desastre de Chernobyl

 

UNIDOS. "Adiós a la energía atómica, ya", reclamaban los manifestantes frente al Reichstag, en Berlín (Foto: FABRIZIO BENSCH REUTERS )

 

Domingo 19 de septiembre de 2010 El Universal
Comenta la Nota

BERLÍN (Agencias).— Decenas de miles de alemanes rodearon ayer el despacho de la canciller, Angela Merkel —hasta 100 mil, según los organizadores—, en una demostración antinuclear que de acuerdo con los organizadores fue la mayor de su tipo desde el desastre de Chernobyl, en 1986.

Los manifestantes también desfilaron por el centro de Berlín en protesta contra la decisión gubernamental de prolongar la vida de las plantas nucleares del país por otros 12 años.

La marcha, que partió de la estación central ferroviaria y discurrió por las inmediaciones de la cancillería y el Parlamento para culminar en una concentración de regreso al punto de partida se desarrolló en un ambiente festivo, entre consignas antinucleares y acompañada de bandas musicales y tambores.

Se trató de la primera manifestación tras la decisión de la coalición de centro-derecha de Merkel de prolongar el funcionamiento de las centrales. La marcha fue convocada por el revivido activismo antinuclear alemán tradicional y recibió el apoyo de algunos de los clubes de la modernidad berlinesa. La protesta podría ayudar a movilizar la creciente oposición a la coalición de centroderecha de Merkel, que ha sufrido una caída de la popularidad desde que asumió el mandato en octubre.

Portando carteles con consignas como "cierren el gobierno ahora", los manifestantes caminaron bajo la lluvia para instar a Merkel a dar marcha atrás y mantener una promesa hecha por su antecesor, Gerhard Schroeder, de cerrar las plantas nucleares de energía de Alemania en el año 2021.

"Hemos dejado muy claro hoy que una amplia mayoría de la población está en contra de este culto nuclear", dijo Jochen Stay, uno de los organizadores.

El ánimo antinuclear llegó a su punto máximo en Alemania después del accidente de abril de 1986 en Ucrania en la planta de energía de Chernobyl, que provocó la liberación de material radiactivo. "Mi hija nació ese otoño y ella sufrió serias discapacidades como resultado", dijo Karin Sager, una manifestante de 52 años.

"Está casi ciega y tiene muchos problemas de columna", dijo parada junto a su hija, de 23 años. "El mensaje a Merkel es que tiene que detener esto ya".

Las encuestas han mostrado en repetidas ocasiones que la mayoría de los alemanes está en contra de una extensión de la vida útil nuclear, y Merkel aún enfrenta una batalla para obtener las medidas en el Parlamento.

"Yo solía estar bien dispuesto hacia Merkel, pero ahora voy totalmente en una dirección opuesta", afirmó Juergen Kirschning, de 79 años.

Así, junto a las omnipresentes pancartas con el legendario "Atomkraft?, nein, danke" — "¿Energía nuclear? No, gracias"— característico de las décadas de los años 70, 80 y 90, desfilaron por Berlín todo tipo de banderas multicolores.

Entre los concentrados se encontraban, arropados por su militancia, el presidente del Partido Socialdemócrata (SPD), Sigmar Gabriel, así como la líder de los Verdes, Claudia Roth.

El pacto suscrito en 2000 entre la alianza socialdemócrata-verde del canciller Gerhard Schröeder y la industria preveía que el llamado "apagón nuclear" se produciría en 2022.

Merkel quiso ya revisar el calendario de cierres en su anterior legislatura, en gran coalición, pero sus entonces socios de gobierno socialdemócratas se lo impidieron. La actual alianza retomó la cuestión, hasta anunciar, dos semanas atrás, un nuevo plan de acuerdo por el cual se prolongará la vida de las plantas una media de 12 años, de manera que la última cerraría en el año 2034.

 

--
Miguel Valencia
ECOMUNIDADES

 

The Guardian: The powerful coalition that wants to engineer the world's climate

The Guardian

The powerful coalition that wants to engineer the world's climate

Businessmen, scientists and right-wing thinktanks are joining forces to promote 'geo-engineering' ideas to cool the planet's climate, writes Clive Hamilton

• Clive Hamilton for OurWorld 2.0, part of the Guardian Environment Network
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 September 2010 16.16 BST

Some people geo-engineering techniques, such as filling the sky with shiny dust to reflect sunlight, could curb such temperature rises without the need to restrict greenhouse gas emissions

In August 1883 the painter Edvard Munch witnessed an unusual blood-red sunset over Oslo. Shaken up by it, he wrote in his diary that he "felt a great, unending scream piercing through nature". The incident inspired him to create his most famous work,The Scream.

The sunset he saw that evening followed the eruption of Krakatoa off the coast of Java. The explosion, one of the most violent in recorded history, sent a massive plume of ash into the stratosphere, turning sunsets red around the globe. The gases emitted also caused the Earth to cool by more than one degree and disrupted weather patterns for several years.

The cooling effect of large volcanic eruptions has been known for some time. A haze forms from the sulphur dioxide spewed into the upper atmosphere reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth. It's estimated that the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 — the largest since Krakatoa — cooled the Earth by around 0.5°C for a year or more.

Now, a powerful coalition of forces is quietly constellating around the idea of transforming the Earth's atmosphere by simulating volcanic eruptions to counter the warming effects of carbon pollution. Engineering the planet's climate system is attracting the attention of scientists, scientific societies, venture capitalists and conservative think tanks. Despite the enormity of what is being proposed — nothing less than taking control of Earth's climate system — the public has been almost entirely excluded from the planning.

The Royal Society defines geoengineering as "the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract anthropogenic climate change" and divides methods into two types: carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere, and solar radiation management aimed at reducing heat coming in or reflecting more of it out.

Techniques ranging from the intriguing to the wacky have been proposed to remove carbon from the atmosphere, including fertilising the oceans with iron filings to promote the growth of tiny marine plants that absorb carbon dioxide, installing in the ocean a vast number of floating funnels that draw nutrient-rich cold water from the deep to encourage algal blooms that suck carbon dioxide from the air, and construction of thousands of 'sodium trees' that extract carbon dioxide directly from the air and turn it into sodium bicarbonate.

Some of the ideas put forward to block the Sun's heat would be far-fetched even in a science fiction novel. One is to send billions of reflective discs to a point in space known as L1 and located between the Earth and the Sun. Another is to launch hundreds of special unmanned ships that plough the oceans sending up plumes of water vapour that increase cloud cover. Or dark-coloured forests could be converted into light-coloured grasslands that reflect more sunlight.

Enhanced dimming
But the option that is taken most seriously is altogether grander in conception and scale. The scheme proposes nothing less than the transformation of the chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere so that humans can regulate the temperature of the planet as desired. Like volcanic eruptions, it involves injecting sulphur dioxide gas into the stratosphere to blanket the Earth with tiny particles that reflect solar radiation.

Various schemes have been proposed, with the most promising being adaptation of high-flying aircraft fitted with extra tanks and nozzles to spray the chemicals. A fleet of 747s could do the job. To have the desired effect we would need the equivalent of one Mount Pinatubo eruption every three or four years. The emissions from the eruption in April of Iceland's 'Mount Unpronounceable' were less than a hundredth of those from Pinatubo, so to engineer the climate we'd need the equivalent of one of those every week, every year for decades.

More cautious scientists recognise that attempting to regulate the Earth's climate by enhancing global dimming is fraught with dangers. Most worryingly, the oceans are absorbing around a third of the extra carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by humans, which is raising their acidity, dissolving corals and inhibiting shell-formation by marine organisms. Turning down the dimmer switch may reduce incoming solar radiation but would do nothing to slow ocean acidification. The climate system is hugely complicated and tinkering with it might be akin to introducing cane toads to control sugarcane beetles. 

Moral hazards
Although ideas for climate engineering have been around for at least twenty years, until recently public discussion has been discouraged by the scientific community. Environmentalists and governments have been reluctant to talk about it too. The reason is simple: apart from its unknown side-effects, geoengineering would weaken resolve to reduce carbon emissions.

Economically it is an extremely attractive substitute because its cost is estimated to be "trivial" compared to those of cutting carbon pollution. While the international community has found it difficult to agree on strong collective measures to reduce carbon emissions, climate engineering is cheap, immediately effective and, most importantly, available to a single nation.

Among the feasible contenders for unilateral intervention, one expert names China, the USA, the European Union, Russia, India, Japan and Australia. Could they agree? It's like seven people living together in a centrally heated house, each with their own thermostat and each with a different ideal temperature. China will be severely affected by warming, but Russia might prefer the globe to be a couple of degrees warmer.

If there is no international agreement an impatient nation suffering the effects of climate disruption may decide to act alone. It is not out of the question that in three decades the climate of the Earth could be determined by a handful of Communist Party officials in Beijing. Or the government of an Australia crippled by permanent drought, collapsing agriculture and ferocious bushfires could risk the wrath of the world by embarking on a climate control project.

To date, governments have shunned geoengineering for fear of being accused of wanting to avoid their responsibilities with science fiction solutions. The topic is not mentioned in the Stern report and receives only one page in Australia's Garnaut report (see Section 2.4.2).  As a sign of its continuing political sensitivity, when in April 2009 it was reported that President Obama's new science adviser John Holdren had said that geoengineering is being vigorously discussed as an emergency option in the White House, he immediately felt the need to issue a "clarification" claiming that he was only expressing his personal views.

Holdren is one of the sharpest minds in the business and would not be entertaining what is now known as 'Plan B'— engineering the planet to head off catastrophic warming — unless he was fairly sure Plan A would fail.

Fiddling with the dimmer switch may prove an almost irresistible political fix for governments. It gets powerful lobbies off their backs, gives the green light to burn more coal, avoids the need to raise petrol taxes, allows unrestrained growth and is no threat to consumer lifestyles.

In short, compared to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, geoengineering gets everyone off the hook. No government is yet willing to lend official support to geoengineering. However, the pressure is building and the day when the government of a major nation like the United States, Russia or China publicly backs Plan B cannot be far off. Then the floodgates will open.

Even now, beneath the radar, Russia has already begun testing. Yuri Izrael, a Russian scientist who is both a global-warming sceptic and a senior adviser to Prime Minister Putin, has tested the effects of aerosol spraying from a helicopter on solar radiation reaching the ground. He now plans a full-scale trial.

Strangelove and son
Two of the earliest and most aggressive advocates of planetary engineering were Edward Teller and Lowell Wood. Teller, who died in 2003, was the co-founder and director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco, described by US author Jeff Goodell as having a "near-mythological status as the dark heart of weapons research". Teller is often described as the "father of the hydrogen bomb" and was the inspiration for Dr. Strangelove, the wheelchair-bound mad scientist prone to Nazi salutes in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film of that name.

Lowell Wood was recruited by Teller to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and became his protégé. For decades Wood was one of the Pentagon's foremost "weaponeers", leading him to be christened "Dr. Evil" by critics. He led the group tasked with developing Ronald Reagan's ill-fated Star Wars missile shield that included plans for an array of orbiting X-ray lasers powered by nuclear reactors.

Since 1998 Wood and Teller have been promoting aerosol spraying into the stratosphere as a simple and cheap counter to global warming. Reflecting the dominant opinion of the 1950s, they believe it is humankind's duty to exert supremacy over nature. It is perhaps for this reason that they have long been associated with conservative think tanks that deny the existence of human-induced global warming. Both men have been associated with the Hoover Institution, a centre of climate scepticism partly funded by ExxonMobil, and Wood is listed as an expert with the George C. Marshall Institute, a Washington think tank that became one of the main centres of climate denial in the 1990s.

It is strange that geoengineering is being promoted enthusiastically by a number of right-wing think tanks that are active in climate denialism. The American Enterprise Institute, an influential think tank also part-funded by ExxonMobil that offered US$10,000 to academics for papers debunking the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has launched a high-profile project to promote geoengineering.

Of course, geoengineering protects their supporters and financiers in the fossil industries because it can be a substitute for carbon reductions and justify delay. But a deeper explanation lies in their beliefs about the relationship of humans to the natural world.

Pursuing abatement is an admission that industrial society has harmed nature, while engineering the Earth's climate would be confirmation of our mastery over it — final proof that, whatever minor errors made on the way, human ingenuity and faith in our own abilities will always triumph. Geoengineering promises to turn failure into triumph.

Lowell Wood believes that climate engineering is inevitable; it's a matter of time before the 'political elites' wake up to its cheapness and effectiveness. In a statement that could serve as Earth's epitaph, he declared: "We've engineered every other environment we live in—why not the planet?"

Wood is contemptuous of the ability of world leaders to reduce emissions (which he dubs "the bureaucratic suppression of CO₂") and of their ability to reach a consensus on trialling geoengineering. He predicts that necessity will overrun popular resistance to the idea of fiddling with the atmosphere.

Faced with this resistance, Wood speculates about getting private funding from a billionaire for an experiment. "As far as I can determine, there is no law that prohibits doing something like this". Wood is right: there is no law against a private individual attempting to take control of the Earth's climate.

Regulating climate regulation
This goes to the heart of the push to develop the tools for climatic manipulation. The debate over climate engineering is at present confined largely to a tight-knit group of scientists, some of whom want to keep the public in the dark and fend off regulation of their activities. In his book, How To Cool the Planet, Goodell describes a series of three private dinners in early 2009 that brought together the main players.  Convened by two of the leading advocates, Ken Caldeira of Stanford University and David Keith of the University of Calgary, they were "a turning point in the evolution of geoengineering as a policy tool".

In March this year a private meeting of leading climate engineers,held in Asilomar, California, aimed to develop guidelines to govern research and testing. The invitees wanted a voluntary code of conduct that would forestall regulation by governments and the international community so that the experts could work unhindered at their task of understanding how to control of the Earth's climate system.

David Keith argues  that an international treaty may be unnecessary because the use of solar radiation management could be regulated by unwritten "norms". This is despite his acknowledgement that the threat of unilateral action is very real; any one of a dozen countries could begin it within a few years. Indeed, one wealthy individual could transform the atmosphere and, with enough determination, bring on an ice age.

Perhaps the wealthy individual he has in mind is Bill Gates, who has covertly been funding geoengineering research for three years with advice from Keith and Caldeira.  They now oversee Gates' research fund, which has spent some $4.5 million to date, including funding the three private dinners. Keith will not reveal what the money is being spent on, downplaying it as "a little private funding agency". Right—the world's richest man has a little private funding agency devoted to researching ways to manipulate the Earth's climate system. Conspiracy theory anyone?

Gates is also an investor in a firm named Intellectual Ventures that is promoting a scheme called "StratoShield", which would pump sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere through a 30-kilometre hose held aloft by V-shaped blimps.   Intellectual Ventures is run by Nathan Myhrvold, former chief technology officer at Microsoft, and includes Lowell Wood among its associates.

Gates is not the only billionaire lone ranger who wants to save the planet. Richard Branson has set up his own "war room" to do battle with global warming. The battalions he wants to mobilise on "the path to victory" are successful entrepreneurs—like himself—and their weapons are "market driven solutions to climate change", including geoengineering.

The Carbon War Room — where inspirational quotes from Branson are mixed in with those of other titans like Churchill, Roosevelt and Einstein — represents the type of rich man's folly common amongst modern entrepreneurs with a Messiah complex.

The War Room site promotes a paper co-authored by Lee Lane of the American Enterprise Institute and published by the centre run by "skeptical environmentalist" Bjorn Lomborg. It argues that the benefits of geoengineering vastly outweigh the costs and shows how to set an optimal temperature for the Earth for the next two hundred years.

The authors worry that ethical objections from environmental advocacy groups may block the deployment of solar radiation management, before noting with relief, "in reality, important economies remain largely beyond the influence of environmental advocacy groups." They expect deployment of solar radiation management will be led by nations with weak environmental lobbies—which of course means dictatorships.

Blue-sky dreaming
More vivid sunsets like the one Edvard Munch saw in 1883 would be one of the consequences of using sulphate aerosols to engineer the climate; but a more disturbing effect of enhanced dimming would be the permanent whitening of day-time skies. A washed-out sky would become the norm.

If the nations of the world resort to climate engineering, and in doing so relieve pressure to cut carbon emissions, then the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would continued to rise and so would the latent warming that would need suppressing. It would then become impossible to call a halt to sulphur injections into the stratosphere, even for a year or two, without an immediate jump in temperature.

It's estimated that, if whoever controls the scheme decided to stop, the back-up of greenhouse gases could see warming rebound at a rate 10-20 times faster than in the recent past, a phenomenon referred to, apparently without irony, as the "termination problem".

Once we start manipulating the atmosphere we could be trapped, forever dependent on a program of sulphur injections into the stratosphere. In that case, human beings would never see a blue sky again.

------------------------->>
Via -- -->
Miguel Valencia
ECOMUNIDADES