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Global Warming Will Affect Us All. Happy New Year!

Published 29th December 2009 - 5 comments - 1116 views -

Most of us are in the middle of our winter holidays, enjoying days off work, along with family and friends. Which is fantastic. We all need to recharge our batteries.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to leave my disapointment from COP15 outcome in 2009 and start 2010 with new energies and resolutions that involve helping the unlucky ones whose only fault is to have been born in a world different than ours. Problems and solutions alike lay in the heart of our planet and deep within our soul. We're all linked together - black and white, rich and poor, old and young.

I hope (I've used hope as a leitmotif for many of my posts here and although currently not as bright as usual, it still keeps me going) that decison makers (as much as all of us) will learn from their mistakes and will make 2010 the year of change through global climate action. In the next couple of days, a new page will be turned. A blank page where world leaders will write history in ink or in blood will replace the current one.

Meanwhile, as simple inhabitants of the world (regardless of the culture we come from), we should make our own stand. We should drive less and walk more, we should recycle and reuse, we should give up to meat at least from now and then, and, maybe more important, we should not forget. 

Let's not forget that many of the advantages of living in the comfort of our homes came with sacrifices from the poor. Let's not forget that every second we share with our loved ones ticks as a death sentence for the nations most affected by global warming. Our sunrise is someone else's sunset. Let's be thoughtful and before wasting anything, let's think about it. Once, twice or as many times needed to appreciate what we're taking for granted.

Happy New Year, my friends and fellow journalists and bloggers.

_____________________________

Later Edit:

Regardless of my being logged in/out, I can't comment to any posts, so I put here the answer to your comments.

@Jodi
The funny thing is that I went there with no expectations. But when I heard 100k people marched to support a legally binding agreement, when I saw countless representatives (officials and average citizens) from developing nations speaking about their countries that face climate changes, when I heard journos, bloggers & NGOs - all united by the same belief and hoping for a positive outcome that would have saved so many lives, I simply couldn't just stand aside as an observer.

I used to complain because I live in a country with plenty of troubles. But in comparison to developing nations that suffer from everything we can think of (hunger, diseases, etc), that have no financial means to support their basic needs (i.e. sanitation), I am incredibly lucky.

And being one of the lucky ones doesn't give me the right to ignore the other half of the world.

Obviously, you are right. Regardless of what happened in Copenhagen, friendships, actions and funding programmes move ahead and so do many of us who try their best to help the poor. Unfortunately, millions will still die until leaders decide it's time to act not out of vanity or profits but for the benefit of the whole world.

@Paul @Viteszslav
Happy New Year!


Comments

  • Jodi Bush on 30th December 2009:

    Sounds like Copenhagen really took it out of you. It should have been a trip to invigorate you rather than deflate you. I guess that’s the problem - you probably had really high hopes for your time there. A witness to something big. It’s no doubt easier for those of us who watched it all from the comfort of our own homes. Still, as they say it is generally our expectations that lead to disappointment. People had extremely high expectations for COP15 that weren’t (couldn’t) be realised. Just because our expectations weren’t fulfilled doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t keep on moving forwards.

  • Paul Montariol on 30th December 2009:

    I hope that the failure of Copenhagen will involve a movement: “Never that!”.
    The next 2010 will Be the good one!
    Happy new year!

  • Vitezslav Kremlik on 30th December 2009:

    COP15 was a great start of the happy new year 2010. I am so happy. I know ecofascism is not over yeat. One battle does not win the whole war. But it is a good news for all honest citizens.

    It is good we avoided the monstrous Carbon Tax (cap-n-trade etc.). Such as penalties for farting.

    If you look at solar cycle length or geomagnetic activity timeline, it will be clear to you, that we do not need Carbon Tax.

    Happy New Carbon-Rich Year

  • Daniel Nylin Nilsson on 31st December 2009:

    Happy new year to all of you smile


    @Viteszlav, here is a little reading to begin the year with, as we leave the hottest decade on record behind and enter another record breaking one

    http://climateprogress.org/2009/12/31/science-the-hottest-decade-ends-maunder-mininum-solar-cycle-24-global-warming/

    If you find it hard to believe that these are hot times, take a look at what temperatures Bulgaria has now.

    If you think that a carbon tax is monstrous, I advice you to read Solzhenitsyn’s GULAG Archipelago, to see what monstrous can man. Oh, you already read it? Do it again, and consider how you use your words.

  • Composter on 03rd January 2010:

    I don’t believe we need carbon tax, rather fines around councils and countries not introducing green energies and waste management.

    If every household composted alone, methane emissions would be cut drastically, not to mention the effect it would have on the atmosphere.

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