THE END OR THE BEGINNING?

Nopenhagen… Flopenhagen… Brokenhagen… These are just several names representing the failure of the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP-15) in Copenhagen. There is no final binding legal and political agreement signed. No Real Deal to present to the World. Only the Copenhagen Accord can be considered as an official outcome of the event, but it is neither binding nor fair.
Still, does it really mean the end of the battle of climate change theories? Looks like it is just the beginning…
The NGOs present at COP-15 (Avaaz, Greenpeace, WWF and many more) have started thinking about new initiatives to raise awareness about climate change consequences (for example, the Climate Change Media Partnership, the “Climate Shame / Not Done Yet”). They use contacts obtained during the event to establish cooperation within the initiatives. These organizations have raised their voices and now capitalize on this achievement to maintain their high volume.
Due to the NGO activists, reporters and bloggers, who had worked actively during COP-15, a lot of people from all over the World understood the importance of the issue and joined the global movement to minimize our negative impact on the environment. More than thirteen million signatures were collected and over three thousand vigils were organized in about 150 countries in support for an “ambitious, fair and binding treaty”. This pool of supporters will be an enormous support in promoting further the environment protection activities.
In addition, scientists supporting the human origin of the climate change begin to use the swiftly grown attention to this issue in order to promote their research results and new projects here. This should boost scientific progress in the field of the global climate change.
And there is hope that the Copenhagen Accord is not the last, but the first step in regulating the World’s emissions of “greenhouse” gases. “This accord cannot be everything that everyone hoped for, but it is an essential beginning,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as mentioned in the UNFCCC Press Release.
Is it really so? Were all the expenditures on organization, transportation, accommodation, etc. within COP-15 (that could be directed to environment protection campaigns) in vain, or not? And most importantly, will the Climate Change Conference lead to a global movement for preventing climate catastrophe, or remain to be just a colourful page in the History manuals?
And this depends not only upon the World leaders, but on EACH OF US…

Note: the copy of this article can be found on the international blog “G-1 Billion”.

HOMO SAPIENS… IT WILL PASS…

Here is a joke I have read recently – it is a very actual one due to the continuous debates concerning our role on this planet and negative impact on the environment:

A planet passes by the Earth and asks it:
- How are you? Have not seen you for millions of years!
- Not so good… You know… Homo sapiens came out all over me…
- Do not worry, it will pass! I also had them!

WE ARE INNOCENT… ARE WE?

“I am innocent!...” – cried Svetlana Svetlichnaya in the old Soviet comedy called “Brilliantovaya ruka (The Diamond Arm)”. Nowadays similar cries are heard coming from the scientists, who disagree with the human cause of the global climate change. They provide arguments that the destructible climate cataclysms had already happened in the past, when there was not even a single footstep of Homo sapiens. Cataclysms of those times caused many species of plants and animals to become just fossils in our museums, and the reasons of their appearance were related to the activity of the Sun, changes in the Earth’s orbit (Milankovitch cycles), unexpected guests from Outer Space (comets, meteorites), volcanic activity, etc. Thus, the whole point of these scientists is that Human is too weak to become the cause of such significant processes, as the global climate change, and that the Nature is the one dictating climate situation on our planet.
Truth to say, the supporters of such point of view have certain credibility. The geological period called the “Ice (Glacial) Age” is a perfect supporting example here.
Still, we, human beings, are not so innocent after all. For we have joined forces with such powerful ally as the Time. It is true that in spite of all innovations in the area of global climate control the Mankind cannot and will never be able to fully succeed here. But due to our greedy consumption and careless usage of natural resources we increase the chances of global climate cataclysm and hasten its incoming. All natural processes that normally take thousands and millions of years to produce sensible impact on the global level and therefore can be prevented, nowadays happen within just several hundred years, not allowing living organisms to adapt to such abrupt changes. This is why we are to be considered guilty for the current climate change trends.
Nevertheless, our negative impact can be transformed into positive one… and also with the help of the powerful Time. Especially when the Time is NOW – the “NOW” of the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP-15)!

HOT AND COLD: WHAT AWAITS US?

In general, there are two main points of view on the issue of climate change, caused by human activity.
The first one is the most well-known one; it suggests that due to the so-called “Greenhouse effect”, when such gases as carbon dioxide accumulate in the Earth’s atmosphere and trap the heat within its lower layer – the troposphere, the overall temperature on our planet will significantly rise. This will cause irreversible climate changes that in turn will result in global ecological catastrophe: ice caps of mountains and glaciers will melt, the World Ocean’s level will rise, and terrible floods and tsunami will wipe many coastal cities and regions off the face of the Earth.


The theory of Global warming is actively promoted nowadays and is the basis for negotiations within COP-15.
Still, there is another opinion about the future related to climate change, and this one is not so warm. It definitely gets a bit chilly from the inside, when the other group of scientist predicts the upcoming of a new Ice Age. The “Icehouse” theory tells us that the same greenhouse gases in large quantities will block the life-giving sunrays and place our planet into the cold darkness. As the scientists point out, such situation had already happened in the long past, when the giant meteorite crushed into the surface of the Earth, raising an enormous cloud of dust and dirt that blocked the Sun for several years. They warn that consequences of pollution with industrial gases might be far longer and more severe.
While the followers of these theories argue with each other to prove who is right, it might occur that all of them are. The global warming might be the first stage of the possible climate cataclysm, when the amount of industrial gases still allows sunrays to reach the ground. Gradually their layer might increase and thicken, allowing less sunlight to warm the surface of the planet. Thus the “Icehouse” theory will also demonstrate its terrible truthfulness.
Still, in spite of the conceptual differences, the major point in both theories is one – the cause of the possible global climate cataclysm is the Mankind’s careless and destructive activity. How to stop it and prevent the frightening theories to become realities – this must be the focus of the COP-15 negotiations happening nowadays!

Note: the copy of this article can be found on the international blog “G-1 Billion”.