The U.N. climate talks have been meeting in Durban, South Africa for more than a week now. With only a few days left, those scientists, economists, and world leaders need to come together and develop a real, lasting solution to our growing climate problem. A grist.org post details what one person said if the Durban climate conference failed to yield real action and solutions. President Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga of Caritas Internationalis called such a scenario "moral apartheid".
Those words are said with real and intended force as these talks are being held in a nation that - until less than twenty years ago - is infamous for the apartheid it forced upon the native population of its citizenry. Apartheid was a stain on the people running South Africa. If nothing comes from this conference, it will be a stain on the leaders of the world. Their failure to come to a solution and encourage nations to act now will be seen as the greatest act of stupidity in later years.
The evidence points to our needed action right now. We cannot wait until the eleventh hour and fifty-nine minutes, as the United States Congress has displayed in recent months, to figure out and decree a plan. The plan must be formed and implemented now. This is a global problem, so it needs to be solved and worked on at a global level. However, as the grist.org post shows, certain nations, like the U.S., continue to hold progress back. While refusing to take the Alliance of Small Island States proposal that a mandate to get a new agreement in a year's time because of a stink the U.S. made, the U.N. climate negotiations are seriously impeded in creating an actionable solution with a timeline. The U.S. is finding itself on the wrong side of history. The leaders of this nation continue to be influenced by elaborate corporate and misguided self-interest. The U.S. will get left behind if it keeps acting this way.
This is not a time for the United States to act as a lone superpower that gets to call all the shots. Those days are long over. Instead, the U.S. needs to realize the future impact this will have on its self-interest. Indeed, it is in the self-interest of the United States, as well as all other nations, to not balk at solutions and be a real participant in the carrying out of those solutions. The U.S. needs leadership that will convey this at a world conference. Let's make sure the current administration remembers the campaign promises from 3-4 years ago. Remind them through persistent phone calls and letter writing. Also, remind them that your vote is not guaranteed in the next election cycle should they refuse to take the correct stand on global warming solutions. For all politicians, that is the key in getting their attention.
Those words are said with real and intended force as these talks are being held in a nation that - until less than twenty years ago - is infamous for the apartheid it forced upon the native population of its citizenry. Apartheid was a stain on the people running South Africa. If nothing comes from this conference, it will be a stain on the leaders of the world. Their failure to come to a solution and encourage nations to act now will be seen as the greatest act of stupidity in later years.
The evidence points to our needed action right now. We cannot wait until the eleventh hour and fifty-nine minutes, as the United States Congress has displayed in recent months, to figure out and decree a plan. The plan must be formed and implemented now. This is a global problem, so it needs to be solved and worked on at a global level. However, as the grist.org post shows, certain nations, like the U.S., continue to hold progress back. While refusing to take the Alliance of Small Island States proposal that a mandate to get a new agreement in a year's time because of a stink the U.S. made, the U.N. climate negotiations are seriously impeded in creating an actionable solution with a timeline. The U.S. is finding itself on the wrong side of history. The leaders of this nation continue to be influenced by elaborate corporate and misguided self-interest. The U.S. will get left behind if it keeps acting this way.
This is not a time for the United States to act as a lone superpower that gets to call all the shots. Those days are long over. Instead, the U.S. needs to realize the future impact this will have on its self-interest. Indeed, it is in the self-interest of the United States, as well as all other nations, to not balk at solutions and be a real participant in the carrying out of those solutions. The U.S. needs leadership that will convey this at a world conference. Let's make sure the current administration remembers the campaign promises from 3-4 years ago. Remind them through persistent phone calls and letter writing. Also, remind them that your vote is not guaranteed in the next election cycle should they refuse to take the correct stand on global warming solutions. For all politicians, that is the key in getting their attention.
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