Below is a series of updates from November 2015, when EAC staff member Catherine Abreu attended the UN Climate Summit Updates.
Why are we Here?
by Catherine Abreu
40,000 people from 200 countries are here in Paris for the United Nations Climate Summit. Today, 150 heads of state will gather under one roof to deliver their countries’ pledges on climate change.
People from across the world have been coming together every year to talk about climate change for a long time. The progress that’s been made in that time is somewhat underwhelming. Yet the meetings continue, every one an exhausting crush of urgency and hope.
So why has everyone kept at it? Why are we here?
If anthropology taught me anything, it’s that biological determinism - the idea that we humans are hardwired to behave in certain ways - is a load of crap. Used to justify every manner of human failing, the concept is a dangerous cop-out and, most damningly, utterly boring.
Since the advent of environmentalism, countless soliloquies have been penned on the greedy and reckless nature of humanity, destined to consume and pollute our planet. Nothing to be done about it beyond hope we might one day extinguish ourselves.
But let’s be real - human beings are awesome. Like every other species on Earth, we’ve got something totally remarkable going on. We’ve got culture*.
Humans use culture to adapt to our surroundings. Whereas most other species adapt genetically, over generations, we are capable of adapting more quickly as our environment shifts.
Cultural evolution makes us nimble and to it we owe our resounding success - a single human lifetime could never hope to achieve the cumulative technological advancement allowed for by a culture that absorbs and passes on the contributions of countless individuals, for instance.
We are at the precipice of the most alarming environmental change our species has yet encountered, and we are the cause of it. We need to adapt if we are going to survive, and we have to be quick.
We are in serious need of some cultural evolution.
And that’s what we’re doing here in Paris. We are participating in the exchange of ideas and information that is essential to cultural evolution. This includes the transfer of knowledge and learnings between cultures. As one of my fav Canadian scientists Joseph Henrich says, “it’s better to be social than to be smart.”
And we are doing it at a scale that is necessitated by the extent of the challenge and the nature of the globalized, interconnected civilization we live in.
This weekend, roughly 600,000 citizens flooded the streets and mountains and lagoons of their homes, united in their cry for justice.
In Paris, recent attacks resulted in the ban of mass mobilizations. Guess what? Parisians and visitors found creative and heartbreakingly tender ways to express themselves.
25,000 people gathered in Ottawa to declare that within 35 years, a world run on 100% renewables is 100% possible.
Hundreds were out in Halifax.
We are coming together everywhere we can to share stories and innovate and urge each other to greatness. Let us hope we rise to the occasion.
*I am referring here to the general concept of culture and not to any of the specific, beautiful, and myriad cultures that thrive and have thrived throughout human history.
Life isn’t fair, and neither are climate negotiations
by Catherine Abreu (this blog post first appeared on TheCoast.ca)
The agreement that comes out of the Paris climate negotiations will include commitments to cut carbon pollution from both developed and developing countries. In the world of United Nations climate change talks, this is a real big deal.
The Kyoto Protocol was the first international agreement that required countries to commit to reducing carbon pollution. It placed the responsibility for reducing emissions on industrialized nations. Developing nations were exempt from mandated reductions.
The setup was trying to account for two truths: 1) some countries are more responsible for historic climate pollution than others; 2) the same countries generally have more capacity to deal with the problem - because burning up all those fossil fuels has helped them to industrialize and create wealth - than those less responsible for the pollution.
Basically, it reflects a rough attempt at justice within the global climate change framework.
Here’s a cool map that depicts cumulative carbon emissions 1950–2013 [CDIAC via http://calculator.climateequityreference.org/]
The problem is, the world can’t get to where it needs to be when it comes to addressing climate change if developing nations stay out of the equation. So they - pretty generously - have agreed to get on board with setting targets.
And that brings us to Paris.
Now that developing nations are offering to work on reducing carbon pollution, there are a million questions that need answering. How can countries like India, where 300 million people are without access to electricity, industrialize as they need to while acting on climate change? Britain burned millions of tonnes of coal for well over a century through its industrial revolution. Is it fair to tell India it can’t do the same?
The Kyoto Protocol also set up an imperfect arrangement that asked rich countries to provide money for climate action in developing nations. How will the Paris agreement ensure that wealthier nations contribute their fair share to climate finance, particularly to help those already suffering the impacts of climate change?
Human beings are pretty preoccupied with fairness. But as we all know, the world isn’t fair.
This map shows us one face of the climate gap - the disproportionate impacts climate change has on those with the least responsibility for causing it. The map depicts the global distribution of climate-related deaths.
The climate gap exists at the global level and it exists within our own communities. It follows lines of ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status. It is responsible for a lot of suffering, and mounting tension.
Early this year, a groundbreaking study linked drought resulting from climate change to the mass migration of Syrian farmers from rural to urban centres. This migration coincided with an influx of refugees from Iraq. Together, these pressures created the context for the rise of a conflict that is currently consuming headlines, fomenting military action and fuelling endless political rhetoric across the world.
Last night, on my walk back to the apartment I’m renting in Paris, I passed several clutches of police officers and soldiers armed with shotguns. Their presence is ubiquitous throughout the city these days. They stand in small groups near key landmarks, so quiet and casual you quickly forget to notice them.
As I followed my phone’s directions to Canal St. Martin, I found myself in the broad courtyard of several tall buildings. Under the awnings, dozens of people were making their beds for the night. Their conversations were full of laughter as they tucked into plump sleeping bags. Nearby, a handful of visitors gathered grocery bags from a car and delivered them, smiling.
Fairness will be elusive in these climate negotiations, as it is in life. But if it is going to work, the agreement must offer its own best attempt at justice. In an increasingly unjust world, a global agreement that seeks to alter the world order - as this one must - will have justice at its heart.
Whatever happens in Paris, we’re already winning
By Catherine Abreu (this blog post originally appeared on TheCoast.ca)
(Cat kicking back at COP)
Shit has officially gotten real at the Paris climate talks. Canada’s new Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna left the negotiating table at 7am this morning and returned five hours later for another round of overlapping meetings. Every room in the sprawling airplane-hanger compound that hosts the conference has at least 3 napping people in it. I’m considering trying an energy drink for the first time. Coffee stopped working at some point Tuesday.
(Minister McKenna briefs the Canadian Delegation)
We anticipate the final agreement will be released tomorrow (Saturday) morning and, I’m going to be real with you, expectations are not high. It’s not over till it’s over, but yesterday’s draft suggests we’re headed down that well-trod path of least-common-denominator.
Here’s the thing, though: I’m not worried.
For decades these documents have been falling short of what we need and despite that we’ve gone on with our business of changing the world.
(Indigenous activists take to Seine river to protest axing of rights from Paris climate pact)
It’s not that the process is empty. Getting 196 countries into one space to hash out a mutually agreeable approach to tackling a mind-boggling threat is almost inconceivable. Throughout days of blurry thinking and syllable-by-syllable reading, I am regularly shocked that so many thousands of us are here, with all of our profound similarities and stark differences, for this single purpose.
The process is, however, incredibly abstract. We all spend endless intense hours locked in conversation and analysis, divorced from the outdoors and even further removed from the real-world experience of global turmoil. In this context, it’s easy to lose track of the connection between the formalities of UN procedure and the urgent need to stand with the world’s most vulnerable and prevent the worst environmental, social, and political impacts of climate change.
(Delegates gather in the largest plenary space ever built for a COP)
I believe a lowest common denominator agreement may be better than an even worse alternative, which is an agreement that seeks consensus not simply by weakening elements but eliminating them altogether. An agreement that is weaker than we'd hoped but contains the essential elements leaves the door open to future dialogue and strengthening; an empty agreement permanently hampers the world of international climate change negotiation.
There’s the rub: the agreements that result from these negotiations disappoint more often than not, but the conversations that contribute to developing them are absolutely essential. The final product may make some of us question the value of this process, but the final product almost isn't the point. It’s the journey to the agreement, it’s the potential for continued dialogue, that’s what matters here.
And it’s the brilliant breaks in procedure that crack open thousands of hearts at a time. Yesterday, a handful of African delegates hosted an improvisational performance that depicted the impacts of climate change in a family home. It was followed by music and breakdancing. Earlier this week, a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation told the Canadian government her story of watching people die in the streets of her home country from heat stroke while forest fires ripped through Canada and implored them to take action. Many of us cried. Last week, the President of small island state Tuvalu opened the negotiations with a resounding declaration:
“We will not give up our fundamental right to exist.”
(Youth delegates consistently offer the most powerful moments of the negotiations)
When drafts of the text started coming out earlier this week, I started a new tradition. I spend 10 minutes walking around the conference site, taking in the individuals crouched over smartphones, or groups huddled around paper copies. And then, about an hour later, I spend another 10 minutes walking around peeking at computer screens as people pen responses in almost every world language spoken. The significance of these moments is overwhelming.
I know that whatever this final document says, I and my countless amazing colleagues here in Paris and back home are going to work our butts off to make sure that our home Provinces, Canada and the rest of the world do all we need to do to. I know we will ensure a just transition to a 100% renewable energy system by 2050. I know we will support vulnerable communities at home and abroad as they adapt to the impacts of climate change. And, I know we will evolve a political culture that has human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples, at its heart.
I know that we are already successful because the transition we seek is well underway and gaining momentum. The status quo of reckless resource exploitation, profits-fuelled pollution, and gutless capitalism is in its death throes. It will be a long and violent death, and we must fortify ourselves and younger generations for a vicious final face-off. We must seek allies whenever and wherever we can. We must cultivate compassion for each other and for ourselves, because change is hard and uncomfortable and we all rebel against it regardless of how deeply we believe in it. We must exalt in the knowledge that we are already winning.
(My pal Ace tells it like it is. Photo curtesy of Sadie Beaton)