COPENHAGEN — New computer modeling suggests the Arctic Ocean may be nearly ice-free in the summertime as early as 2014, Al Gore said Monday at the U.N. climate conference. This new projection, following several years of dramatic retreat by polar sea ice, suggests that the ice cap may nearly vanish in the summer much sooner than the year 2030, as was forecast by a U.S. government agency eight months ago.
News Roundup
Gore: Polar Ice May Vanish In 5 Years
December 15th, 2009Music Video: Copenhagen Theme Song Set to Copenhagen Climate March & COP 15 footage
December 14th, 2009The Copenhagen Theme song (Secret of the Seasons) by John Ungerleider has been set to video clips from COP 15 and the Copenhagen climate march.
U.N. talks to resume after African protest | Reuters
December 14th, 2009‘COPENHAGEN Reuters – African nations agreed to resume U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen on Monday after a half-day suspension, accusing rich countries of trying to kill the existing Kyoto Protocol.’
Video: United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu speaks in Copenhagen at Bright Green
December 14th, 2009Copenhagen, Dec 13, 2009
Today, United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu spoke in Copenhagen at Bright Green on alternative energy development and innovation.
Of note are his comments in support of nuclear power in part two beginning at 5:57 where he states that he believes the waste problem can be solved.
Partial Excerpt:
“I personally feel that nuclear power has to be part of the mix of the century because it is carbon free and it is baseload. I believe the nuclear reactors are much safer, the designs today.”
“So what are the issues? Are they going to be economical number one, and if they are designed properly we hope so. Are they going to be safe? The other thing is waste. I think the nuclear waste issue is a solvable problem, we know a lot more than the United States knew twenty five years ago…”
“To my mind the more serious problem which will require international cooperation is non-proliferation, once you have nuclear reactors, you could have, you have the option possibly of turning some of that into some bomb material, but, I think, again that is solvable.”
These comments contrasted sharply with comments by Dr. Helen Caldicott, who spoke inside the COP 15 and at the Copenhagen climate march the day earlier. Helen Caldicott stated that a nuclear reactor produces 250 kg of plutonium per year, and that 5 kg of plutonium is enough to produce a weapon.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
The push for 350: Contradictions and carbon levels – Yahoo! News
December 13th, 2009‘COPENHAGEN – As police cracked down on climate protesters, church bells tolled 350 times Sunday to impress on the U.N. global warming conference a number that is gaining a following, but is also awash in contradictions.’
via The push for 350: Contradictions and carbon levels – Yahoo! News.
Nearly 1,000 held after Copenhagen climate rally | Reuters
December 13th, 2009‘COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Police detained nearly 1,000 people in Copenhagen on Saturday during mass demonstrations to demand that negotiators at U.N. talks agree a strong treaty to fight global warming.’
via Nearly 1,000 held after Copenhagen climate rally | Reuters.
Climate progress eludes ministers, protesters held | Reuters
December 13th, 2009Environment ministers struggled to nudge forward climate talks in Copenhagen on Sunday, and police detained more than 250 protesters on a second day of mass action
via Climate progress eludes ministers, protesters held | Reuters.
Video: Helen Caldicott denounces nuclear power and nuclear weapons at COP 15 rally
December 13th, 2009Copenhagen, Dec 12, 2009
Helen Caldicott spoke this evening near the end of the Copenhagen climate march denouncing nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
Partial Text of Helen Caldicott’s Speech:
“Hello. The Earth is in the intensive care unit, it is acutely sick. We are all now physicians to a dying planet. We have to stop spending 1.7 trillion dollars on weapons and death. We have to make the politicians understand science. We have to make the politicians take responsibility not just for us, but all future generations yet to be born. ”
“The nuclear power industry have used global warming to say “we’re the answer”. All the money to go into nuclear power, 15 billion dollars per power plant, is being stolen from the solutions to fix the earth – solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, conservation. ”
“The nuclear power industry is wicked. The nuclear power industry was formed by the bomb makers – it’s the same thing. Nuclear power plants are bomb factories – they make plutonium. 250 kilos a year of plutonium that lasts for 250,000 years. You need 5 kilos to make a nuclear bomb. Any country that has a nuclear power plant has a bomb factory. ”
“If the second World War was fought today in Europe none of you would be here, Europe would be a radioactive wasteland, because all the nuclear power plants would melt down like Chernobyl. So war is now impossible in Europe. Do the politicians understand that? Nuclear power produces massive quantities, hundreds of thousands of tons of radioactive waste, which will get into the water concentrate into the fish, the milk, the food, human breast milk, fetuses, babies, children. Radioactive iodine causes thyroid cancer. 12,000 people in Belarus had thyroid cancer. Radioactive Strontium 90 causes bone cancer and leukemia, lasts for 600 years. Cesium 137 – all over Europe now – in the reindeer in the lands, in the food, lasts for six hundred years, causes brain cancer. Plutonium, the most dangerous substance on Earth, 1 millionth of a gram cause cancer, lasts for 250,000 years. Causes lung cancer, liver cancer, testicular cancer, damages fetuses so they are born deformed. Nuclear power therefore nuclear waste for all future generation will of cancer in young children because they are very sensitive, genetic disease, congenital deformities. Nuclear power is about disease, and it’s about death. It will produce the greatest public health hazard the world has ever seen for the rest of time. We must close down every single nuclear reactive in Europe and throughout the world…”
Report by James George
Video: Tom Goldtooth speaks at Copenhagen climate march on Indigenous Rights, Climate Justice
December 13th, 2009Copenhagen, Dec 12, 2009
Tom Goldtooth spoke this evening near the conclusion of the Copenhagen climate march on Indigenous Peoples rights and climate justice.
Text of Statement:
“Hej Kobenhavn!”
“It’s good to be here and it’s really good that you welcomed the Indigenous Peoples of the world. Our mother Earth is all of your mother Earth. As we came here as Indigenous People from every region of the Earth to demand that our rights be recognized by these governmental leaders, because if were going to have climate justice it’s that they have to recognize the collective, the human rights with an ‘s’ as people so that our rights will be recognized. Because we come from different parts of the world where we know that global warming is real, we know that climate change is real.”
“We come from people from South America, people from Africa, people from Australia, the Adivasi from India, the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific, from Asia, and Indigenous Peoples near the Artic areas. They are experiencing the reality that their ice is melting and that their ice culture is on the verge of destruction. So that’s why we are here asking for your support, as people here at Copenhagen, people of the world to stand up, not only for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, but your rights as people of the world, people of civil society.”
“We are witnessing something here in this Conference of the Party fifteen, where a lot of our world leaders are not negotiating for you, but they are negotiating for the corporations. I come from the reality of the belly of the beast. Our Indigenous Peoples from the United States. We know what it means to go without. We know when we talk about an energy system that is unsustainable. We know when were talking about climate that affects our food systems so when we demand food security, food sovereignty as a result of climate change, we know what were talking about. We know when there’s drought and we have no more water. We have Indigenous People who have the smallest carbon footprint in this world, but yet we are having the highest level, the highest level of health imparities. We have the highest level of environmental destruction as a result of a fossil fuel industry that is killing our people. We have to turn the fossil fuel system and make a transition away from that into a clean renewable energy system. ”
“We are talking about systemic change – systemic change away from a system that is killing the world. Our Indigenous Peoples and our elders they say that there will be a time when the trees will start dying from the top down. So we are here as Indigenous Peoples demanding that rights to be recognized, but we are also standing here with you, the people of the world, that it’s time for us to take over these negotiations and give these negotiations humanity, and respect for your mothers, respect for our brothers, respect for our elders and our youth, and our future generations, whatever they don’t do or do do is going to affect our younger generation. So I’m proud to be here from our people in Minnesota, and in New Mexico, our Navaho Indian Nation, our Lakota, our Sioux people, … to stand with all our relations. ”
Brief Interview with Tom Goldtooth:
“We’re here as people of the world, the planet,our mother Earth – and who best can speak for mother Earth but the Indigenous Peoples, and we’re here to demand justice, not only for ourselves, but also justice for humanity”
Report by James George
Thousands March in Copenhagen, Calling for Action – NYTimes.com
December 13th, 2009‘COPENHAGEN — Waving a panoply of signs warning that the planet is in peril and that powerful nations should take note, tens of thousands of demonstrators from around the globe took to the streets here on Saturday for the largest protest planned in two weeks of talks on a global strategy to combat climate change.’
via Thousands March in Copenhagen, Calling for Action – NYTimes.com.