After Copenhagen: new world disorder

coplogoIt’s a bit like reading the runes — trawling through reactions to the events of the last couple of weeks, trying to work out what the Copenhagen Accord means. I don’t mean a parsing of the words, though translating the language of diplomacy is never trivial, but what the various parties to the Accord, and the rest of the world, think it means — and crucially, what that implies for future action to reduce emissions.

For background, read this excellent BBC analysis of Copenhagen, and Joe Romm’s interesting take at Climate Progress (which refers to Bill McKibben’s reactions at Grist, plus there’s a more considered McKibben article at e360), but the article that really helped to crystallise my thoughts is Mark Lynas’ insider’s account of the final phases of negotiations:

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Time loves a hero

“I used to be very frustrated. But the blog keeps my blood pressure down.” Joseph Romm, quoted in Time Magazine’s article naming him as one of their Heroes of the Environment 2009. His blog Climate Progress doesn’t read like a blood pressure-lowering exercise. Every day brings several fresh and vigorous posts cheering on those working to tackle climate change, demolishing the naysayers and delayers, drawing attention to developments in clean energy, focusing on significant developments in the science, chiding lazy journalism. 

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