Copenhagen
Greg Gerritt 12/7/09
The Copenhagen climate conference is this week. They diddle and fiddle while Earth burns. They deny, but that is mostly because they are unwilling to give up the oil drug that gives them so much power and control. 750 US military bases around the world. Most situated to protect access to oil. Short term thinking, just like a corporate charter. Just like a document predicated on inequality.
Maybe there will be a forest protection agreement. I am a true believer in reforestation, but I can not get excited. Unless we come to see how important the world forest is in any actual restoration of climate plan, heck, any future plan for a livable planet, we are going to pretend to protect. Just like we pretend about so many issues where the change is really only accomplished by a restoration of community power and an end to the coercion state. Only where governments and the rich can not violently threaten forest communities can we actually protect forests. With unequal power we get pseudo forests and plantations, Not a forest that actually brings life back, or sequesters carbon as well.
That is what they are most optimistic about. For the rest expect nothing. There is never an expectation of less. Never an expectation that we shall respect the limits of the earth, that human greed has limits. Zomia tells us that there are people who respect limits, but the low land civilizations always want MORE. No wonder the US is willing to kill Mountain People for the oil, they might just let it sit in the ground rather than feed our war machine. They must be fanatics.
And just think, then the US would not be able to support the 750 bases (support on borrowed money) that we use to protect all these places that do not want our protection for their oil .
Is it any wonder that Copenhagen is not looking good. Stopping global warming means stopping the war machine, and the powerful are not ready to give that up.
o