[Coral-List] Copenhagen flop...the original question

RainbowWarriorsInternational southern_caribbean at yahoo.com
Sat Aug 29 18:26:24 EDT 2009


Having posted the original email with the link to the Copenhagen post article about the 20,000 cancellations and the looming flop, I would dare to venture that the reasons the Summit is going to be a flop is all about money.

The last BIG summit with a large across the board turnout was the IUCN summit in Spain, from 5-14 October 2008 in Barcelona. This being about a month and a half after the onset of the financlal global meltdown. Most attending participants had registered and paid months in advance, so the expected turnout was normal for an event of this magnitude and in particular participants from the academia, research and civil society sectors had not felt the pinch yet from cutbacks from the grantmakers.

This year the cutbacks in grant money has everyone prioritizing event attendance and international programs.

Even though the Copenhagen summit is important, financial constraints are making a lot of civil society actors cut back and even governmental delegations from a lot of attending countries are being scaled back to the bare minimum.

So the number of people attending will be a lot smaller than predicted and projected last year and even this year.

In addition the cumbersome accreditation process with the UN is also proving to be a deterrent and obstacle for most NGOs and scientific, research and other actors from the civil society to show up only as observers.

The problem seems to be now that only the die-hard proponents and opponents of action to deal with climate change, governmental delegations and civil society representatives hailing from organizations with deep pockets will be making the journey, leaving the 70 to 80 plus percent of the passionate AGW and GW activists sitting in the sidelines at home.

This is a war that wll not be fought and won at summits like the one in Copenhagen but in the hearts and minds of the common man and in the media.

What we need is a convergence of the tens of thousands of NGOs, scientists, researchers, celebrities dedicating great part of their international programs to dealing with climate change issues to come together in events and venues and get the message home.

So if Copenhagen turns out to be a flop in terms of attendance will be a mere indication of the fact that most people considered an alternative allocation of resources to deal with climate change issues.

The outcomes of course are of the greatest importance, but here is where the US contingent of NGOs, scientists and researchers will have to push the US delegation to lead by example.

The US delegation will be closely observed by a lot of countries who will, if the US delivers on president Obama's promise on tackling climate change, cast their swing votes in favor of action.

Milton Ponson, President
Rainbow Warriors Core Foundation
(Rainbow Warriors International) Tel. +297 747 8280
PO Box 1154, Oranjestad 
Aruba, Dutch Caribbean 
Email: southern_caribbean at yahoo.com Web Sites: http://www.southerncaribbean..org   http://www.rainbowwarriors.net (Global)
http://www.projectparadigm.info

To unite humanity in a global society dedicated to a sustainable way of life

--- On Sat, 8/29/09, Eugene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu> wrote:

From: Eugene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Subject: [Coral-List] Copenhagen flop...the original question
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Date: Saturday, August 29, 2009, 9:27 AM

Bruno, Thanks for the ad hominum attack. It clearly demonstrates the 
contentiousness of what is becoming an almost religious subject. The 
continental drift and plate tectonics argument of the late 1950s 
never quite reached this level, however, it did not involve the 
public and/or politicians or biologists. Clearly the AGWs like the 
skeptics have their own litany of  "well-worn" attack modes as well. 
Cherry picking  data and blogs is rampant on both sides. There are so 
many to pick from. Which to pick usually comes down to who pays the 
rent. I wish I was funded to do it. Like I said, I get blasted with 
blogs from both sides of the issue everyday and try to stay near the 
middle.
    As I recall the original question was why is the Copenhagen 
meeting becoming a flop. Maybe we should stick to the original 
question.  Gene
-- 


No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
Marine Science Center (room 204)
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158---------------------------------- 
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