I arrived in Copenhagen Tuesday afternoon, excited about engaging in the historic UN Climate Conference. While you know me as the editor of Undercurrent, I’m here in my new capacity to organize the International Court for the Environment Coalition in the U.S. Quite simply, a movement is underway to create such a court to hold nations and multinational coporations to account for environmental disasters. As it is, there is no accountability and no sanctions. The movement is modeled on the effort that created the International Criminal Court in the 90s.
A few steps after I emerged from my flight at 4 pm in the Copenhagen airport, I was greeted with a large sign stating:
Price of a dive vacation in 2050. 350ppm in CO2. Protect our oceans from acidification, which threatens corals reefs as well as fish and shellfish stock. Find out how you can make a difference www.oceana.org
I was amazed and delighted. How better to bring the message on reef destruction to divers than tying it directly to the target atmospheric target load of 350 ppm. If you want to know what global warming means to the reefs, acidification is one of many destructive causes.
That evening, I joined a gathering of the Danish United Nations Society. One of the staff members handed me a delicious Danish pastry and as she turned away her shoulder bumped my arm and I splashed drops of red wine on her yellow sweater. “Shit happens,” she said with a smile. A past president of the society told me “We’re all happy Obama is coming. We’re counting on him. We Europeans understand what’s happening to or planet, we live with it every day. But not enough Americans do. Are they listening yet?” he asked.
“Some,” I said, ‘but not many. We have a long ways to go.”
“But not much time,” he added. Americans don’t seem to understand that. They haven’t got enough of a history. They think one generation at a time. They must think about the future, not just about themselves and the present. We Europeans are counting on Obama to change that.”
Ben Davison
December 9, 2009
CO2 is as necessary to life as OxygenwITHOUTIT THE TREES WOULD NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO BREATH AND WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO FURNISH US OXYGEN IN RETURN iN THE 49 YEARS i HAVE BEEN IN THE DIVE BUSINESS AND HAVE HAD MY AIR TESTED i HAVE SEEN CO2 LEVELS AT CLOSE TO 500 PPM. iT WAS RUNNING ABOUT 450 WHEN THE CATALIC CONVERTERS WERE ADDED TO OUR AUTOMONBILES.siNCE THEN WITH AN INCREASE OF POPULATION,
RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OIL FIELDS IT HAD DROPPED TO 350 TO 369PPM.750PPM OF CO2 IS NOT DANGEROUS BUT CAUSES THE TREES TO BEAR FRUIT 1 1/2 TIMES LARGER THAN WHEN co2 LEVELS OFF 400PPM.
mjAN IS NOT GOING TO CONTROL THE CLIMATE. GOD DOES THAT VERY WELL AND IS STILL IN CONTROL.IS OBAMA GOING TO SAVE THE WORLD? aFTER A YEAR IN OFFICE HE HAS PROVEN HE IS OUT TO DESTROY THE GREATEST nATION EVER. HE EVEN ADMITTED THAT AMERICA WAS THE GREATEST AMERICA
WAS THE GREATEST NATION IN THE WORLD AND HE WANTED YOU TO HELP HIM TO CHANGE THAT AND HE SEEMS TO BE DOING A FAIR JOB OF THAT. co2 IS NOT EVIL IF USED RIGHT. IT IS LIKE ANYTHING ELSE TOO MUCH CAN BE DANGEROUS. THAT ALSO APPLIES TO OXYGEN, NITROGEN AND MOST ANYTHING ELSE. jUST A NOTE. HOW COME SO MANY DIVE SHOPS HAVE BEEN GOING OUT OF BUSINESS? WHY ARE DIVE SHOPS LIFE SPANS SO SHORT? tHE ANSWER IS BECAAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT THE DIVE SHOP OWNERS SHOULD WORK 100 HOURS A WEEK FOR THE FUN OF IT AND DO THEIR BEST TO NOT LET THE SHOPS MAKE AN HONEST PROFIT.
What a crock!!! The CO2 in the atmosphere is already 420 ppm and expected to get to 450 ppm in the next decade. Getting it back to 350 isn’t going to happen, nor does it need to. Ben Davison is apparently unaware that the entire greenhouse gas / global warming / climate change fraud is unraveling as its main proponents, “highly regarded scientists” all are revealed to have fudged data and suppressed dissenting views while collecting millions in research grants from tax payers around the world.
But I can hardly wait for the International Court for the Environment Coalition to get set up. Imagine all those government officials from India and China being put on trial for greenhouse gas emmissions. That would be the Court’s priority, wouldn’t it. To go after the parties that pose the greatest danger to the future of the planet. I’m holding my breath.
I will be looking for your every report.
Cheers, Melissa in St Croix, USVI