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Copenhagen Climate Treaty: Threat to Sovereignty or Hope for Future?

I was disturbed to find on the Yahoo unschooling/homeschooling list for Home Education Magazine people who viewed the Copenhagen treaty to reduce climate change/global warming as a threat to U.S. sovereignty, instead of hope for the survival of our species.

I’ve been blogging about the challenge of expressing views I’m very passionate about while still being respectful. Well, here was my chance!

Here’s what I wrote:

Thought I’d offer something else for those who view the treaty in Copenhagen differently. It’s a treaty regarding countries committing to stopping climate change and global warming as much as possible.

Here’s an article about the convention and treaty from GrownUpGreen.org:

Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: December 2009

From the article:

“The goals of the climate change convention are to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that prevents dangerous man-made climate changes. Moreover, this stabilization must occur in such a way as to give ecosystems the opportunity to adapt naturally. This means that food safety must not be compromised, and that the potential to create sustainable social and economic development must not be endangered.”

And here’s an article specifically about how China and India complaining that wealthy industrialized nations are resisting the standards:

“Rich Countries Out to ‘Sabotage’ Climate Treaty: China”

Here’s a petition people can sign to support a strong climate treaty (235,000 have signed: close to their 240,000 goal):

Join the Call for a Strong Climate Treaty! – Avaaz petition

And I also contributed some money to support the cause here “Let’s Stop Climate Catastrophe” (both from the great organization called Avaaz):

2009: Let’s Stop the Climate Catastrophe – contribute

I view the convention and treaty as hope for our way of life, the lives of our children, and the survival of our species. I don’t view it as a threat to U.S. sovereignty. As a 25 year old I am deeply saddened that more older adults, adults my age, and other young people are not more aware, caring, or committed to lessening our damage to this planet.

A supposed threat to the sovereignty of the U.S. doesn’t matter all that much when compared to worldwide famine, millions of refugees, and chaos on the planet. That’s the type of scenario caused by climate change even the Pentagon is starting to prepare for.

I started unschooling in reaction to realizing just how much I was lied to in school about the reality of the world we live in; and just prevented from doing my own research.

It seems sad and dangerous not to look at reality carefully and honestly. The issue of global warming seems like the ultimate example of this.

If you support drastically cutting greenhouse gases just not committing to an international treaty, instead relying on the U.S. to police itself, again I don’t think that’s living in reality. The U.S. government by itself, with all of its corporate influence, has simply moved too slowly in regards to this issue. An international commitment sounds much more promising.

All the best,
Eli

5 Responses to “Copenhagen Climate Treaty: Threat to Sovereignty or Hope for Future?”

  1. Ren says:

    I haven’t researched this well enough to speak on it yet, but it seems pretty obvious that what you wrote is helpful. If governments and corporations were so great at policing themselves we wouldn’t have the messes we’re in. I think we need radical change where global warming is concerned but most of the U.S. doesn’t even believe it’s happening. What then? sigh.

  2. Eli Gerzon says:

    Thanks for the comment Ren! Yeah, I’d definitely check-out http://avaaz.org

    They’ve keep you well informed about all kinds of important things happening. And they seem to make a real difference sometimes.

    Yeah, the U.S. government and corporations have clearly not taken enough action themselves.

    But when the U.S. has taken action it’s apparently had immediate positive results. In Al Gore’s movie “Inconvenient Truth” he showed how you could clearly see conditions visibly getting better right after the Clean Air Act of 1970.

    The U.S. was the only country that didn’t ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 that addressed standards for preventing climate change. And yet we’ve been the biggest polluter!

    Let’s hope the U.S. does better this December, 2009 in Copenhagen!

  3. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eli Gerzon, News Tips 4 Mamas. News Tips 4 Mamas said: Eli Gerzon's Worldschooler Blog » Copenhagen Climate Treaty … http://bit.ly/2pNRO0 […]

  4. Canada Guy says:

    Yes, this is a crazy response. The conference in Copenhagen is likely to be a very important one historically. This might well be our last chance to turn things around.

    http://watching-history.blogspot.com/2009/10/copenhagen.html

  5. Eli Gerzon says:

    Canada Guy,
    Yeah, it sounds like this person’s e-mail was really based on irrational fear of losing freedom. They say not to base your choices on fear but in some ways it seems like it’s more about basing them on the right fears! It’s worth being afraid of what will happen if we don’t enact strict standards at Copenhagen in the future.

    Standards are what seem to really make a difference.

    Thanks,
    Eli

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