[size=8]The “Wanted”-style posters went up in Paris late on Sunday. Credit Avaaz[/size]
A Stunt by Environmental
Activists Targets Climate Doubters

2015-12-07T11:01:39-05:00
December 7, 2015

Besides their deadly serious purpose, the Paris climate talks are also an opportunity for elaborate displays of performance art. Some artists were very busy Sunday night.

Environmental activists pasted more than 1,000 “Wanted” posters outside luxury hotels here overnight, calling seven people who have ties to the fossil fuel industry or are skeptics of climate change “criminals.” The activists also distributed flyers with photographs of the seven.

“These lobbyists have come to Paris to sabotage a global deal for ambitious climate action,” said Emma Ruby-Sachs, acting executive director of Avaaz, the activist group that organized the stunt. “Ministers must listen to their people, not polluters, and refuse meetings with climate criminals who want to derail a deal the whole world wants,” she added.

Those who made the group’s list are:

Myron Ebell and Christopher C. Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish author who does not question the reality of climate change but doubts the urgency of the problem and the solutions put forward by activists
Marc Morano, a former Republican congressional aide who runs a website called Climate Depot and has criticized climate scientists for, as he says, putting activism ahead of science
Benjamin Sporton, an Australian who is the chief executive of the World Coal Association
James M. Taylor, senior fellow at the climate-change denial lobby group Heartland Institute
Fiona Wild, a chemist who is the vice president of BHP Billiton, a leading mining, metals and oil company based in Australia
All seven were asked by The New York Times to respond to the stunt and allegations; four responded to the emails.

Avaaz said that the climate skeptics needed to be criticized because they have had an influence on past United Nations climate talks. At the talks in Durban, South Africa, in 2011, they persuaded some negotiators to call for carbon credits for new coal plants, while at the talks in Warsaw in 2013, they supported other negotiators who wanted “clean coal” to be mentioned as part of the solution.

Some climate activists argue that clean coal is an oxymoron.

Negotiators from 195 nations have delivered a blueprint for a pact to save mankind from disastrous global warming, raising hopes that decades of arguments will finally end with a historic agreement in Paris.

The planned deal would aim to break the world's dependence on fossil fuels for energy, slashing the greenhouse gas emissions from burning oil, coal and gas that are causing temperatures to rise dangerously.

Tortuous UN negotiations dating back to the early 1990s have failed to forge unity between rich and poor nations, and the Paris talks are being described as the "last, best chance" to save mankind.

They began on Monday with a record-breaking gathering of 150 world leaders who sought to energise the process, and the next crucial phase ended on Saturday with the adoption of a draft text of an agreement.

Negotiators finalised the draft following an often tense week of talks at a conference centre in Le Bourget on the northern outskirts of Paris.

While many extremely contentious points still have to be resolved by ministers during a scheduled five days of talks starting on Monday, delegates said they felt the foundations had been laid for success.

"We are very happy to have this progress. The political will is there from all parties," said China's chief climate envoy, Su Wei.

After the draft was adopted to loud applause, South African negotiator Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko drew on her nation's revered democracy icon in a bid to inspire others.

"In the words of Nelson Mandela, it always seems impossible until it is done," she said.....

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-06/hopes-rise-as-un-adopts-climate-saving-blueprint/7004920

COP21: Paris conference could be climate turning point, says Obama

US President Barack Obama has said the UN climate conference in Paris could be a "turning point" in global efforts to limit future temperature rise.
Negotiators from 195 countries will try to reach a deal within two weeks aimed at reducing global carbon emissions and limit global warming to 2C (3.6F).
Leaders from 147 nations are addressing the meeting, known as COP21.
But the world's poorest countries say they fear being "left behind" in the push for a new treaty.
President Obama told delegates: "Climate change could define the contours of this century more than any other (challenge)."
He urged negotiators to deliver a meaningful deal, because the "next generation is watching".
"I came here personally to say the United States not only recognises the problem but is committed to do something about it."
He added that recent years had shown that the global economy had grown while emissions had remained flat, breaking the old arguments for inaction "that economic growth and environmental protection were in conflict"....
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34960051

China to stake leadership claim on climate change, emissions reduction at Paris UN conference

Despite pumping as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the next four biggest polluters combined, China will use this week's UN conference in Paris to stake a global leadership claim on climate change.

Six years on from the disappointing Copenhagen conference, where China was seen by the West as largely impeding a binding agreement, Beijing is bringing a raft of ambitious commitments to the table.

Chief among them, a state-led investment drive for renewables with an aim of sourcing 20 per cent of the country's energy needs from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.

Accompanying that is a pledge to peak the nation's carbon dioxide emissions by about 2030, and to reduce carbon emission intensity by up to 65 per cent in the same period.

Li Yuan, the CEO of China Merchants New Energy Group [the green energy arm of a major state-owned enterprise] said the world has "already witnessed China's speed in developing its green energy industry".

"Last year's speed was the fastest. This year we've reached the highest capacity construction of wind power and solar power in the world."

China in 2014 spent around $115 billion on solar and wind power, and other forms of renewable energy, putting it far ahead of the European Union and the United States for investment.

In a sign of how eager Beijing is to invest, Mr Li's company has gone from operating one solar power plant to running 46 of them in three years....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-29/china-stakes-leadership-claim-to-combat-climate-change/6983650

Who's who at the Paris climate conference?

See who all the important players are at the Paris climate conference.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-26/cop21-guide-to-participants/6890096

I said respected leaders :)

Disagree. If Republicans win the election, advances made could be reversed.
As night follows day, surprise surprise, Republicans are right wing

Bernie Sanders agrees :)

I think we have a consensus of respected leaders opinions on this.

After having read this forum a bit further, it is terribly sad that someone has lost another close to them.
I hope that the person concerned is surrounding themselves with & talking to people on an ongoing basis to work through the pain and gets professional counselling.

[size=8]Although I am not one to rely on politicians or populist figures in society when it comes to expertise on an issue,[/size] but rather I rely on academics publishing regularly in their field of expertise, here is a quote from [size=8]Barack Obama in an ABC article today[/size], that echoes what I stated:

Ask AJohn if he agrees.

"For all the immediate challenges that we gather to address this week — terrorism, instability, inequality, disease — there's one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate," he told the UN last year.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-23/climate-change-clashes-in-us-politics/6961546

Its due to the denial & stonewalling from predominantly the right wing side of politics & self-interested business & of course the right wing voters that put them into power, that countries are having to now 'break the bank'. If serious action had have been taken a couple of decades ago, like us 'greenies' that have greater foresight urged for, there would be less pressure on countries' economies. Which is ironic considering how much right wingers cherish the concept of business & economic growth - this economic growth would have been greater if action had have been taken sooner. But due to the relatively simplistic mindset of the right winger, with the need to pigeon hole greenies as 'red under the bed' & 'anti-development' and hence the wilful inability to separate the nuanced cornucopia of issues relating to economics & environment, we are now being burdened with progressively reduced economic growth. Additionally ironic that, indirectly, the left wing greenies wanted greater economic growth through global environmental action.

The way forward is to try and get countries to build their renewable infrastructure rather than trying to force countries to break the bank to manage it now.

A progressive increase in renewable technology over a period of lets say 20 years will have a lesser affect on our economy.

You're a legitimate slime ball.
Actually what is your problem?!

Only If you come looking for it, but you wouldn't do that would you ?

Timeline: UN climate negotiations

1988 marked the first mainstream call for climate action from scientists. It’s been a bumpy ride over nearly 30 years to the upcoming UN climate summit in Paris.

To navigate the timeline below, hover your mouse on the right and click on the arrow to move forward (and on the left to move back).

https://theconversation.com/timeline-un-climate-negotiations-50529

Open Letter from Academics to World Leaders ahead of the Paris Climate Conference 2015
Some issues are of such ethical magnitude that being on the correct side of history becomes a signifier of moral character for generations to come. Global warming is such an issue. Indigenous peoples and the developing world are least responsible for climate change, least able to adapt to it, and most vulnerable to its impacts. As the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris approaches, the leaders of the industrialized world shoulder a grave responsibility for the consequences of our current and past carbon emissions.
Yet it looks unlikely that the international community will mandate even the greenhouse gas reductions necessary to give us a two thirds chance of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. At the moment, even if countries meet their current non-binding pledges to reduce carbon emissions, we will still be on course to reach 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. This is profoundly shocking, given that any sacrifice involved in making those reductions is far overshadowed by the catastrophes we are likely to face if we do not: more extinctions of species and loss of ecosystems; increasing vulnerability to storm surges; more heatwaves; more intense precipitation; more climate related deaths and disease; more climate refugees; slower poverty reduction; less food security; and more conflicts worsened by these factors. Given such high stakes, our leaders ought to be mustering planet-wide mobilization, at all societal levels, to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
We undersigned concerned academics, researchers, and scientists from around the world recognize the seriousness of our environmental situation and the special responsibility we owe our communities, future generations, and our fellow species. We will strive to meet that responsibility in our educational and communicative endeavors. We call upon our leaders to do what is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change. With just as much urgency, we call upon our fellow citizens to hold their leaders responsible for vigorously addressing global warming.
http://globalclimatechangeweek.com/open-letter/

I really don't see the need to compare the two. It's not a dick measuring competition. They both have significant effects on peoples lives, or will do in the case of climate change.

I hope I'm not going to be name dropped in every conversation about terrorism right now :/

Ask AJohn if he agrees.

Inb4 Socawho

Thought I would post this here also.
Hopefully this provides some impetus for action & [size=9]to also overshadow the far smaller issue of terrorism[/size].

Don't see how this is propaganda. It's a real issue and we should be preserving our natural resources.