Climate Talks in Poland Heating Up

by Dan Bloom

POZNAN, POLAND(RUSHPRNEWS)12/02/08-- As the climate activists and climate skeptics debate the pros and cons of global warming -- and whether man-made global warming is even happening at all -- representatives from over 150 nations are meeting this week in Poland to try to map out a strategy to save the planet. Over 9000 people are participating in the 12 days conference, and while some critics are worried that it will be all "talk, talk, talk", with little real action to try to stop global warming before things go past a tipping point, participants at the international conference are "thinking positive", they told RushPRnews.

The goal, of course, is to get some important actions agreed upon by national governments around the world, without geopolitics and economics getting in the way. Officially, the confab is being billed as the Conference of Parties (COP14), and as Joshua Kahn Russell told RushPRnews in an email from Poland, "the activist and NGO community is buzzing with ideas about how to make the most of these sessions to come out with a strong path toward the increasingly looming deadlines in 2009 in Copenhagen."

Russell was adamant on this point: "One of the concerns is that the delegates here in Poland are trying to lower expectations for this process, telling the press (and each other) that it's okay not to expect too much from these talks this week and next. But across the world, we all know that we can't wait anymore."

If all that happens is more "talk, talk, talk", pessimists will say "told you so". But if some real action strategies and agreements are inked in Poland this month, it wil be a victory of the Earth, and for the human race, according to another participant at the meeting.

Actions speak louder than words, and never has it been more important than now. The very survival of the human species, in the far distant future, is at stake.

"The clock is ticking and time has run out. It is now we have to face the consequences of our over-consumption in the West," said one climate activist at a protest outside the meeting halls. There are protest signs appearing all over the place on the streets of Poznan this week, some held up by skeptics and denialists who insist there is no such thing as global warming, and other signs held up by cliamte activists fighting the fight of their lives.

"This is not about rich nations or poor nations," one climate activist told RushPRnews via Twitter. "This is about the human race, about planet Earth. We simply cannot go on talking and talking, without taking direct, major actions that might even call for huge sacrifices by people around the world. This is a life and death meeting, and we hope life will win out over the death threats."

The clock is ticking. James Lovelock is mulling it all over and at work on a new book about climate change. Journalists like George Monbiot and Mark Lynas and Andrew Revkin and Marian Wilkinson are watching the Poznan talks intently. It's the end of 2008, and several important dates loom in the future: the Copenhagentalks in 2009, and then the pivotal years of 2012 and 2015 and 2020.

"If nothing is done by 2040, it may very well be too late," a top scientist in Britain told RushPRnews by email this week, asking that his name be left off this report for fear that his career might suffer if he told the truth about global warming in public. "By 2050, the fate of humankind might be sealed, in a very negative way. So the talks this week in Poland are very important. Actions are needed, not more talk. Time realy is running out. It might already have run out, if people like Dr Lovelock and others are to be believed."

Keep your eyes on Poznan this week and next. It's not the end of the world -- yet! -- and one hopes that time will never come. At least not for another 10 million years or so. But the next 100 years, the next 200 years are going to pivotal years for the human species. And this week marks the beginning of those pivotal years.

There is hope in Poznan this week. And also despair. Pay attention, read the newspapers, read the blogs, stay tuned. The human race has come so far already, it would be a shame if we blow it now.

The 9000 COP14 participants carry a huge weight on their collective shoulders. And the world is watching. Listening. Hoping for some major breakthroughs.