I see something that really inspires me and makes me want to share it with as many people as possible. With the failure of any kind of comprehensive climate change agreements in Copenhagen last December, many of us were looking for what the next steps could possibly be to address climate change, given the failure of governments.

The following video gives a historical context and a great solution for how we can address the single most important and critical issue we are facing on the planet today.

I have come to the realization that any substantive responses to global climate change are going to come from ordinary citizens, local communities, and the leadership of visionary businesses. Political leaders are driven by political imperatives that are at odds with the time-table for climate change.

In this short, animated film, you will see some inspiring history and solutions for our next steps within which we will be participating in a new low carbon economy. View this and be inspired.

Three practical things emerge for me, from this film:

1. It’s up to us – not governments, to lead in the war against climate change.
2. Technology offers us new ways to collaborate and share solutions.
3. We have the technology and the solutions – we can create the change. Let’s just do it!

As a tourism business owner, photographer, and parent, I am concerned that we are at Day 10 in the Copenhagen Talks and we see little progress among nations to any kind of consensus or agreement. I see a need for governments to get past self-interests and a selfish pre-occupation with protecting their own deep-pocketed oil and gas lobby groups, and to set targets for reduced emissions (350ppm), to address the financial support that is necessary from developed countries to help developing countries suffering from climate change already, and to begin the process of collaboration, not insulation.

As I was traveling north, I listened to Anna Maria Tremonti interviewing Dr. James Hansen, the head of the Goddard Space Centre and the leading global scientist on climate change. I learned several things – about how important the 350 ppm target is and why; why cap and trade is not what is needed – rather a carbon tax (which of course is un-popular with any government) is a better choice, and the science of climate change (which is unaffected by Climate Gate).  Regardless of what your beliefs might be about climate change or global warming, it is important to be aware of what the science is showing us.  How we respond is based

I think that you will find this a most educational interview. Listen up….We have a long way to go to get to 350ppm.

Click on The Current below for a link to the CBC interview

Daniel Lau (AUS) is now on day 16 of his strike, and Matthieu Balle (FRA), is on day 8.

The walkers mission: to deliver a message to the Copenhagen conference urging action on climate change.

This summer British ocean rower Roz Savage rowed solo 3,000 miles across the Pacific from Hawaii to Kiribati. There she witnessed the human face of climate change – Kiribati, a scattering of small coral atolls, is expected to become uninhabitable within the next 50 years due to the effects of climate change.

She is now taking her message to the climate change conference in Copenhagen, in her role as United Nations “Climate Hero”. With a small
group of friends she will set out on 20th November to walk 250 miles from Big Ben to Brussels, where they will join the United Nations Climate Express train for the remainder of the journey to Copenhagen.

The walk will be the subject of a documentary film, “The Long Walk to Copenhagen”, focusing on the walkers and the people they meet en route
to show how humankind is reacting to the biggest challenge of our time.

The worldwide community will be invited to show solidarity with the walkers by joining an online environmental challenge called Pull Together. This initiative aims to inspire people to take action on CO2 levels by walking more and driving less. Calling upon supporters around the world to Pull Together, Roz will challenge them to match the 10,000 oar strokes she does each day on the ocean by walking 10,000 steps a day. Good for the body, and good for the planet.

Stay tuned for video, audio and photos from the long march to Copenhagen.

Images cut through rhetoric.  We need the leadership of world leaders at Copenhagen to make the commitments to:

1. Reduce CO2 emissions  (Which means Canada has to agree to cut its carbon emissions, and right now, Canada is trying to make this contingent on other developing countries setting ambitious targets.  This is nonsense.  Playing political games with our planet is not what we have elected our politicians to do.  They are accountable to our future generations.)
2. Limit global temperature increase to 2ºCelsius in developed and developing countries.
3. Assist financially those countries that need assistance to deal with climate change mitigation and adaptation issues.
4. Put into place an international global governance approach to manage financial resources that reflect the political realities of today.

The impacts of climate change will be widespread across the globe. In order to understand more about what the human impact of high-end climate change might be, and therefore what would happen if a successful agreement cannot be reached at Copenhagen, the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre produced an interactive map outlining some of the impacts, based on the latest peer-reviewed science.  Click on the map below to learn more.

This was the largest ever United Nations Climate Summit, called by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York to address the importance of moving ahead quickly toward a global agreement on Climate Change as the clock ticks down to December’s final meetings in Copenhagen.

Being Prime Minister of Canada does indeed create scheduling conflicts.  Sometimes it’s hard to choose between conficting events that occur on the same day….

Canada’s Prime Minister, Harper visited donut shop for photo-op instead of representing Canada at the UN.

• Canada’s Strategy in Climate Negotiations: Avoid Attending

Canadian PM Hiding behind Obama

Stephen Harper, speaking at a press conference at the G20 in Pittsburgh last week, again distanced the Canadian government from supporting a fair, ambitious and binding agreement in Copenhagen.

“I would cite what President Obama said to us at our meetings and that is that while Copenhagen is a very important meeting we should not view it as a make or break on climate change. It will be a step, an ongoing step, Harper, said yesterday. Harper attributed the comments by Obama in addition to saying he was not inclined to take up the challenge issued by Gordon Brown to attend the meeting in Copenhagen, in order to add political weight to the UNFCCC negotiations.

What??? Our Prime Minister is not going to even attend the meetings in Copenhagen?

The Canadian avoidance of dialogue on Climate Change stands in stark contrast to overtures by China and Japan.   Japan’s new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, whose nation generates more than 4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases, took advantage of the Climate Summit in New York to pledge his nation to seek a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.

What is Canada pledging for Copenhagen?

The IPCC is urging developed countries to reduce emissions by at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020

Canada’s prime minister doesn’t recognize 1990 as the base level for cutting carbon emissions and has walked away from our International commitment to Kyoto. Under Kyoto, Canada had agreed to cut emissions 6% from 1990 levels by 2012.

Instead, Canada’s emissions are still on the rise and at present are 22% above 1990 levels.

Canada Avoiding Embarrassment

Tell Canada’s Prime Minister how embarrassed we are at his International performance on Climate Change and urge him to attend Copenhagen.

• Twitter: @pmharper
• Phone PM Harper Toll-free: 1 (866) 599-4999 // Telephone: (+1) (613) 992-4211 / (+1) (403) 253-7990

Let your hopes be seen . . .

Hey, Hopenhagen, let us embed this widget and spread the hope!

Jake Schmidt, International Climate Policy Director, Washington, DC expains the two tracks of the negotiations and lays plain what is proposed and what it all means.

Shouldn’t they be teaching this stuff in schools?