As climate change discussions continue in Poznan, Poland, I'm encouraged by a broader change I've seen in the public's thinking about what a greener economy will mean. I remember only months ago, it seemed that most people took for granted the notion that trying to abate a climate crisis would inherently mean hurting the economy. These days, the conventional wisdom seems to be that creating an economy and an infrastructure more friendly to the planet will do exactly the opposite and result in economic gains.
I don't know exactly what caused this change. It could have been the recent set of economic crises, it could have been Barack Obama's frequent messages on "green jobs," it could have been the "Pickens Plan," or it could have been Al Gore's "We" campaign. Likely, it was a combination of all of these things, along with a collective of hard working activists and bloggers who have been absolutely relentless in spreading the idea that clean does not equal poor, and dirty does not equal rich.
Thanks to all those who worked to finally turn the old misguided notion on its head, and let's all continue to push forward and make Poznan, and eventually Copenhagen, a great step forward in ensuring an excellent quality of life for future generations on Earth.
Niki Gloudeman at MoJo's Blue Marble blog has the scoop on a Brazilian plan to slow the rapacious destruction of Brazil's precious Amazon.
The Brazilian government announced this week that it will curb Amazon deforestation by 70 percent over the next decade--an ambitious plan that will be formally presented at the UN climate change conference in Poland this week. Home to the world's largest area of tropical woodlands, Brazil lost nearly 4,633 square miles of forest between 2007 and 2008. That's roughly the area of Connecticut. Previous efforts to limit deforestation include a recent crackdown on soy production. Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc said the plan should prevent 4.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted through 2018.I like my soy and all, but I certainly prefer air without 4.8 billion tons of additional carbon dioxide. (image from flickr user gidsicki under a Creative Commons license)
When you think of the IAEA, "crop yields" do not typically come to mind. Nevertheless, the International Atomic Energy Agency is touting its efforts to introduce nuclear science to food production in the developing world. The example of rice exports from the Mekong Delta is particularly interesting.
Bloodthirsty Liberal calls the International Criminal Court "jew-hating" and says "they've never heard a complaint against Israel they haven't embraced." In fact, the International Criminal Court has never embraced any complaints against Israel. If the prosecutor did receive any complaints against Israel, he summarily rejected them. (Probably because Israel has not ratified the Rome Statute that created the court.)
These inane casual accusations of antisemitism from people who don't know what they are talking about really need to be put to rest.
UPDATE: In trying to "correct" this post, Bloodthirsty Liberal digs a deeper hole. Apparently, Bloodthirsty Liberal does not understand that the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Rather, the writer refers multiple times to something called the International Criminal Court of Justice and conflates the work of the ICC with the ICJ. True, both are located in the same city, but that is about all they have in common.
I have to plug Mark's great post on Northern Uganda over at Huff Po's new "World" section:
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia. Victor Ochen is from northern Uganda. He is in his late twenties, affable, and wears a permanent smile. But being 20-something and from northern Uganda means he is part of an entire generation lost to war. From the late 1980s to 2006, the Lord's Resistance Army, (LRA) a militia led by the charismatic faux-religious warrior Joseph Kony, turned northern Uganda into as close to hell on earth as you can imagine.
Tens of thousands of people were killed and over 2 million displaced in two decades of conflict. But those numbers tell only half the story. The LRA was notorious for swelling its ranks with child soldiers. In all, some 60,000 children were abducted during the course of the war.
How they conscripted these children are tales that defy the imagination. One night seven years ago, the LRA raided the village of one of Victor's friends. Rebel commanders separated the children from their parents and hacked to death the adults. In all, 27 people were killed. But the LRA was not done. They placed the human remains into a large pot and cooked them over the fire. LRA commanders forced the children to eat the stew.
(image of children in Northern Uganda from flickr user John & Mel Kots, under a Creative Commons license)
Two recent opinion pieces take aim squarely at what looms as an early decision for President Barack Obama -- the Durban Review Conference, a successor to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism. The purpose of the upcoming conference, as Claudia Rosett -- no fan of the United Nations by any stretch -- notes rather dismissively in her Forbes column:
As in 2001, the U.N. pretext is to end racism. Or, in U.N. lingo--take a deep breath -- the aim is "the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance."The thing is, this is not a "pretext," nor is it a program of "the U.N." cum organization. Though it is widely reported a "a U.N. event," the Conference is in fact a gathering of countries from around the world, all of which, yes, are UN Member States, and each of which, yes, have their own sub-agendas within the broad goal of combating racism and intolerance. Rosett then makes the rather obvious point that -- no surprise here -- there are a number of "bad actors" on the international stage. These voices -- including some countries, but, as in 2001, even more NGOs, whose outbursts in a side conference should be more proscribed this time around -- who will likely seek to twist the conference's laudable purpose toward certain individual complaints and unacceptable digressions, including, as the standard arguments against the conference are right to denounce, some inexcusable anti-Semitic statements. Unfortunately, plugging our ears to this kind of dreck neither makes it any less likely to occur, nor deprives it of a forum. The only way to counter speech we don't like, as the constitutional adage goes, is with more speech.
Congratulations to our friends at Chasing the Flame!
Great news from Utah: The Sundance Film Festival has selected the upcoming HBO documentary on Sergio's inspiring life and tragic death to be included in this year's documentary category. Directed by Greg Barker ("Ghosts of Rwanda") and produced by John Battsek ("One Day in September") and Julie Goldman ("Devil's Playground"), the film tells the inspirational story of Sergio Vieira de Mello, a UN legend who spent a lifetime in pursuit of security and dignity for the downtrodden. The film charts Sergio's extraordinary 34-year career, from his inspiring leadership in conflict zones from Africa to Southeast Asia to the Middle East, to that fateful day in August 2003. With testimony from a select handful of his closest associates, 'Sergio' is a story of hope and disappointment, success and tragedy.Way to go! And while we are on the subject, congrats to Nick Kristoff who is also heading to Sundance. Along with War Child's DC premiere on Friday, this has been a great week for inspirational humanitarian films!
A career foreign service officer writing on the Life After Jerusalem blog clarifies Mark's and Matt Y.'s posts on President-elect Obama "ordering" political appointments to resign their positions.
[A]ll ambassadors, even career Foreign Service Officers, offer their resignation at the end of an administration. It is true that some are allowed to stay, at least for a little while. This is just more overt than usual.The writer also makes the very valid point that the president should be making foreign policy based on input from the full range of ambassadors -- from Holland and Chad -- and not just the high-profile ones:
But I would hope my President would be wise enough to listen to his Ambassadors from all countries, because crisis can strike anywhere and small countries can have big global impacts.This would further the argument that it is important to have personnel at all posts that are both competent and enjoy access to the president. That may seem like wanting to have my foreign policy cake and eat it too, but it also seems a rather straightforward step toward elevating the influence of "soft power" to the level it should be at.
Here is a bit of good news for the day. Via News Unfiltered.
Measles deaths worldwide fell by 74% between 2000 and 2007, from an estimated 750,000 to 197,000. In addition, the Eastern Mediterranean region which includes countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and the Sudan has cut measles deaths by a remarkable 90% -- from an estimated 96,000 to 10,000 -- during the same period, thus achieving the United Nations goal to reduce measles deaths by 90% by 2010, three years early. The progress was announced today by the founding partners of the Measles Initiative: the American Red Cross, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). The data will be published in the 5 December edition of WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Record and CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. [emphasis mine]This is a truly remarkable achievement. Measles is one of those diseases (like Malaria and to a lesser extent Polio) that has basically been eliminated in the developed world but is still causing havoc on lives and health systems in the developing world. The thing is, a potentially life-saving measles vaccine only costs about $1. The Measles Initiative's goal is to reduce global measles deaths by 90% in 2010. As today's excellent news shows this goal is within reach. Here is how you can help. Check out this video for more on the danger posed by measles and what the Measles Initiative is doing to stop it.