Thanks for the re-cap Keith, Sounds like it was quite an event. Perhaps a little too predictable, but important, and even historic, none the less.
Thanks again, to both you and Midori, because by your attendance, you did represent those members of this list who would have chosen to go, IMHO. AntiFossil Mike Krafka USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Addison" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 3:12 PM Subject: [Biofuel] Kyoto... > ... in which prefecture we live and operate Journey to Forever, and > which has lent its name to the Kyoto Protocol, which finally after > seven years became official yesterday, 16 February 2005. > > From the AP coverage at CNN: > > >The agreement, negotiated in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto in > >1997 and ratified, accepted, approved or assented by 141 nations > >including the European Union (EU), officially went into force at > >midnight New York time (0500 GMT). > > > >Environmental officials, gathered in the convention hall where the > >accord was adopted, hailed the protocol as a historic first step in > >the battle against global warming and urged the world to further > >strengthen safeguards against greenhouse gases. > > > >"Today is a day of celebration and also a day to renew our resolve > >... to combat global warming," said Hiroshi Ohki, former Japanese > >environment minister and president of the conference that negotiated > >the protocol. > [more] > http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/02/16/kyoto.ap/ > Kyoto accord takes effect > Feb 16, 2005 > > Also: > > http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=reutersEdge&stor > yID=2005-02-16T160311Z_01_JON550128_RTRUKOC_0_ENVIRONMENT-KYOTO.xml > Reuters.co.uk > Kyoto treaty comes into force > Wed Feb 16, 2005 > > http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=FOCUS&oid=68639 > ABS-CBNNEWS.COM > Thursday, February 17, 2005 > Kyoto Protocol comes into force after 7 yrs > > http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?ID=37432 > Climate warnings, pressure on US as Kyoto takes effect > PARIS, Feb 16 (AFP) > > And so on. > > I've been watching all this for 13 years now, well longer, but in > 1992 I did a major publishing job at the final, ministerial-level UN > climate-change conference that preceded the Rio Earth Summit. We > produced an online (via GreenNet) conference newspaper for a world > coalition of NGOs at the conference, held for two weeks in Nairobi > prior to the Rio "Earth Summit". The NGOs had observer status, and we > put the paper online (courtesy of Apple) every evening, sending it > worldwide for local re-distribution by NGOs in each country. By the > following morning we'd received their feedback for inclusion in the > next edition, which was in hardcopy on all the official delegates' > tables when they arrived for the day. Very effective. Advanced for > those days - the online version had graphics and layout etc, not just > text. Lots of firsts in that operation. > > This conference was supposed to produce a firm and binding commitment > by national governments to take action against global warming, and > this commitment was intended to be the centrepiece of the forthcoming > Rio Summit. Of course it produced no such thing, just lots of fine > words, nothing binding, no commitment. Rather like Rio, in fact. So I > didn't go to the Earth Summit. Refused to go, rather. I've regarded > all such official events since then with some scepticism. > > Anyway, Midori and I went to the Kyoto Convention Hall last night, to > the "celebrations", as it was called. The city is about an hour and a > half from here so we missed the first speeches, by Ohki and Joke > Walker-Hunter, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on > Climate Change, but we caught Kenya's Nobel Laureate Wangari > Maathai's speech and the rest. > > All very upbeat, good reason to celebrate, a decisive victory for > multilateralism and so on, with cautions expressed that it was just a > first step, much more would be needed. > > A common theme was that the "developed" nations with their resources > and technology would take the lead in combating the problem, with due > assistance to resource-challenged 3rd World nations that would bear > the brunt of the damage. I started getting impatient with this: take > the lead? How about taking the responsibility? > No, no - all very bland and polite, all false sacred cows duly to be > honoured, no applecarts to be upset. > > We listened with growing astonishment as each of the distinguished > panellists talked around the one main glaring fact of the matter > without ever naming it - the absence of the United States. Several of > them mentioned it - "the world's biggest polluter, accounting for 25% > of emissions" - but not by name! Two major absentees, they said, the > other one being China, also not named, and no mention of or reference > to India and Australia. > > I began to see the outline of a lot of horse-trading behind these > mostly-bland presentations, and started to wonder whether they'd open > the discussions to the floor, or have an open question-and-answer > session. > > And indeed they did - imagine the row over the probable proposal to > set it up, with stooges in the audience chosen for their pre-set and > safe questions! But no: they only left time for two questions from > the floor (also arranged?) but they were genuine enough. The first > was by a Japanese man from Osaka, a member of an NGO, who demanded to > know why the US and China had not been named, calling for a frank and > honest approach to the problem or it could not succeed. He also said > Japan was itself to blame for backing inappropriate development in > Africa and elsewhere, such as large dam projects. > > He used the terms Honne and Tatemae. > > This will give you an idea: > > >Any discussion about Japan is incomplete without referring to honne > >and tatemae. "Honne" is what you really think or literally "the > >truth" while tatemae means what you actually show or literally > >"facade". These two words pretty much define Japanese people's > >behavior and it is so poorly understood by non-Japanese people that > >it is hard for even long-term Japanese residents to deal with it. > >Honne and tatemae are such an integral part of the Japanese social > >behavior that Japanese people do not even have to think about it. > >Since the ultimate goal in Japan is to maintain "wa" or harmony at > >all points of time, opinions are never openly expressed, emotions > >are not shown, and public confrontations are rare. > > The Osaka NGO questioner dismissed the speeches as "tatemae" and > called for a "honne" response to this most crucial issue affecting > the future of our planet and everyone on it. > > The translator rendered tatemae as "not frank" and honne as "candid". > > First to reply was Masaki Konishi, Ambassador for Global > Environmental Affairs for Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Such > candid questions require a candid answer," he said (honne) - a > diplomat saying he'll be candid! Well, believe him if you like. He > wasn't. Instead he was cosmetic, doing a neat job of patching up the > shredded tatemae. > > Second was Jennifer Morgan of the WWF, board member of the Climate > Action Network coalition of NGOs. She waffled briefly and > ineffectually about China and then turned to the US, putting her foot > right in it: "It's a question of if, not when - uh, I mean it's a > question of when, not if, the US joins Kyoto," she said. And that was > it. > > So then, when? In four years' time? The global insurance industry > estimated world global warming damage at US$60 billion in 2003, going > up fast - the WWF's going to pay up the $240 billion? And the lives > that will be lost, wasted - collateral damage or what? And the extent > of opportunity for effective action another four years of footdraggng > will cost, to add to the last 13 years of the same? Meanwhile this is > not a steady increase, not even a curve - as Derek pointed out > discussing the heat absorbed by melting ice, while there's still ice > to be melted, it's a matter of sudden and irrevocable leaps. But it > all comes second to corporate welfare and the bottom-line. Coming > soon to a planet near you: The Matrix or Terminator, take your > choice, but leave out the happy ending. > > This is probably how the horse-trading went - we'll only open it to > the floor on condition that none of the panellists mentions the US or > China. If someone from the floor mentions them, this is how the > panellists will respond... > > Yuk. > > Anyway, I was glad I went. It sort of put a neat and tidy and > predictable full-stop on the end of what I did in 1992. > > The sub-text was a message from the authorities, governments, > experts: "Trust us." > > I think that we here in this group, represented I suppose by Midori > and I at that august gathering with all the limos parked outside, > have quite possibly saved more carbon and done as much or more to > mitigate global warming than anyone in that conference hall. But > nobody there knew us or anything about us. Well, so what. > > Some of the speakers emphasized how important it was for the citizens > of a country to be motivated (active sense) and educated, otherwise, > even if the government of that country committed itself to Kyoto, it > would fail. As with the OECD taking the lead rather than the > responsibility, we rather thought it was the other way round - or, > more so, just get the people going at ground level and sod the > authorities. > > How much biodiesel wouldn't have been made and carbon not saved if > we'd all sat on our thumbs and waited for our governments and > authorities to show us the way? > > So great, it's finally agreed, though rather than 1990 levels by 2012 > or whatever it's going to take 60-80% cuts, at least, plus a lot of > hope (which we were saying in 1992). But methinks it's up to us and > others like us, not for us to "trust them". > > Best wishes > > Keith > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
