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Bad Air: Some Photos from Beijing

2008-01-09T16:35:24Z

Well, what can I say about my trip to a ‘developing’ country with a culture over 5,000 years old? It was one of the most rewarding trips I have ever taken but to say it was fun in would be overstating it. Fascinating yes, fun for the time I was talking to NRDC staff, absolutely, the rest of the time, I am not so sure.

This first blog post has to be about air quality. First, I was preoccupied with it and second, it will have serious implications for next summer when China has its coming out party to the rest of the world in the form of the summer Olympics. The air quality is as bad as others (such as the media, people who have visited China, statistics from the World Health Organization) led me to believe. I did not have a coughing fit from being there (my cough came from water skiing behind a two-stroke engine in Bali) but once I looked out my hotel room window during the first morning I was shocked by what I saw. I could only see about six blocks in any direction (pictures from NRDC office very close to hotel are below). It was not until I left the next day and traveled across the city that I realized how much I was missing. The city sprawls forever but I could not tell. In any case, I noticed right away that there was something seriously ‘wrong’ with the air in Beijing.

I placed the word ‘wrong’ in quotes because while it is a priority to clear the air in Beijing, it is dwarfed by the goal of economic development. Causing dangerous air quality in order to grow the economy is a trade-off China is more than willing to make. Trade-offs with the goal of achieving balance between competing interests are common in environmental decision-making, but it is not often that one can literally see the results of a trade-off from a hotel balcony.

As bad as I thought the air was, it was better than it was just five days later when my colleague Erik Laaken was in Beijing.

Here is a picture from my trip. Visibility is okay. I was a little bit surprised but it reminded me of pictures of Los Angeles in the 1960s.

My experience with air quality paled (literally) in comparison to my colleague, Eric Laaken (also with NRDC). This picture was taken just five days after I left. This picture was taken at 4:30. Sunset in Beijing does not take place until around 6pm.

I am interested to see what the Chinese government will do to clean this up in time for the Olympics. If they are unsuccessful, I hope they can hold the marathon outside city limits.

Academy Award Winner Al Gore Addresses Bali Audience

2007-12-17T15:30:38Z

Al Gore Speech to a packed house in Bali, Indonesia at the 13th Conference of the Parties and the 10 year anniversary of the Kyoto protocol. I will ask for forgiveness in advance because this will be a little rough. I will be typing/blogging in real time and I will keep the editing to a minimum.

My thoughts will be inside ( ).

Introduced by his staffer. First credential mentioned was "Academy Award Winner." Lots of laughs.

Dr. Pachauri of the IPCC came in late to great applause.

Remembering Rio - reminds him of a working lunch in Los Angeles. An old woman was staring at him. Came up to him and said "If you died your hair black, you would look like Al Gore." Reminds him of how long he has been doing this.

We face a planetary emergencey. Sounds shrill to some. Stable climate balance is in danger. This balance is a crucial assumption for the development of human civilization. New data on possibly losing the entire North Pole in five to seven years. They used to tell us that it would not be for another fifty.

Third Reich story. Killings. First they rounded up the gypsy, but I was not a gypsy. Then they rounded up the Jews, but I was not a Jew. Eventually, they came for the person telling the story. He was Indifferent to the killing. Progresses to you. Starts with someone else and leads to us. It is not affecting this generation. Not future ones.

Challenge to our moral imagination. The way we developed in evol process, we react quickly if we see something dangerous AND immediate. If we encounter an amorphous less tangible danger we react slowly.

Floods in Africa, Australian drought, flooding in Mexico - unprecedented weather events. LItany of impacts we are seeing today.

Pause

These and other challenges are getting more difficult to ignore. Seasonal glaciers in Rockies, Andes, Himalayas are melting. Threatened with the loss of water.

We need to see clearly and vividly exactly what is going on. 20 of 21 are the hottest years on record. This year set to be 2nd hottest on record. Beyond the boundries of normal variation.

Why are countries sending their delegates here without instructions to respond to the threat that this emergency requires.

Unprecedented change in the past century. Population explosion. Stabilizing - women's education, empowerment, family planning - so this is not the answer to the climate crisis.

(Very academic talk so far)

Energy transformation in the last 1/2 century.

Quotes Dickens - "Best of Times, Worst of Times." Think of two planets. Venus and earth, twins divided at birth. Venus, 455 degrees (to earth's 15) average temp. The difference between earth and venus is Carbon. Carbon on earth was taken out of the atmosphere and placed in the ground in the form of coal and natural gas.

(Listening to this makes one wonder how a climate denier gets out of bed in the morning and looks in the mirror)

Comparing climate skepticism to medical skeptisicms. Do you disagree with a doctor because you read a sci fi novel? (Great rhetorical question)

Imprisoned in an illusion that nothing is wrong.

Abraham Lincoln - We must disenthrall ourselves and we will save our country.

Al Gore - We must disenthrall ourselves and we will save our world civilization.

Winston Churchill in 1938 - "They go on in strange paradox, decided to be undecided, XXX, XXX, XXX, all powerful to be impotent. (Sorry, I just could not catch the quote)

You face a critical choice here in Bali. I speak to you as a person, a father, a grandfather. Tried for 40 years to communicate about this.Speak as a citizen of the U.S. Not an official, not bound by diplomatic niceties. Going to speak an inconvenient truth. My own country is primarily responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali. CROWD WENT NUTS. But my country is not the only one that can take steps to ensure we move forward with progress and hope.

(He is getting worked up)

Tells us that getting angry and directing at the U.S. is not worth it. Or you can do the work that needs to be done. (To the delegates) Leave a blank spot in your document. Put in a footnote, saying that this blank will be filled in. This is the beginning of a process designed to culminate in Copenhagen.

Bobby Hull greatest passing hockey player of all time. Said he passed the puck to where players will be, not where they are. Look at the U.S. House of representatives, State governments - CA, etc.

1 year 40 days from now, there will be a new president. All candidates have different positions from this admin.

If we don’t get it done here, then we will lose momentum.

Goes into adaptation, deforestation

We can get this done. Targets must be a part of the treaty in Copenhagen. Move the target for full implementation of this treaty two years forward. We can’t wait five years to make these targets.

Frozen C in the permafrost. Thaw and double the amount we have to reduce. C sinks now appear to be saturated. Losing capacity to absorb C.

There is a growing realization around the world…mothers and fathers, business leaders are beginning to look more clearly at that is necessary. There is a growing people power movement. MLK. Global warming pollution anywhere affects everyone everywhere. Will redesign our conception of foreign aid. We need to summon a sense of urgency here in Bali.

Change is possible. Australia for an example. What a difference a change in government makes. Aus came here and ratified.

(Going on 35 minutes here)

We are priviledged to live in this era of economic growth and improving living standards. Era of prosperity began after WW2. Shift in thinking in the hearts and heads of those who served in that war. Greatest generation for what they did after the war. Came home, no longer 19 and 20 year olds. “It is time we steer by the stars and not the lights of passing ships” “We need a European recovery plan. We don’t want Europe to export World Wars anymore.” AG: they acquired the ability to think long-term. France is not going to invade Germany next year or vice versa. Now the question is silly, but a half century ago it wasn’t.

Look at the situation in Darfur – children soldiers, ocean acidification: Are these ‘political’ problems?

We have to see problems like these for what they are – moral problems.

There is a great opportunity in rising to the challenge of the climate crisis.

There is
            One future
            One people
            One destiny

But we have to see it. By solving this problem, we will achieve the capacity for long-term thinking (like the greatest generation acquired by, among other things, winning world war II)

Gandhi and the notion of truth force. Truth has the power to set us free. The power to unite. It can bridge the differences between us.

There is an African proverb. “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

We must use our moral imagination to travel into the future. The way ahead is difficult. The maximum considered possible (in dealing with global warming) is short of the minimum needed.

The poet Antonio Machada wrote “Pathwalker, there is no path, you have to make the path yourself.”

The delegates gathered here must make a path that goes around that blank spot (where the U.S. is).

Think of what your children will ask?
- How did you ignore this problem?
- Or where did you get the courage to deal with this problem.

(Rousing ending) You are alive at a moment to make a difference. We need the political will but remember, POLITICAL WILL IS A RENEWABLE RESOURCE (at this point the crowd went ballistic.)

The Traditional COP All-Nighter

2007-12-14T19:10:13Z

Well here I am. 2:19am Bali time, and the rumor mill is going full bore. There is a press scrum to my left waiting for ministers to come out of the meeting room and there are rumors on my right (figuratively) that they will come back tomorrow at 7am so I might as well go home right now. I learned in the Montreal COP (finished at about 6am) that there is a rhythm to these things. There is word that ministers will begin to leave tomorrow morning so this can't go on too long. If they did reach an agreement and many ministers were gone, the absent ministers would not be around to do press. This is a big deal.

There was actually a rumor last night that this COP could have ended on Thursday evening/Friday morning. Rumors are very common at a COP. The sheer volume is reminiscent of junior high but less personally vindictive and focused on the future of our climate system. This rumor of an early ending was ludicrous but some people stayed around anyway. David Doniger brought up the point that no minister wants to be the one whose capitulation resulted in an early ending. It reminded me of one of my favorite political quotes. This one from Lyndon Johnson and he said (I am paraphrasing) that if you are winning votes in Congress by landslides "you aren't asking for enough." The same is true here. There are too many people who want to interfere with the outcome that an early ending would signify that they did not hold out as long as they could. This means I am going to be up all night.

One thing to look for (and I am not sure this will be a huge first-day story but some reporters here are interested) is the role China has played here in Bali. They showed up with constructive proposals and appear to be taking global warming seriously. Without getting too far into the details it is safe to say they are a far more positive player here than the U.S. Yes, I know that being more constructive than the U.S. at a COP is nothing to put on a résumé but it is still significant because this may begin the process of removing the "We can't do anything because China won't" arrow from the 'delayers' quiver. It was always a disingenuous argument because the U.S. is the world's largest polluter and we, at least in theory, pride ourselves in taking responsibility for our actions. Oh well, China's recent moves on mitigating global warming are worth watching.

I just got word that the plenary session will reconvene at 7 am. This means that draft text that is safe to write about will be floating around a couple of hours in advance. I guess we are close. More to follow, so stay tuned.

More Pictures from Bali

2007-12-06T06:25:24Z

30 minutes away from wheels up on the longest commercial flight route in the world, (Newark to Singapore, approx 18 hours) Melanie Nakagawa of NRDC and John Coequeyt of Greenpeace discuss the finer points of an international cap and trade regime along with clean energy technology transfers to developing countries.

John Coequyt making it clear to me that when the issue of Carbon Capture and Sequestration comes up in the negotiations he is not going to let NRDC off the hook. Okay, actually he is showing me that he hurt his hand but believe me, he is not going to let us off the hook on anything related to coal.

The first reporter I made contact with in Bali, Pete Spotts of the Christian Science Monitor. Pete is a veteran of many United Nations climate meetings. I had to hover a little bit to get this shot. He and many other reporters will be used to that by the end of the conference.

Inflatable silk trees by the Tropical Forest Group (TFG, www.tropicalforestgroup.org). The trees will either deflate or inflate depending on how these negotiations progress. Bad things happen to the trees, they deflate. Protections rise, they inflate. It is beautiful in its simplicity.

I am still looking for a better way to communicate what is going on in these talks in a way that is accessible to the general public. I have not found it but the fossil of the day comes close.

Another good media event, this one held by Greenpeace. Whoever is in this bear costume should receive hazardous duty pay. I was wearing linen head to toe and the heat was still too much. Accoring to a colleague, I have reacted to this heat about as well as a "St. Bernard in the Caribbean."

Is Cats in town?

No, but the Tropical Forest Group has struck again. They are doing a bang up job of getting press this first week. ON Wednesday, they held an event featuring Balinese dancers to, as they put in their press release "Add color to REDD issues." Since I know you are wondering I will quote their press release to explain "REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries. REDD involves creating new financial incentives for developing countries, empowering them to slow down their rates of deforestation. The most promising source of new funding contemplated by the international community to help lower deforestation is through the emerging carbon market."

Fossil of the Day

2007-12-05T11:06:57Z

Fossil of the day is presented at 6pm everyday by the Youth delegation (http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2007/12/04/fossil-of-the-day/).

The award goes to the country that takes positions that interfere with the proceedings and prevent committed countries from making progress on dealing with global warming.

The first recipients were the United States (surprise, surprise) Canada and Saudi Arabia. Saudia Arabia is to me the most interesting recipient. The Saudi delegation has been asking for years to be compensated if the world uses less fossil fuels and their oil revenues decrease. Keep in mind they are asking to be reimbursed for losses in oil revenue if we manage to avoid catastrophic sea level rise, massive refugee problems, and extreme weather events to just name a few global warming impacts. Keep in mind that oil is about to cost more than $100 a barrel. The chutzpah in such an ‘ask’ is amazing.

Blogging in Bali

2007-12-03T14:34:07Z

Arrived after ?? hours of travel. It was across so many time zones it is difficult to say. I left my apartment at 4:20pm on Thursday, November 29 and I dropped my bags in my room at around 2:00pm on Saturday Dec. 1. The length of the travel time and distance covered along with the culture shock I experienced (which deserves its own entry) is a fitting reminder of how different the atmosphere is in Bali.

Attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 13, are approx. 10,000 people from over 190 countries from governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, media. A vast majority of the attendees are committed to taking the ambitious steps necessary to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. When I say vast majority, I mean everyone except the Bush administration. Yes, their rhetoric has changed slightly, but their actions have not. I am surrounded by representatives from countries who have ratified the protocol, are implementing policies to meet the standards and are figuring out what the next step is after Kyoto expires at the end of 2012.This is in stark contrast to working 3 blocks from the White House and in a city that is home to the most strident climate deniers and delayers. Needless to say, I like this setting better. J

After registering with the UN and I received my credentials - complete with a picture of me from two years ago when I attended the Montreal COP – it was time to scope out the conference and media center. My NRDC colleague Melanie Nakagawa and Alden Meyer from the Union of Concerned Scientists, went to the media center and were pleasantly surprised to find reporters from the Associated Press, Reuters, the Christian Science Monitor, just to name a few.

The media presence in Bali is off the charts. At the Montreal COP in 2005, the AP went through a reporter or two before they sent in veteran Charles Hanley. Reporters from prominent papers did not arrive until the second week and it was iffy if they were going to attend at all. Now the AP has about five people here for the full two weeks and Reuters has someone who will focus on just side events. Now before you roll your eyes, I have already investigated and I can confirm that the reporters are here because global warming is a top tier issue outlets feel they must cover. They are not here because Bali is one of the nicest places on earth. Global warming is an issue we cannot afford to ignore any longer and the media presence here for both weeks reflects that.

All of the talk about the media brings me to the essential question “What does success at this meeting look like?” This meeting will be successful if the countries gathered agree to launch comprehensive negotiations on the post 2012 regime. We have the solutions available to us in the form of energy efficiency and clean energy of various kinds. The world needs to see that we are moving past Kyoto and laying out the next set of actions necessary to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. Given that there is only a small group of people here that have come to delay and distort, I am optimistic.