Susan Feathers

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa ended on December 11, 2011. The conference  included the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 7).

The meetings resulted in the adoption of 19 COP decisions and 17 CMP decisions and the approval of a number of conclusions by the subsidiary bodies. These outcomes cover a wide range of topics, notably the establishment of a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, a decision on long-term cooperative action under the Convention, the launch of a new process towards an agreed outcome with legal force applicable to all parties to the Convention, and the  operationalization of the Green Climate Fund.

Results of COP17 2011     On the first couple of pages you can read a good summary of the history of climate change negotiations since 1992 among the Earth’s countries and leaders.  Its worth reading to refresh the context for the current negotiations at COP17.  See below for articles with different points of view regarding the “success” of the conference:

The National Post (Canada)
The Sacramento Bee (U.S.)

World News service for newspapers around the world on results of COP17

Session 7 of “Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence”, the Mind and Life XXIII conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in dialogue with contemplative scholars, activists and ecological scientists who discuss the interconnection between individual choices and environmental consequences. The conference was held at His Holiness’s office in Dharamsala, India, from October 17-21, 2011.

After listening to four of five video recordings of the Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence Conference with the Dalai Lama at the Mind and Life Institute, I decided to include it on this COP17 post due to its extreme relevance to our future on planet Earth.  These videos are each about 2hrs long.  So it requires thoughtful listening, yet I feel that the hours I have spent considering the issues and comments on each topic have informed me on a deeper level of all that is at stake and all the promise that the future could hold for our children and grandchildren to come – long after we have left our legacy behaviors and decisions (our non-action and non-decisions) behind for them to cherish and honor or despise and dishonor.  Why should we care?  What does not caring tell about us?  Who’s culpable?  The fourth video is focused on ethics which evoked some of the most interesting reflections from the Dalai Lama on how current generations create the world of future generations much like our world was handed to us by our grandparents and parents.

This podcast includes a presentation by Diana Liverman of the timescale of earth system function up to and after 1950, tracing not just temperature and population (the most common graphs) but use of water, fertilizers, paper, cars, loss of the ozone layer, deforestation of temperate and tropical forests, overfishing, biodiversity and other important indicators.  They discuss the period of the Great Acceleration (1950 being watermark for its beginning.)

The speaker explains what scientists mean when they use the term, Earth Systems.  Carbon Cycle, Water Cycle, and Air Circulation to the Dalai Lama. These is a great section of the video. ***Start at about 35 minutes for this section of the podcast.

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After my last post on the COP17 Climate Talks in Durban, South Africa I realized the links I posted take you, the reader, into a maze of reports and data sites, agendas, and very dense organizational structure.  I apologize for that having just spent time navigating (barely) through the site.  However if you go to the OneWorld blog  you can find up to date news and videos on the floor of the convention.  AFP.com International news for today describes how the whole political scene is in turmoil as delegations of developing countries (“Basic nations”) -the Group of 77 – are insisting that the Kyoto gas emission targets from the previous sessions be maintained to as late as 2020.  Among the 77 is China, now the largest emitter of CO2 on the planet.  Some delegates believe strongly that to not further curb emissions for another 8 years will bode disaster to earth’s operating systems.  In the original Kyoto agreements (1997), developed nations agreed that they have contributed the most to climate change through CO2 emissions and they assumed greater responsibility by agreeing to not only cut emissions but to provide the resources and expertise for developing countries to cope with the worst changes such as flooding, drought, and loss of food productivity due to warming of the planet.  Read the AFP article here.

For ongoing coverage of events and people this is also an excellent site:  iiSD RS @ Durban Climate Change Conference.

Last month I set out to read one Pulitzer Prize (PP) and one National Book Award  (NBA) each month.  My habitual reading has not included the books deemed the best writing in its genre.  Since it is common advice by successful writers to read the best to improve one’s own writing,  I began with fiction hoping to learn something and more, to enjoy reading great works.

November I read A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2011 PP fiction)  and Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (2010 NBA.)  For December I will read Tinkers by Paul Harding (2010 PP fiction winner) and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (2009 NBA.)

Check back this next week for my experience reading Egan and Gordon’s novels. I will create a separate page for the Pulitzer Prize and for the National Book Award discussions.  If you have read any of these books please leave me your impressions, thoughts, and reactions to my reviews.

One thing:  the first two books jolted me from my usual reading expectations—each was very hard to read.  A Visit from the Goon Squad challenged my resolve to carry out the project.  Lord of Misrule did, too, but for different reasons.  I realized its similarity to Mark Twain’s stories that plop the reader into a world, time and characters without an instruction manual.  A Visit from the Goon Squad brings particularities about our culture (digital divide among generations, fractured nature of experience) and historical period into focus.  Lord of Misrule could be just about anytime in horse racing.

The uphill experience of reading the first two novels in itself taught me that true creativity is disruptive by its very nature.  John Steinbeck asserted that writers should strive in their writing to uplift the human spirit.  I wasn’t sure that these books did that for me.  I will have to reread them.

Last night PBS aired a remarkable documentary: “My Life As a Turkey.”

From Facebook Page for PBS Nature:  About the film: Based on the true story of writer and naturalist Joe Hutto, portrayed by wildlife photographer Jeff Palmer, this film chronicles Hutto’s remarkable experience of imprinting wild turkey eggs and raising the hatchlings to adulthood. Deep in the wilds of Florida, Hutto spent each day out and about as a “wild turkey” with his family of chicks — until the day came when he had to let his children grow up and go off on their own. As it turned out, this was harder than he ever imagined. Watch a preview.

For all of us Floridians, the scenes from hammock communities and the rich biodiversity supported by that habitat should be a reminder of our roots! One of the best books about Florida habitats is Priceless Florida by Ellie Whitney, D. Bruce Means, and Anne Rudloe. On page 86 it shows readers where they can observe temperate hammock communities. For Pensacoleans, Eglin Air Force Base has extensive hammock habitat, camping and hiking.

Go here to learn more about Joe Hutto’s book, Illumination in the Flatwoods. It is next on my reading list.

On Imprinting: Whose Your Mama?, PBS Nature

By some magic I recently decided to reread Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.  Swept down into the moist, green of an Appalachian holler, I experienced the author’s luscious language of procreation, love and desire.  Only a biologist with the writing skills of Kingsolver can blend fiction with science and get away with it.  Readers barely notice they are being instructed gently through storytelling to consider what may be lost under our feet through our inattention and by our misconception of where we humans fit into the larger scheme of things.

The third sentence of Prodigal Summer is the whole of the story:

Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, every choice a world made new for the chosen.

Nature is not simply wallpaper in our lives.  Kingsolver weaves a story of interrelationships reflective of the true reality of all living things: we are utterly dependent on each other.