Banner in PoznanDuring Advent we hear about John the Baptist, the "bad news/Good News" prophet who prepared the way for the world changing presence of Jesus, the Christ. He calls listeners to repentance, a new direction of the heart and mind.
Our world is certainly changing. News about the economies of the world's nations has assaulted us for weeks now, and it as though nothing else in the world really matters. Here in Canada we have puzzled over the political turmoil of our normally staid nation. Lost in all of this is the United Nations conference on climate change taking place in Poznan, Poland. Remember last year in Bali? At that time it seemed that the only thing the media wanted to report on was the environment. This year there has been a deafening silence, and the twelve-day conference ends today with a whimper rather than a bang.
This doesn't mean that climate change has gone away as a priority for our planet. I heard this morning that scientists have revised their estimates of year-round open water in the Arctic from 2030 to 2015. That's six years from now. For years our John the Baptist environmentalists such as David Suzuki have been shouting in the wilderness of public apathy, telling us that the effects of climate change will be experienced sooner than later. Apparently they have been telling the truth. Unfortunately the truth sometimes hurts and calls us to a change of heart, to repentance of our foolish ways. Reading Environment Minister Jim Prentice's address to the conference yesterday does not offer much more than predictable and vague statements about commitment to healing the environment. Given that Canada ranks second last in the world in per capita carbon emissions, just ahead of Saudi Arabia, we should expect more.
I suppose the good news about climate change is that the conference in Poland still took place, despite other world woes, and the issues continue to be raised.
Is climate change still an important issue for you in spite of the other pressing issues? Do you hope that our government (whoever may be in power) will make this a priority even though there is a downturn in the economy? Do you believe that we can cooperate enough to find a new direction?
Climate change should be on the top of any government policies.If we damage and kill our environment we will not last.The BBC covered the conference every day. As far as cooperating for a new direction there is always hope.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting because neither the Canadian nor American papers gave the conference much coverage. Right after I blogged this morning CBC radio's The Current did a piece. It can be heard on their website
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