Hi all,
The acronym begs the question: Was COP 27 a cop out?
Between the energy intensive setting (highly air-conditioned resort at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula), the tight rules on protesting set by the Egyptian government, and the general lack of productivity of last COPs, it certainly seemed like this COP would not accomplish much.
The reality is that COP is all talk; Now, that talk is amongst world leaders and corporate titans, so it does carry a little more weight. And the result of this round of talking did end up looking a little better than what we had maybe hoped for in a key respect: A loss and damage fund was created so that rich countries will compensate developing nations for the loss and damage they will experience as a result of climate change (to which the poor countries did not contribute nearly as much). For some, the creation of this fund does not go far enough to right past, present, and future wrongs, but it’s a step in the right direction. You can read more about the loss and damage deal in this article from Inside Climate News: “At COP27, an 11th-Hour Deal Comes Together as the US Reverses Course on ‘Loss and Damage’” And also, an insightful take from Bill McKibben: “The Tyranny of Inertia”.
Other things to read this week:
Amy Westervelt’s summary of the connection between Twitter and the climate now that Elon Musk is doing… what he’s doing…
Elizabeth Kolbert’s ingenious “Climate Change from A to Z”
And I’ll admit this is a longer one, but hey it’s a long weekend: Amitav Ghosh’s The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis
Happy Thanksgiving! Grateful for all of you, readers!
Till the week after next week (or something like that),
Ingrid