Fighting tears Peruvian mayor demands action as brutal floods continue

Lima: Extreme weather has battered many parts of the world this year, but few places have suffered more in lives, homes and crops lost than Peru, which has been beset by torrential rains and massive flooding.

People hold onto a rope as they wade through
 flood waters to safety in Lima, Peru, at the
 start of this month's storms. 

The devastation reduced the mayor of a small town to tears, as he interrupted a presidential press conference in Lima earlier this month to confront Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and demand help for the people of Huarmey.

Miguel Sotelo Llacas said he felt helpless witnessing "the executive authorities' indifference towards Huarmey”.

"I demand help," he said. Rejecting explanations about a delay in machinery, Llacas pleaded. "It's been three days. For three days we've been under water. Three days," he said, his voice quivering.

Read Adriana Leon’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Fighting tears Peruvian mayor demands action as brutal floods continue.”

Euroa lecture takes on added emphais considering Lima outcome

A lecture in Euroa early next year has a rather special emphasis following the outcome of the Lima climate change conference.

University of Melbourne climate scientist, Prof David Karoly will discuss: “2015 watershed year for climate change: from Lima to Paris.”

That conversation will be on Saturday, February 7, at 11:00am at the town’s Four Mill in Kirkland Ave. The public is invited to attend and admission is free.

Exhausting talks at Lima ended up with a less the positive conclusion making the journey for intent from Peru to Paris somewhat problematic.

An Inside Climate News report noted: “It is "very clear" that countries' pledges on carbon emissions won't be ambitious enough to tip the world into a rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, said Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change”.

The story head: “What Will It Take to Get a Climate Accord in Paris?” discusses a plan to successfully make the trip from Peru to Paris.

Lima talks leave delegates exhausted, but now the hard work starts

A fortnight of tense-talks at Lima left delegates from nearly 200 countries exhausted.

Now those same delegates must take a deep breath and the result of the Lima climate change discussions back to their respective countries and begin the really hard work.

Equipped with understandings from the Lima talks, they must now come up with a respective national plan for reining in greenhouse gas emissions by an informal deadline of March 31, 2015 – conversations in Lima, Peru, were undoubtedly difficult, but back home they face a new regime of demands and measurements that will be used to form the basis of a global agreement due at a summit in Paris in a year's time.

An ABC story headed: “COP20 Climate Forum: Lima UN talks agree on building blocks for 2015 climate deal” sets the scene.

Climate change talks escape, but have a risky French future

Climate change talks in Lima have pulled back from the brink of disaster but the prospect of a future global climate change deal in Paris next year is now under a cloud.

Late on Saturday night in Peru, negotiators agreed to a highly watered-down deal that stripped out a formal review process for the post-2020 commitments that countries will make before Paris next year. Difficult issues such as whether the Paris deal will be legally binding were also put off.

Read the full story here: “Lima climate conference tensions may bring storm clouds to Paris.”

Australia is now the 'Colossal Fossil'

Once Canada's award, but
now Australia is
 the "Colossal Fossil".

Australia is many things to many people, but the world’s environment groups it is the “Colossal Fossil”.

Along with being accused of “creative accounting”, Australia as the worst performed country at the two week climate change talks in Lima.

In a Sydney Morning Herald story headed: “Lima climate talks: tough decisions deferred as UN meeting winds up” reported that, "From the get-go Australia signalled they were not coming here to make progress towards a comprehensive international climate agreement.".

The environment groups’ criticized Australia’s efforts and deemed the country was a worthy recipient of the “Colossal Fossil” award.

Countries closing on climage change deal at Lima, maybe

Australia is among nearly 200 countries apparently closing on a deal to enable possible significant agreement in Paris next year to make a global assault on climate change.

The New York Times reports that this potentially historic deal that would for the first time commit every nation in the world to cutting its planet-warming fossil fuel emissions — but would still not be enough to stop the early impacts of global warming.

“It’s a breakthrough, because it gives meaning to the idea that every country will make cuts,” said Yvo de Boer, the former executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.

“But the great hopes for the process are also gone,” he added. “Many people are resigned,” he said, to the likelihood that even a historic new deal would not reduce greenhouse gas levels enough to keep the planet’s atmospheric temperature from rising 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit,” he said.

This is what The Times had to say about what is happening in Lima: “With Compromises, a Global Accord to Fight Climate ChangeIs in Sight".

Australia needs to 'draw first' otherwise it will lose out

Bruce Springsteen asked "Who
draws first" - if Andrew Robb has
his way it most certainly
won't be Australia.

It was Bruce Springsteen who asked “Who draws first”?

The world’s conversation, at least from Australia’s point of view, has been reduced to such a perverse simplicity.

Australia’s Trade Minister Andrew Robb has told business leaders at climate change negotiations in Lima that Canberra may not sign up to a new global deal if major trade competitors are not pulling their weight, stating Australia will not "get it in the neck".

In other words, Australia will do anything about counteracting the certain terrors of climate change until it is manifestly clear that other countries have already embarked on a serious mitigation program.

Minister Robb, clearly, is not prepared to ”draw first”, not understanding, either in fact or wilfully, that those slow on the draw lose out.

A story in today’s Melbourne Age headed: “Australia may not sign up to Paris climate deal: Andrew Robb” told of the latest from the Lima conference.

Good sense and science collide at Lima

When science and good sense collide, exciting things happen.

And this is going on at Lima where campaigners are eyeing an ‘inevitable’ end to the fossil fuel industry by mid-century.

The inevitable demise of the fossil fuel industry is discussed in a Guardian story headed: “Goal to end fossil fuels by 2050 surfaces in Lima UN climate documents”.

“It’s a rare thing when you can point to paragraphs in a United Nations climate negotiating text and feel they more or less match what most of the science says should become a reality,” the story says.

Australia among the 'spoilers' at Lima

Australia has been listed among the “spoilers” at the Lima climate change discussions.

Being rich in fossil fuels, in Australia’s case it is coal and gas, we could stand with OPEC nations, Russia and Canada as countries that would block efforts to reduce world demand for oil, gas and coal.

Inside Climate News has made these observations in a story headed: “A Guide to the Lima Climate Change Talks”.

Being and environmentalist is both good and bad

by Robert McLean

Demonstrate an interest in mitigating what it is that changes our climate and almost immediately you are lumped-in with environmentalists.

That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be both a handicap and a distraction.

Concern for what humans are doing in disrupting the earth’s climate system is bigger than simply worrying about our environment.

Naturally, environmental matters are high on the agenda, but the fundamental concern for most climate change advocates is rarely among those matters foisted upon them by the popular media and so top of mind for many people.

Being labelled as an “environmentalist” brings with it certain baggage, certain stereotyping in that many immediately see you as a long-haired, sandal and hair-shirt wearing anti-establishment person with your roots in the 60s and so disengaged from what is real.

Concern about climate change equates directly about human welfare, how people are going to live and prosper (not economically) and how we are going to keep the infrastructure upon which we all depend intact.

Yes, I care about the environment, deeply, but I also care about how we live, how we behave, how we treat our fellows and understand that all of those things are inherently implicated in and depend upon how we treat our home, hence the environment.

Interestingly, Oxfam has just released a story headed: “Climate change is not just about the climate, it is about our lives” as the world gathers in Lima to work on drafting a global treaty on climate change. The story makes a similar point.