I'm starting to get the impression of COP26 as a contrived stitch up. Where world leaders get to present their inadequate action as fixing the problem. This really is dangerous stuff. You see I remember the 1992 Rio Earth Summit well. 🧵
After the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, political leaders, fossil fuel companies and general vested interest gave the impression the problem was fixed, that there was no need for people to turn to green politics, because mainstream politics had fixed the problem.
In the following years, in the 1990s, we had oil companies taking out big full page adverts in BBC Wildlife Magazine, National Geographic, etc, saying how they were switching their business model to renewables.
Politicians presented all these rosy views of green growth, all sorts of carbon trading schemes and generally giving off the impression that the problem was fixed, and the future was green.
Let us look at the hard empirical evidence of what we actually got in the more or less 30 year since Rio 1992, not the fantasy image they projected to the public (levels of public concern about the climate and ecological crisis were very high in the late 1980s, early 1990s).
Take emissions of greenhouse gases. In this 30 year period, total emissions were more than in the previous 250 years i.e. for all intents and purposes, greater than in the whole of human history prior to Rio 1992.
ieep.eu/news/more-than…
Now biodiversity loss. The @IPBES global assessment, the biggest assessment of the Earth's biodiversity ever, showed shocking and accelerating declines in biodiversity.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
I haven't even got onto plastic pollution, all the other degradation of natural habitat, the catastrophic declines in bees and other pollinators, etc, etc.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
In other words, everything over the last 30 years has been quite contrary to the false narrative peddled after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where governments and vested interests, convinced everyone that the problem was fixed or was surely going to be fixed.
Look what is happening at COP26. Climate activists have been shockingly excluded from COP26, quite contrary to the pledges of the UK government to make it the most inclusive COP talks ever.
thelondoneconomic.com/news/campaign-…
The world's most prominent climate activist and environmentalist @GretaThunberg , who has given speeches at previous COP talks, other UN events, forums like Davos, was not formally invited.
What we see is the UK PM stealing Greta's lines, and other senior UK politicians involved in this greenwash, repeating the lines of activists, when these activists have been excluded and not allowed to speak truth to power, to alert the public to what is happening.
We have seen, establishment figures like Prince Charles, Prince William, rubbing shoulders with the richest people in the world with carbon footprints the size of whole countries (what were they even doing here?), all spouting vacuous sentiments and greenwash.
Overall, I see an orchestrated greenwash, PR, spin event, to try and fool the public into thinking everything has been fixed. When I expect emissions to keep rising, and everything to get much worse.
The problem is, unlike the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where it took nearly 30 years to find out everything we were promised was a scam and it just kept on getting worse - in 30 years time (in fact far less) we are going to be in serious trouble.
This is as evil as it gets. This is an orchestrated PR scam to carry on with business as usual. Where various elements like politicians, the mainstream media, billionaires, royalty and vested interests, combine to maintain business as usual, with fraudulent presentation.
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More from @SteB777

3 Nov
This really is an excellent article by @GeorgeMonbiot, which I can't praise enough.

This clarity is totally lacking in almost every other presentation of the climate crisis in the media. Most deliberately misdirect public. Very important 🧵
I really do despair when I read or hear most of the presentation about the climate crisis in the mainstream media because it tacitly implies we can avoid climate catastrophe without leaving fossil fuel reserves in the ground.
I am a firm believer in that to effectively solve a problem, especially one of this magnitude and seriousness, you have to understand the problem. This means being brutally honest about what the problem is and constantly re-evaluating your understanding of it.
Read 23 tweets
2 Nov
Whilst we ponder what might come out of COP26, I think it's a good time to ponder what if anything was achieved by far the biggest international summit there has ever been, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit?
un.org/en/conferences…
Sure, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, under which auspices the COP talks are held were signed at Rio 1992, but we're now on the 26th, and have so far got nowhere. Unfortunately it doesn't look like much is going to be achieved at this one.
Except for all the #blahblahblah and signing bits of paper, was anything achieved at Rio 1992, which sent things in a different direction? I'm really struggling to think of anything, so please help me by naming something?
Read 15 tweets
1 Nov
1) There seems to be almost complete ignorance of sustainability and ecology in our modern culture.

When I say, our system will have to change, and those over-consuming will have to cut back, I get told, but people won't stand for that etc.

It's a bizarre response.
2) The laws of nature, the rules of ecology are just reality. They are like the laws of gravity. What you think about them makes no difference, and the laws of nature are not a democracy.
3) The climate and ecological emergency, means we've hit the sustainability buffers, the planetary boundaries. There is no option, which allows us to carry on as we are.

Of course we can try continuing as we are, but we are not going to get very far before we face collapse.
Read 42 tweets
1 Nov
The problem is not the vagueness of the plan, but it's incoherence. 🧵below.

"And he agreed a pledge for all the biggest economies to achieve net zero emissions was “vague”, after the G20 failed to set a target date of 2050."
independent.co.uk/climate-change…
There are actually 3 clear and separate components, necessary to address the climate crisis, and achieving Net Zero in the immediate future is only one of them. Focusing on only 1 component is leading to serious incoherence as very few people are looking at the whole big picture.
Even if these plans to reach actual Net Zero by 2050 were realistic and likely to achieve this goal, and all the evidence says the proposals are a long way of reaching actual net zero, a massive elephant in the room is being ignored.
Read 22 tweets
30 Oct
Yet Boris Johnson admits "“There is no chance of us getting an agreement next week to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees."

One of the main criticisms of all these Net Zero by 2050 plans is none contained plans to reduce emissions now.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
However, to keep below the Paris 1.5C target, there needs to be drastic reductions to emissions before 2030.
theguardian.com/science/2021/a…
Read 5 tweets
29 Oct
1) I want to create a mini-thread here, to go through this revealing insight into Boris Johnson's thinking on the climate crisis. I think this very important, because we rarely get this type of insight. 🧵
independent.co.uk/climate-change…
2) The first think that stands out, is his warning of possible civilization collapse. Not least of all because I've been consistently saying this myself and actually using the collapse of the Roman Civilization in Britain as an example.
3) First I want to deal with what I consider the most important revelation.

"Admitting his own “road to Damascus” conversion - after a journalism career in which he scoffed at climate change - Mr Johnson said the key moment had only come after he became prime minister."
Read 25 tweets

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