Global climate talks in Durban, South Africa are now in their final week.
ANDREW BUTLER, campaigner at riseup.net
Butler is executive producer of the new film “Carbon Markets, Trading Our Future“.
He said today: “The same financial institutions who have brought the global economy to its knees, whilst at the same time personally profiting from it, are now poised to seize control of and commodify our atmosphere, forests and soil. Empowered by the reaction to the economic crisis embodied by the global Occupy movement, I wanted a film that would get people angry and motivate them to take action again the vested financial interests who have co-opted the UN climate negotiations and pushed for market-based mechanisms such as CDM [Clean Development Mechanism] and REDD [Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation]. These people don’t have any interest whatsoever in halting climate change, in fact they need climate change and continued carbon emissions so that they can trade and make money from them. We cannot and must not allow these greedy bankers to trade with our future. If government negotiators are listening to the corporations and not the people, then we must shout louder. We must be tenacious and not give up in the face of impossible odds. In short, it’s time to listen to the global 99%, the people who are facing the sharp end of climate change, not the 1% who caused it!”
PATRICK BOND, pbond at mail.ngo.za
Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Bond is author and editor of the just-released books Politics of Climate Justice and Durban’s Climate Gamble. Bond recently wrote the piece “Climate Talks: A Dirty Deal Coming Down in Durban.”
Bond is an adviser on the film “Carbon Markets, Trading Our Future” and was a guest on Democracy Now this morning, which has been broadcasting live from Durban, South Africa this week.
JANET REDMAN, janet at ips-dc.org
DAPHNE WYSHAM, [in DC] via Lacy MacAuley, Institute for Policy Studies, lacy at ips-dc.org
Redman and Wysham are co-directors of the Sustainable Energy & Economy Network at the Institute for Policy Studies. Redman recently wrote “Durban Diary“.
Wysham has been attending climate summits regularly since 1997. View a recent interview with Wysham on the Durban summit with The Real News.
She said today: “First the bad news: Despite the fact that greenhouse gas emissions spiked by a record 6 percent last year, the U.S. is once again obstructing meaningful action on climate change at international climate negotiations underway now in Durban, South Africa. Now the good news: U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are down 7 percent since 2007, and climate activism has shifted gears in the U.S. with non-violent civil disobedience, grassroots mobilization, and support for strong regulations proving to be effective tools in tackling the climate crisis.”
