A Colossal Cop-Out

But Some Rays of Hope!

Well, another round of United Nations climate change talks has come and gone. Here are a few adjectives – disappointing, heartbreaking, f___ing ridiculous, criminal. All that said there was some good news and hopeful developments. Below is a recap of the Bad, the Ugly, the Good.

The Bad

·      The chosen President residing over these talks (known as COP 28), was Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who is an oil baron. As I previously reported, various media outlets revealed that he had made plans to use the talks to broker more oil deals. Days before the end of the talks he made the almost too-much-to-be-believed comment that there was, “no science” behind the demands for a fossil fuel phaseout.

·      There were a record number of fossil-fuel lobbyists at COP 28. More than 2,400 such lobbyists attended, up from around 630 last time.

·      The first draft of the global agreement was ridiculously weak and didn’t even mention fossil fuel.

The Ugly

·      A whole bunch of uber-wealthy people flew into this so-called climate solutions event in fossil fuel guzzling, emissions spewing private jets. The sheer level of consumption and decadence is exactly what’s driving the climate crisis in the first place.

·      Building on the above point, the conference even included a session on responsible yachting. The main speaker was Formula 1 champion and Sunreefs Yachts partner, Nico Roseberg. Are you F____ing kidding me?!

 The Good

·      It’s possible that the infestation of fossil fuel lobbyists reflects that the industry knows big shift is afoot and they’re trying to stave it off.

·      After years of resistance, the wealthy countries of the world finally agreed to a “Loss and Damage” fund to help defray costs for the less wealthy countries who are already suffering severe climate-related damages.

·      Surprisingly, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation treaty gained traction when Columbia became the first Latin American country to sign on.

Symbolically at least, this may be the biggest Good -- in the end, due to activist pressure, the final, signed agreement did in fact include language on fossil fuels. It calls for a “transition away”, which is weaker than the “phaseout’ statement advocates wanted but it is an important acknowledgement of the role fossil fuel is playing in our climate and environmental crises. Talk is cheap but we are creatures of language and words do matter. We finally have a common global agreement that uses language coming close to the actual situation before us.

For those of you want more detail here’s a good piece by Global Citizen.

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Life with Livvy and LottaDog

The past two weeks were challenging for me. Freya, AKA LottaDog, made her transition on Dec. 6^th. As dog lovers we sign up for losing them too soon but it never, ever gets easier. And, it shouldn’t. The depth of grief reflects the depth of the love. I’ve been grieving her and missing her more than I expected but I am so glad our paths crossed and so glad I got to give her a great second half of her life.

These pics show the very last time that Freya got to become a lump in the bed when I was changing sheets. It became one of her favorite habits not too long after I adopted her.

Livvy and I miss you Big Lady. May your next journeys be filled with love and light.

Add Freya lump in bed pics.

This was Freya’s last time being made into a lump in the covers. Olive and I miss you LottaDog.