The latest round of United Nations climate talks
has begun in Morocco and will focus on reaching the ambitious climate goals
that have been agreed and put on paper.
Each country is now committed to the climate plan that they have
adopted. This obliges the countries to
work towards the temperature goals of the agreement. All nations are obliged to curb greenhouse
gas emission in a way that will ensure that the rise in average global
temperature is ‘well below’ 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and as
low as 1.5 degrees Celsius. As it currently stands the national pledges will
not achieve this. It would limit the
temperature rise to roughly three degrees C.
But the countries that are committed to ratchet up their pledges every
five years, beginning in 2020. 103 countries
had ratified their agreement as of 9th November. That includes both the US and
China. These two leading economies
together represent thirty-eight per cent of global emissions and they jointly
announced their agreement on 3rd September.
Weeks later Brazil and India and Canada entered their ratification
papers. Australia, Russia, the United
Kingdom, much of Africa and most of the Middle East have yet to ratify the
agreement signed by 195 nations last December
The pace at which the Paris Agreement moved – from
adoption in December, to signing by a record 175 countries in April to
ratification six months later – was unprecedented for recent international
agreements. No doubt this has been due
to the widespread realisation of the urgency of the crisis. It is a clear signal that world leaders have
the climate issue high on their agendas.
From the perspective of the United States, another factor may have been
the incentive to lock in the deal before a possible Trump presidency. The President elect has said that he would
‘cancel’ the Paris Agreement as he is of the opinion that global warming is a
hoax manufactured by China. The gathering of world leaders in Marrakesh from
7th – 18th November is referred to as COP22.
That reminds us how long these talks have been going on. COP22 means the 22nd Conference of Parties
and the Conference is an annual event.
Having agreed on what needs to be done the task now is to start getting things
done.
A one-day consultation was held in Rome on 28th
September focusing on COP22. Pope
Francis said: ‘The climate change is a human problem. It is our problem so we should solve it. It produces poverty and misery in the
world. That’s why I’m so worried about
it.’ After the meeting he said: ‘How
beautiful it would be to leave the world a better place than the way we found
it.’ This Vatican event went beyond
talking about what they wanted to see happening on the world stage. There were discussions on what is happening
and what should be happening in our own churches. There was a discussion on how the connection
between our faith and our care for creation could be emphasised in our Catholic
school system.. How church funds are
invested was discussed. Should we not
refuse to invest in funds and practices that are neglectful of the environment?
It was pointed out that the churches should take a lesson from the Paris
Agreement and report on their own emissions and track progress in lowering
them. The Church should also ensure that
the Western World ‘hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.’
To illustrate the importance of paying attention to
what is happening around us I think the following true story is
instructive. A man sat at a metro
station in Washington DC playing the violin on a cold January morning. For about forty-five minutes he played six
Bach pieces while thousands went through the station at rush hour. After three minutes a man stopped for a few
seconds to listen. A minute later a lady
threw a dollar into the box without stopping.
The one who paid him the most attention was a three year old boy but his
mother tugged him along – but the boy looked back at the violinist. Several other children and their parents
reacted in the same way as did the three year old boy and his mum. In the forty-five minutes only six people
stopped for a while. About twenty gave
him money but continued to walk at their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished no one noticed, no one
applauded. There was no
recognition. The violinist was Joshua
Bell, one of the top musicians in the world.
He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin
worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days
earlier Joshua Bell sold out at a Boston Theatre and the seats averaged
$100. The Washington Post arranged the
event in the Metro Station as part of a social experiment about perception,
taste and priority of people. In a
common place situation, at an inappropriate hour very few had a moment to stop
and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the best
music ever written on a superb instrument.
How many things are we missing and with what results? As the great American golfer Ben Hogan said:
‘As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only
get to play one round.’
