“Global Weirding,” Or: One Last Thought on COP17

Claire Tighe ‘13

It’s a lovely day in January. The sun is shining; the day is warm. People are out jogging, walking their dogs, and even golfing. The scary part? I’m not describing Durban, South Africa. I’m describing Chicago, Illinois, USA. Yes, in Chicago, Illinois in January 2012, there are people rounding the eighteenth hole like it’s an early July morning. There’s no snow on the ground; the temperature is nearing fifty degrees farenheit.

Chicago, Winter 2011

It’s been a few weeks since my return from the COP17 conference in Durban. Here’s a sum of my thoughts since December.

Basically, it’s too late to wait for international governmental regimes to make change for us. At this point, even if all of the countries in the world completely cut all of their carbon emissions, Earth would still be in trouble. We’d still face catastrophic climatic changes in the next century (i.e. doomed). However, these international talks need to keep happening. Without it, we might be beyond doomed.

Domestic and small scale projects (as well as mutual coercion between and amongst country groups) really seem to be working best for mitigating carbon. So keep riding your bike to work. And yes, turn down the central heating a few degrees. (That means you, Chicago. Oh, did I mention, there’s now seven inches of snow on the ground there?) And keep pushing federal governments towards carbon smart legislation. All is not (yet) completely lost.

Stop monkeyin' around (no offense) and vote in Novemeber 2012! Photo courtesy of Anna McGinn '14

Speaking of elections, 2012 is an important year. I’m young and I plan on reaching out to others who are (and aren’t), too. I’m dead set on electing people who not just “believe” in climate change but know and understand climate change as a reality and a risk. I’m out to research as many candidates as possible who are running for election in 2012 (particularly congress!) and figure out which ones I want in office. Then, I plan on spreading the word. Maybe you’ll even find a chart on this blog about which nominees have historically voted in an earth-friendly manner. Until then, I plan on spreading knowledge of the COP debates. Hopefully together we can find the strength to keep pushing them on.