greed times infinity

The United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place in Cancun, Mexico and almost everyone considers it a waste of time. When you consider the impacts already being felt around the world it seems that the developed world has said - "too hard", yet it is irrelevant whether we call it too hard or not - the change is here and the effects are going to be in our face from now on - get used to images of human misery and suffering, collapsing ecosystems, extreme weather and extinctions of large and small creatures. This is not alarmist - it is the way it is. Check this article out - 40% of the oceans plank plankton has gone since the 1950's - we cannot even imagine the effects of that within the food chains and ecosystems of the ocean. Some argue we must use the capitalist imperitive of greed to drive change - like r0b at the Standard - I disagree - greed will not fix this, it is not fixable by us. It is time to prepare for some big changes - the world our mokopuna will inherit will be as different as the world we inherited from our grandparents - but not in a good way.

Indigenous peoples are fighting hard to be heard and for good reason - From Mother Earth Journal

Indigenous peoples are on the front lines of the impacts of climate change whether they live on islands or in coastal areas, the Arctic, the deserts, urban areas forests or mountain regions, and their situation is dire.

The Indigenous Caucus  formulated a statement that they presented during the Nov. 29 opening session.

“Market-based mitigation strategies such as the Clean Development Mechanism, and carbon offsets, including forest offsets and REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) further threaten our human rights, including our right to free prior and informed consent among many others. Our land and territories, food sovereignty, bio-diversity, cultural practices and traditional life ways are being placed in further jeopardy, and we reject these false solutions.”

“Our survival is in the balance. Our responsibility to our Peoples, our future generations, our Sacred Mother the Earth and to each other as brothers and sisters of the human family, requires and demands immediate and decisive action.”

When faced with a survival situation we would do most anything to make it - if we recognised the dire nature of the situation that is. The values that will get us through are community, connection and caring.
 
I wrote a haiku about global warming a while ago
 

is it winter yet?

i see the sea has risen

my breath does not show

feel free to add your haiku in the comments