Hu Ching
Hu Ching is a member of ECO Singapore, hoping to bring forward the gravity of the climate change issue in Copenhagen this December. The group is part of the International Youth Climate Movement (IYCM) at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) .
Left to Right: Mohamed Maumoon (youth delegate from the Maldives), David Blood (Senior Partner, Gineration Investment Management), Jose Figueres (former President of Costa Rica), Lars Rasmussen (Prime Minister of Denmark), Katherine Richardson (Vice Dean, University of Copenhagen), Wang Guangtao (Chairman, Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee, National People’s Congress, China), Kumi Naidoo (Executive Director, Greenpeace International)
In a discussion session on the first day of COP15, the Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen concedes that he is not optimistic that the next 11 days can produce a legally-binding treaty.
Mr. Rasmussen was speaking at a panel discussion chaired by Jose Maria Figueres, the former President of Costa Rica, who managed to sustain high levels of economic growth in his country despite the implementation of a carbon tax in 1999.
During the session, Prime Minister Rasmussen was consistently reminded by the other speakers to push for a better deal at COP15.
Katherine Richardson, the vice dean of the University of Copenhagen, spoke with careful optimism, claiming that technology is available but “we’re only missing the political and social will to implement bold measures”. Kumi Naidoo, the new executive director of Greenpeace International, urged for the achievement of a “fair, ambitious, and binding deal”, and further appealed for negotiators to not settle for the lowest denominator in climate discussions.
Determined to make his voice heard, Mohamed Maumoon, a feisty teenager from the Maldives, asked for special permission to be excused from his panel seat to speak at the lectern. Already, chunks of the Maldives’ coastline are being submerged by rising sea water levels every day, yet majority of world leaders remain dangerously unaware of this. He challenged political and business leaders of the world who live in cities which are sheltered from the direct consequences of climate change to experience first-hand the effects of climate change on his homeland, to a standing ovation.
The session was concluded by Wanagri Maathai, the Nobel Peace Laureate in 2004 for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace”. Professor Maathai urged for civil society leaders to not give up, and to continue to pressurize governments to implement pro-environmental pleasures.
Will Prime Minister Rasmussen listen to the wise words of an academic, an environmental activist, a youth delegate who has experienced climate change and a Nobel Peace Laureate? Whatever that took place in this conference room in Copenhagen is but a battle in our war against climate change.
This article was originally published at http://unfcccecosingapore.wordpress.com/
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hopefully, it’ll flopped
Yes. Hopefully it’ll flop. Singapore is under a lot of pressure “to do more”. The Europeans are already considering the imposition of a type of carbon tax on SIA and our shipping firms. Can you imagine what damage that would do to our economy? Who knows what other pressure they would bring on us, to force us to adopt whatever kind of measures they dream up.
I hope China and India stand firm in this. Don’t like these eco-imperialists dictate terms to us.
Climate change is a real is something real that we have to accept. Please do not think that its something that does not affect you and I. While I do not advocate a total stoppage on the use of carbon fuel, we must start now to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel. Governments should provide incentives to its citizens for the use of alternative energy. Those governments that refuse to accept this facts are only looking at the short term economic benefits but not the long term environmental benefits.
Capitalism is the root of many problems that we are facing today.
To all TOC readers,please do not get duped into believing that climate change is all
man made.Rather it is just a natural cycle which comes every 100 or 200yrs.There
is a website somewhere in the cyberspace i came across, which tells you a recorded stats of climate change for the last 500 years.Have you heard heard of
underwater volcanoes?They probably cause the sea water to warm up,thus,causing
the sea level to rise and ice burgs to melt.For many environmentalists and pseudo
-scientists,there is money to be made by fighting this cause.One good example is
Mr.Al Gore,a former NFL professional player and also a failed presidential candi-
date in the US election.After his failed political race in 2000 , he was left with only
few hundred thousand dollars in his pocket and 9yrs after,his personal worth is now
over 300 million US$.Not bad for a lobbyist and a environment crusader.
And by the way,there is a piece of news,most Singaporeans are not aware
of now is,Al Gore is coming to Singapore next May for a few hours pep-talk and is
invited by PAP who is paying him $300,000.Does he worth that much?
To 4):
You are twisting all these natural occurrences to your argument. You are basically likening the change of the 4 seasons in a year to this supposed bogus claim when there have been no scientific papers that prove otherwise. There are concerns and questions, but never proven. Please do not use ‘a website somewhere in the cyberspace’ to prove a point. I can quote a satire character and it would still be from a ’source’.
I quote:
“Have you heard heard of underwater volcanoes?They probably cause the sea water to warm up,thus,causing the sea level to rise and ice burgs to melt.”
Are you serious? Are you dismissing the link between carbon emissions and rapidly evolving climate changes? I’m not even sure how I should even start tearing your ‘explanation’ apart and then laugh at your ignorance. Read a secondary 3 Physical Geography textbook is all I am saying.
You speak of environmentalists and scientists benefiting from the climate change cause. Have you not thought about the many more unaccounted for dirty money involved in lobbyists in the past, present and future if we do not stop this? Personal worth is not actual wealth.
The accelerated and widening disparity between temperatures experienced in a year (extreme cold and hot) is of concern. The changing air pressure movements over the main bodies of water is of concern. Ice-bergs melting is of concern. The rising sea water levels is of concern. We may have always had the advantage of geographical location, but this is not something that will last forever.
If economics need to be taken in consideration: we need our government to be more active in encouraging citizens to reduce our carbon footprint, in turn allowing us leverage in drawing in the increasingly lucrative ‘green’ industry. The main industry of Singapore has always evolved over the years. Surely it takes not a economics student to argue that the service industry will be outsmarted eventually?
I don’t think the youth of Singapore care. But it’s due more to apathy and lack of media coverage.
The youth of Singapore do not care because the government do not bother to expose the matter as a grave concern.
Wait till Singapore becomes like the Maldives, lands being claimed by the sea due to rising sea levels, only then will the MIWs start sweating in their pants. By then, if LKY is still alive, he will be saying sorry and said that his policy on climate change in the past was yet another mistake.
Reply to#5-Ryvyan
Are you telling me no well known scientists and researchers and climatologists
believe otherwise?I guessed you believed dinosaurs were destroyed and extincted by our monkey-liked ancestors because they used to much coal and other fossil fuse,thus causing big floods,sinking of islands,ice-age or de-iced age.There were
periods during world history that had similar climate changes and many western and UN scientific communities never wanted to talk about it.Why?.
Both of us are no scientists and have chosen and come to a different conclusions.However,both of us are getting from the same source-news media and websites in cyber space,no?
If you think Singapore pollution policies are not draconian enough just
wait and see when the world adopt the recommendations from this coming
climate change pow-wow in Copenhagen.I have a different angle on this issue
It is used as an excuse for a sinister plot for someone to dominate and take
control of this planet earth.
Singapore can and should do its part for protecting the environment. The Environment Minister should push for more reforms in our environmental policies.
Ryvyan on December 10th, 2009 4.43 am
“I don’t think the youth of Singapore care. But it’s due more to apathy and lack of media coverage. ”
That’s right. The youth do not give a damn about climate change, nor do they care about Mas Selamat’s great escape. Or the influx of FT’s stealing their jobs. Well, they only know how to do one thing – complain. But damege already done!
Never assume that the PAP government can take care of you forever!
andrew leung on December 10th, 2009 11.17 am
“The Environment Minister should push for more reforms in our environmental policies. ”
He can’t even plug a leaky canal, how do you expect him to envision when singapore will be 20,000 leagues under the sea and plan ahead?
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Yaacob Ibrahim will be in Copenhagen, Denmark from 15 to 17 November 2009 to attend the informal ministerial consultations in preparation for the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Dr Yaacob is attending the meeting at the invitation of Denmark which will be hosting COP-15 in Copenhagen in December.
Dr Yaacob will be accompanied by senior officials from the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources
14 November 2009
–
I hope he will not be surprised again by a freak accident.
preston loon (#7):
Are you telling me no well known scientists and researchers and climatologists believe otherwise?
Of course there are. And that’s a healthy sign, because any scientific field ought to have people who disagrees with mainstream ideas. However, that being said, the number of researchers who believe that global warming is not man-made comprises a rather small percentage.
Based on a survey published in the Eos journal (PDF link to article), close to 90% of the climatologists interviewed believe global warming is man-made. There is even more who are uncertain than believing otherwise.
And just because a researcher is famous doesn’t mean he is right. After all, quantum theory pioneer (and Nobel Prize winner) Niels Bohr allegedly believed that Einstein’s quantum theory of light and Feynman’s quantum electrodynamics are wrong, but both went on to win the Nobel Prize and made major impacts in physics.
There were periods during world history that had similar climate changes and many western and UN scientific communities never wanted to talk about it.
Now, I seriously question that claim. I do think that most scientists and institutions talk about these cooling/warming periods of Earth’s history (such as the interglacial period about a hundred thousand years ago), and I’m very very sure they are all taken into consideration when the researchers crunched the numbers.
As for your previous statement:
For many environmentalists and pseudo-scientists,there is money to be made by fighting this cause.
perhaps I can point you to this news article from a couple of years back to balance that. Basically, oil companies are giving cash to researchers or economists to question the IPCC’s report.
12) Jackson Tan on December 10th, 2009 2.04 pm
7) preston loon on December 10th, 2009 9.59 am
I do believe there’s been a lot of controversy on both sides, and in my honest opinion, the environmentalists and industrialists are equally dodgy about their actions. Recently, a huge scandal erupted in Copenhagen where thousands of emails among environmentalists were leaked. Do read the entire scandal here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climategate
I think at the end of the day, it all boils down to $$$ and power.
Although preston loon might sound rather looney with some of his theories, there is some truth in what he says about environmentalist lobby groups (yes Jackson, and industrialist lobby groups too) making tons of money by hyping up all the claims about climate change. Both sides have huge funding and something to gain from all of this, so my personal opinion is to be aware of such things, but have a discerning mind as well. :)
14) Donaldson on December 10th, 2009 4.11 pm
http://www.news.gov.sg/public/sgpc/en/media_releases/agencies/mewr/press_release/P-20091114-1.html
Erm. Yes he is. Do let us know where you get your sources from. lol. :)
Anyway the Haj is only required of Muslims at least once in their entire lives, so most will only make the pilgrimmage 2-3 in their lifetime. Not every Muslim goes to Mecca every year, and they’re not required to.
XiiAoGeNgEnX (#13):
I do not deny that riches can be found in standing for an environmental cause. Which is why I’m merely raising the oil companies’ monetary offer as a balance and not a counterargument.
But with regards to Climategate, I’m still waiting for climate sceptics to pull out something concrete about the emails that indicate fraud. So far, there are only suggestions of a some sort of suppression of data, but even the top journal in science, Nature, has discovered nothing questionable. I’ll not talk too much about it here, having expressed my own opinions on my own blog.
Regarding the entire issue about taking action, I think Lucky Tan has summarised rather eloquently in a comment to my blog post the reason why we had better take action now.
16) Jackson Tan on December 10th, 2009 5.17 pm
Well I must say that after reading your comments on this thread, and some other TOC article, I must say your knowledge of this field is far beyond mine. Keep it up and I hope you can find like-minded individuals to pursue this cause. :)
However, I do believe that environmentalists need to work closely with policy-makers to strike a good balance, especially since Singapore is an island state, and very vulnerable to any rise in sea levels.
I can see al gore rubbing both his hands gleefully
Essentially singapore is one of the worse situations we can find ourselves in.
Singapore is sheltered from natural disasters from the world because our geographic location – we do not face earthquakes, volcano eruptions, typhoons/cyclones (both are the same thing with different names), etc.
But we are not protected from climate change. Global warming drives up precipitation rates and the recent Bukit Timah floods is but a consequence of this. The melting of the polar ice caps and the opening of a new trading route through the Arctic circle will mean that trading vessels do not need to sial past Singapore anymore. Our harbour will begin to lose business.
What can Singapore do? Hope and pray that the major governments in the world reach an agreement in Copenhagen soon.
6) cagiva_diablo on December 10th, 2009 9.18 am
TOC’s coverage of Copahengen Climate Change Conference is actually written by a delegation of youths representing the youth sector of Singapore’s civil society. Your words are proven wrong by example.
XiiAoGeNgEnX (#13):
Instead of limiting your investigative lens to money and power politics, pick up the Science! My personal recommendation is the very readable mini book What We Know About Climate Change by Kerry Emanuel, Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11271
It covers the basic science and also includes a fascinating account of the discovery and confirmation of anthropogenic global warming.
Contrary to what many people might believe, scientists were sceptical about the greenhouse effect, much less entertain the idea that creatures miniscule as us could dramatically alter the Earth’s climate. Their certainty today is built on many years of evidence gathering.
Will TOC also feature this editorial on the Copenhagen summit?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/06/copenhagen-editorial
Show me how they are paid and I will show you how they behave.
Everyone wants to do something for the environment. But their own incentives, their countries’ incentives rank higher than that climate issues.
Why would anyone want to do anything if there are not incentives.
From what I see, it’s not going to be a preventive precautionary action that’s going to be taken. It’s going to be when there’s no more Maldives when people will start acting. EVEN when there’s no more Maldives, I seriously doubt anything will be done.
Show me how they are paid and I will show you how they behave.
climate change is something beyond the politics of singapore and yet so closely related to politics of the world. this is not something which is part of the daily dose of damning the PAPpies, but something so serious we should all give our full attention to.
the governments of the world are using copenhagen as a political stage and wont sit down to have a serious discussion on how to save the world and i am really disappointed at that. many may think that climate changes are natural and not man-made but the truth is it CAN be prevented with the interception of human beings. the time has come for countries to unite for the better of the soil we stand on, and this will truly be a test of how together we all are.
save the world.