David and Goliath in Cancun

Like David before he slayed Goliath, ALBA countries (Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Cuba) are taking aim at the polluting giants that are threatening our very existence. Before the Cancún climate change negotiations have even reached their midpoint, the prevailing opinion on the left and the right predicts their failure. But there is an entire week left before the close of this conference, and the possible endings to the story are infinite.

ALBA Countries Say Renewal of Kyoto Protocol Crucial for Cancun Deal

Press Release from the Bolivian Mission to the United Nations


Cancun, Mexico -- In a press conference this morning at the Sixteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) in Cancun, the Plurinational State of Bolivia together with fellow countries of the regional group of ALBA urged industrialized countries to uphold the Kyoto Protocol and decried statements by a small handful of countries that they will not make a second period of commitments under the legally-binding treaty.

Who is riding the elephant?

I have been in Cancun for the Climate Justice Conference. An image keeps popping into my mind: by accident an ant falls on top of an elephant who is crossing a hanging bridge. The ant, in its excitement, feeling the unstoppable force pushing under its body, gets to the other side. Looking back, seeing the dust billowing up exclaims: Wow, we really shook it! My conjecture, amidst a growing sense of frustration in the context that many of the groups on the ground are feeling cut off from any real action and the delusional sense that we, at times, fall into by thinking that just by doing we are having a significant impact, thinking to ourselves and exclaiming: Wow! We are really shaking it! As I was sharing the image a friend said: is the elephant the world? And the UN and those who think that have the power to control it, to shake it up, to ride the elephant on the right direction, are those who are, behind closed doors, deciding on the future of Madre Tierra?

A Cancun, pues la lucha sigue y el pueblo por esa lucha vive

Nos enfrentamos a una encrucijada fundamental en la historia de la humanidad, en el proceso de luchas que nos encaminen a encontrar y construir la zapata fundamental para enfrentar el reto del calentamiento global y así detener el cambio climático. La nueva ronda de negociaciones sobre el cambio climático en Cancún será el escenario de lucha donde hemos de convergir miles y miles de voces de los pueblos, donde hemos de exigir que sin lugar a dudas los lineamientos esbozados por nuestros diálogos, debates y discusiones en la Cumbre de los pueblos por los Derechos de la Madre Tierra y el Cambio Climático, plasmados en un edicto del pueblo, sean adoptados como modelo de trabajo en esta ronda de discusiones entre las naciones en la cumber, ya que refleja principios que son fundamentales en la posibilidad de lidiar efectivamente con el calentamiento global con una base de justicia ecológica y verdadera solidaridad entre los pueblos.

Say No to GrinGoVerde and Certain Death in Cancún or “What the Mayans Knew All Along”

Dredged, carved and hedged, Cancún stretches into the sea that is its key to the global economy and its ancient survival. Located over a giant aquifer with meteoric filters that preserve fresh water in sinkholes called cenotes throughout the peninsula bioregion, the city was built on swamplands, in contrast to the rich highland rainforest to the southwest.

Start with Love for Mother Earth / Empieza con Amor para la Madre Tierra

(espanol abajo*)

Thousands are converging in Cancún on the Caribbean Coast in the land of the Maya to conspire solutions for surviving climate change. It is no longer a question of prevention, as changes are no longer avoidable or deniable, although they may be minimized or mitigated. And it is not a question for the elite, as the UN must admit that there are more representatives gathering outside of their gated conversation than inside. This metaphors the crux of the dilemma: leaving global decisions to the world’s wealthy and powerful has abandoned millions to the devastating aftermath, so we are banding together to creatively rescue ourselves and our Mother Earth.

From the Bronx to Cancún

The Bronx will be represented in Cancun this week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, a gathering of world leaders, scientists and environmental activists who will evaluate progress on the Kyoto protocol and consider other mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions globally.  After last year’s conference in Copenhagen in 2009 failed to reach any enforceable decisions, 30,000 people from 150 countries gathered in Bolivia for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change, forming 17 participatory working groups that generated the Cochabamba Agreement, a radical evolution of this global dialogue.  Rejecting the commodity-based solutions proposed by the U.S. and others, the Cochabamba Agreement emphasizes a return to simplicity, harmony with nature, local solutions and reparations from big polluters.  It not only recognizes the human right to food, water and shelter; but declares that Mother Earth herself has rights that should be protected.