Climate change action in Copenhagen: Get in on it.

The countdown to Copenhagen has begun. United Nations delegates will meet in December to discuss and agree on binding emissions reductions goals, adaptation protocol and funding.  There have been calls to lower our expectations on the outcome, predictions of outright failure and one strangely awesome underwater event to garner attention for the historic meeting.

With the limited progress made on climate change thus far it’s hard to be optimistic for the outcome of Copenhagen. At the G8 meeting in July representatives agreed  that warming should not exceed 2 degrees Celsius, a statement applauded by the scientific community as a great step forward. They then failed to plan how this goal would be achieved.

President Obama, along with other G8 leaders, says he supports a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 80 percent by 2050. Unfortunately the group has not outlined short term targets or committed to binding reductions.

Sigh.

It’s easy to get disheartened. But a post over at Grist (yes I’m all about the Grist links today) reminded me of something important. If we assume politicians or anyone else for that matter will bring about change for us, we are going to be sorely disappointed. “The president, even an extraordinarily popular president, can only do so much,” David Roberts wrote in his post Barack Obama is not Bagger Vance.  This was a vital wake-up call.

Sitting at home, reading blog post after news article about nations refusing to compromise on pollution reduction because of economic impacts does nothing but deflate any passion and motivation one might have about an issue even as monumental as climate change. That’s if we are to rely solely on the efforts of others. Roberts quoted Mike Tomasky via the Guardian:

“This is what movements do—they do the hard, slow work of winning political battles and changing public opinion over time. It isn’t fun. It isn’t something Will.i.am is going to make a clever and moving video about, and it offers precious few moments for YouTube. It takes years, which is a bummer, in a political culture that measures success and failure by the hour. The end of euphoria should lead not to disillusionment, but to seriousness of purpose.”

If you’re at home, like me, waiting around for the travesty you’re sure Copenhagen will turn into, get up and do something! It’s on us. It’s on you. It’s on me to create change.

Here are some ways to get involved:

350.org : Organize an action event for October 24 to promote the number 350 as in 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the highest level we will be safe at.

TckTckTck: Is the sound of the clock ticking down to the Copenhagen climate conference.  Members from around the world are uniting to show politicians that their efforts on climate change are supported.

Seal the Deal: A UN-led campaign to “galvanize political will and public support for reaching a comprehensive global climate agreement in Copenhagen in December.”

Elizabeth Ulion is a graduate student at Northwestern University. She apologizes if this post got a little too ‘go get ‘em!’ but go get ‘em!

Photo is courtesy of Oxfam International/Flickr