And Silly Gets Sillier


And if you thought silly couldn’t get sillier, voila, more silliness in the world. Here’s the story:

As you all know, the Copenhagen Climate Conference is currently underway (Dec. 6 - 18). This is the last time parties of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) will meet at the government level to discuss proposed changes for the new agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol once it runs out in 2012.

Here’s the bug:
“Ecocity World Summit 2009, the 8th International Ecocity Conference: Urban Ecological Foundations for Climate Solutions” is running from December 13 to the 15 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Here’s the blurb:
“The International Ecocity Conference Series brings together the key innovators, decision makers, technologists, businesses and organizations shaping the conversation around ecological and sustainable city, planning and development.”

Here's my say:
Why the f*ck isn’t this happening in Copenhagen or Copenhagen in Istanbul?!? Couldn’t they combine the two? Shouldn’t they combine the two?!?! Or shouldn’t this have occurred before the Copenhagen Conference at the very least? So government officials are in Copenhagen making the big decisions that impact our planet, good or bad, while the people qualified and passionate about those decisions—the people who supposedly really care—are 2024 Kilometres (1258 miles) away???

And things are going to change how?

Keep on clicking!

PDL


© 2009, Pascal-Denis Lussier
Photo credits: "Blindingly Forward" by PDL

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you were having a party and if somebody's neighbors were having a party across town, would you want to combine the two on similar principles ?

Pascal-Denis Lussier said...

I guess a "party" is an apt comparison--especially if you've had a look at the events schedule--which is what really upsets me. In this sense, combining the two may or may not be desirable...
Label it (and treat it as such) a "business meeting" with one clear and well-defined objective, ensuring the company's future existence, and it now becomes entirely different...
If such a meeting is called out of an earnest desire to attain certain goals through the implementation of new and efficient strategies, then of course you want all the key players involved and united. I'm familiar with a few of the organisms present at the Ecocity - for the most part, they are well-researched, aggressive and proactive efforts and think-tanks that DO have a sway on local government. These are the people devoting their lives to coming up with the real but 'radical' solutions.
The UN should play that mediating role to unite all these people, but it rarely does. In the end, it is a very disappointing and inefficient bureaucratic machine. All I'm seeing is that their approach to climate change has more to do with "trade" then with drastic changes.

At the very least, the policy makers should be at the Ecocity conference before making policies... You gotta wonder why things were timed this way.


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