Pirate's Cove

Just like we’ve been hearing for 30 years, yet the doom never seems to arrive

U.N. chief warns of ‘point of no return’ on climate change

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged countries Monday not to give up in the fight against climate change, as representatives from nearly 200 countries gathered in Madrid for a two-week meeting on tackling global warming.

On Sunday, Guterres warned that the “point of no return is no longer over the horizon. It is in sight and hurtling toward us.”

In his opening speech to delegates on Monday, the U.N. chief cited recent scientific data showing that levels of heat-trapping gases have hit a record high, reaching levels not seen for at least 3 million years when sea levels were 10-20 meters (33-66 feet) higher than today.

Unless emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are sharply cut, temperatures could rise to twice the threshold set in the 2015 Paris accord by the end of the century, he warned.

“Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned?” he asked.

Well, it’s a good thing 10,000 or so people didn’t take fossil fueled trips to Madrid, eh? On the bright side, more could take a train, since so many are from Europe, but, did they? Why would they? They are Big Shots, and deserve special treatment. Also, if the Paris Climate Agreement was so darned historic, as we were told ad nauseum, why is everyone saying it set a poor goal? And why are so few countries actually keeping to their pledges?

Anyhow, point of no return, tipping points, yada yada yada

“Those who don’t want to see it will be on the wrong side of history,” said Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s environment minister, who is chairing the meeting. She called on governments to make more ambitious pledges to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases ahead of a deadline to do so next year.

Hey, we always need a “wrong side of history” from someone who just took a long fossil fueled trip from Chile, right?

The summit, which moved to the Spanish capital after Chile had to pull out amid anti-government protests, aims to put the finishing touches to the rules governing the 2015 Paris accord.

That involves creating a functioning international emissions-trading system and compensating poor countries for losses they suffer from rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change.

Hmm, so, some sort of international taxing scheme where, certainly, the U.N. would be receiving the money and spreading it around? No chance for graft there, right? Expect a lot of the meetings to be about redistribution of wealth from 1st world nations to 3rd world shitholes, er, developing nations, with no strings attached.

Organizers expect around 29,000 visitors at the meeting, including around 50 heads of state and government for Monday’s opening session.

Except for the European Union’s newly sworn-in leadership, which was due to begin a five-year term by paying a visit to the summit, the rest of the world’s largest carbon emitters — the United States, China and India — are sending ministerial or lower-level officials to the meeting.

Whoa. That’s a lot more than usual. Lots of big carbon footprints from traveling, right?