NATIONS TRY TO BRIDGE RICH-POOR CLIMATE GAP

UN CLIMATE SUMMIT OPENS TODAY IN MEXICO
WITH LOW EXPECTATIONS OF VITAL PROGRES

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) - World governments begin another attempt Monday to overcome the disconnect between rich and poor nations on fighting global warming, with evidence mounting that the Earth’s climate already is changing in ways that will affect both sides of the wealth divide. During two weeks of talks, the 193-nation U.N. conference hopes to conclude agreements that will clear the way to mobilize billions of dollars for developing countries and give them green technology to help them shift from fossil fuels affecting climate change. After a disappointing summit last year in Copenhagen, no hope remains of reaching an overarching deal this year setting legal limits on how many major countries would be allowed to pollute. Such an accord was meant to describe a path toward slashing greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, when scientists say they should be half of today’s levels.
Eighty-five countries have made specific pledges to reduce emissions or constrain their growth, but those promises amount to far less than required to keep temperatures from rising to potentially dangerous levels. The U.N. scientific body that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for its climate change report, which called global warming “unequivocal” and almost certainly caused by human activity, is expected to tell the conference its findings and warnings of potential disasters are hopelessly out of date. Agronomists are due to report on shifting weather patterns that are destabilizing the world’s food supply and access to clean water, and that could lead to mass migrations as farmers flee drought or flood-prone regions.


In this new summit, attention will focus again on the United States and China, key protagonists representing the industrialized and developing world. The U.S. has insisted that they limit their pollution only if China does too. China, now the world’s biggest polluter but also the biggest investor in renewable energy, rejects international limits, saying it still needs to overcome widespread poverty and bears no historic responsibility for the problem. They keep blaming each other, but the solution can not be reached in this way. They should accept their responsibilities, admit their faults and abide by the rules given by the Supreme Lord, who is the real owner, not only of this planet, but of the entire universe.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In all the inventions or devices we produce, all the ingredients and resources that we use are all given by God. The elements we need to make big buildings, bridges, ships, cars, or the fuel to operate them, are all being given by God, and we need to show the proper respect. To think we are the proprietors of everything is the illusion. It is our pride that makes us think we are so intelligent when actually the very brain with which we think is not created by us but has again been given by God. As everything is created from the Supreme Creator, then we should certainly have a high regard for everything as the expansion of God’s energies. ... A person who sees the whole world as the energy of the Supreme Being is indeed a great sage of wisdom. Therefore, we should care for the environment as if it is not ours but God’s property, and in this way assure ourselves that it will continue to provide all of our necessities for many years to come, and into many future generations. This is the Vedic view.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Environmentalism According to the Vedic View”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/
http://www.stephenknapp.info/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/environmentalism_according_to_the_vedic_view.htm