What Children Really Want for Christmas
Image: Shad Finney – Just One Planet (2015) #COP21 @alexiaparksWhen Obama Leads, Will The U.S. Congress Follow?
Paris – COP21: President Barack Obama won standing applause at COP21 when he stated that parts of the global warming deal being negotiated in Paris should be legally binding on the countries that sign on. These are fighting words, reports the AP, because it could set up a potential fight with Republicans at home. —My response to the Associated Press news report is this: Does approval of the UN treaty by the U.S. Congress really matter any more? If the weight of public opinion is strong enough, “We the People” have the right to VOTE the nay-sayers out of office in Election 2016. —In addition, this is not the only time that the U.S. Congress has been unable, or unwilling, to “do the right thing” when it comes to collaboration on a global scale. For example, in 1995, the U.S. signed but Congress never ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In its isolation, by refusing to ratify the treaty, it remains the ONLY country in the world that refuses to recognize the human rights of children. In Paris, the focus will be on securing a global CLIMATE TREATY. Here are three reasons why I believe it will happen. 1.) President Barack Obama has made it his legacy project; 2.) More than 500 institutions representing over $3.4 trillion in assets have made some form of divestment commitment from fossil fuels; 3.) And, like it or not, on a world stage, actions by the GOP-Led Congress are only a minor sideshow. As the first accredited blogger for the UNFCCC (Bali-2007), I personally witnessed and wrote about the *obstructionist*...
The Eiffel Tower Lights Up the HEART
#Awesome. Inspiring. Ambitious. Keep an eye on Paris this Sunday. ART from the HEART will light up the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Created by artist Naziha Mestaoui, the series of images call for forest protection and a 100% renewable energy future will be projected onto the facade of Paris’s most iconic landmark. Artists and musicians are coming together to light up the heart of the world. The goal: to engage citizens around the globe to help drive delegates to an ambitious global deal on climate change. The installation “1 Heart 1 Tree” will run from Nov 29 to Dec 4, during the UNFCCC talks in Paris (#COP21), “as a hopeful, optimistic celebration of climate solutions and the power of individual...Paris climate summit: why more women need seats at the table
Women have a critical role to play in achieving a global treaty at United Nations COP21 in Paris, says Maria Ivanova. She writes: “Studies show that collective intelligence rises with the number of women in a group. Engaging a critical mass of women is linked to more progressive and positive outcomes and to more sustainability-focused decision-making across...Jan Hamilton: The Reformer in POD-C
On the phone, her voice sounded calm, light, almost light-hearted. “I feel safe from them in here.” Jan Hamilton was describing her life as an inmate in POD-C at the Park County Jail in Fairplay, CO. A senior, diagnosed with cancer, she was placed in the small, bone chilling cell – as she puts it – “to die.” The door to her cell has a four by 10-inch slot that offers a view of the women’s dining hall. One of the inmates had threatened her life, so she was placed in insolation, she was told, for her own safety. “There are 20 inmates in this section. Most are lesbians.” In a hand-written letter, she described the conditions of her cell. Reading it, it seemed almost as if she was giving Rachel Maddow and Sally Kohn a guided tour of her small cell along with a team of investigators: including a lawyer from Human Rights Watch, someone from the Elder Abuse hotline, and a senior official from the Colorado Department of Corrections. “My bed is sheet metal. There is no heat, I have only two thin blankets to keep me warm, and I’ve spent 10 days and nights in the same bloody clothes. In the middle of the cell is “a 14 inch drain is filled with stagnant contaminated sludge where bugs come and go 24/7.” Could Hell be worse? When Jan was transferred from her hometown of Aspen – where she had spent most of her adult life – to Fairplay, she realized that it could be a one-way journey. As she tells it: “Officer Bird, who locked up my cancer...
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