Posts Tagged ‘Colonialism’

The Glasgow Climate Pact from COP26

Sunday, November 14th, 2021

Introduction

A. Document Overview

Working towards saving Humanity and all life on this planet from extinction being the most important global work that needs to be done. However, as my words here will show, this 8 page “agreement” is utterly devoid of providing anything relevant that needs to be done by being exemplary of the systemic inflicted powerlessness of the Global South and the abject Colonialism of the Global North. Therefore, with the violence of that negative space left as a gaping vacuum of desperately needed action, this agreement is tantamount to agreeing to Global Extinction of all life on this planet.

B. What is the Glasgow Climate Pact (GCP)?

The Glasgow Climate Pact, as an update to the Paris Climate Agreement from 2015, was created through the 2 week Conference of Parties 26 (COP26) in Nov 2021. It is endorsed by ~190 countries and functions as a set of principles and goals for action on climate change, although there are NO enforcement mechanisms, but the agreement serves as a lever for international political pressure. The agreement has the signatories come back to the table next year (2022) with stronger and more detailed plans for cutting their emissions by the end of the decade and by the middle of the century.

Here are the basic links for you:

Also, because this is very related and, in case you want to see it because it is mentioned in here quite a bit, here is the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2021 Report.

I. Overview and Commentary on the Glasgow Climate Pact

Introduction

Now, I will talk about this Glasgow Climate Pact from a completely Climate Doomer perspective, so take all of that snark with a grain of salt, but I will also provide some corrections and ways to deal with the document’s short falls too. I also say that even though the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Accord, and this Pact are essentially useless because they are all nonbinding, they have NO teeth or method of enforcement, that they are also necessary so that at the very least we can say that we had a meeting or two to talk about doing nothing to stop the extinction of all life on this planet. But, seriously, such major events bring the conversation to the public which IS important, even though there is a level of hypocrisy to found in all of the carbon added to the environment from all of those representatives flying into Scotland for a climate conference, but that is another issue. See. I am already starting. =( Uggghhh!

For my in depth look at what needs to be done for Climate Change you can check my 35+ page policy page here:

… or you can check The Interstellar Climate Pact section at the end of this post for a slightly abbreviated version.

A. Whereas Section

1. The Overview

Note: Technically, this is NOT a whereas section, since they do not use whereas at the beginning of these statements, although this is the section of this document where those statements would be present in legal or political documents. This section of the document did not have a title, so this is what I am calling it. You get what I mean, right?

Here is an overview of this section:

  • Whereas, Climate Change is bad and working together is good.
  • Whereas, CoVID is bad and recovery is good.
  • Whereas, the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement exist… and were completely useless because they were both not binding.
  • Whereas, Climate Change is bad and so is being a sociopath.
    OK, this is getting on the verge of the Democratic Party’s #BLM hypocrisy. =(
  • Whereas, having an environment which sustains life is good and working together is good.
  • Whereas, world leaders showing up is good (even though they will do nothing… but sleep [Biden])… except for China’s Xi Jinping!!
  • Whereas, various climate movements exist. OK, it is like they are just adding a shoutout section here now in a Post Script.

2. The Bad

This section did not mention the primary reasons or areas that need to be dealt with in order to even begin talking about Climate Change in any useful way:

  1. fossil fuel industry as a whole
  2. the Global North’s disproportionate obligation to deal with climate change, especially the United States as the largest historical polluter, and the US military as the 47th largest polluter in the world
  3. nor do they mention the disproportionate effects global military and actual terrorism actions and coups, especially the US’ many, many Global Terrorism Projects
  4. the historical and current Colonialism and economic terrorism of the Global North inflicted upon the Global South
  5. reparations from the Global North to the Global South

The first 5 enumerated items of this document should have been similar to this:

1. Whereas, Climate Change is explicitly caused by the use of fossil fuels, ending their usage shall be paramount;

2. Whereas, Climate Change does not respect the artificial constructs of national boundaries, and is an issue that ALL the peoples of ALL nations need to work together to fix;

3. Whereas, some countries have contemporarily and historically disproportionately contributed to climate change more than others and therefore have a proportionate responsibility to pay for solving Climate Change;

4. Whereas, global military actions and the effects of operating a military has a direct and indirect effect on the environment and the Climate, those countries owe a debt for military operations in proportion to the direct and indirect contemporary and historical operation of their militaries;

5. Whereas, the Colonization of the Global North has devastated the Global South, Reparations shall be a large part of repairing the historical and contemporary damage to those countries in principle, but also to help them reach climate change goals;

There. I feel better now. =) They could have added those 5 and then the rest of the items, then this section would have been pretty close to stellar. We would also need entries to talk about sustainable energy, sustainable food production, urban redesign too. Without those items real progress will be very difficult, if not impossible.

Already, the 5 main things which should be mentioned in climate talks are not even mentioned. Without tackling these as the main focus of work, there will be very little progress. Now, I do understand that if the Global South really worked to hold the Global North responsible that none of the US or the EU would have even showed up. This really shows how little power the Global South has, and how at the mercy of the Global North and their crumbs that they are.

OK, well, let’s see if this holds true in the rest of the document. =O

B. Science and Urgency (1 to 4)

Science is good and IPCC 2021 Report exists, and we really need to do something NOW because Climate Change is here and NOW.

C. Adaptation (5 to 9)

IPCC Report 2021 says the effects of Climate Change are only going to get worse year after year and we need to act heavy and fast to mitigate the harms, and developing nations are going to need help.

D. Adaptation Finance (10 to 14)

The Global North has failed in its support of developing nations in their assistance to deal with Climate Change, and they need to fix this, even though we know they won’t. <stares in colonialism>

E. Mitigation (15 to 20)

Weakly asks countries to take Climate Change seriously in a request for drastic change while quoting temp statistics, and the need to conserve and protect ecosystems and biodiversity.

F. Finance, Technology Transfer and Capacity-Building for
Mitigation and Adaptation (22 to 36)

Global North needs to do more to support the Global South through money and technology, especially due to the socioeconomic harms of CoVID. No, really. We mean it this time. <stares in colonialism> Requests an anemic amount in support of the Global South.

G. Loss and Damage (37 to 45)

Repeats sections D and F with different words in case you missed it the first 2 times (and because we cannot state it directly and honestly or The Global North will take their rich and technologically advanced marbles and go home). <stares in colonialism>

H. Implementation (46 to 52)

Acknowledges participation trophies for current work or lack thereof on Climate Change.

Basically repeats sections F with different words in case you missed it the first 3 times (and because we cannot state it directly and honestly or The Global North will take their rich and technologically advanced marbles and go home). <stares in colonialism>

Acknowledges the link between Climate Change and social and economic justice.

I. Collaboration (53 to 71)

Honorable mentions section?

II. My Thoughts on the Pact

A. It’s Incremental Change is a Vote for the Extinction of ALL Life on Earth

As you will be able to tell by the ~35 pages of my Environment and Sustainability policies @ Interstellar New Deal that environmental policies are the most important policies, because they are 2 times larger than the next largest policy on my policy site. There is so much work that needs to be done that any “agreement” that could be construed as ‘incremental change’ effectively condemns Humanity to extinction, and was not worth the effort to create it.

B. The Power of Fossil Fuel Lobbying on Climate Change Talks

There were more representatives from the Fossil Fuel Industry at the meeting than there were representatives from any other country, if you can imagine the amount of influence these lobbying groups have at COP26 (and previous climate talks).

This is the first time in 26 years, at least from what I have read, that fossil fuels have been able to be mentioned by name, which is criminal. This goes to show how in control the Fossil Fuel Industry is, and how the Global South is being held hostage by the Fossil Fuel Industry and the whims of the Global North, all of which is completely immoral and inhumane. This all needs to change and it needs to change now.

The agreement was able to mention coal specifically, but only as a draw down, but NOT as a phase out. They did not use the phrase ‘fossil fuels’ or even mention: gas, natural gas, oil, fracking, etc – just coal and that is it and only for a phase out. Even the mention of coal was reduced by a last minute change from India which was devastating news to many Global South countries and their belief in this process.

Here are some quotes from linked to articles on the appalling effects of the Fossil Fuel Lobby:

“Their influence is one of the biggest reasons why 25 years of UN climate talks have not led to real cuts in global emissions.”

COP26: Fossil fuel industry has largest delegation at climate summit (BBC, Nov 2021)

There are more delegates at COP26 associated with the fossil fuel industry than from any single country, analysis shared with the BBC shows.

COP26: Fossil fuel industry has largest delegation at climate summit (BBC, Nov 2021)

“We have been fighting for years to basically take what everybody else in the world knows that fossil fuels is the driver of the climate emergency and bring it to the global climate negotiations,” she said.

“So on the one hand we were extremely surprised that this year we finally got it into the text but what’s in the text is extremely weak – it actually doesn’t mean much at all. It just ends up perpetrating a fossil fuel system that has not been adequately addressed in the negotiations,” Su added.

At COP26, nations strike climate deal that falls short (Al Jazeera, Nov 2021)

…Glasgow Climate Pact, an update to the Paris Agreement that targets coal-fired power and fossil-fuel subsidies, and calls on countries to produce more aggressive climate plans next year.

COP26 Ends With Nobody Really Happy (Time, Nov 2021)

…adding that coal had been “singled out” during the COP26 talks while there was no similar call to phase out oil or natural gas.

At COP26, nations strike climate deal that falls short (Al Jazeera, Nov 2021)

But fossil fuel-producing countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia resisted making 1.5°C the new de facto target since it implies a much more aggressive phaseout of coal, oil, and natural gas.

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)

Several countries, including small island states, said they were deeply disappointed by the change put forward by India to “phase down,” rather than “phase out” coal power, the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

At COP26, nations strike a climate deal with coal compromise (NPR, Nov 2021)

Several countries — including small, low-lying island nations — said they were deeply disappointed by the watering down of the crucial language but had no choice but to go along with it.

“There was a real sense of ambush in the air,” said Al Jazeera’s Nick Clark, reporting from the talks.

At COP26, nations strike climate deal that falls short (Al Jazeera, Nov 2021)

C. Colonialism of the Global North

Africa and South America are NOT poor. They are Just being looted by the Global North.
Africa and South America are NOT poor. They are Just being looted by the Global North.

We also need to state that the Global South is NOT poor, nor has it ever been poor. It is just that the Global North’s colonialism has stolen trillions of dollars of wealth from the Global South, impoverishing and enslaving them for hundreds of years. Here are some links that I have covered in my Twitch live stream that talk about the Global North’s colonialism:

  1. Tribalism, Colonialism, and Capitalism [in Ghanna] (Dec 2020)
  2. UN criticises UK for failure to redress colonial-era landgrab in Kenya (The Guardian, Aug 2021)
  3. Who is to blame for Zimbabwe’s land reform disaster? (Aljazeera, Sep 2020)
  4. A Brief History And Future of Screwing Over Haiti (Some More News, Oct 2021) 
  5. What China Is Really Up To In Africa (Forbes, Oct 2019)

Because of the systemic and structural racism inherent to Capitalism, the Global South is held hostage to the Colonialist powers of the Global North, and they have to essentially wait for the anemic handouts driveling out from their forced hands. This is largely why there are no enforcement clauses added to this (or any climate agreement) so that the Global North will attend and look like they are playing their part, and so, hopefully, they can be guilted into casting handouts to the Global South.

It is so sad how structurally violent monetary systems are. If only the Global South could free themselves from the strangling colonial hands of the Global North. Imagine how different the climate talks would be if the Global South was not held hostage by the Global North and the Fossil Fuel industry, and had real economic and political power to stop the harms, and pursue a sustainable economy, even if the Global North will not.

How to Achieve Full Decolonization is an amazing article by Jason Hickel about Africa decolonizing itself. I was so inspired by this article that I even added a section to one of my post-capitalism posts based on this very concept: Option 5 – The Pan-African Decolonized Union (PADU)!

D. US Imperialism and Climate Change

I am going to pull a section from my recent post: Greta Thunberg and Abby Martin Hammer COP26 as a Greenwashing Sham (Free Xenon, Nov 2021) where I talk about this issue directly through addressing Abby Martin’s Question to Nancy Pelosi:

1. Abby Martin’s Question

Abby Martin’s question:

Speaker Pelosi, you just presided over a large increase in the Pentagon budget. The Pentagon budget is already massive. The Pentagon is a larger polluter than 140 countries combined. How can we seriously talk about Net-Zero if there is this bipartisan consensus to constantly expand this large contributor to climate change, which is exempt from these conferences. The military is exempt from climate talks.

Abby Martin’s Question to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi @ COP26 (10 Nov 2021 )

2. The US Military as a Large Polluter

Journalist Abby Martin’s question was very, very important if you are serious about dealing with climate change. She gives an important statistic: “the Pentagon is a larger polluter than 140 countries combined“. My environmental policies approach change from this standpoint too. Here is the first paragraph of that page from my environmental policies:

From the money we gain from ending the US’ Global Terrorism Programs (GTP) we can redirect it into massive infrastructure spending to support a complete shift to sustainable: communities, energy, transport, farming, etc… as well as working towards directly and aggressively combating climate change and global pollution. Working quickly to combat climate change and cleaning up global pollution is an imperative, for if we do not, then Humanity will soon be destroyed by our willful corruption and ignorance.

First Paragraph from Environment and Sustainability @ Interstellar New Deal

And, then I give links to some posts that talk about about this too:

Essentially, without gutting the US’ military spending it will be difficult to work towards dealing with climate change, because of how much The US Military contributes to environmental destruction and global pollution.

As as side note, the US is a the 4rth largest exporter of oil in the world, just behind Iraq. Think about that for a moment, too.

3. The Compounding Effects of the US’s Global Terrorism Projects War

Also, I have yet to see a study take into account the direct and indirect effects of the US’ Global Terrorism Projects from coup after coup, and various methods of economic warfare through the IMF and the World Bank, to the direct warfare inflicted on the Global South too. How much infrastructure is destroyed? How much of the natural world is destroyed with their bombs and drones? How many right-wing leaders are installed by the US which leads to policies and actions that destroy the natural world and their national economies? Look at what happened in Brazil and Amazon Rain Forest as a result of the US’s installation of right-wing dictator there. Calculate the pollution and damage from the US’ terrorism works and add it to their direct carbon pollution and then see how how the US may just be at the top of the list for contributing to climate change globally.

E. Reparations and Climate Justice

No talk about climate change or colonialism can be had unless we talk about Reparation by the Colonists to the Colonized:

Due to the abject theft of the wealth from the Global South by the Global North, whose theft pays dividends as impoverishment always does (the compound interest of poverty), the Global North will need to send trillions of dollars a year (and not an anemic $100 billion) to the Global South to pay for the direct loss of wealth as well as directly returning any stolen resources and businesses as possible, plus pay for the compound interest paid on the stolen wealth. That will be :

  • Trillions per year from the US.
  • Trillions per year the UK.
  • Trillions per year from the EU.

That should be a a good start.

The Global South will never be able to mitigate the worst effects of climate change without reparations from the Global North. And, the Global North MUST pay Reparations in order to begin to correct the egregious harms it has inflicted upon the Global South. No healing or even a pursuit of Humanity as a globalized civilization can be had until that is done.

Here are some quotes from linked to articles on paying for Climate Change:

The final agreement, dubbed the Glasgow Climate Pact, was endorsed by nearly 200 countries and functions as a set of principles and goals for action on climate change. While there is no enforcement mechanism, the agreement serves as a lever for international political pressure.

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)

In the final days of the talks in Glasgow, negotiations in large part centered around a push for rich countries to provide adequate funding for poor countries to adapt to the effects of climate change, and to help pay for the inevitable damages and financial losses of increasing droughts, floods, and other climate-related events. As representatives of poorer, more vulnerable countries have made clear, historical emissions of richer countries have largely fueled their accrual of wealth, while putting other parts of the world at risk to the effects of those emissions. 

COP26 Ends With Nobody Really Happy (Time, Nov 2021)

“We made our effort to make a consensus that is reasonable for developing countries and reasonable for climate justice,” he said, alluding to the fact that rich nations historically have emitted the largest share of greenhouse gases.

At COP26, nations strike climate deal that falls short (Al Jazeera, Nov 2021)

One of the main shortfalls is a commitment made in 2009 to make $100 billion available for climate-related financing for developing countries by 2020. This money, via loans, grants, and investments, would go toward supporting a shift toward clean energy and building resilience to climate change. That goal has still not been met and may not cross that threshold until 2023. For developing countries, this promise was a key test of how serious wealthy countries are in addressing the climate damages they caused, and they emphasize that this is an obligation, not charity.

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)

“The reason is, they fear that once they start accepting that they are contributing to financial assistance to address loss and damage, this would open up the avenue towards compensation claims for harm done through causing the climate crisis,” said Kowalzig.

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)

Often, many of the same debates are relitigated over and over. Island countries want immediate cuts to emissions, developing countries want more financing, fossil fuel producers don’t want to halt their exports, and wealthy countries don’t want to pay for their damages.

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)

After resistance from rich nations led by the US and the European Union, the text omitted any reference to a specific finance facility for the “loss and damage” that climate change has already caused in the developing world.

Instead, it promised future “dialogue” on the subject.

The text also noted “with deep regret” that wealthy nations had also failed to pay a separate annual sum of $100bn they promised over a decade ago. It urged countries to pay up “urgently and through 2025”.

At COP26, nations strike climate deal that falls short (Al Jazeera, Nov 2021)

Climate change adds up over time, and the wealthiest countries in the world have spewed out the largest share of greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet. Yet the countries facing the worst effects of sea-level rise, more intense heat waves, and more destructive downpours — countries whose citizens often have the least resources to adapt — contributed the least to the problem.

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)

“I think we say consistently that 20 countries equal 80 percent of all the emissions, and they do bear the greatest responsibility,” US climate envoy John Kerry told delegates. “President Biden from the moment he has come into office has been determined to live up to that responsibility.”

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)

“Finance is not the charity of developed countries to the developing world,” Pacheco Balanza said. “Finance is an obligation.”

Rich countries still don’t want to pay their climate change tab (Vox, Nov 2021)

The Glasgow pact also calls for countries to come back to the table next year with stronger and more detailed plans for cutting their emissions by the end of the decade and by the middle of the century.

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)

Now, some developing countries now say they need vastly more money to meet their goals. India, the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, committed at COP26 to reaching net-zero emissions by 2070. But it says it wants $1 trillion in international climate financing by 2030 to meet its goal. African governments have said that climate finance funding should reach $1.3 trillion per year by 2030.

It’s likely that the $100 billion funding target will be solidified at COP26 with the momentum underway. However, it’s unlikely these far greater demands will be considered, given that parties to the Paris agreement failed to meet a much smaller objective on time.

Rich countries still don’t want to pay their climate change tab (Vox, Nov 2021)

In statement after statement during the closing sessions, negotiators from countries around the world suggested that they were accepting the text in the “spirit of compromise” while lamenting that the deal did not go far enough. “The text represents the least-worst outcome,” James Shaw, New Zealand’s climate minister, told his counterparts on Friday.

COP26 Ends With Nobody Really Happy (Time, Nov 2021)

III. An Interstellar New Deal Climate Pact

Introduction

It is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a higher standard of living than any have ever known. It no longer has to be you or me. Selfishness is unnecessary. War is obsolete. It is a matter of converting high technology from weaponry to livingry.

R. Buckminster Fuller

This will be me listing what an effective climate agreement might look like, although including a lot more stuff:

Note: For more information on the policies from which this is based upon please see my Environment and Sustainability policies @ Interstellar New Deal.

A. Justifications

  1. Whereas, Climate Change is explicitly caused by the use of fossil fuels, ending their usage shall be paramount;
  2. Whereas, Climate Change does not respect the artificial constructs of national boundaries, and is an issue that ALL the peoples of ALL nations need to work together to fix;
  3. Whereas, some countries have contemporarily and historically disproportionately contributed to climate change more than others, and therefore have a proportionate responsibility to pay for solving Climate Change;
  4. Whereas, global military actions and the effects of operating a military has a direct and indirect effect on the environment and the Climate, those countries owe a debt for military operations in proportion to the direct and indirect contemporary and historical operation of their militaries;
  5. Whereas, the Colonization of the Global North has devastated the Global South, Reparations shall be a large part of repairing the historical and contemporary damage to those countries in principle, but also to help them reach climate change goals;
  6. Whereas, a total phase out of fossil fuels is required, major investments in sustainable energies and technologies will be needed;
  7. Whereas, food production, especially animals as food and a gluttonous use of non-organic and heavily fertilized food which significantly harms the environment, massive investments in sustainable food production will be needed;
  8. Whereas, our sprawling urban plans contribute to deforestation and individual transportation ownership, a complete redesign of our urban spaces will be needed to be be walkable, green, centralized, shareable, and with mass transportation.

B. Enforcement Through Ethical Taxation Through the Economies for the Common Good

All signatory states shall have 1 year to ratify the creation of an international organization which shall create a Nation State Certification Rating Organization (NSCRO) to rate the signatory states’ compliance with this Agreement which shall use the Economies for the Common Good method of taxation and enforcement. Examples as such below:

Each member state shall be rated for their compliance such as:

  1. Level 1 – atrocious
  2. Level 2 – working towards improvement
  3. Level 3 – made some good work towards
  4. Level 4 – great work, something for others to aspire to
  5. Level 5 – highest level of conformance

Those nations which do NOT comply with this agreement will have taxes/tariffs increased each year for non-compliance, until the the 6th year where all trade will be cut off an sanctions will be imposed. With this we will have to take into account where they are starting, specifically the Global South will have significant infrastructural upgrades to make, so percentage of improvement may have to be something that we will have to look at with the Global South.

Those countries with higher levels of conformance will get trade/contract preference and a more advantageous trade policy. Those who are low in compliance may not get access to international trade or business contracts at all.

  1. Level 1 = +20% taxation/tariffs, no access to federal or municipal contracts/business
  2. Level 2 = +10% taxation/tariffs, no access to federal or municipal contracts/business
  3. Level 3 =    0%
  4. Level 4 = -10% taxation/tariffs, preferential access to federal or municipal contracts/business
  5. Level 5 = -20% taxation/tariffs, preferential access to federal or municipal contracts/business

C. Implementation

1. Human Extinction Level Event

  1. Each signatory state shall: declare Climate Change as a Human Extinction Level Event (HELE) and shall be name it as a Nation Emergency.
  2. Each signatory state shall have 1 year to create a 5 year plan to create a Climate Change and Natural Disaster Mitigation Plan to account for Climate Change or other disasters.

2. Reparations

  1. The Basics
    1. The US Military budget, as well as the budgets for Global North signatory states, shall gut their military and “defense” spending by at least 75%.
    2. Each group of the Global North signatory states (US, UK, EU) each shall provide trillions each year in Reparations to the Global South.
      1. Someone will have to do the math on this based on colonial reparations and pollution based reparations.
      2. This will eventually include China too due to pollution.
      3. The US and other imperialist and colonialist countries shall return stolen businesses and other resources.
  2. Austerity Measures and Economic Warfare
    1. Especially as implemented through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Austerity Measures are economic warfare and should be abhorred and prevented for it usurps national sovereignty and it strips natural resources from its people and casts them into poverty, while allowing US companies (and the Global North at large) to profit from such processes which is highly unethical, inhumane, and abhorrent.
    2. All austerity based loans need to be terminated with extreme prejudice.
    3. All foreign companies that have gained from such processes must return such resources and industries back to the ownership of their respective countries.
    4. All IMF loans and other global national loans:
      1. …must NOT be based upon austerity or the subversion of sovereign resources for foreign use
      2. …but MUST be based upon increasing quality of life such as reducing poverty and homelessness, or increasing education, clean water, recycling, sustainable energy, etc. Such loans and other assistance must also meet Economies for the Common Good values.
      3. …and MUST allow deficit spending

3. Environmental Preservation and Remediation

Each signatory state shall:

  1. participate in the creation of an international organization for the management of Global Nature Preserves.
  2. declare areas as Global Nature Preserves (such as the Amazon Rain Forest or the Great Barrier Reefs) which shall be turned over to global sustainable ownership and management – a property of ALL of Humanity.
  3. engage in global reforestation and de-desertification plans, as well as cleaning up the rivers, lakes, and oceans.
  4. enact a global ban on dumping into rivers, lakes, and oceans
  5. pass laws that will outlaw and requiring the filtering out of microfibers, microfibers, glitter, and other manufactured micro-pollutants.
  6. dig up all landfills and completely recycle and remediate them.

4. Sustainable Businesses

Each signatory state shall pass laws:

  1. to fight planned obsolescence by maximizing product lifetimes; increasing efficiency product; promoting modularity, universal fittings, and ease of maintenance.
  2. that require all items produced to be have every part of a product’s life cycle be 100% recyclable.
  3. which require all businesses to shift to a Regenerative Open Source Circular Economy (ROSCE).
  4. ensure that all businesses have 1 year to create a pollution evaluation and to completely remedy their pollution or face increasing taxes each year on the business itself and on the CEO/managers.
  5. which will create a National Environmental Business Certification rating organization whose base terms shall be determined by a global specification so that member states and manage the shift to a ROSCE.

5. Sustainable Energy

We will make the money back from the below process in 10 years due to health care savings alone by reducing pollution, increasing efficiency, and saving the environment.

  1. They will be held accountable for knowing about and suppressing climate change data and knowledge for decades, destroying the environment for profit, suppressing technologies that could put them out of business, and their owners and managers should be tried for Crimes Against Humanity and Crimes Against Nature.
  2. An immediate and complete stop to all Fracking processes. The proprietary patents shall be nullified and released to the public so we can find a way to cleanup this absolute environmental idiocy. Their business, managers, anyone who profited from this, as well as the government officials who passed this or agreed to do this shall be tried and jailed for Crimes Against Nature and Crimes Against Humanity.
  3. Current applications to build pipelines, rigs, etc… will be terminated. Any incomplete projects will have their permits terminated and those projects are to be completely recycled and their environments remediated.
  4. Any project that is not currently completely built and operational should terminate building and shall have their permit/license terminated and those projects are to be completely recycled .
  5. Corporate subsidies and tax breaks shall be terminated
  6. They will receive a 20% increase in corporate and management taxes
  7. Sales of fossil fuels shall be subject to explicit price controls.
  8. Their financial actions will have to be approved by a governmental agency in order to prevent bypassing them or to avoid sabotaging the company so they do not have to deal with it.
  9. They will have 1 year to create a 5 year plan to:
    1. shift to sustainable energy
    2. completely remediate all environmental damage caused directly or indirectly (over the entirety of their operation and of all of their subsidiaries…)
    3. create a job retraining plan to work in the sustainable and other related industries
    4. all in preparation to be classified as a public utility or else all managers and key decision makers shall face lengthy prison sentences, no compensation including Golden Parachutes, as well as fines for failing not only their company, but Humanity en toto
  10. Massive subsidies and tax breaks shall be granted for sustainable energy projects.
  11. All Energy shall be nationalized or at least non-profit and municipalized and there shall be a move towards microgrids where possible.
  12. We should try to combine sustainable energy types and/or vertical farming in order to make better use of land.

6. Sustainable Communities

We cannot manifest the world of tomorrow within cities that have been designed using the values, methods, technologies, and plans of past.

James O’Neill, Interstellar New Deal

We need to redesign and replace our cities through such methods as:

… where each city’s infrastructure will be designed from the ground up with all that it needs to support a specific population size in a healthy, intelligent, and sustainable way. We could start with smaller communities first so that we can mature the process and technology before tackling larger metropolitan communities. Although, if this process is done well, such designs should scale well.

  1. Build Sustainable and Modern Buildings: all new building production should be required to be more sustainable and include such features as:
    1. need to be made disaster proof based on area survey and analysis while taking into account climate change eventualities
    2. sustainable housing designs
    3. sustainable materials (hempcrete, mycelium, hemp, bamboo, etc)
    4. weather and pest resistant materials and designs (square buildings are inefficient)
    5. modular building designs so that when a building is not needed here it can be moved to where it is useful
    6. localized food production
    7. sustainable energy production and storage
    8. smart housing technology
    9. green roofs or walls
    10. earth covered for efficiency
    11. be livable by all demographics including disabled and the elderly
    12. integrated into a larger sustainable urban plan
  2. Sustainable and Locally Connected Communities: community buildings could be tied together through a community center which could:
    1. have sustainable energy generation and storage
    2. manage local electricity surplus and can share and sell it to other buildings in the neighborhood or to other communities (microgrids);
    3. act as the central internet provider
    4. provide large scale urban community hydroponic/aquaponic/aeroponic farms (vertical faming) and organic food sales
    5. playgrounds and recreation centers
    6. sustainable mass transit
    7. community center
    8. community resource sharing and service center
  3. Increase Use of Technological Advancements
    1. We need to greatly increase the use of AI, sensors, automation, and 3D printing when it comes to construction. We can use such technological advancements to greatly speed up the building of buildings and for the recycling of old buildings and materials.
    2. Communities can make better decisions with access to rich pools of data from smart sensors on buildings, mobile devices, and other sources, and the semantic web.
  4. Reduce Light Pollution (Dark Sky Ordinances) through Smart Street Lamps (DarkSky.org)

7. Sustainable Burial

Humanity’s archaic and regressive methods of dealing with the world’s many dead through the use of burial plots and cremation while our collective population is rising results in several harms:

  • pollution from burning through cremation
  • the use of toxic chemicals through embalming
  • a significant loss in land area and green spaces

We need to consider greener alternatives such as these:

Large swaths of land could be reclaimed from cemeteries to forests (which can help with climate change) with each tree having been grown from an individual. Each tree could also have a plaque embedded in it or in front of it to commemorate the individual. Such a cemetarial forest or green space could be turned into vertical green spaces too, so that we are able to make more use of the same land which might be even more important as our populations continue to rise, as well as to help combat climate change. We would probably also want a memorial websites available for each individual too.

8. Sustainable Food Production

  1. We need to drastically analyze the the agriculture subsidies and shift it to reinforce the values herein with this section.
  2. With extreme prejudice we need to repeal the agriculture gag laws.
  3. Monsanto
    1. The former owners and managers of Monsanto (now a part of Bayer) need to be tried at the Hague for crimes against Humanity. International Tribunal Finds Monsanto Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity (News Target) The owners and managers imprisoned and all technology, research, patents, IP, and funds returned to the people which will also us to learn how to combat it.
    2. The owners and managers also need to be fined for releasing a criminally negligent product which causes massive destruction to the environment and infects non-gmo seed crops.
    3. All of their engineered seeds need to be destroyed.
    4. The money from tearing apart the company should be returned to all of the small family farms that were devastated by their lawsuits and criminal negligence, and they should be reconstituted collectively in one way or another, if possible, through the evolved means mentioned below in the Evolution of Farming section.
  4. Abundant Food Waste
    1. We need policies in place to require that waste food is sent to food pantries and other places so that the food is NOT wasted and it gets to the people who need it. Whole industries can spring up with this requirement and to make this happen.
  5. Hemp Production – The US shall greatly invest in Hemp production and research for:
    1. construction: hempcrete, hemp based lime, etc
    2. products: paper, rope, clothes, fabric, plastics
    3. medicine: hemp oil, CBD oil, etc
    4. food: seeds, oil, etc
  6. Evolution of Farming
    1. Sustainable and Efficient Farming Techniques
      1. Create a mandate as well as provide economic support for a shift to aquaponic, hydroponic, or aeroponic farming (as much as practicable) because this uses 10% of the land and water and is more easily to be made organic, and can be located in urban areas to keep food production nearer to population areas which also reduces its carbon footprint.
      2. Shift to permaculture and regenerative agricultural methods to maintain healthier soils, as well as implementing biochar.
      3. Mariculture
    2. Protect and Support the Pollinators:
      1. Ban bee killing pesticides.
      2. Add bees to endangered species list.
      3. Make destruction of bee colonies a felony
      4. Create areas in all communities that shall cater to feeding and supporting bees. For without bees much of our ecosystem will collapse which will hearken the end of Humanity.
      5. Create sustainable bee flower gardens and rest areas and parks.
    3. Research and Start Using the Most Nutrient Dense Food Sources – We need to start making serious investments and research into food sources which are nutrient dense and require little resources for the amount of food and nutrition it produces such as:
      • insects, mushrooms, algae, seaweed, honey, hemp
  7. Animals
    1. Get rid of factory farms and only allow truly free range animals.
    2. For the benefit of all of Humanity we need to stop cows as food.
    3. Ban farming animals for food fur, skins, etc…; use stem cells or other current alternatives such as:
    1. Make animal cruelty a crime and register offenders
    2. Ban import of ivory and wild game trophies as well as fine and imprison people for big game hunting
    3. Create more parks to ensure unadulterated green spaces
    4. End zoos as we know them and shift to preserves. Animals should not be penned up in a cage which is cruel. Humans should be put into protective cages to traverse natural habitats in order to experience the natural world.
  8. Healthy Food For All
    1. Organic whole foods should be cheaper than everything else.
    2. Taxes should be significantly increased on processed foods based on lack of nutritional density or the presence of physiologically harmful ingredients, as well as to support the increased healthcare costs incurred by the consumption of such deadly foods.
    3. Food should NOT be thrown away but should be either:
      1. given to those who are in need.
      2. composted and returned to the ground which results in proper carbon sequestration

IV. Articles on COP26 and the Glasgow Climate Pact

  1. At COP26, nations strike a climate deal with coal compromise (NPR, Nov 2021)
  2. Nearly 200 nations strike climate deal with coal compromise at COP26 (CBS News, Nov 2021)
  3. At COP26, nations strike climate deal that falls short (Al Jazeera, Nov 2021)
  4. COP26: Fossil fuel industry has largest delegation at climate summit (BBC, Nov 2021)
  5. What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26 (Vox, Nov 2021)
  6. Rich countries still don’t want to pay their climate change tab (Vox, Nov 2021)
  7. Greta Thunberg and Abby Martin Hammer COP26 as a Greenwashing Sham (Free Xenon, Nov 2021)