Three Missing Stories from COP 15

Three of the biggest stories from COP 15 were barely covered in the mainstream news.

First: climate change is a current problem. It's not our children's problem, or our grandchildren's problem. It's our problem. I don't think that even I, who have been working on these issues for a while, really got that until I heard young women from countries who are already suffering from climate disasters speak. For me, who has worked in East Africa, the most powerful voice was a lady from Uganda not much older than I who told of the draughts unlike any other droughts and the subsequent famines that are hitting her village harder than previous famines have.

She said: 'What do I want from COP? I want my seasons back. We've lost our wet seasons and our dry seasons, and we do not know when to plant. I want my generations back. Our old and our young are dying. And I want money to pay for the cost of adapting, and to compensate for a problem that I did not create'.

Her request has haunted me - for of all the things she asks for, the only thing I can 'give' her is money. It is no compensation for loosing ones' seasons, and generations. The irony: that in our endless collective search for greater material wealth, it is now only that - material wealth - that we can give to those who have been damaged by the carbon-fueled search

Second: people want a different life. the story of how many people and organizations, from businesses to local governments to civil society to academics, are committed to making our climate-constrained world liveable and workable. I was one of 100 thous people marching in Copenhagen, when it was bitterly cold, for a better world. My organization was one of 20,000 organizations. I heard major business leaders, scientists, non-profits (and not just environmental non-profits, but also human rights, health, poverty-alleviation and other NGOs), academics, politicians and countless others call for a strong agreement. Their call was not acted upon. But the growing agreement is unquestionable.

Third: COP is a fundamentally an economic conference. What needs to change is our economics. Remember that the word 'economy' comes from the Greek word, oikonomos, meaning, one who manages a household. It bears close roots to the greek word for ecology, oekologie, or, 'the study of the house'. Thus, 'ecology' is fundamental (it is necessary for the existance of) economics. One can not manage a house without a house to manage. As Climate Change transforms our understanding of our collective 'house', we must change how we manage that house. That we collectively failed to do so this past week demonstrates the power of the illusion of how we are used to thinking of our 'house'. That continued disillusion is, of course, more than an economic issue - it is a moral, spiritual, ecological, justice, and political issue.

Returning from COP, I entered the Copenhagen and then the Gatwick airport (making me among one of those hypocritical carbon-eaters who preach better sustainable development than they practice). The Copenhagen Airport explicitly caters to 'luxury' and 'passion', and the shops seem to be doing well. There was no sign of a shift in consumer patterns or even of 'green washing'. No sign of attempts at sustainable development, in Copenhagen or internationally. It looked like business as usual to me. Sustainable development remains abnormal.