Nick Sundt's blog

After two weeks of sparring and a day-long extension, governments once again failed today to provide the inspiration and ambition to tackle climate change and provide hope for hundreds of millions around the world who suffer and will continue to suffer from climate-related impacts. Governments reached a weak agreement that established a Green Climate Fund with little money, postponed major decisions on the content of the Kyoto Protocol, and made an unclear commitment to a global agreement from 2020 that could leave us legally bound to 4 degrees of global warming.

It is two weeks into the 17th annual meeting of the parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Durban, and delegates are struggling to reach an agreement during the meeting's final hours.  Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions are rising and from the Arctic to the Antarctic, evidence is mounting that we are disrupting the planet's climate.  U.S. folksingers Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie remind us in their song "Quite Early Morning" (1975) to remain hopeful and to soldier on.

Brazil's Senate voted on Wednesday (7 December 2011) to make changes to the country's forest law.  If approved by Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, the law would threaten an area larger than the state of Texas -- and one of the world's treasured natural areas.  The consequences would be felt all over the world, as a significant amount of CO₂ could be released to the atmosphere.  Brazil's ambitious efforts to slow climate change by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation would be severely undermined.  Sign our petition and join more than 1.5 million Brazilians in urging Brazil's President to veto the bill.

Durban, South Africa: Government leaders are still not seeing the big picture—we are here to address catastrophic climate change, WWF said today ahead of the closing of the climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa.

On behalf of their organizations and 21,000 petition signers, ActionAid USA and WWF-US today (8 December 2011) delivered a call for "bold steps" by U.S. climate negotiators in Durban, South Africa. 

Girl Scouts of the USA announced today (6 December 2011) the launch of Girl Scouts Forever Green, its signature project marking the Girl Scouts' 100th anniversary. In 2012, the Girl Scouts will focus on three main projects: Reduce Waste, Earth Hour, and Rain Gardens.

Keya Chatterjee, Director of International Climate Policy for WWF-US, comments from the climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, on the extraordinary year of climate extremes experienced this year in the U.S., on the negotiations and on what you can do to make a difference.

WWF’s new brief on Planning Development in a Carbon Constrained World (Dec 2011) shows that leading national governments in both industrialized and developing countries are not only well ahead of the U.S. government in their initiatives to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but also have progressed much further in preparing for the impacts of climate change. 

A growing number of national governments are developing and implementing plans to sharply reduce their greenhouse gas emissions while preparing for the impacts of climate change.  Some already are years ahead of the U.S., which has no such national strategies.

Brazil’s National Plan on Climate Change (2008) seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to prepare the country for the impacts of climate change, while achieving Brazil’s development objectives. Those development goals include a “commitment to reduce social inequality and to increase income” while “not repeating the pattern and the standards of the countries that have already industrialized.” It is a “dynamic plan, a work in progress to be constantly revaluated.”