Just a few years ago, the reality of climate change was subtle enough that many people continued to deny its existence in spite of all scientific data proving otherwise. Today, as extreme weather events, wildfires, droughts, floods, hurricanes, among others, become more and more commonplace —and more extreme— it has become impossible for all but the most cynical to deny the reality of man-made climate change.
And yet, despite the record-breaking wildfires, despite the increased flooding and the destabilized seasons, governments around the world continue to collude with extractivist industries, finding ways to go on permitting patterns of exploitation, production and consumption that are unsustainable.
However, perhaps the most concerning aspect of how this problem is being dealt with at the international level is that, ever since the general public has begun to grow conscious of the threat posed by climate change and to demand change from the authorities, a series of pernicious false solutions have been conceived; false solutions which pretend to address the key issues while in reality only perpetuating this unsustainable status quo, and even worse, “solutions” that may affect and violate even more of Nature’s Rights.
From the idea that geoengineering will permit us to regulate the global temperature even as we continue consuming fuel and materials at our current rates, to the notion the unexploited fossil fuel reserves in one place can be “traded” for reserves that are being exploited elsewhere, these strategies all have the same purpose: to “greenwash” old practices, while making no substantial changes.
The United Nations Climate Change Conferences —and other similar forums — have become the main arenas for the promotion of these ideas, making it more important than ever to show them for what they are, and to provide both the public and the authorities with a clear, unclouded perspective on why these strategies are not real solutions to the urgent problems that we face— and what some real solutions could be.
The 5th International Rights of Nature will hear the Climate Change Case – False solutions to the Climate Change crisis on November 3rd at 16h00 Glasgow time, 17h00 Paris time, 10 Ecuador time, 12 Brazil, time.
The Tribunal will hear about the current state of the Climate Change Crisis, its immediate effects such as the temperature rise, ocean rise, changes in climatic seasons, intensification of rainfall, ice sheets retreats,acidification of the ocean, among others. It will listen to false solutions such as geoengineering, iron fertilization, BECCS, Carbon Capture and Storage Sequestration, Solar Radiation Management, Carbon Offsets, Net Zero Emissions and Nature Based Solutions. It will hear about the fossil fuel industry that is the main reason for CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and its direct effects such as the concrete case of gas flaring in the Amazon, as well as the ocean pollution with coal in Chile. The Tribunal will hear from its witnesses and identify the Climate Change perpetrators, the polluting countries and industries, and even institutions like the UNFCCC identified as a perpetrator due to its inaction. However, not everything is lost, civil society is pushing for real solutions like keeping fossil fuels underground and recognizing the Rights of Nature and the Rights of Future Generations that will allow a real transition towards a new paradigm.
