Posts Tagged: united nations

On-the-ground Update from the Global Climate Summit

Hello from Katowice! Yes, it is raining but spirits are high. I arrived by train last night from Warsaw after a 20-hour trip and shared my dinner table with Max, a sustainable bioenergy specialist from the National Wildlife Federation. Max, who grew up in Oakland, is also working to get Democrats and Republicans to join… Read more »

People’s Demands on Climate Justice

By Andrew Kang Bartlett Delegates from the world’s nations, and yours truly, will gather in Katowice, Poland to lay out the rules that will implement the 2015 Paris Agreement, policies that will affect the lives of billions of people. As the delegates assemble, people of faith and good will can raise their voices together for… Read more »

Climate Change and You

You are the reason I am going to Poland in the frigid month of December. I’ll be representing the PC(USA) at this global climate conference called COP24 (I’ll explain the name below) from December 3-10. Why you? Because you, and many other yous, will help make this a hospitable planet for our children and grandchildren…. Read more »

Would you believe it? Corporate lobbying is blocking food reforms

“…powerful lobby groups were able to delay decisions, sometimes for many years, and “water down” proposed improvements. Their job was made easier because the FAO works by consensus, so persuading as few as two or three national governments to oppose an idea was enough to block it. Then this direct quote — “I have now been 20 years in a multilateral organisation which tries to develop guidance and codes for good agricultural practice, but the real, true issues are not being addressed by the political process because of the influence of lobbyists, of the true powerful entities.” Joyce d’Silva, a director with Compassion in World Farming, confirmed this position adding that it was “horrifying” that — “the narrow interests of certain commercial sectors can have more influence than organisations which represent the values and aspirations of millions of citizens.”

Read more »