Global civil society and climate change

With the impacts of climate change becoming ever more apparent, the clock is ticking for individuals, communities, and ultimately their governments to take action on climate change.  Governments of the world have yet to collectively commit to emission reductions that are ambitious, fair, and binding enough to secure our common future on the planet.  While the scientific consensus is clear, a binding agreement between governments remains elusive.

Climate change is perhaps the largest and most urgent example of the "tragedy of the commons" to date.   If only a handful of countries reduce their emissions, they risk bearing the economic cost of trying to protect the environment, while at the same time suffering from climate change caused by others.  Why should individual governments lower their countries' CO2 emissions without being assured that others will do so as well? 

There is no denying that this global problem requires a global solution.  There is also no denying that this has proven politically challenging to bring about.  But while governments are lagging, I am still heartened to see that our thinking about the problem is evolving, and for the better.

In particular, I am thinking about how civil society has organized itself on the global level in preparation for the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009.  For example: a coalition of organizations (NGOs, faith groups, and unions) from around the world has come together under the banner of the Global Campaign for Climate Action and organized the tcktcktck campaign. Tcktcktck has 25 major partners (including Oxfam International, Greenpeace, and WWF), some of whom themselves have hundreds of member-organizations around the world.

The tcktcktck campaign seeks to mobilize people and organizations to call on their leaders to save the planet at the upcoming Copenhagen Conference.   They call on governments to create a deal that is ambitious, fair, and binding.  And as their name suggests—tick tick tick—time is running out.   Last year, the campaign mobilized over 114 million people across the globe; this year, they hope  to surpass that number. The  aim is to raise awareness, and, by doing so, changing the political context as well.  "If we can change the context of political will, we can make failure to act an electoral liability," says Kumi Naidoo, Chair of the Global Campaign for Climate Action.

Over the course of the Climate Week I will continue to blog about climate issues and events.  In the coming three months, I’ll also blog about other topics related to human rights and global prosperity.