quote above by Albert Schweitzer has been used as a motto for a ‘Provocation’ published by the Swedish Tällberg <strong>Foundation</strong>. In its postscript, the authors conclude, that ‘we have to rethink the principles upon which we base the development <strong>of</strong> our economy, technology and governance. Nature is what it is. We cannot negotiate with nature to change its nature, its processes, and its chemical and physiological characteristics’. 7 The urgency <strong>of</strong> the situation has in the meantime also been expressed in <strong>of</strong>fi cial arenas and discourses. On 24 October, the fourth European Development Days, organised in Stockholm by the Swedish government during its presidency <strong>of</strong> the EU, closed with a plenary session on climate change and development. Edward Natapei, prime minister <strong>of</strong> the small Pacifi c island state <strong>of</strong> Vanuatu, made this appeal: ‘Urgent action is needed to avoid a genocidal impact on small island states’. Ahmed Shaheed, minister <strong>of</strong> foreign aff airs <strong>of</strong> the Maldives, warned that at current rates <strong>of</strong> sea-level rise, the island soon risks losing its international airport. ‘We must fi nd ways to adapt to rising seas, coral bleaching, fl ooding and disease.’ Mary Robinson, president <strong>of</strong> the Ethical Globalization Initiative and vice president <strong>of</strong> the Club <strong>of</strong> Madrid, called on Europe to take the lead in climate change negotiations: ‘The time has come for decision taking. It is time for leadership’. She added: ‘The image <strong>of</strong> climate change is the polar bear. I like polar bears, too, but that is the wrong image. The image <strong>of</strong> climate change is a poor 7 Ekman, B., Rockström, J., and Wijkman A. (n.d., 2008/09), Grasping the <strong>Climate</strong> Crisis. A Provocation from the Tällberg <strong>Foundation</strong>. Stockholm: Tällberg <strong>Foundation</strong>, p.38. farmer, and she is a woman and she is desperate’. That date, 24 October 2009, also marked the International Day <strong>of</strong> <strong>Climate</strong> Action (350 Day) when people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day <strong>of</strong> environmental action in the planet’s history. At over 5,200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis. Copenhagen could be an important marker in current eff orts to face the challenges responsibly on a global level and at the level national governance, through state institutions and governments. But the solution lies beyond Copenhagen. The contributions to this volume seek to strengthen awareness <strong>of</strong> the key issues and the urgent need for initiatives and commitments beyond one place at one specifi c moment in time. They testify to the need for a mind change and the implementation <strong>of</strong> subsequent new paradigms, a commitment most politicians as representatives <strong>of</strong> their governments and states still seem to lack – particularly on the level <strong>of</strong> global governance. <strong>Dag</strong> <strong>Hammarskjöld</strong>, from what we know <strong>of</strong> him, would have been on the side <strong>of</strong> the deeply concerned voices advocating a fundamental shift in mindset. 8 Henning Melber 8 This suggestion is strengthened by the noteworthy fact that Sverker Åström, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>Hammarskjöld</strong>’s closest colleagues and friends since the 1940s, as the Swedish permanent representative to the UNs in the mid-1960s initiated and with much foresight and determination oversaw the implementation <strong>of</strong> the process leading to the Stockholm Conference <strong>of</strong> 1972. See Engfeldt, From Stockholm to Johannesburg, pp.32 ff . <strong>Contours</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Climate</strong> <strong>Justice</strong>. Ideas for shaping new climate and energy politics 7
8 Critical Currents no. 6 Introduction »
- Page 1 and 2: critical currents Dag Hammarskjöld
- Page 3 and 4: The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation pa
- Page 6 and 7: Photo: Dag Hammarskjöld Preface
- Page 10 and 11: Radical climate change politics in
- Page 12 and 13: competitiveness and maintaining and
- Page 14 and 15: the UNFCCC are today a greater thre
- Page 16 and 17: Emancipatory demands and confl icts
- Page 19 and 20: A feminist critique of the climate
- Page 21 and 22: ment in Johannesburg (WSSD), where
- Page 23 and 24: for strategic intervention is, ther
- Page 25 and 26: compulsion to reproduce itself. As
- Page 27 and 28: Kyoto’s ‘fl exible mechanisms
- Page 29 and 30: new criteria of competitiveness, wh
- Page 31 and 32: A reduction of absolute emissions i
- Page 33 and 34: ests. This would seem to be confi r
- Page 35 and 36: Literature Altvater, E. (2008), ‘
- Page 37 and 38: Climate change and capitalism’s e
- Page 39 and 40: The problem is that this does not c
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- Page 43 and 44: The deadly triad: Climate change, f
- Page 45 and 46: is, through the creation and tradin
- Page 47 and 48: REDD realities Simone Lovera Some s
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- Page 51 and 52: An analysis by the Global Forest Co
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- Page 55 and 56: Green capitalism and the climate: I
- Page 57 and 58: the Global War on Terror, but this
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capitalist renovation, which needs
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hand, there are its political short
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Fixing the world’s climate ‘foo
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tech breeding techniques or the use
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culture. The excessive use of agroc
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Research needs to focus on how to m
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The right to the city - energy and
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which cities attempt to ensure thei
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ut replicable to other scales - eco
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cover and implement ways to address
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Literature Biello, D. (2008), ‘Ec
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Climate justice in the US Gopal Day
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While there is some alignment, and
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Climate Change Initiative and the E
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ilisation of greenhouse gas concent
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animals will be threatened with ext
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from human-induced climate perturba
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Energy, crisis and world-wide produ
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A question of relations of producti
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interventions might help to make su
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The country’s only wind-turbine c
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these goals, so that in the medium
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in economic rationality, shaped by
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The deconstruction of the economy i
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world as a system of mechanical equ
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The rights of nature, new forms of
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Post-development? The Montecristi c
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condition of being a ‘foreigner