Durchfall in Copenhagen(The UNFCCC 2009)

(Durchfall: German word which can mean both "failure" and "diarrhea")

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Control
Copenhagen December 2009


"Man and nature have grown phlegmatic, and yawn in each other's faces."

---------------"The Town of Lucca", Heinrich Heine, Chapter 1.


Days upon days of voluble concern from governments, economists and
scientists fell heavy over the white shoulders of Copenhagen. It was
very cold and hearts were constricted. Strangely the same chill did not
stop the mouths.

Austerity was preached by wealthy nations to their smaller, less wealthy,
brethren. This austerity filled the conference rooms and flowed off every
tongue even, at times, jaywalking across the streets of Copenhagen. The
strident flow of words failed to move hearts.

Veni, Vidi and talked a good game accomplishing nothing. Pop musicians
were filled with Holy Rage. Al Gore never showed! He must have been
hibernating or partying in Bali courtesy of his stock profits in Occidental
Oil. Or maybe engaging in a preemptive celebration of Occidental's win in
the Iraqi Government's Oil Well auctions?

Nevertheless, the "Free Market" had it all, a priori, in the bag. What
merchant cares about polar bears or melting ice caps? What G10 nation,
during a Global Recession, would dare curtail emissions and perhaps place
a handicap on consumption? The Golden Calf of "Free Markets" needs the
consumer to be a stupid Ox denied the ability to reflect upon the consequences
of any actions.

The growth of Carbon Emissions(an essential part of the present Climate
Crisis) has a human face which is inexplicably unmentioned in activist circles
or covered in the Media Outlets. There has been a exponential rise in Respiratory
Illnesses due to the air quality in most major urban centers in the Industrial and
post-Industrial nations. Cities as diverse and far away as Los Angeles, Atlanta,
Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tokyo, Manila, Sao Paulo and many more have seen an
explosion in children born with respiratory ailments. The rise in children
suffering from these types of ailments is costing the Global Economy trillions
yearly. This does not factor in adults and elderly with pulmonary conditions
whose conditions are worsened by breathing in dirty air.


The Climate Crisis is a Global Health Catastrophe. People are
suffering, mostly
children and the elderly. This is costing the Global Economy trillions of dollars
every year. The failure in Copenhagen is all the more galling when one considers
limiting emissions might inconvenience "Free Markets" in the short term but
save trillions of dollars long term. Does it make sense that this failure harms
the most helpless segments of our society? That children and the elderly could
live more healthy and in less pain by breathing cleaner air? This, alone, should
be enough. Respiratory ailments in children also lead to other health problems:
Obesity is one. Children who cannot respirate healthily often avoid exercise
because of the strain it puts on the pulmonary system.

One could go on and on and damn the leaders of the "Global Economy" and
"Free Markets" to the lowest regions of Hell(and they merit much worse).
It wouldn't matter as long as run of the mill folks refuse to act accordingly
and cut their own consumption and speak with their dollars --The only speech
Markets hear.

"Free Markets" fashion a Hell on Earth with profitable intentions.