Climate change from the underbelly

     In a week there will be a convergence in Cochabamba Bolivia related to climate change. As the recent article from Huffington Post indicates, this ain't gonna be Copenhagen on steroids. Copenhagen was a look at how the movers and shakers of the economic order could not come to grips with the basic problem. Copenhagen was about "who is going to go first" in doing something substantive about climate change. None of the economic powers was willing to take the first step and so nothing happened.

      The majority of the world's population is does not live in the developed countries, but in the 'countries in development.' Their basic attitude is that the countries that have made it to the top (economically) did so while trashing the environment and dumping an immense amount of CO² into the atmosphere. Leaving those yet to fully develop on the outside looking in. Kinda tough to watch the pigs at the trough from outside the barnyard, eh?

      So it was that the poorest country in South America, Bolivia, agreed to host a 'people's summit' on global warming. Don't expect the developed countries to show up to repent of past sins and offer compensation. The 'People's Summit on Climate Change' won't accomplish what Copenhagen did not. In fact it has no legislative power, no legal basis for existence with respect to the United Nations, the World Bank or any other global body.

      Instead it is the perfect extension of Evo Morales' rise to power inside of Bolivia. Evo is our president and he came to the presidency at the head of a 'peoples' movement' that he and others led. The indigenous people of Bolivia are the majority (about 2/3s) of the population but had been kept out of power from the beginning of the Spanish conquest. It arose nearly 500 years after being colonized. Evo tapped into this majority population and led a nearly bloodless revolution to put the majority of the population (indigenous) in control for the first time. One does not have to favor all the politics of the new ruling powers in Bolivia, but one can appreciate that it was LONG overdue in coming. And that in contrast with other social & political revolutions in the last 200 years that it was non-violent.

     What to expect in Cochabamba? A lot of color as indigenous peoples from around the world, especially the Americas, show up. A lot of denouncing of the Great Economic Powers for past sins of avarice. Demands for reparations, paying of past debts. But don't expect the planet to be on a new path to lowering carbon emissions. 'Cause that will have to come from the Great Carbon Emitters, not the folks who will be in Cochabamba in mid-late April. In my own dreams we'd see the disadvantaged, generally powerless peoples of the earth band together to pressure the Great Powers into action. From the barrios of immigrants in the Developed World to the long list of countries that are on the outside looking in at the pigs. A combination of countries and peoples in countries that somehow can make the Great Powers look up from the feed-trough and take stock of the plight that the planet is in.

PS If you stumble across this, are on your way to Cochabamba for the climate meeting and can't find accommodations in Cochabamba ('cause Cbba is not a big town it will be a challenge to put up over 10,000 people) contact us at sbootman(at)gmail or call +1-913-871-8121 which rings my Skype account (sbootman). We have space & can help get you to/from Tiquipaya from our side of town (Sacaba).