Our Slow-Motion Global Accident

Have you ever found yourself in the midst of a disaster--like taking a
bend in the road too fast on a rainy night--where every second seems
impossibly stretched?

The situation unfolds in slow motion. You know exactly how it turns
out, even before your car plows into the guardrail. Somehow, there's
time to ponder what you could have done differently--slowed at the
yellow sign--and wish you could turn back the clock.

That's what it felt like in December at the 2010 UN climate summit
held in Cancun, Mexico. The meeting's final hours, when world leaders
gaveled through a flawed agreement, felt just as long as the preceding
two weeks of negotiations.

Instead of calling the tow truck to haul away the wreck, however,
leaders and representatives from the vast majority of the 194 countries
present applauded their accord as a victory for multilateralism--saying a
weak deal was better than no deal.

Sure, supporters admitted, the so-called Cancun agreement doesn't
limit global warming to what scientists--and more than 100
countries--say is safe. Plus, pledges by individual countries to cut
greenhouse gas emissions, if you add them up, fall short of this
inadequate target. And, yes, the Cancun deal doesn't hold anyone
accountable for cutting climate pollution because these new pledges are
voluntary.

But besides that--and that a fund promised by rich countries to help
poorer nations deal with the impact of climate change has no dedicated
source of funding--it's a great step forward. Huh?

We have to do better.

The Cancun deal won't change much in the United States. Obama's goal
to reduce our greenhouse gas pollution remains an embarrassingly low
four percent from 1990 levels by the end of the next decade. European
countries have pledged 20 percent and Brazil 39 percent.

We still don't have a comprehensive climate law--and it's unlikely we'll have one soon.

Industry simply doesn't have an incentive to kick its fossil fuel
habit. In fact, the Cancun agreement could open a loophole that lets
companies in the United States continue to pollute--as long as they pay
someone else in another country to reduce their emissions. It's called
carbon offsetting, and it means U.S. families living in the toxic shadow
of big polluters will have to suffer the health impacts of dirty
energy, while companies get to claim credit for cleaning up their act.

Instead of getting motivated to stop climate change now, the world's
countries will wait another year before trying again to secure a climate
agreement with teeth. The next UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change--to be held in Durban, South Africa--won't take place until
December 2011.

That doesn't mean we have to sit back and watch as more environmental disasters unfold. We can take action this year.

We can start investing now in the transition to a green energy
workforce. We can create jobs that bring workers the dignity of
contributing to a better world and give families the security of a
steady paycheck in a growing sector.

We can demand now that every dollar sent overseas to help people get
out of energy poverty goes to renewable energy and low-carbon
development.

And we can raise billions of dollars to make this happen by taxing
the financial speculation of the Wall Street fat cats who brought us the
economic crisis. European countries are already considering a regional
financial transaction tax. If they can do it, we can, too.

Regardless of what happens at these annual global climate talks, we
must all think and act fast now to avoid having to clean up a big mess
later. Real success means changing course toward a strong green economy
at home and a global climate deal that protects people and the planet.