Copenhagen summit: This marked a turning point in human nature | Colin Blakemore | The Observer
…. Copenhagen may mark a turning point in human nature, when the global village acquired a global mind.
What we have just witnessed is delegates from 192 countries talking about making sacrifices, slowing their development, constraining their industry, taxing their citizens, in a collective bid to stifle climate change. Those nations included virtually every race, every religion, every style of government – from monarchy to dictatorship, from constitutional democracy to communism.
For the past 5,000 years, agreements between nations have been determined by military or economic power, by political ideology or religious dogma. What Copenhagen has established, even if the final agreement fudges and procrastinates, is that a new force is at work in international diplomacy. A force that does not speak in terms of faith and conviction, that is not even absolutely certain about what it has to say. That force is science….
… In his first major speech after winning the presidential election, Barack Obama said of the value of science: “It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient.” And in his inaugural address, he promised “to restore science to its rightful place”. Even with its flaws, what Copenhagen suggests is that the rightful place of science is at the heart of policy for a threatened world. The oceans are already rising. Either we sink, separately, or swim, together.
The leaders at Copenhagen, by and large, took the science of climate change seriously — even though it’s saying things they don’t want to hear, and that their citizens often disbelieve.
