There has been much confusion ahead of the next round of international negotiations on climate change, which start at the end of this month, over whether the United States has shifted its position on the inclusion of a temperature target in a new treaty that is due to be agreed by 2015. But the signs are that while the United States is still not leading by example, the Obama administration has at least not resorted to the obstructionism of its predecessor.
Award-winning filmmaker Emily James's funny, informative and inspirational documentary Just Do It goes behind the scenes of climate activism in Britain to show a side of the issue largely missing from mainstream media. Initially released in cinemas, the film is now available to download/stream, or as a free Creative Commons version, at the Just Do It website.
Recent science analysis predicts that we are heading for between 4- 6°C of global warming. Such rapid change in our climate system will bring about profound and in some cases catastrophic damages. This is the stuff science fiction movies are made of: Storms and typhoons will be more frequent and will kill more lives and destroy more infrastructures.
Global warming is no longer a future problem. It's a now event. And it's not a planet problem either. It's a people problem. The rate at which we consume energy through land clearing, factory farming, and the burning of fossil fuels oil and coal, is wreaking havoc on the atmosphere, contributing to the overall, exaggerated warming of the planet. Our very creation of an industrialised system to make our lives convenient and sweet succeeded in the sweetness, but sadly isn't sustainable. The proof is all around us. A billion people live without water. More than that live in extreme poverty. War hasn't found its resolve. And the seasons are only getting stranger.