As developing nations threaten to walk out of the climate talks in Copenhagen, street protesters seemed to be the only ones with a sense of urgency about the warming planet. An estimated 40,000 protesters took to the streets in Copenhagen, carrying signs that read “Bla Bla Bla. Act Now!” and “There Is No Planet B”. For the most part the demonstrations were peaceful, although Danish police did make some arrests, as reported on Care2.
Protesters at the COP15 talks in Copenhagen
The New York Times has a wealth of information on the climate issue including this timeline of climate studies and action , a concise interactive display of Emissions, Treaties and Impacts and this frightening story about water shortages in Bolivia caused by melting glaciers.
What the Times article failed to mention in regard to the Andean water crisis were the recent moves by multinational corporations to privatize water production and distribution. In 2000 and again in 2004, street protests in Bolivia known as the “water wars” forced two private companies, Bechtel and Suez, to give up water management concessions, as reported by The Daily Climate. This issue was explored more thoroughly in the 2008 documentary film Flow.
If the last century’s conflicts were mostly about oil; this century’s wars will surely be about water and who controls it.
