Bearing Witness

In December 2015 I sent some dispatches from the Paris Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

I counted myself lucky to be among the infinitesimal percentage of humanity there to witness what felt like history at the time. 

Odd artwork, a hallmark of Conferences of the Parties - here cafe chairs are arranged into a small scale Eiffel Tower and tucked away at the far end of Le Bourget. Dianne Saxe, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, took this photo.

The Paris Accord was going to help nudge the planet back from the brink. If its ambition seemed small to some, the fact that it existed at all was a miracle.

And that miracle may have been undone this week.

Or not.

Unless waging war or protecting commerce, the impact of government actions is not that great in the larger scheme.

The leader of the free world thinks he's protecting commerce.  But he's on the wrong side of where the rest of the world is on that.

The history we are all witnessing right now is not the end of the Climate Agreement. 

It's the decline and fall of the American empire.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen