The Multiconvergence of Global Networks (MRG) is resuming the dynamic of meetings that we proposed last March. We are going to host the next meeting, whose theme is of the utmost urgency and of global reach: the Climate Emergency, which will take place on Saturday, October 7th, 2013, at 02 PM, London time. We will have four guests and four discussion rooms from the perspective of youth, alternative communities, ancestral peoples and organised citizenship. As usual, the event will be digital, with simultaneous translation into Portuguese, Spanish, French and English.
We noticed that our activities as a Network of Networks was affected by the decision to interrupt the dynamic that would lead to the foundation of a Parliament of Planetary Citizenship. This decision recognised that we still lacked the objective and subjective conditions to take this important step for MRG in helping to organise the politics of Planetary Citizenship. This far-reaching and complex cause needed a great deal of commitment from us (MRG boosters) and from many more global networks. On the other hand, we made progress in experimenting with different methods of organising the meetings, combining the method of seminars with thematic presentations, group discussions and synthesis, and the method we call Compassion and Healing.The last seeks to creatively engage the intellect and feelings of those present, and also to mobilise networks to carry out common actions that contribute to transforming reality.
To prepare for the meeting, let’s briefly look at some indicators that reveal how the Climate Emergency is manifesting itself:
The growth in the intensity and number of disasters resulting from climate change is gaining alarming proportions. Fires resulting from droughts and high temperatures caused by global warming are devastating countries such as Canada (more than 5,700 forest fires, burning 13.7 million hectares and displacing more than 30,000 families since April 2023); several European countries such as Greece, with 74 deaths as of the penultimate week of August; the western United States and the island of Maui in Hawaii (388 deaths to date) and China (such as the flooding of Beijing), among others. Meanwhile, every summer the polar ice caps lose more ice than they can replace. Antarctica, in particular, is losing 50 billion tons of ice a year, aggravated now by the likelihood of the collapse of the huge Twaites ice shelf, whose melting could raise the level of the oceans by more than three metres.
The successive international agreements resulting from negotiations between countries taking part in the COPs – Climate Conferences – result in proposals for country targets for decarbonising the atmosphere, such as reducing the use of fossil fuels, but most countries do not meet their targets, many of the biggest polluters refusing to reduce their emissions at the pace needed to make the goal of the world reaching the year 2100 with an average temperature range of 1.5°C above the level at the start of the industrial revolution feasible. The estimated threshold for the climate to enter a state of climate alert was 400 ppm of atmospheric CO2 concentration. In 2021 this level of CO2 concentration was already at 414.7 ppm, or 2.3 ppm more than in 2020. The failure of countries to fulfil their good intentions to reduce GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions, compounded, on the contrary, by the current rate of growth in emissions, means that scientists are predicting that the Earth will have an average temperature 3 to 4°C higher by 2100! All the scenarios indicate catastrophic consequences for the planet and life if this happens.
Socio-environmental science is clamouring for humanity to begin the accelerated replacement of coal, oil and gas with renewable and clean sources of energy without further delay. The transition of the energy matrix to sustainable, decentralised, renewable and clean forms, as well as an end to the deforestation of biomes such as Amazonia, is absolutely urgent. The planet has shown persistent signs that greenhouse gas emissions need to be stopped and reduced to prevent the effects of climate change, which are already accelerating exponentially, from worsening.
Foto: Gustave Deghilage, Flickr
Prompted by the multiplication of indicators pointing to the growing risk of a climate collapse capable of pushing the life of the planet to the brink, MRG has chosen to focus on this theme at the next Meeting, seeking effective forms of ‘individual and collective action’.
We invite everyone to take part!
Marcos Arruda, Debora Nunes and Tereza Costa
By the MRG Boosters team
All people interested in being part of this construction are welcome.
Saturday 07/10/2023
2:00 pm GMT / 9:00 am Washington / 5:00 pm addis Ababa / 7:30 pm New Delhi
https://uri-org.zoom.us/j/87807384447?pwd=RUlOVjQyMGo2YzdWMmtkdXBoUVdEUT09
ID: 878 0738 4447 | Código: 288216
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