Homo Economicus goes to the wall

This is the moment at which we turn and face ourselves. Here, in the plastic corridors and crowded stalls, among impenetrable texts and withering procedures, humankind decides what it is and what it will become. It chooses whether to continue living as it has done, until it must make a wasteland of its home, or to stop and redefine itself. This is about much more than climate change. This is about us.

The meeting at Copenhagen confronts us with our primal tragedy. We are the universal ape, equipped with the ingenuity and aggression to bring down prey much larger than itself, break into new lands, roar its defiance of natural constraints. Now we find ourselves hedged in by the consequences of our nature, living meekly on this crowded planet for fear of provoking or damaging others. We have the hearts of lions and live the lives of clerks.

The summit's premise is that the age of heroism is over. We have entered the age of accommodation. No longer may we live without restraint. No longer may we swing our fists regardless of whose nose might be in the way. In everything we do we must now be mindful of the lives of others, cautious, constrained, meticulous. We may no longer live in the moment, as if there were no tomorrow. Read full article in the Guardian...

Opinion poll

Climate change leaves Central Europe cold

The issue of climate change does not worry particularly preoccupy Central Europe, save Hungarians, reports the Czech weekly Respekt. According to a recent Eurobarometer survey, “Only 30% of Poles think the climate might be a problem, while Slovaks are a little more apprehensive (41%); but that’s surely because they don’t have Václav Klaus [climate sceptical Czech president] and they live next door to the Hungarians, who are increasingly suffering from drought-driven changes in the autumn harvest.” And indeed the percentage of Hungarians concerned about the climate (52%) exceeds the European average (47%).

Eastern Europeans are more troubled by the state of the economy. 68% of Lithuanians and 71% of Bulgarians fear a “major global recession”. Czechs (63%) likewise fret more about money than the climate, though their economic situation is nowhere near as grim, observes Respekt. “Hungarians, who have cause for concern, are actually more optimistic than Czechs (48% worried), closely followed by Slovaks (47%). The Poles, for their part, scoff at all the worrywarts: only 25% fear a worldwide recession.”