Over the past few days Democracy Now! has posted several interviews around the COP26 UN international conference in Glasgow. COP stands for Conference of the Parties.  Early on, before the conference started, the corporations who were major sponsors were already complaining that the conference was “mismanaged.”  That is of course the major drawback to the conference, that it has corporate sponsors who expect special treatment and are above all interested in their bottom lines.

Many environmental groups sent delegations to the COP26 and climate crisis activists held demonstrations in the streets of Glasgow. Here are links to several of the interviews that Democracy Now! has posted that focus on activists and the situation of smaller countries in relation to the climate crisis. Yesterday a draft of an accord agreed to by the 200 countries attending was released to much criticism already in the media that it is not anywhere near strong enough, especially in the area of carbon fossil fuel emissions as the corporations and their bottom lines have held sway.

Recognizing as an activist that change often takes time, often many years, to come about, what is different about the climate crisis is that we do not have time if we are to save the planet and humanity. The time for radical change is now, yet the draft accord contains the usual waffling.  While the draft calls for a faster end to coal and for countries to stop subsidizing oil and gas, there are no firm deadlines or enforcement mechanisms in place. While hoping for better, the outcome of the summit is not surprising to many activists, given the corporate nature of the conference, where fossil fuel lobbyists make up the largest delegation to the conference (see article below).

Here are the Democracy Now! links:

“Please Open Your Hearts”: Kenyan Activist Elizabeth Wathuti Urges Leaders to Act on Climate Crisis

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