Naomi Klein on Bolivia and Climate Change

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/22/how-bolivia-transformation-could-change-world

The Bolivian government got the ball rolling by proposing four big ideas: that nature should be granted rights that protect ecosystems from annihilation (a "universal declaration of Mother Earth rights"); that those who violate those rights and other international environmental agreements should face legal consequences (a "climate justice tribunal"); that poor countries should receive various forms of compensation for a crisis they are facing but had little role in creating ("climate debt"); and that there should be a mechanism for people around the world to express their views on these topics ("world people's referendum on climate change").

The next stage was to invite global civil society to hash out the details. Seventeen working groups were struck and, after weeks of online discussion, they met for a week in Cochabamba with the goal of presenting their final recommendations at the summit's end. ..... Yet Bolivia's enthusiastic commitment to participatory democracy may well prove the summit's most important contribution.  That's because, after the Copenhagen debacle, an exceedingly dangerous talking point went viral: the real culprit of the breakdown was democracy itself. The UN process, giving equal votes to 192 countries, was simply too unwieldy – better to find the solutions in small groups.

Could there be a greater contrast between the two conferences?

Climate CHange

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/13/peru-glacier-ice-lake-tsunami

A massive ice block broke from a glacier and crashed into a lake in the Peruvian Andes, unleashing a 23-metre tsunami and sending muddy torrents through nearby towns, killing at least one person.....César Álvarez, governor of Ancash region, which includes the affected area, blamed climate change. "Because of global warming the glaciers are going to detach and fall on these overflowing lakes. This is what happened,"...It was the latest evidence that glaciers are vanishing from Peru, which has 70% of the world's tropical icefields. They have retreated by 22% since 1975, according to a World Bank report, and warmer temperatures are expected to erase them entirely within 20 years.  The same phenomenon is under way in neighbouring Bolivia, where the Chacaltaya glacier, 5,000 metres (17,400ft) up in the Andes, used to be the world's highest ski run. Predictions that it would survive until 2015 seem to be optimistic: according to recent pictures a few lumps of ice near the summit are all that remains.  The World Bank report warned that the disappearance of Andean ice sheets would threaten hydro-electric power and the water supplies of nearly 80 million people.

More evidence - are we going to do something? 

Write the Prime Minister a letter instructing him to meet the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil.
Ditto your Premier.   Explore starting or getting involved in a Transition Town at your local level.
Belonging to a community that shares your concerns  about the effects of climate change is very empowering. The last is probably the most important step you can take for two reasons.  It is realatively easy to influence local politics - and you won't feel  insignicant , alone, and powerless.  Your community will create the velvet climate revolution!

The Revolution of Evo Morales

http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/judes/2010/01/evo-morales-be-inaugurated-spiritual-well-political-leader-bolivia-week

On Thursday January 21, Aymara elders and Indigenous people from across Bolivia and the Americas will gather at the inauguration of Evo Morales as leader of Abya Yala, the Indigenous name meaning Our America. On the following day, he will be inaugurated as President of Bolivia for the second time. ....Evo Morales believes that capitalism is at the root of many of the problems facing humanity. He is leading a peaceful social and political revolution rooted in Indigenous values and ideas and that is too big a threat to the powers that be for us to hear much about him.

Apparently the velvet climate revolution has begun.

http://www.rabble.ca/ is an interesting source for alternate news, by the way.