'All That Has Been Done Is Too Late'

GENEVA (AP) — Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev painted a dim picture of the world's environmental progress on Thursday, two decades after he and a former Swiss lawmaker founded Green Cross International.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Shortly before the Soviet Union's demise in 1991, then-leader Gorbachev proposed a Red Cross for the environment that could also tackle threats from a nuclear arms race and the over-consumption of the world' resources from runaway population and development pressures.

“A sustainable perestroika is needed to revolutionize how people value life: their own, those of their children, and critically that of the one planet we share.”

Reflecting on the 20 years since he and Roland Wiederkehr launched the Geneva-based organization, the 82-year-old Gorbachev admits to deep frustrations as an environmental crusader.

"All that has been done is too late, and it's not enough," Gorbachev, speaking in Russian, told reporters in Geneva by video link.

Gorbachev railed against governments for falling short on nuclear disarmament, broader security, waste, development and climate change.

He urged governments to use his policies of "perestroika" (restructuring) and "glasnost" (openness) — which ushered in democratic changes that led against his will to the collapse of the Soviet Union — to address climate change and overconsumption of resources.

Gorbachev said world leaders have largely failed to do enough to aid nations in ecological trouble by taking meaningful steps to reduce widespread suffering and poverty.

"Such population pressure, coupled with a crumbling world economy and unchecked exploitation of natural resources, will only foment human suffering, spread poverty, reduce human security, cause more conflicts, and further degrade the environment," he said. "A sustainable perestroika is needed to revolutionize how people value life: their own, those of their children, and critically that of the one planet we share." More

 

 

When an Iceberg Melts, Who Owns the Riches Beneath the Ocean?

Global warming might be an environmental catastrophe, but countries eyeing the North Pole also see it as an opportunity.

“We’ve never had a situation where an ocean has appeared overnight,” says Rob Huebert, a political scientist at the University of Calgary, who studies Arctic security issues. “The ice kept everybody out, and now all of a sudden the ice is going to be gone. So what happens?”

Maybe a 21st-century version of the Great Game, which Russia and Britain played among the mountains and deserts of Central Asia in the 19th century. The prize then was the riches of India; today, it’s new shipping routes and untapped natural resources, including an estimated 13 percent of the earth’s oil and 30 percent of its natural gas.

Russia’s in the game again, dispatching submarines into the Arctic Ocean to gather geological samples and, in 2007, planting a titanium flag to metaphorically support the claim that much of the seafloor—as far as the North Pole itself—is an extension of Siberia’s continental shelf. That would expand Russia’s borders to cover some five billion tons of oil and natural gas.

China, 900 miles from the Arctic Circle, isn’t in a position to claim territory, but the world’s largest energy consumer is investing billions in Canadian oil and gas projects. Beijing has also ex- pressed a sudden desire to join the once-obscure Arctic Council. The organization—whose members include Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States and representatives of indigenous Arctic peoples—was founded in 1996 to promote environmental protection and maritime safety. But with so much natural wealth at stake, the council’s policies are increasingly critical.

Now Canada, next up to chair the Arctic Council, may support China’s effort to participate in council deliberations, though Beijing wouldn’t have a vote. “There’s uneasiness with China, at a certain level, but how do you say that politely?” asks Huebert. What’s delicate is that stronger Canadian ties to China could strain U.S.-Canada relations.

The United States and its northern neighbor are also at odds over the Northwest Passage, a storied route along Arctic North America that became free of ice along its entire length for the first time in August 2007. The passage is at least 4,000 miles shorter than the usual sea route through the Panama Canal, and cuts travel time by two weeks—a potential boon to major exporters like China. While Canada insists that part of the passage falls within its borders, the United States and Europe counter that it’s an international waterway.

On the other side of the Arctic Ocean, Russia claims ownership of the Northeast Passage, which, since 2008, has been consistently navi- gable during the summer and early fall, allowing ships to take a shortcut between Asia and Europe. In 2011, two Finnish tankers navigated the passage, demon- strating the potential for faster transport of oil to Pacific countries. More

 

 

Southern Russia hit by devastating flooding

In the worst natural disaster in a decade, severe floods have hit southern Russia, killing at least 150 people and forcing thousands from their homes. The rising waters came when a torrential downpour brought a month's worth of rain to the Krasnodar region in just a few hours. Black Sea ports have been closed by the flash flood and landslides. Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports.

Is this climate change? Have we passed a tipping point? Should we be waking up to the idea that we have a global crisis on our hands? Editor

Russian response to wildfires gives an early glimpse of climate change impact

It cannot be proved that the wildfires now devastating western Russia are evidence of global warming. Once-in-a-century extreme weather events happen, on average, once a century. 

But the Russian response is precisely what you would expect when global warming really starts to bite: Moscow has just banned all grain exports for the rest of this year.

At least 20 percent of Russia’s wheat crop has already been destroyed by the drought, the extreme heat—circa 40 º C for several weeks now—and the wildfires. The export ban is needed, explained Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, because “we shouldn’t allow domestic prices in Russia to rise, we need to preserve our cattle and build up supplies for next year”. If anybody starves, it won’t be Russians.

That’s a reasonable position for a Russian leader to take, but it does mean that some people will starve elsewhere. Russia is the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter, and anticipated shortages in the international grain market had already driven the price of wheat up by more than 80 percent since early June. When Putin announced the export ban, it immediately jumped by another eight percent. More >>>