Bali News reports:
The Indonesian President, Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, officially launched the “Bicycle for Earth Goes to Bali”, last week in Jakarta. A team of 50 riders will cover 1447 kilometres in 23 days visiting 44 Indonesian cities. They will finish in Bali to coincide with the start of the United Nations Climate Change Conference on December 3.
The President and the First Lady took part in the first stage of the ride along with, Indonesian government ministers, celebrities, members of the public and of course the official Bicycle for Earth Goes to Bali team of 50 riders.
During their trip the team will raise awareness amongst the Indonesian public, on how riding a bicycle for transport can help fight climate change. Global cycling advocacy groups, including the Global Alliance for EcoMobility in which the bike industry is involved, are trying to get the bicycle as an environmental friendly alternative on top of the agenda at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December.
Delegates gathering in Bali for the UN talks on climate change, beginning on Monday, will be working up a sweat, and not only because they are charged with updating the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. As more of a symbolic gesture to raise awareness than to significantly reduce carbon emissions, Indonesia plans to make ministers from around the world use bicycles to get about the resort island. [via the cycling dude]
As pointed out in a Wired article last month, some argue that the protocol itself is largely symbolic, since "it has not slowed global greenhouse-gas emissions". Climate science argues that to stop global warming we need to reduce the amount of GHG in the atmosphere, which means we have to reduce the rate of output to levels below the rate at which natural systems can absorb what's in the atmosphere. We've been above that rate for some time, but a study published in May this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that "greenhouse-gas emissions accelerated through the early part of the decade". The study concludes: "The emissions growth rate since 2000 was greater than for the most fossil-fuel intensive of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emissions scenarios developed in the late 1990s."
So we are moving even farther away from our target. The turnaround could never be quick, given the current levels of investment in carbon-intensive activities and processes, which is why a concerted effort is needed now. Let's hope those cycling ministers in Bali get the picture.
Comments