The general consensus among the respected enviro experts seems to be that the negotiations in Copenhagen won’t actually save us from climate disaster — but that there’s reason to be hopeful post-Copenhagen.

>> Why are Copenhagen negotiations flawed? As 350.org founder Bill McKibben pointed out, the nations are negotiating a political deal for a middle-of-the-road consensus — that’s likely to fall far short of what science demands as a response to global climate change.

>> Climate scientist James Hansen agrees, going so far as to say that it’d be better if Copenhagen climate talks collapsed, because a half-assed agreement would give the false impression that we’ve “solved” a problem. (via Good Human)

James Hansen, the world’s pre-eminent climate scientist, said any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would be better to start again from scratch.

In Hansen’s view, dealing with climate change allows no room for the compromises that rule the world of elected politics. “This is analagous to the issue of slavery faced by Abraham Lincoln or the issue of Nazism faced by Winston Churchill,” he said. “On those kind of issues you cannot compromise. You can’t say let’s reduce slavery, let’s find a compromise and reduce it 50% or reduce it 40%.”

>> No Logo author Naomi Klein also agrees that there’s little hope in Copenhagen. In an interview with UpTakeVideo, Naomi says the official negotiations at the conference “creates an illusion of having addressed a dire crisis” that has yet to be adequately addressed.

She does sound optimistic about what activists will demand from their governments post-Copenhagen, pointing out that since economic and trade policy groups are now also working on environmental issues due to sheer necessity, the numbers of people pushing for change have automatically doubled.

>> On a slightly more optimistic note, Geoffrey Lean points out in Grist that countries are making emissions cutting pledges that far surpass past expectations. Of course, “the pledges do not yet add up to enough to avert dangerous climate change.” Hmmm….

What’s clear is that the fight to avert climate change won’t even come close to ending with Copenhagen, regardless of whether or not the negotiations are declared a “success.”

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