Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The new conquistadors making their presence felt at COP20 in Peru

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, December 13, 2014

The new conquistadors making their presence felt at COP20 in Peru

Click here to access article from Corporate Europe Observatory.

A UN conference is expected to wrap up today in Lima, Peru, and its task is to come up with a first draft of a climate treaty to be negotiated in Paris in 2015. From National Geographic we learn:

Negotiations are expected to conclude by Saturday, and the draft agreement will continue to evolve until it's offered up as an international treaty in December 2015, when world leaders are expected to gather in Paris in an attempt at a global climate deal.

This brief article serves as an introduction to, and summary of, a 28 page paper entitled "Corporate Conquistadors: the many ways multinationals both drive and profit from climate destruction".

A new report released at COP20 by CEO, the Democracy Center and Transnational Institute shows how corporations causing social and environmental destruction in the Andes and Amazon are driving climate change, whilst enjoying influential seats at the climate-negotiating table.