Copenhagen

Just heard a wonderfully sobering exchange on the radio between Bill McKibben, author and environmental activist, and David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The points at issue: was Copenhagen the unmitigated disaster most of the world seems to think it was? Or is there a good spin to be put on gradualism, baby steps, and the maddeningly slow and weak political response mustered to the climate crisis to date? Did Obama come with too little, too late? Or did he save the day?

More pointedly: environmentalists had high expectations for Copenhagen. Are they right to be disappointed and discouraged? Should they keep their shoulders to the wheel? Yes and yes.

McKibben is the very voice of clear-eyed radical engagement, unblinking realism, and sweet reason. He rightly points out that even the sharpest politicians don't seem to grasp the uncompromising urgency of our predicament. A caller rightly pointed out that the issue is not the survival of planet earth, but the tenability of our continued human presence here. The more our leaders delay, the more irrelevant we become.

Political incrementalism is clearly inadequate to the challenges we face, but we must persevere. The alternative is too hopeless to contemplate.