Compromises weaken Warsaw climate change talks

By Kimball Cariou
Peoples Voice newspaper

            The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 19) wrapped up on Nov. 23, after heated late‑night debates and a walkout by environmental groups. Most of the "civil society" observers at the conference shared a consensus that the compromise deal struck in Warsaw will do little to help cut down carbon emissions which are driving climate change.

            Much of the conference was deadlocked in disputes between negotiators from the major capitalist countries and the developing world over the division of responsibility for cutting down emissions, and over financing to countries suffering from the impacts of climate change.

            A deal was finally reached through terminology that asks countries for "nationally determined contributions", instead of "commitments" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, during talks for a new global climate agreement to be finalized at a 2015 summit in Paris.

Fans want Cherry to stick to hockey

Kimiya Shokoohi
Reprinted from Metro Vancouver

There’s no place for war in sports, said a group of hockey fans who plan to campaign outside of Rogers Arena Saturday.

The new Vancouver-based group, Hockey Fans For Peace, stemmed from the war talk of Don Cherry, a hockey-broadcasting icon known for his forthright style, during Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts.

“As a sports fan, I’m deeply offended,” said Kimball Cariou, the group’s spokesman, of Cherry using HNIC as a platform to express his support of the troops in Afghanistan.

And Cherry says he’s just that: Pro-troops. Not pro-war.

“You don’t see me saying war is good and people getting killed is good,” Cherry told Bill Good during his CKNW radio show on Thursday.

“But while the troops are there you have to support them — that’s the way I see it.”

The group, however, views it otherwise.

“The best way to support those troops is to bring them home,” Cariou said.

Sports culture doesn’t have to mean rough-and-tough and firing guns, he said.

Wearing T-shirts with crossed hockey sticks and a “peace puck” on the front, the group plans to gather outside of Rogers Arena Saturday during the Canucks game with the Detroit Red Wings.

The game will be broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada.

“Our intent,” Cariou said, “is to tell people it’s OK to be against the war if you like hockey.”

Hockey Fans for Peace

Kimball Cariou

Millions of Canadians enjoy hockey - and we also oppose the war in Afghanistan. A new Facebook group, "Hockey Fans For Peace", urges the NHL and the mass media to recognize this reality, by ending the practice of using hockey games and broadcasts to promote the view that full support for the war is the only acceptable position for any genuine hockey fan.

Failing this, we call upon the NHL and the mass media to provide equal access to hockey fans who oppose the war and want to bring the troops home immediately. We also encourage other sports to refrain from promoting support for the war in Afghanistan. Within a few days, Hockey Fans For Peace will have "Cherry" pink t-shirts on sale, featuring our logo (crossed hockey sticks with a "peace sign" puck). We invite you to join our Facebook group, to ask others to join, and to help spread the word: hockey, not war!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_181250731886894&ap=1