192 nations are attending the UN’s conference on climate change which opened in Copenhagen today.They are meeting in hope of reaching a climate change agreement. “Scientists say without such an agreement, the Earth will face the consequences of ever-rising temperatures, leading to the extinction of plant and animal species, the flooding of coastal cities — about half of humanity lives with 100 miles (160 kilometers) of a coastline — more extreme weather events, drought and the spread of diseases. ”
Read more here from Denmark.
Culture Change in Copenhagen
The Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is about how we want to distribute deserts, hurricanes, and floods over the world in the future. But going unnoticed is how the outcomes of the Copenhagen conference also rock the world cradle of culture. This is apparent from my most recent book (“Climate, Affluence, and Culture”; Cambridge University Press, 2009), in which I present a breathtaking account of 15 years of research into links between climate and culture. Inhabitants of poor countries with cold or hot climates tend to be obsessed with control packed in collectivism, autocratic doings, and repression (survival cultures). Inhabitants of rich countries with cold or hot climates, by contrast, tend to be obsessed with creation packed in individualism, democratic doings, and freedom (self-expression cultures). In between both extremes, inhabitants of both poor and rich countries with temperate climates live a more relaxed life with less obsessions (easygoing cultures). Thus, Copenhagen is also about how we want to distribute survival cultures, self-expression cultures, and easygoing cultures over the world in the future.