Editor's Note

The topic of climate change has been dissected and discussed by experts and laymen so much it seems like a popular science fiction novel. In such novels the social problems of today are reflected in the future, generally through the use or misuse of technology. Interestingly social problems are at the core of climate change issues now. Will the developed West learn to control their carbon emissions, will they fundamentally change their way of life to consume less energy and move toward green technology? Those questions have yet to be answered, but they are at the heart of our current problems. Climate change is the science of fact, not fiction.

For a few years the Conference of Parties (COP) 15 summit has been billed as one of the most important events in the earth's history. People had prophesised that if everything went off just right we may have been able to leave with a binding deal that would have saved our planet. Things did not turn out that way, something of a deal was made but neither was it binding for those who signed and created it nor did it achieve anything near as much as it should have. The problems of the summit were multi faceted, the latter was apparently badly arranged and organised and at the end of the day the sheer number of delegations there made any agreement almost impossible to pass. Many viewed the deal as nothing more than a photo opportunity for Barack Obama, another tick in his checklist of things to do in 2009, yet a week after the conference even he publicly stated that a meaningful climate change deal was still some time away. The focus now shifts to Mexico in 2010 as world leaders missed yet another opportunity to save mother earth.

But there is a silver lining, things could have been worse. A fund was set up to help finance the adaptation costs for developing and least developed countries and as it stands Bangladesh is well placed to receive adaptation aid that is so badly needs. As one of the first and largest countries to feel the pinch of climate change COP 15 was both an achievement and a disaster for our country. The accomplishment came from the creation of the fund that we will be forced to utilise as climate change slowly but surely devours our coasts. The failure was that without a deal to reduce carbon emissions, all the summit did was to help us deal with the damage, not reduce it.

One of the greatest science experiments gone wrong is that of Dr. Frankenstein. Having cobbled together a monster in man's image he eventually realises his creation is greater than him and it is out of his control. Mankind created climate change and as such the monster is now out of control, either we take it down, or die at its hands. The choice is ours.