I was at the COP-3 Kyoto Climate Convention some 25 years ago...things has not chnaged but got worse.

 

As i watch the numerous videos of the Palestinian Israeli war for and against I am beginning to feel disgusted at the various arguments put forth as the so called experts on the issue argue themselves to convince their viewers of the conflict while more and more killing of men women and children on both sides continues. I am beginning to feel like i am watching a world war in the making as the stage is being set for the impending outcome of an all out carnage of humanity. It is like being made to accept the outcome of our inability to even think of peace much less make it happen. The pissing competition between the two sides whether on on the talk shows or the United Nations General Assembly floor never seems to make any headway towards any sensible outcome to end all the conflicts that is besieging our life. Same questions, same accusations same issues is being debated back and forth like there is no tomorrow and yet death and destruction proliferate to an ever increasing momentum and that life has become indeed worth the price of one bullet or one drone delivered warhead. Is God drunk as the late John Huston once quoted? What is the meaning to all this or is there any sense of meaning left?  I am beginning to feel like living in a very sick world, a world under the attack of a killer cancerous virus called the Ego; primarily under the influence of Greed, Hate and Ignorance. If we walk out of this precarious episode of our history safe and sound, it would indeed be a Divine Miracle.

If I have any trust and hope in the Media covering the Palestinian and Israeli conflict I would say that the talk by Chris Hedges, "The Genocide in Gaza" sponsored by The Sanctuary For Independent Media, Troy, New York, Dec. 6th 2023, is the voice of conscience for humanity especially the west. The video will most probably disappear before too long on You Tube but it is worth listening to this committed and dedicated reporter who speaks from his heart to the children of Gaza. 

 

Elsewhere in Dubai the COP-28 Climate change conference is ongoing in order to arrest the fate of our planet that is slip sliding towards an irreversible self destruction due to countries and other major key players such as mega industries and oil producing consortiums refuses to give up what is their bread and butter their or  yachts and caviar more like it despite all the signs and warnings put forth by the NGOs and climate experts. Natural disasters are cropping up all over the world and the lost of life and economic waste is becoming an accepted norm or so it seems. Freak weather and storms, floods and draught in places that were normally  unheard of in the past, more frequent volcanic activities and extinction of species on land and seas, it all seems like quite normal to those whose are not impacted by the events. It seems here too the all mighty ego calls the shot, those who have over those who have not, the powerful over the helpless , the wealthy over the poor. is God really drunk? There is a verse in the Quran that -

And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference.

Surah Al-Isra Full   

I like interpretation given to me y one of my teachers that w are being elected to become guardians of the Planet we live in making sure all is well for the preservation of God's creation. However today man has become its major source of decadence and destruction at all levels. Man has become a liability unto himself and the rest of the world through his greed, hate and ignorance; we are the cancerous virus that is eating away at our own innards.

I made it to Cop3 in 1997 at Kyoto, Japan. 25 years ago I carried with me four panels of News Paper from the Japan Times of articles related to every environmental news that had appeared in the News paper over the period of one year. I had no idea of the fact that the COP3 convention was going to happen in Kyoto that same year. 

The trip to Kyoto was sponsored by the director of the Kawaijuku Bunri of Sendai, a prep School where my late wife was employed to teach English. 

As I was not officially invited for the convention I decided to display my panels close to the entrance of the convention hall where participants to the convention were able to read them as they walk into the hall.

I thought this was my contribution towards my concern for the climate as well as other environmental issues that we faced back then.

Close by at a shrine i noticed the huge Green Peace banner hung from the steps and felt a sense of camaraderie with them, I felt I had done my small part.

I then met a gentleman from Washington DC who was a part of a group of NGOs from the USA and he offered to take my panels into the convention hall on my behalf which automatically freed me to explore Kyoto for three days.