COP 26 - My Verdict

The much hyped COP 26 conference in Glasgow is finally over. 

Realistically getting 196 countries to agree a deal that would end the Global threat to the Planet in one fell swoop was never an option. However, my take on the end result is hopeful for the future. Anyone 50 or over is unlikely to see the world recover from the current climate change juggernaut, but the plans laid out in Glasgow does give cause for optimism in the long term. 

The activists must continue with their campaigns and hold their governments to account, year in year out until the climate has stabilised to 1.5C or below.  The likelihood of humans and consumerism stopping is unrealistic, but this might also be their partial salvation. The USA and China agreeing to cooperate is likely to result in a competition for business and prestige with dollars to be made in the process. The stimulus to renewables and green energy will have global appeal and a huge new market for big financial institutions. Fossil fuels will be given the heave - ho as they will be penalised by the markets as non profit losers. 

Most of the global warming has taken place in my lifetime, and yet I remember as a child we had no electricity in our house ! It was only during  WW11 that the Americans discovered that there was such a thing as the jet stream, which drove weather systems around the planet !  If the human race can advance to the same degree in reverse in the next 70 years with new technologies and real respect for the planet we all live on, then there is reason for optimism...Like Stephen Hawking said " Where there's life, there's hope".