The World People's Conference on Climate Change is being ignored

[subsuelo]

these are just my observations...

Bolivia this week is hosting a "World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth".

I've been doing some searches to see what kind of coverage the mainstream press is giving to the conference. Remember all the focus on the Copenhagen talks? Organizations from 150 nations are expected to attend this week's conference in Boliva, so you might reasonably think, if there really was a free and truthful press in the U.S., that there would be significant coverage of the event. Not necessarily as much coverage as Copenhagen, but ... something should be out there, right?

Here is what I have found:

The Huffington Post, BBC, and AFP each have a single article mentioning the conference.

That's it that I can find so far.

Nothing from CNN, nothing from FoxNews, nothing on NPR. Almost a complete blackout of coverage. I would expect FoxNews to eventually dig something up from the event which they can spin and use to tarnish someone's reputation, but even that much I'm not so sure about.

The only logical conclusion is that the decision makers at major media outlets do not want U.S. citizens to know about this event. It's plain and simple. We can ask the question why and debate about that much, but there is no question that they are in fact blacking this story out.

Just have a look for yourselves -

A search of CNN for the words World People's Conference:
http://www.cnn.com/search/?query=World%20People's%20Conference&sortBy=date

search of FoxNews for the same words:
http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/search?&q=World%20People's%20Conference%20on%20Climate=docdatetime

You can try searching for Bolivia, too. Nothing comes up about this week's conference. Nada.

search of NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/search/index.php?searchinput=World+People's+Conference+on+Climate&tabId=all&sort=date

Oh, wait, there's something on NPR! the 4th result down I see mention of it in an Associated Press article they have posted. Open the article, and find the very last paragraph: "Bolivia is holding a grass-roots World Peoples Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth on April 19-22, with the aim of presenting an alternative agenda for consideration by U.N. climate delegates."

So, I know this isn't exactly a study that meets the highest of standards - still, I think FoxNews, CNN, and NPR represents a fair cross-section to start out from (anyone that disagrees, by all means, find another Western news source and post your results).

The conclusion, again, I think is fairly obvious. They just don't want us to know. They, specifically referring to those who decide what stories are fit for consumption in Western mass media outlets. Now we should ask the question - why is that??

[Bacchus39]

1. looking forward to hearing their solutions to climate change

I can't wait actually.

[EFerrari]

2. Yep. Amy is actually in Bolivia this week.

I haven't heard anyone else mention it.

[EFerrari]

3. fyi, I put up a little thread in GD last night:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8179146&mesg_id=8179146

[naaman fletcher]

4. To be fair,

Your obvious conclusion is probably not right. Much more obvious is that Copenhagen was attended by high level representatives of most countries (including the majors) who were working on an agreement and had hyped in advance that they might actually come to an agreement.

Representatives from organizations from countries attending a conference that has zero chance of actually changing anything is just not considered newsworthy by the media.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Found something from Agence France-Presse: Bolivia hosts climate change event

Bolivia hosts climate change event
AFP
April 20, 2010, 7:47 pm

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (AFP) - Environmental activists, indigenous leaders and Hollywood celebrities were gathering in Bolivia Tuesday ahead of the first self-styled "people's conference" on climate change here.

Attendees say the summit will focus on the plight of the world's poorest, which they argue went largely ignored at official United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen last December.

The Copenhagen meeting was widely drubbed for failing to produce a new treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions and critics said the deal it produced will not avert a climate catastrophe.

The "People's World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights," which runs through Thursday, will draft new proposals to be offered for consideration at the next UN climate talks in Mexico at the end of the year.

Bolivia's UN ambassador Pablo Solon said the conference, which was expected to draw some 18,000 people, was "the only way to get the climate change talks back on track."

Developing nations have resisted a legally binding climate treaty, arguing that wealthy nations must bear the primary responsibility for climate change.

Nearly 130 countries, including many of the world's poorest, will be represented at the Cochabamba conference.

Anti-globalization activists Naomi Klein of Canada and Jose Bove of France are set to attend, and organizers have also invited James Cameron, director of the blockbuster film "Avatar," and James Hansen, a US researcher who was among the first to warn about climate change.

Indigenous leaders, including Nilo Cayuqueo, an indigenous Mapuche from Argentina, were also in town, concerned about the impact of climate change on their homelands.

"We have great extremes of heat and cold, and as a result we're seeing illnesses and outbreaks that once had disappeared," said Cayuqueo.

More:
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/7087137/bolivia-hosts-climate-change-event/

[protocol rv]

6. They don't think it's that important

They have to prioritize the news. That conference you mention is one among many. Don't take it personal, but I'm an environmentalist I don't think there would be much going on in Bolivia to bother.

Global Health and Innovation Conference

http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference/

Wind Energy

http://www.ewec2010.info/

midwifery

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/conferences/

Energy Solutions for a Sustainable World

http://www.icae2010.org/

Eurpean Biomass Conference

http://www.epsoweb.org/event/conference/finland-2010

One about animation

http://www.nabshow.com/2010/default.asp

Mormons

http://mormonism.suite101.com/article.cfm/lds_general_conference_in_april_2010

[subsuelo]

7. yeah, the Rights of Mother Earth isn't very important

You're right.

[protocol rv]

8. Sigh

Sorry, I think our environment is very important, and I am actively trying to improve the way we, homo sapiens, treat it. I also find meetings such as the one you are touting to be irrelevant and of little interest. The news media understands the majority feels this way, and thus they don't cover it. I also showed you there are lots of other meetings taking place, none of which are getting coverage either.

It seems to me there are more effective things to do than to hold meetings such as the one in Bolivia. I'm more concerned with CO2 emissions, the development of a sustainable biofuels industry, development of public transportation, etc.

For example, here in Venezuela we have the cheapest gasoline in the world, or close to it. It's so heavily subsidized, I pay more in tips to the attendant at the gas station than I pay to PDVSA for filling my tank. This is absolutely ridiculous, it encourages excessive driving.

Let me add another bit: in Caracas I have seen trucks driving around in heavy traffic, carrying a large sign with an advertisement. This can be something for toothpaste, or beer, or a movie. It's incredible, isn't it? They actually fill a large truck's gasoline tank, and drive around the city polluting the air and using up gasoline we could export. And does anybody in the government even talk about it? No. This is the type of environmental crime we need to focus on. We got to complain and raise our voices against it (not that our voices are heard much around here, if you are middle class and don't like to wear red, you're an enemy of the state and a traitor, so forget anybody in the government paying attention).

[Peace Patriot]

10. You're an "environmentalist"? Don't make me laugh! How about that "Rainforest Chernobyl" in Ecuado

that you deny on Chevron-Texaco's behalf, while making racist comments about an "Indian presenting a complaint" in that case involving HORRIFYING pollution that is killing fisheries and giving people cancer in a area of the Amazon forest the size of Rhode Island?

You are an apologist for Chevron-Texaco, and now you are an apologist for the corpo-fascist press as well. Why don't you crawl back into your "tea bag"?

[Judi Lynn]

12. That startled me, too, Peace Patriot. Surely we have witnessed a miracle

of the magnitude of these two pieces of bacon which resemble socks! He's an "environmentalist!" What hath God wrought!



:wtf:

[Peace Patriot]

9. Please don't call it the "mainstream media." That promotes their illusion that the corpo-fascist

press represents somebody other than the super-rich and super-corporate. They are NOT the "mainstream."

But thanks for posting this. It's important to study what the corpo-fascist 'news' monopolies ignore or lie about.

[subsuelo]

17. point taken, thank you! nt

[flamingdem]

11. reccccc !!!! nt

[rabs]

13. Some photos and symbols of the opening ceremony in Tiquipaya

and



--------------------

(Don't know why some pix so big and other so small.)

[EFerrari]

14. rabs, you make me happy to be alive right now

and that doesn't happen very often lately.

lol

Thank you.

[rabs]

15. Well, you're very welcome and happy you are happy.

:-)

I had seen your post in GD and now this thread so got curious about the dearth of coverage (20,000 delegates, 136 countries represented) and no photos so went looking for some pix. Found them on the Bolivian government news agency website.

More photos here

http://www.abi.bo/

click on fotografias top right toolbar.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Good to see Evo Morales celebrating, and Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca

in the knitted hat.

These big photos are great. It's great seeing them. Thanks.