Why am I going on the Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza? I ask myself this, even though the answer is: What else would I do?  I am in my sixty-seventh year, having lived already a long and fruitful life, one with which I am content.  It seems to me that during this period of eldering it is good to reap the harvest of one's understanding of what is important, and to share this, especially with the young.  How are they to learn, otherwise?

This week, the House voted to shut down the carbon regulation program at the Environmental Protection Agency, but the Senate rejected four different measures that would have stopped or delayed EPA action. The EPA, as mandated by the Supreme Court, has been moving forward with regulations that would require carbon polluters to apply for EPA permits and to use the best available method to start limiting carbon emissions.

The negative impacts of climate change are coming on more quickly than anyone expected. According to a new NASA study, ocean waters are creeping steadily upwards, at rates faster than predicted, Maureen Nandini Mitra reports at Earth Island Journal:

"That ice sheets will dominate future sea level rise is not surprising -- they hold a lot more ice mass than mountain glaciers," Eirc Rignot, the report's lead author said in a statement emailed by NASA yesterday. "What is surprising is this increased contribution by the ice sheets is already happening."

Season’s greetings.

Just a quick note, before I head home for tea, cookies, some good books and rest for the holidays, to recap recent climate justice campaign highlights.

It seems practically impossible to highlight all of the different interventions and actions we took as the Council of Canadians and as part of a global climate justice movement in Cancun, and I’m sure many of you received the Cancun team blogs, media coverage and more. There are a couple of things that may have slipped past the radar, so bear with me about the repetition, but here are some highlights:

Shaded under a tent from the early morning sun, I joined a discussion on Mother Earth rights at the Dialogo Climatico (Espacio) alternative space. The discussion was led by Ben Powless of the Indigenous Environmental Network, our Water Campaigner Emma Lui, Natalia Greene of Fundacion Pachamama and Shannon Biggs of the Global Exchange.

The presentations were engaging and followed by thoughtful questions and a rich discussion.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that, "Bolivia threatened Sunday to take court action to block the compromise (climate) deal reached in Mexico... ‘We will file a complaint with the International Court of Justice in The Hague against the text approved in Cancun,' Boliva's UN Ambassador Pablo Solon told the government daily El Cambio."

"Despite a lack of unanimity (required under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change rules), conference chairman Patricia Espinosa approved the comprise... Solon claimed the way Bolivia's position was overruled represented jettisoned the principle of consensus and was an ‘abuse of the framework agreement on climate protection'."