On this day, October 17 in 2009, ahead of the “last chance to save the world” climate conference in Copenhagen, the Maldives cabinet met… underwater.
2009 17 October Maldives underwater cabinet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8311838.stm
[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 384.64ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]
The context was this – the small island states have been trying to get the rich countries to take climate change serious, since sea level rise will properly wipe them off the map. Not much luck in that, obviously. The Copenhagen meeting (COP15) was hailed as ‘last chance to save the world’. Etc etc.
Why this matters.
Nice picture. Shame about the planet.
What happened next?
Denialists carped about the airport at the Maldives, for international tourists. Because only people willing to starve to death deserve any consideration, obviously. The old hypocrite-zealot trap, eh?