When the next round of UN Climate talks (COP 18) wrapped up in the oil-rich democracy-poor Persian Gulf state of Qatar, the real emphasis wasn’t on stemming the near-irreversible tide of human-induced climate change, but how to cash-in on it.

As the holidays approach, we are sending some articles from allies across the globe that represent what was at stake at COP 18.

• Our friends at the Global Justice Ecology Project were banned from attending – why? Read On Not Attending The UN Climate Conference in Doha.

• Institute for Policy Studies’ Janet Redmond reports:  At Doha Climate Summit, It's Economy First, Then Survival

As the talks closed, Indigenous Environmental Network and Via Campesina condemned the talks:

• Press Statement of Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network

• Governments produce blank pages in Doha for planet’s future; La Via Campesina farmers are cooling the planet

• Climate Change position paper by Pablo Solon, Executive Director of Third World Network and former Bolivian Ambassador to the UN.

While Hurricane Sandy opened the eyes of Americans to the realities of climate change, climate negotiators, including those from the United States, failed to address real solutions to solving the climate crisis. All this despite knowing that an unprecedented Typhoon Bopha was destroying the Philippines while they were at the negotiating table.

With that, I pose the question: Is Summit Hopping Getting us What we Want? Global Exchange has done a great deal of work to promote the idea of the Rights of Nature as a starting point to take the conversation away from profit-centered "solutions" to actual ways to cool the planet.

Stay connected with Global Exchange and our Rights of Nature work by subscribing to our Community Rights Program e-mail list and learn how we are working for the environment at home.

Onwards,