The scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are meeting in our fair city. Later this week, they will release their report, which represents the latest results on climate change. The news isn't good. Temperatures are rising, glaciers are melting... you know the routine. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together -- mass hysteria. To fight the kind of disaster fatigue that comes with apocalyptic reports of this kind, Greenpeace activists scrambled up above one of the platforms on the Eiffel Tower yesterday and hung a sign there saying "It's not too late." God, we hope not.

At the website of the Ville de Paris, you can find ways to save energy [fr], and check out the city's climate plan [fr]. The city government also is asking us to turn off our electricity for five minutes between 19h55 and 20h00 on February 1st, to draw attention to the problem of climate change. We're glad they're asking instead of just having EDF pull the plug. But if it takes us all separately deciding to behave like grownups to reverse the effects of climate change, let's just say that Parisist is not too terribly optimistic that it won't be a tragedy of the commons. This is where governments on all levels need to step up and have foresight (which means that this is where we need to step up and make sure we get the right governments). So, kudos to the Paris government, anyway, for making environmental issues a priority; now let's see if they get Parisians to actually change their habits.

Photo from Greenpeace.