In Paris, the ISIS Bombings Backfired

Saturday, December 12, 2015, no matter where people were, whether in Paris or in any part of the world, those involved or who simply cared about the COP21 negotiations were ecstatic when word came down that 196 parties reached a global agreement on climate change.

After the disaster of Copenhagen six years ago and the depression, fraud and outrage of ClimateGate; after so many had worked so hard, with years of negotiations and countless hours put in, there finally was a treaty. There was a global treaty that would bring the world one giant step forward in the fight for our ecosystem's life and our planet's habitability. Finally, there was a reason to have great celebration.

Once again, if the Paris bombings were enacted to cause fear and instability in the French capital, could one reason have been so that the French government would have had to shut down or postpone COP21? Would that not have served a purpose for ISIS, an oil-supported state, to derail the negotiations to curtail fossil fuels?

However, if the bombings were only intended to instill fear, then it seems they backfired dreadfully, as the whole world's sympathies were thoroughly focused on Paris. After the bombings, the "I Love Paris" slogans, signs, ribbons, fundraisers, etc. were everywhere. Just as the climate negotiations began, Paris had the eyes of the entire world on it. The media attention was unprecedented.

Yes, the September 23, 2014 Climate Summit received great media. Over four hundred thousand men, women and children marched in the streets of NYC, and Leonardo DiCaprio's talk got millions of views. However, every day in Paris this year, the front page and op-ed sections of nearly every major international newspaper covered not only the Paris talks, but, climate change news in general. Magazines and other forms of media followed suit.

Whatever the case, in terms of the COP 21, the bombings backfired and there was a boomerang effect. The sympathetic eyes of the entire world were on Paris, which gave an enormous and unprecedented media boost to the climate conference and treaty talks, which were incredibly successful.

Not enough. The work now is just beginning. However, the incredible dedication and years of countless hours of hard labor and hope that so many nameless people put in have now built a bridge to a better tomorrow. We should all feel a sense of tremendous gratitude for the outcome.