Aubrey Meyer
Encyclopedia
Aubrey Meyer is an author, climate campaigner and composer. he is also a former member of the Green Party
He co-founded the Global Commons Institute
in 1990.
Born in Yorkshire in 1947. Raised in Cape Town, South Africa from 1952. Bachelor of Music 1968, Music College, Cape Town University. Won South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) scholarship for two years study abroad. 1969-71 Royal College of Music, London. Studied composition with Phillip Cannon and viola with the late Cecil Arronowitz. Winner, International Music Company Prize and Stanton Jeffries Music Prize.
After the Royal College, he earned his living playing viola in orchestras: - principal viola in Scottish Theatre Ballet, Ulster, Gulbenkian, CAPAB orchestras and as a rank-and-file player in the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet and finally in the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
During this period he continued composing. His one-act ballet ‘Exequy’ led to the award of a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Cape Town. In 1980, Meyer returned to London, combining composition with playing and his ballet score Choros for the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet together with the ballet by David Bintley, won an Evening Standard Award. Reviews here: - http://www.gci.org.uk/AubreyMeyer/CV_Aubrey_Meyer_1.pdf
In 1988, while looking for a theme for a new composition, he heard about the environmentalist Chico Mendez who had been assassinated for his work in trying to prevent the destruction of the Brazilian rainforest. The issues this raised - above all the looming threat of climate change - diverted Meyer from music to the UK Green Party. In consequence he abandoned his musical career to co-found the Global Commons Institute (GCI) in 1990 and start a programme to counter the threat based on the founding premise of ‘Equity and Survival’.
Since then, Meyer has devised and run an effective but shoestring campaign to promote the ideas he developed for achieving the objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - i.e. to avoid dangerous rates of global climate change.
At the request of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1992, Meyer conceived and presented his analysis of ‘The Unequal Use of the Global Commons’ to the Policy Working Group of the IPCC. This was dubbed ‘Expansion and Divergence’ and, led to a decisive international rejection, at the UN climate negotiations in 1995, of the global cost benefit analysis of climate change by some economists from the US and UK whose methods depended on the unequal valuation of human lives lost due to climate change in industrialised countries, compared to those lost in developing countries: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/economists.html
This led to the development of GCI’s framework of ‘Contraction & Convergence’ (C&C). Introduced at the UNFCCC in 1996, C&C’s approach to stabilising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at ‘safe’ level (by sharing the limited and finite weight of such gases that future human activity can release into the atmosphere on an equal per capita basis) raises a key issue in the climate change debate: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/briefings.html
As a musician and string player, Meyer says the world must collaborate with musical discipline to avert runaway climate change
: i.e. play C&C’s ‘carbon reduction score’ in time, in tune and together: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/music.html
This overall effort has led to many awards: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/awards.html
and in 2008 a cross party group of British MPs nominated Meyer for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/Documents/NObel_Nomination_APPGCC.pdf
On Feb 4th 2009, Lord Adair Turner (chair, UK Climate Change Committee) confirmed to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee that, “it’s very difficult to imagine a long-term path for the world that is not somewhat related to a contract and converge type approach....we have made a very clear statement that we cannot imagine a global deal that is both do-able and fair, which doesn’t end up by mid century with roughly equal rights per capita to emit, and that is clearly said in the report”.
On 24 June 2009, Rajendra Pachauri, (Chairman of the IPCC) said the following (see www.tangentfilms.com/WTCApromo.wmv): “ When one looks at the kinds of reductions that would be required globally, the only means for doing so is to ensure that there’s contraction and convergence, and I think there’s growing acceptance of this reality. I don’t see how else we might be able to fit within the overall budget for emissions for the world as a whole by 2050. We need to start putting this principle into practice as early as possible, so that by the time we reach 2050, we’re not caught by surprise, we’re well on a track for every country in the world that would get us there... On the matter of ‘historic responsibility’, there is no doubt that accelerating the rate of convergence relative to the rate of contraction is a way of answering that we really need to get agreement from Developed and Developing Countries to subscribe to this principle.”
C&C was on the agenda for COP-15 at Copenhagen, but was not agreed: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/public/COP_15_C&C.swf
C&C is the most widely cited and arguably the most widely supported proposal for UNFCCC-compliance in play and many people believe C&C will yet prove to be the overarching principle that is adopted and that allows all nations to find common ground on how to achieve 'climate-justice without vengeance' and avert climate chaos: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/endorsements.html
Awards: Andrew Lees Memorial Prize, 1998; Schumacher Award, 2000; Findhorn Fellowship, 2004; City of London, Life-time’s Achievement Award, 2005; Honorary Fellow of Royal Institute of British Architects, 2007; UNEP FI Global Roundtable Financial Leadership Award, 2007.
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
He co-founded the Global Commons Institute
Global Commons Institute
The Global Commons Institute was founded in the United Kingdom in 1990 by Aubrey Meyer and others to campaign for a fair way to tackle climate change....
in 1990.
Born in Yorkshire in 1947. Raised in Cape Town, South Africa from 1952. Bachelor of Music 1968, Music College, Cape Town University. Won South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) scholarship for two years study abroad. 1969-71 Royal College of Music, London. Studied composition with Phillip Cannon and viola with the late Cecil Arronowitz. Winner, International Music Company Prize and Stanton Jeffries Music Prize.
After the Royal College, he earned his living playing viola in orchestras: - principal viola in Scottish Theatre Ballet, Ulster, Gulbenkian, CAPAB orchestras and as a rank-and-file player in the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet and finally in the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
During this period he continued composing. His one-act ballet ‘Exequy’ led to the award of a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Cape Town. In 1980, Meyer returned to London, combining composition with playing and his ballet score Choros for the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet together with the ballet by David Bintley, won an Evening Standard Award. Reviews here: - http://www.gci.org.uk/AubreyMeyer/CV_Aubrey_Meyer_1.pdf
In 1988, while looking for a theme for a new composition, he heard about the environmentalist Chico Mendez who had been assassinated for his work in trying to prevent the destruction of the Brazilian rainforest. The issues this raised - above all the looming threat of climate change - diverted Meyer from music to the UK Green Party. In consequence he abandoned his musical career to co-found the Global Commons Institute (GCI) in 1990 and start a programme to counter the threat based on the founding premise of ‘Equity and Survival’.
Since then, Meyer has devised and run an effective but shoestring campaign to promote the ideas he developed for achieving the objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - i.e. to avoid dangerous rates of global climate change.
At the request of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1992, Meyer conceived and presented his analysis of ‘The Unequal Use of the Global Commons’ to the Policy Working Group of the IPCC. This was dubbed ‘Expansion and Divergence’ and, led to a decisive international rejection, at the UN climate negotiations in 1995, of the global cost benefit analysis of climate change by some economists from the US and UK whose methods depended on the unequal valuation of human lives lost due to climate change in industrialised countries, compared to those lost in developing countries: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/economists.html
This led to the development of GCI’s framework of ‘Contraction & Convergence’ (C&C). Introduced at the UNFCCC in 1996, C&C’s approach to stabilising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at ‘safe’ level (by sharing the limited and finite weight of such gases that future human activity can release into the atmosphere on an equal per capita basis) raises a key issue in the climate change debate: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/briefings.html
As a musician and string player, Meyer says the world must collaborate with musical discipline to avert runaway climate change
Runaway climate change
Runaway climate change describes a theoretical scenario in which the climate system passes a threshold or tipping point, after which internal positive feedback effects cause the climate to continue changing without further external forcings...
: i.e. play C&C’s ‘carbon reduction score’ in time, in tune and together: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/music.html
This overall effort has led to many awards: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/awards.html
and in 2008 a cross party group of British MPs nominated Meyer for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/Documents/NObel_Nomination_APPGCC.pdf
On Feb 4th 2009, Lord Adair Turner (chair, UK Climate Change Committee) confirmed to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee that, “it’s very difficult to imagine a long-term path for the world that is not somewhat related to a contract and converge type approach....we have made a very clear statement that we cannot imagine a global deal that is both do-able and fair, which doesn’t end up by mid century with roughly equal rights per capita to emit, and that is clearly said in the report”.
On 24 June 2009, Rajendra Pachauri, (Chairman of the IPCC) said the following (see www.tangentfilms.com/WTCApromo.wmv): “ When one looks at the kinds of reductions that would be required globally, the only means for doing so is to ensure that there’s contraction and convergence, and I think there’s growing acceptance of this reality. I don’t see how else we might be able to fit within the overall budget for emissions for the world as a whole by 2050. We need to start putting this principle into practice as early as possible, so that by the time we reach 2050, we’re not caught by surprise, we’re well on a track for every country in the world that would get us there... On the matter of ‘historic responsibility’, there is no doubt that accelerating the rate of convergence relative to the rate of contraction is a way of answering that we really need to get agreement from Developed and Developing Countries to subscribe to this principle.”
C&C was on the agenda for COP-15 at Copenhagen, but was not agreed: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/public/COP_15_C&C.swf
C&C is the most widely cited and arguably the most widely supported proposal for UNFCCC-compliance in play and many people believe C&C will yet prove to be the overarching principle that is adopted and that allows all nations to find common ground on how to achieve 'climate-justice without vengeance' and avert climate chaos: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/endorsements.html
Awards: Andrew Lees Memorial Prize, 1998; Schumacher Award, 2000; Findhorn Fellowship, 2004; City of London, Life-time’s Achievement Award, 2005; Honorary Fellow of Royal Institute of British Architects, 2007; UNEP FI Global Roundtable Financial Leadership Award, 2007.