Day 1,598: fiat, placate, decree, stocktake

As many pointed out at the time, it could not tell countries what to do; it could not end the fossil-fuel age by fiat; it could not draw back the seas, placate the winds or dim the noonday sun.

But it could at least lay down the law for subsequent cops, decreeing that this year’s should see the first “global stocktake” of what had and had not been done to bring the agreement’s overarching goals closer.

Progress on climate change has been too slow. But it’s been real

Artwork of the day 
Fiat Rex
Nicholas Roerich
Style: Symbolism
Genre: religious painting
Media: canvas, tempera
Location: Roerich Museum, Moscow, Russia
Dimensions: 119.5 x 91.5 cm

Word of the day 
fiat: an order given by a person in authority
placate: to stop someone from feeling angry
decree: to officially decide or order that something must happen
stocktake: an occasion on which the goods and materials owned by a company or available for sale in a store at a particular time are counted 

Quote of the day
“If by some fiat I had to restrict all this writing to one sentence, this is the one I would choose: The summit of Mt. Everest is marine limestone.”
― John McPhee