Emissions Accomplished – Moon of Alabama

December 9, 2005

Emissions Accomplished

International climate talks in Montreal: U.S. Delegation Walks Out. The U.S. and Australia are blocking any Kyoto successor. A decent press roundup with a debug of the Australian spin is in this WaPo World Opinion.

Flying in an ex U.S. president on short notice was a bit of a stunt, but of course it didn´t change anything:

"I think it’s crazy for us to play games with our children’s future," Mr. Clinton said. "We know what’s happening to the climate, we have a highly predictable set of consequences if we continue to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and we know we have an alternative that will lead us to greater prosperity."

But maybe this gave a realistic impression:

The National Environmental Trust distributed custom-printed noise-making rubber whoopee cushions printed with a caricature of President Bush and the words "Emissions Accomplished."

Posted by b on December 9, 2005 at 22:20 UTC | Permalink

Comments

b,
An OT observation, but I was reading a link from “Lennon” (before this “Emissions Accomplished” was posted) and hit return and got directed to this thread instead of “Lennon”. No big deal but I thought you might be interested.

Posted by: Juannie | Dec 9 2005 22:29 utc | 1

If anybody knows where can you buy Emissions Accomplished Bush Whoopie Cushions, please post a link. That would solve this year’s Christmas/Holiday gift problems for a lot of people.

Posted by: eftsoons | Dec 9 2005 23:48 utc | 2

Jesus fricking Christ, this is a badly written article (hell, even I can write better than this), however, I did find the gist of the thing of interest. You may too:
Bush Threatens U.N. Over Clinton Climate Speech
Bush-administration officials privately threatened organizers of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, telling them that any chance there might’ve been for the United States to sign on to the Kyoto global-warming protocol would be scuttled if they allowed Bill Clinton to speak at the gathering today in Montreal,[…]
Also see: Dick Cheney is a big fat pussy.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 10 2005 2:20 utc | 3

What made anyone think that the Bushes were signing any ‘new Kyoto deal’?
Whoopee cushions are too good for these people. They are disgusting.

Posted by: going to puke | Dec 10 2005 3:28 utc | 4

Looks like the U.S. just burned some international political capital again without any result but a lot of negative press.
U.S., Under Fire, Eases Its Stance in Climate Talks

MONTREAL, Saturday, Dec. 10 – The United States dropped its opposition early Saturday morning to nonbinding talks on addressing global warming after a few words were adjusted in the text of statements that, 24 hours earlier, prompted a top American official to walk out on negotiations.
…
In a sign of its growing isolation on climate issues, the Bush administration had come under sharp criticism for walking out of informal discussions on finding new ways to reduce emissions under the United Nations’ 1992 treaty on climate change.
The walkout, by Harlan L. Watson, the chief American negotiator here, came Friday, shortly after midnight, on what was to have been the last day of the talks, during which the administration has been repeatedly assailed by the leaders of other wealthy industrialized nations for refusing to negotiate to advance the goals of that treaty, and in which former President Bill Clinton chided both sides for lack of flexibility.
At a closed session of about 50 delegates, Dr. Watson objected to the proposed title of a statement calling for long-term international cooperation to carry out the 1992 climate treaty, participants said. He then got up from the table and departed.
…
In the end, though, some adjustments of wording – including a shift from “mechanisms” to the softer word “opportunities” in one statement – ended the dispute.
…
The Montreal talks have yielded significant new signs that developing countries are beginning to consider ways to promote economic growth without increasing emissions.
Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica and Brazil all proposed ways to add incentives for reducing destruction of rain forests to the climate agreements.
…
But even if new talks under the Kyoto treaty lead to new targets for industrial nations, some scientists said Friday that they would not be enough to stem harmful warming without broader actions by the biggest and fastest-growing polluters.
In a statement from London, Lord Martin Rees, the new president of Britain’s Royal Society, an independent national scientific academy, said the disputes among wealthy nations over how to reduce emissions were distracting them from carrying out steps to make the cuts.

Posted by: b | Dec 10 2005 7:53 utc | 5

Many people don’t care about climate change. Some even welcome it.
The Kyoto accords are in any case completely insufficient, as the Bush Gvmt. has pointed out.
People on the street and in authority are swayed by all kinds of parameters. Putin, who signed practically under gun point, would like to see Siberia unfrozen, as would many Siberians. The US, with its apocalyptic mind set (see the reactions to Katrina) tends to adopt a que sera sera policy; see Condi Rice saying that the tsunami was a good business opportunity. (Or whatever it was she said..)
For many, the backdrop of the natural world is just a stage on which humans can do anything, perform any feats. People will adapt, or not. Those who do not will be the pitiful victims of Social Darwinism, not of human folly.
Short term interests win out everytime. I have heard a US Gvmt. employee say that it doesn’t matter if a large part of Bangladesh goes underwater. Who cares? And if the inhabitants of Tuvalu have to be re-located, so what, there are millions of refugees in the world, there are just a few people on that little rock. Here in Switzerland, some people argue that if all the glaciers melt (as they are already half gone…), and temps. rise even more, it will be negative as the ski industry will eventally die, but it is old hat anyway, it would be a wonderful thing if those ‘mountain people’ diversified. They could run health spas! And grow – safran! (Which they are already doing btw.)
‘Totalitarian’ Gvmts. always set aside the environment, as they need to exploit it to gain and hold power. The USSR was a spectacular example in the recent past; today the US and China hold the awards.
Tragedy of the Commons, indeed.

Posted by: Noisette | Dec 10 2005 17:50 utc | 6

Well said, as usual, Noisette.
The skinny of it is this: Economic Growth = Planetary Destruction.
Plain and simple. At least this is certainly true under the present metrics of measuring economic growth where cleaning up after Katrina, Chernobyl, Iraq, etc. or treating the exponential increases in Cancers, Heart Disease, Diabetes etc. that so-called “civilization” brings = increases in GDP, or economic growth.
We are already beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. We must shrink in a controlled, humane fashion. And we must change our ways of quantifying development to include environmental, health, ecological, human satisfaction, etc. components. These statistical indices have already been designed; the Capitalists refuse to use them for fear of what they would show.

Posted by: Malooga | Dec 11 2005 5:38 utc | 7

Just a tad OT:
this site presents animated visuals concerning various (standard) measures of human development. It is a really excellent educational tool for students and people who like to bat a lot of figures about out of context. Just look at – watch! – the drop of mean income in ex-Yugoslavia, or the slow slump of Africa… and that big blue ball of the OCDE coutries, merrily barreling along. And more.
Gap minder

Posted by: Noisette | Dec 12 2005 18:32 utc | 8

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