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Bali climate conference ends with weak agreement |
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 The UN Climate Change
Conference has wrapped up in Bali. For most of the conference the
United States stood in the way of an agreement among the 190 attending
countries. An agreement was finally reached following an impassioned
speech by Al Gore in which he told the delegates that a new
administration was coming soon to Washing ton. "You must anticipate
that [things will change]" he advised. Meaningful pressure
was put on US intransigence by a threat from European nations to
boycott climate talks hosted by the Bush Administration in Hawaii next
month. (These guys sure go to nice places to chat it up). The problem
comes down to this - the US wants developing nations such as India and
China to share the pain in reducing greenhouse gas emissions because in
the near future China and India will emit more CO2 than the US. Those
nations say that the developed countries had a free pass for over 100
years and should take the lead. The agreement that was
reached doesn't require anyone to do anything. But it
does formally acknowledge that C02 emissions are a global
problem and that all of the countries in the world will need work
toward making serious reductions. This is a necessary step toward real
action. Here's the story from the NY
Times
On another note, Al Gore has finished energy renovations on his home.
The 80 year old mansion now uses solar and geothermal energy
sources in addition to compact flourescent bulbs and the like.
Here's the story on msnbc.com
I take back my previous snipe of hypocrisy. It's
nice to see words matching deeds. As for my winter fires...
I'll commit in writing right here and now that I'll never buy a
Gulfstream G-5 and fly it solo.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 January 2008 )
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