Clinton: Bush ‘Flat Wrong’ About Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
Deal reached at climate conference
There’s no longer any serious doubt that climate change is real, accelerating and caused by human activities. We are uncertain about how deep and the time of arrival of the consequences, but we are quite clear they will not be good.
- President Bill Clinton
There should be little doubt that the Kyoto Protocols is a legitimate attempt by the governments of the world to ensure that the issue of greenhouse gasses are addressed before the damage has already been done and is irreversible. The Clinton Administration did the right thing and threw it’s weight behind Kyoto. It was the right thing to do and the right time to do it. ‘Course, that was then, and this is now. Our Glorious Leader refuses to do anything that might possibly restrict the ability of Big Business to make money hand-over-fist.
Kyoto is not a perfect solution. Yes, the fact that India, China, and other developing industrial nations are not bound to it’s emission standards is a gaping flaw in the agreement. Does this mean that the US government should ignore the reality of greenhouse gasses and plow full speed ahead? Isn’t there something to be said for assuming the moral high ground on this issue and working to being the Third World into line with the rest of the industrialized world?
MONTREAL, Quebec (AP) — More than 150 nations agreed Saturday to launch formal talks on mandatory post-2012 reductions in greenhouse gases — talks that will exclude an unwilling United States.
For its part the Bush administration, which rejects the emissions cutbacks of the current Kyoto Protocol, accepted only a watered-down proposal to enter an exploratory global “dialogue” on future steps to combat climate change. That proposal specifically rules out “negotiations leading to new commitments.”….
A broad scientific consensus agrees that these gases accumulating in the atmosphere, byproducts of automobile engines, power plants and other fossil fuel-burning industries, contributed significantly to the past century’s global temperature rise of 1 degree Fahrenheit.
Continued warming is melting glaciers worldwide, shrinking the Arctic ice cap and heating up the oceans, raising sea levels, scientists say. They predict major climate disruptions in coming decades.
Of course, if you’re Our Glorious Leader, you no doubt feel that simply ignoring the problem will be enough to make it go away. Then again, when you practically grew up in the oil bidness and most of your wealthy supporters seem to hail from Big Energy, why in the world would you want to bite the hand that feeds you?
Delegations from the Bush Administration at international climate control conferences know that they are unpopular. They have kept very low profiles at these events…perhaps because they know that they positions they are charged with defending are irresponsible and indefensible? It would be nice to think that our government truly cared about the environment and the world we are creating for future generations. The sad reality, though, is that this Administration cares for little save for it’s own poll numbers and the ability of Republican donors to make money hand-over-fist.
So…do you miss Bill Clinton yet? Lord knows I do.
