U.S. Climate Change Commitment Questioned By European Leaders

New York Times:

As world leaders gather in New York for the highest-level conference yet on climate change, European leaders are expressing growing unease about the United States' stance in international talks aimed at reaching a global agreement in Copenhagen in December.

Officials of several European countries have cited what they see as a lack of political will on the part of the United States to adequately address climate change. The American reluctance to accept any agreement that would require legally binding and internationally enforceable targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions could doom the Copenhagen session, they said.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[texfly]

They said this on 1 years worth of data? Give me a break! Has anyone done a time-series statistical analysis of this data?

http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Widescale+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm


I didn't think so. Just remember not even ten years makes climate variation definitive one way or the other. The lifetime of CO2 is 10's - to 100's of years (The tail even as long as >1000 years in a couple of articles:
Archer, J Geophys Res, 110, C09S05, 2005 and http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.earth.031208.100206 )

Why are we Americans always in such a rush to prove things one way or another, TODAY, if not sooner.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/20/us-climate-change-commitm_n_292834.html?show_comment_id=31563742#comment_31563742

[RomeoMD25]

“The year 2009 is proving to be a yet another very inconvenient year for the promoters of man-made global warming fears. As the “year without a summer” continues, the U.S. in July alone has broken over 3000 cold temperature records, and global temps have fallen .74F since Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” was released in 2006.”

[nussernews]

WHY IGNORE THE SECURITY THREATS POSED BY GLOBAL WARMING?
ASK AESOP

Aesop’s fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes has been whispered in the corridors of power for more than a thousand years. the fable holds the human race up for ridicule. Its hero is a guileless, wise-mouthed child. If you don't know it, look it up. The fable holds particular relevance for the Copenhagen 'summit' in December.
In 1991 the U.N. Commission on Transnational Corporations said any climate change treaty is bound to fail unless it incorporates “full cost accounting” principles into its plans, rather than rely on the 500-year-old double entry, profit and loss, debit and credit method that remains the world standard.

Full cost accounting measures the environmental, social and economic costs of doing business in today’s world. Calculating the worth of a business -- and its liabilities -- in terms of its cost to society seems logical and fair, but logic plays a diminished role in a world lacking vision.

Without taking these things into account, there can be no agenda for cleaning up the mess we’re in. It ‘s a vision thing. Ask any child.

###

Richard Nusser is a writer and award winning journalist whose interest in environmental issues stem from childhood experiences with overflowing tidal creeks, flooded backyards and basements in low-lying parts of Staten Island, where he grew up.

[BabblingBrooks]

Where's the article on the admission by Professor Mojib Latif that the earth has been COOLING the past 10 years?

Hiding truth again, HuffPost? NO WONDER people are losing confidence in the media.

[BlackbirdHighway]

Was that the Professor on Gilligan's Island? Whoever he is, if he told you the Earth is cooling he is lying.

[BabblingBrooks]

You are making unwarranted assumptions. Open your mind, grow up, stop being a jerk.

"Latif is one of the leading climate modellers in the world. He is the recipient of several international climate-study prizes and a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has contributed significantly to the IPCC's last two five-year reports that have stated unequivocally that man-made greenhouse emissions are causing the planet to warm dangerously.

Yet last week in Geneva, at the UN's World Climate Conference--an annual gathering of the so-called "scientific consensus" on man-made climate change --Latif conceded the Earth has not warmed for nearly a decade and that we are likely entering "one or even two decades during which temperatures cool.""
--NewsBusters

[BabblingBrooks]

Note: NONE OF THE CLIMATE MODELS upon which global warming theories are based predicted that the warming trend would stop and a cooling trend begin.

However, those of us who have noted that the warming and cooling trends appear to be solar-system-wide, that there are NO SUVs or oil wells or coal-fired plants on Jupiter or Mars, did predict that it is THE SUN which is the primary climate changer and that the current sun cycle would produce cooling.

It is not difficult, however, to note that THERE HAS BEEN COOLING since 1998 and it is crazy to pretend there has not been such AFTER THE FACT.

[ResidualSelfImage]

Obama is promoting more dirty coal power plants with dirty streams and processing yards he is a sell out!
He isnt fooling anyone.

[lilalove]

Climate change is a big issue. We want it done correctly. Right now Obama is kind of busy. A few months ago it looked like America was going to fully crash over the cliff into an abyss, and in so doing, take the rest of the world along with us. We have taken a few step away from that ruin. We also have a couple waist high quick sand wars pulling our attention and a little 50 year old, record of defeat for all former presidents who have tried, health care bill we are trying to get past. It's only been a year. Obama will focus on the climate change ball when the field is a little more clear. That ball is going to be another hard game and it needs our leaders serious attention when the time comes. The fact that he is not trying to toss it into the mix at this moment is a sign of wisdom. The youth of America are very, very big on the climate issue, unlike the healthcare issues. Obama will have the force and power of many young educated healthy troops when the climate change bill starts to take form. And he will need all of them. They are saving their energy for that fight. The election burned everyone out for a little while. But when the time comes for the climate debate, Obama will find a land swell of Americans behind him. He can time that out pouring.

[BabblingBrooks]

Doing "it" correctly would first require determining what "it" is! The most persuasive evidence is that "it" is the sun cycle, which we have absolutely NO control over with our current state of knowledge and we may NEVER have any control over it. The continued attempt to blame climate change--without even acknowledging that clear evidence that THE EARTH IS NOW COOLING--on man-caused processes, will result in ERRONEOUS CONCLUSIONS AND ERRONEOUS "SOLUTIONS."

[lilalove]

The vast majority of scientists believe humans cause global warming. That does not mean that many other scientist think it's something else. It's like the earth is round vs the world is flat debate. I think the earth is round and I think humans affect the environment. America and Norway were the leaders in banning CFCs. It took almost 10 years for the rest of the world to follow our lead. Now that it has, our Ozone layer is healing.
On a side note, the man who discovered that CFC's were eating away the earths Ozone layer, James Lovelock, did not believe that global warming was man made. Even after his discovery of the CFC's and our Ozone. He made very good points to why 'global warming' was not man made. But, that has changed. I think it is very important to understand why he changed his mind. It's not something he did lightly. "The Revenge of Gaia" is an eye opener.

[CRUMBOWSKI]

Of COURSE! This was/is a foregone conclusion...

For months..this INEVITABLE OUTCOME..was the defacto PROOF that obama was emerging as the scariest..slickest..LIAR..to ever come down the pike...hey..i VOTED FOR HIM..i admit it..many will not...many have JOINED in the heinous soft peddaling of Policy...I mean..when MoveOn.Org begins a mass emailing with the words..."The Influence of the Taliban must be reduced by force before Afghainstan can...." blah..blah...blah...AMAZING!

NO!..For MONTHS..the reality has been..."Health Care Reform with a Public Option/Single Payer option"? Yeah Right...and then.."CLEAN COAL and a GREEN ECONOMY" suuuure!

NOPE! Not going to happen..and..again..that is the PROOF...the FINAL BROKEN PROMISE....

Obama is...amazingly...beginning to WORRY more people than BUSH DID....!!! No doubt about it..and i am talking about "LIBERALS"...Obama is ENHANCING the Erosions to Civil Liberties...

Hey..The NEW INTERNAL VISA is a real GEM in the crown of ILLEGAL and UNCONSTITUTIONAL attacks on our Civil Liberties...as in you can no longer travel by plane..without having your NAME 'CHECKED" against the WATCH LIST..which in and of itself..is...ummmm...well..for a "CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLAR"...kind of an odd.."POLICY"...

So...this is just..PROOF...there will BE..no 'GREEN ECONOMY'...and "Taking On The COAL industry..." SPFAWWWW! ? can you say "SECRET DEAL WITH BIG PHaRMA"...yeah..whatever!

[BabblingBrooks]

Even an insane squirrel may find a nut somebody else buried once in a while...

[PaxEterna]

What commitment? There isn't any, just like there is no real commitment to health CARE reform, finance reform etc.

[lilalove]

Obama will be the first president to ever get a health care bill passed. It will not be perfect but it will be good enough and a powerful first step. As for finance reform, that needs to be done in phases. We don't want to freeze the market when we have barely taken a few steps away from total economic ruin. everyone with a 410k had lost half of their hard earned retirement savings not long ago. That's the majority of middle class America. And without the fast actions taken they would have lost all of it. and it would have hurt those over 65 the most. That was a handful of months ago. How quickly people forget. They way to turn a ship is slow and steady. Hard sharp turns on a boat that is already shakey could flip the ship and sink it. Obama is going slow for a reason, and it has nothing to do with lack of will and everything to do with measured steps taken with caution and pace.

[CaptainVideo]

The European countries have solved the problem of universal health insurance and therefore are free to move on climate change.

The United States has to first deal with the problem of universal health insurance before it can be free to deal with clinmate change.

The Obama adminstration made a political mistake in opening a second front on climate change legislation before the health insurance battle had been won. Fighting a two front war requires you to spread your resources and runs the risk of losing the battle on both fronts.

[whodoyouvoodoo]

According to www.lightbulbrecycling.com, each year an estimated 600 million fluorescent lamps are disposed of in U.S. landfills, amounting to 30,000 pounds of mercury waste. Astonishingly, that's almost half the amount of mercury emitted into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants each year. It only takes 4mg of mercury to contaminate up to 7,000 gallons of freshwater, meaning that the 30,000 pounds of mercury thrown away in compact fluorescent light bulbs each year is enough to pollute nearly every lake, pond, river and stream in North America (not to mention the oceans).

So now we get to import mercury filled Chinese light bulbs, built in EPA exempt, slave labor factories, powered by dirty coal, in the the great environmental paradise of Communist China and transported to the USA using huge ships powered by oil. So the “useful idiots” have this thought out well....

[CaptainVideo]

Mercury based fever thermometers were phased out because of the mercury pollution problem.

So what are we doing now? Trying to replace the environmentally clean incandescent light bulbs with mercury based light bulbs which will make the mercury pollution problem even worse. This is pure insanity!

[outbackbiochar]

For those of you interested in new technologies that we can all use to help do our part in the fight against global cliimate change i invite you to visit www.outbackbiochar.com and watch the movie at the top of the screen. Biochar is a new tool that's being championed by Tim Flannery, James Lovelock, Johanness Lehman and many other world leading environmentalists. It's a new story and not many people have heard of it and we're hoping other people like you can share this really great technology. Thanks.

[TheOuroborus]

Same as it ever was... same as it ever was...

[DrToketee]

What's the big deal. It's just another Obama campaign promise into the trash can. right? At the end of the year we can light them on fire and keep ourselves warm over the winter ...

[CaptainVideo]

Obama clearly cannot fight a multi-front war. That forces him to spread his resources too thin. He needs to concentrate on a limited number of issues at any one time. Measures to restore the economy to full employment and achieving universal health insurance have to have to get the full utilization of his political resources at this time. After those battles have been won, the battle for a cleaner environment can take center stage.

[reddflagg]

I personally wish that t the rest of the world would stop being so deferential to the US and naive enough to think most Americans care about the environment. The only way to get the US on board is to place eco-tariffs on our goods. If on average the cost of curtailing greenhouse gas emissions is say 20% then the US should have a 20% tariff slapped on all exports. Such a tariff would probably depress our economy enough for us to meet the targets anyway. If we don't want to pay the price of being part of the world we shouldn't be allowed to enjoy the benefits either.

[Guardian]

Not to worry.

http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Widescale+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm