U.N. climate scientist, Rajendra Pachauri, announced, during the one-day climate summit earlier this week, that "the time is up for inaction."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has called climate change the "defining issue of our era," has invited world leaders to attend a special one-day event to help map out how the world can move forward to address climate change and support progress at the Climate Change Conference in Bali this December. [Link to video].
The speakers included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who called for "action, action, action," and Al Gore, who has been calling for action for a long time and who asked world leaders to meet every three months to insure action, and was attended by world leaders from member companies -- except for the President of the United States.
According to this CNN/AP report, George Bush did not attend the meeting. He did show up for the after-party, however; a possible shot across the bow at Ban-Kai Moon as to who will control the climate change debate. The Secretary-General wants the issue handled on an international basis because, as he pointed out, climates cross borders. While President Bush, by holding his own climate meeting next week and forgoing the meeting today, seemed to be sending a signal that he wants the debate managed out of Washington.
Because they've done so well with climate change to this point...
The purpose of Ban Kai-Moon's one-day United Nations summit was to prepare for the annual climate treaty conference next December in Bali. That is where talks on the agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 will take place. Yesterday's summit, however, was not solely to prepare for Bali. U.N. climate scientist, Rajendra Pachauri, told the conference of rising sea levels and melting ice and the urgency to make a decision about how to face the new reality of climate change and then punctuated his remarks with the statement that: "The time is up for inaction."
"How does one explain to the inhabitants that their plight is caused by human activities done in faraway lands?" the President of Micronesia added.
How does one explain it?
At the United Nations where all member nations can rise and speak about their plight?
At a private party with a select few that night?
Or at a White House that recently cut the budget on climate satellites at the same time that they announced their initiative on global warming.
The Bush Administration, who'd sent Condoleezza Rice to speak at today's meeting, insisted their meetings will help to advance the talks. The Secretary-General, who at first pressed for an umbrella effort under the United Nations, responded that he was sure President Bush would "help the United Nations effort."
That effort includes the U.S. as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, followed closely by China and India. It also includes every other country on earth, because, as Secretary-General Moon pointed out, climate change is a global problem. Therefore, if anyone delays the effort, everyone will be impacted their delay.
Here's the link to the U.N.'s Climate Change website.
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