Posted on 12/02/2007 2:18:35 PM PST by ricks_place
BALI, Indonesia - World powers meeting at a UN climate change conference in Indonesia this week won't be able to craft a meaningful plan to address global warming without co-operation from the United States, the top emitter of greenhouse gases, the UN's climate chief said Sunday.
The United States refused to sign the last major international treaty on reducing greenhouse gases, undermining its effectiveness.
Delegates from 190 countries will gather on the resort island of Bali on Monday for one of the largest global warming conferences ever, bringing together about 10,000 people including Hollywood luminaries, former vice-president Al Gore, fishermen and drought-stricken farmers for two weeks of marathon discussions.
World leaders will attempt to launch negotiations that could lead to a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Among the most contentious issues will be whether emission cuts should be mandatory or voluntary and how to help the world's poorest countries adapt to a warmer climate.
Yvo de Boer, general secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the role of the United States "would be critical" in the discussions and that delegates must come up with a roadmap that's embraced by Washington.
"To design a long-term response to climate change that does not include the world's largest emitter and the world's largest economy just would not make any sense," he told reporters.
The United States, which along with Australia refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, said ahead of the Bali talks that it was eager to launch negotiations, but has been among industrialized countries leading a campaign against mandatory emission cuts.
But now the United States finds itself isolated at the conference, given that Australian Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd, whose party swept to power in general elections just one week ago, immediately put signing the Kyoto pact at the top of his international agenda.
President Bush, trying to fend off charges that America is not doing enough, said this week that a final Energy Department report showed American emissions of carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, declined by 1.5 per cent last year while the U.S. economy grew.
"Energy security and climate change are two of the important challenges of our time. The United States takes these challenges seriously," he said.
The meeting on Bali comes after a Nobel Prize-winning UN network of scientists issued a report concluding the level of carbon and other heat-trapping "greenhouse gas" emissions must be stabilized by 2015 and decline from there to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
The solutions are within reach, they said, from investing in renewable energy to improving energy efficiency. Without action, temperatures will rise, resulting in droughts, severe weather, dying species and other consequences, they said.
"It is already affecting the livelihoods of people we work with," said Dr. Charles Ehrhart, Climate Change Co-ordinator for CARE International, citing concerns over food security and access to water. "It is contributing to tensions within and between communities."
The 1997 Kyoto pact required 36 industrial countries to reduce carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gasses but it set relatively low emissions reduction targets: about a five per cent required drop in the levels recorded in 1990 by 2012.
A new agreement must be concluded within two years to ensure a smooth, uninterrupted transition.
De Boer said countries need to act now but acknowledged that anyone who expects the Bali meeting to result in specific targets or long-term solutions "will leave disappointed."
Industrialized countries, which have pumped the lion's share of greenhouses gases into the atmosphere to date, should take the lead in reducing emissions, he said. Developing countries like China, the world's second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, may not be required to cut their emissions immediately but should commit slowing the growth of carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases.
At best, analysts believe, Bali could lead to an agreement in about two years time with the United States under a new administration, the Europeans and other industrial nations committing to deepening blanket emissions cuts. And they say major developing countries could agree to enshrine some national policies - China's auto emission standards, for example, or energy-efficiency targets for power plants - as international obligations.
Give them the single finger salute.
They could have had us as part of the Kyoto accord if they’d only wanted to do so instead of tweaking our nose.
USA says that UN can go straight to hell.
And the UN can kiss our ass.
The signatories are currently being fined Billon$, payable to the UN of course.
These jet set Bali Lard Butts are not only presumptuous, they are idiotic. They have no idea who produces the "most" geenhouse gasses.
But it's BUSHES FAULT!LOL
Is Dubyah running in 2008?
A little preview of headlines in late 2008 when the She-beast sweeps to power, Chavez-style...
Islamonazis want to cut folks heads off and impose Sharia law everywhere and all some can do is wring their hands about climate change.. What a bunch of ninnies!
So, if I read this correctly, there are no actual warming effects yet. Just people "concerned" and "tense" about it.
Industrialized countries, which have pumped the lion's share of greenhouses gases into the atmosphere to date, should take the lead in reducing emissions, he said. Developing countries like China, the world's second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, may not be required to cut their emissions immediately but should commit slowing the growth of carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases.
So China (which will become the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2010, has no requiremnt to reduce emissions until some vague, unspecified period in the future.
There is no way that Congress will ratify this. None.
They are all flying to Bali, in jet aircraft I assume, which consume fossil fuels, and once there plan to tell us what to do? Had they decided to conduct this meeting through tele-conferencing or TV, or paddled to their luxurious Bali resort in dugout canoes, I might have a little more belief in their good faith. And we are no doubt paying for the party.
A member of Green Peace activist sets up a giant thermometer as a symbol of global warming during their campaign in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007. World leaders launch marathon negotiations Monday on how to fight global warming, which left unchecked could cause devastating sea level rises, send millions further into poverty and lead to the mass extinction of plants and animals. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
An armed Indonesian policeman stands guard in front of a U.N. Climate Change Conference billboard in Nusa Dua, Bali island December 2, 2007. Delegates from about 190 nations gathered in Bali on Sunday to try to build on a "fragile understanding" that the fight against global warming needs to be expanded to all nations with a deal in 2009. REUTERS/Murdani Usman (INDONESIA)
Throw the UN out of NY and get rid of a lot of hot air.
The UN and their Kyoto fiasco need cash to keep this nonsense going.
The grand-daddy of all granfalloons. What rubbish.
UN must recognize the sovreignity of the US government.
Yea what are they gonna do if we say no? Sanctions against us. Let me /cry some. Oh noes.
Correct. Just as the hunger nazis consider you one of the "hungry in America" if you even think about not having enough to eat.
We need to revert our economy so rapidly to the Stone Age that the ensuing crisis takes down the Chinese economy too. And no cooking fires and no cattle, Americans. But say yes to even higher taxes. Gosh, cavemen lived better than we will in our near future.
Weather report from upper New York state. Last night low temp was 15 degrees F. It snowed and there currently is 3 to 5 inches of wet snow on the ground with more expected tonight.
My palm trees have been frozen off at the ground.
That is not very persuasive to me.
Molon labe, buddy.
The New Yorker was a dull Communist rag even in its best days, but at least the cartoons used to be funny. One by Barsotti sometime in the 1980s comes to mind in this context:
A businessman is talking on his phone, standing up at his desk in front of what's apparently his appointment calendar.
"No, Thursday's out. How about never? Is never good for you?"
Molon labe, buddy. And by the way, you will NEVER make it meaningful, because it is Bogus Science and it does not MEAN anything.
US must be part of UN change (make smaller and move to Zimbabwe, West Bank, Iran, Cuba, etc.
Luminary: a person who has attained eminence in his or her field or is an inspiration to others
Naaaaahhhh....no bias there....
Translation: UN concludes USA by cooperate in worlds attempt to destroy USA.
Hillary, pelosi, and reid volunteer to help.
“BALI, Indonesia - World powers meeting at a UN climate change conference in Indonesia this week won’t be able to craft a meaningful plan to address global warming without co-operation from the United States, the top emitter of greenhouse gases, the UN’s climate chief said Sunday.”
Sorry, that distinction goes to China.
The globe has been warming "Back Up" every since the ice age! And from what we were taught back in grade school, it's still got some warming to go before it get's back to what it was when the dinosaur's roamed the earth. Leave it to al gore to take advantage of a natural happening.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
BS!
I notice that UN billboard's blood red.
...the United States, the top emitter of greenhouse gases....Maybe if we promise to put Michael Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, and Ted Kennedy on a diet . . . .
LOL.
They plan on turning of the SUN?
Climate Action in China China has ratified the primary international accords on climate change—the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol—but as a developing county, China has no binding emission limits under either accord. China is, however, an active participant in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established under the Protocol. The CDM grants emission credits for verified reductions in developing countries, which can be used toward meeting their Kyoto targets. This provides lower-cost reductions for developed countries and generates investment in clean development in developing countries. China is by far the largest source of CDM credits, accounting for over 40 percent of those generated to date...
China argues that rich countries are responsible for most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and so should shoulder most of the burden of reducing them. It also points out that although its overall emissions are huge and growing fast (they will surpass America's this year, according to the International Energy Agency), they are still far lower than America's when measured per person (see chart). It would be unfair, it argues, to deprive China's citizens of the chance to live as lavishly as Americans do, despite all the pollution that might entail...
That ignores the fact that global warmings is bull, especially that it is man made.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
They want our money and they want to screw our economy. P!ss on ‘em!
UN says USA must be part of climate change agreement....
F...the UN!!!!!
~~ AGW™ ping~~
PhotoShopped pictures of polar bears drowning and elephants mummified in Africa; the list is nearly endless. One scientist has linked more than 600 bogus science websites to the topic “global warming.” Almost all are alarmist, if not just plain dishonest...
for example, last night on the TV 'news' in Oz we were treated to another nightly 'global-warming' lecture - not a single day passes without one. The 'effects' were illustrated by a number of dead donkeys lying in the sand GUESS WHERE? On the outskirts of a camp in DARFUR!
'Get me an image of some dead animals, quick! We can't keep using those polar bears on icebergs, the viewers need something new to jolt them - and never mind the context...'
Yep. Even the genocide in Darfur is useful to push the global warming b*llsh*t.
That they want to zap the US and give China a pass just goes to show that all this economic mumbo jumbo is pointed squarely at the US economy.
Screw em.
Pigs
Yet they will not let us develop the resources of outer space.
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