Posted on 08/31/2005 10:34:34 AM PDT by truthandlife
Germany's environment minister has added his voice to green activists and others who have sought to link Hurricane Katrina with global warming.
"The increasing frequency of these natural events can only be explained through global warming which is caused by people," Juergen Trittin told the ZDF television network.
Trittin, a member of the Green Party in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's ruling coalition, was also quoted by the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper as criticizing the Bush administration for doing little to fight climate change.
Germany is a strong supporter of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that came into force last February. The pact requires industrialized nations to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other "greenhouse gases" blamed for climate change by specified amounts.
Washington rejected the Kyoto Protocol, which President Bush said would damage the U.S. economy. Other critics note the treaty excludes major developing nations and polluters such as China and India.
Frankfurter Rundschau quoted Trittin as accusing the U.S. of closing its eyes to the "emergency" of global warming, even as the average American was responsible for twice as much CO2 as the average European.
"The Bush government rejects international climate protection goals by insisting that imposing them would negatively impact the American economy," he said.
"The American president is closing his eyes to the economic and human costs his land and the world economy are suffering under natural catastrophes like Katrina and because of neglected environmental policies."
Others who have linked the devastating hurricane to global warming include environment journalist and author Ross Gelbspan -- in a Boston Globe op-ed piece Tuesday'; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who wrote that Katrina was "giving our nation a glimpse of the climate chaos we are bequeathing our children."
An editorial on the website of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle stated Wednesday: "Even as the damage caused by hurricane Katrina in the US is assessed, the reason for its brutality is already known -- global warming."
A month ago the U.S. joined Australia -- which also opposes Kyoto -- as well as Japan, India, China and South Korea in launching a new Asia-Pacific partnership aimed at finding ways to combat climate change outside the framework of Kyoto, while meeting the growing energy needs of the world's most populous regions.
Last week, a New Zealand business grouping urged the New Zealand government -- like Germany, a devoted Kyoto supporter -- to consider dropping out of the treaty in 2008, joining the new Asia-Pacific partnership instead.
The Employers and Manufacturers Association noted the New Zealand government's acknowledgement earlier this year that meeting the country's emission-reduction targets set by Kyoto would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more than predicted.
Herr Trittin can go pound sand. Although, he won't be in office much longer.
D*UCHE-LAND
These guys are nut cases.
"The Kyoto Protocol, which President Bush has rejected, would limit U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases to 7 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012. Given the current trajectory of energy and economic growth, meeting that target means the United States would have to cut energy consumption by as much as 30 to 35 percent below what Americans are now expected to be using in 2012. Some economists estimate that it would cost 3 percent of U.S. gross national product per year to achieve that lower level of emissions. How much would Kyoto-mandated emissions cutbacks benefit the global environment? Climatologists estimate that implementing the Kyoto Protocol would, by 2100, avoid only 0.14 degrees C of temperature rise. That means projected man-made greenhouse warming that might have been 3 degrees C by 2100 would instead be 2.86 degrees C. "
http://reason.com/rb/rb061301.shtml
The article should have read the Senate rejected Kyoto by something like a vote of 91 to 0 .
It was only a matter of time before this was linked to global warming. Just like the tsunami and everything else nature does.
Freeper Mozrock Links German Minister to Severe Case of Mental Diarrhea, Liberal Stupidity to Blame
Well, I'm glad to see Germany helping us out again.
Hear, hear!!
So surely Herr Minister and all his fellow greenies have junked their autos, destroyed their houses and have moved into a cave somewhere, that way they aren't contributing to "global warming!"
uh Huh
Oh jeez! These leftist idiots with their Bush bashing. They should actually thank Bush since apparently without him around to bash at every second they wouldn't have anything to do.
I wonder how this oxygen thief can explain it's the fault of the Bush government that Kyoto was ratified when EVERY SINGLE MEMBER of the senate who voted on it, R's and D's, rejected it. German politicians make me as sick as French politicians and American democrats.
I concur on your analysis.
Well, this idiot is the guy that refuses to sing the German National Anthem. As a German Federal Minister. I´m glad and proud to see the President dismissing him in October. Trittin will be one of the last Green ministers in Germany. In October, every single German government (federal and state both) will be Green-free zones. :-)
Minister Trittin is a member of the Green Party.
ROFLMAO!!!!
Please acknowledge that we have a opposition, and that this opposition is very likely to replace the current government in just a few weeks.
Get a German beer cold for September 18th. It´ll be a nice Sunday for a BBQ to celebrate the end of Schröders career. :-)
If lectures could feed people Trittin would be a real humaninitarian. As it is he's just another self-serving mouth with a suit on.
bet he drives a BMW 7 series with a government gas card for filling up.
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