Posted on 05/28/2007 11:16:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
BERLIN - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday she led a congressional delegation to Greenland, where lawmakers saw "firsthand evidence that climate change is a reality," and she hoped the Bush administration would consider a new path on the issue.
After meeting with German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, Pelosi praised Berlin for its leadership on the issue.
Her trip comes ahead of next week's Group of Eight summit and a climate change meeting next month involving the leading industrialized nations and during a time of increased debate over what should succeed the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 international treaty that caps the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted from power plants and factories in industrialized countries. It expires in 2012.
President Bush rejected that accord, saying it would harm the U.S. economy and unfair excludes developing countries like China and India from its obligations. Pelosi, who strongly disagrees with that decision and many other of Bush's environmental policies, said Friday she said she wants to work with the administration rather than provoke it.
Pelosi said she hoped Bush would be open to considering a "different way" in the future.
The California Democrat pointed to her delegation's weekend stop in Greenland, "where we saw firsthand evidence that climate change is a reality; there is just no denying it."
"It wasn't caused by the people of Greenland — it was caused by the behavior of the rest of the world," she said.
Scientists have noticed that Greenland's output of ice into the North Atlantic had increased dramatically, doubling over the decade that ended in 2005.
"We hope that we can all assume our responsibilities with great respect and that our administration will be open to listening to why it is important to go forward perhaps in a different way than we have proceeded in the past," she told reporters.
Gabriel and Chancellor Angela Merkel have made the fight against global warming a key point of Germany's presidencies of the G-8 and European Union. Still, Merkel has said that progress at the June 6-8 summit in Heiligendamm is not assured.
According to comments on a document released by the environmental group Greenpeace, the Bush administration is preparing to reject new targets on climate change at the summit. The White House declined to confirm the comments were from U.S. officials.
"We regret very much that we must so far have the impression that it is difficult to reach concrete results with the American administration," Gabriel said after meeting Pelosi.
Gabriel said industrial nations must take joint responsibility for the global warming that has occurred thus far.
"For the climate change of the future ... we need readiness on the part of China, India and today's other developing countries to take responsibility themselves," he added. "We can and will only achieve that if industrial nations do justice to their responsibility."
Pelosi, who is to meet with Merkel on Tuesday, said she wanted to "salute Germany's leadership on this very important issue," and said she hoped for a diplomatic debate within the United States.
Gabriel welcomed increasing interest in climate change at state and city level in the U.S. and hailed Pelosi's decision to set up a select committee on energy and global warming.
"This shows that there is a great deal of movement in the United States, too, and we naturally hope that we will achieve progress in Heiligendamm," he said.
The G-8 meeting has already drawn protests from antiglobalization activists; 21 demonstrators were arrested Monday during unrest that broke out after a march in Hamburg.
I noticed there’s been a shift from the use of the term global “warming” to global “climate change”. Guess they figured “warming” was becoming a hard sell.
Her stupidity knows no bounds.
The climate always changes. Most of the time the the planet is in an Ice Age. They really, really suck. Happily, the ice has been melting for many centuries. Apparently Ms Pelosi has just discovered climate change -- but only has the mental capacity to think of it in a very narrow context. Specifically what fits her own agenda.
The term "global warming" has only really been an American term. It was used by the left because they were concerned that "change" is something Americans like so "climate change" would be a hard sell.
For the most part, the rest of the world has always used "climate change". In fact, just sayng the German equivalent of "global warming" (Globale Erwärmung) is a toungue twister and whereas climate change (Klima Änderung) just rolls off the tongue - well as much as any German does. Besides, in both circumstances the phrases have Umlauts (the two dots) so you know it must be serious.
I don't know, I could think of more, but I just don't think she can add and subtract let alone see climate change.
Recently saw an article about an entrepreneur in Greenland buying up land and farming it. The temperatures there have gone up about a degree and a half from what is the norm, which doesn’t sound like much, but its enough to make agriculture possible.
Its the first time some of this area has been farmed since the Vikings, a thousand years ago. You know, since before the “little ice age” that starved them out.
The current global warming is actually good news. You’d think people would be happy about it. Longer growing seasons in Saskatchewan and Siberia mean more food for more people. But I guess if people want to feel bad about it, you can’t stop them.
Palomino!
It just occured to me if Peloski can't shut her eyes ...does she sleep hanging upside down like a bat....?
Would this face lie to you? Climate change is real!
Keep in mind that “Climate Change” is the new “Global Warming”. The left have been embarrassed too many times with claims of a warming globe, so the new term is a safe cover.
Breathe a wonderful sigh of relief!
She’s doing herself in, all by herself.
Let her go. It appears there is no end to her blind ambition and her just plain goofiness.
Fact is, all these liberals are “sloganeering” themselves into logical dead ends. Reality simply will not support their idiotic fairy tales and they are gradually turning out to be utterly foolish.
Especially this year. It finally got up to 80 here, and the rest of the week it's forecast to be "cooling."
Good morning Mister or Missus Troll. Nice shot at trying to make us all look like “heartless conservatives” and all that. Climate change is real (the Earth’s climate is ever-changing) but it IS NOT man-made. Have a great day in San Francisco or Seattle....
Am I the only one to notice that instead of paying her respects to fallen heroes from her home state, she jaunts off to Europe for another farcical meeting/vacation?
Did she forget today was Memorial Day?
“Did she forget today was Memorial Day?”
Yes.
I noticed that effort...so when talking with liberals I still refer to it as global warming...can’t be good if they’re trying to change their rhetoric. So I hold their feet to the false claims.
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