Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change at the State Department today. AP Photo by Gerald Herbert.
by Mark Silva
Representatives of the world’s biggest polluters – as well as emerging economies giving Western powers a run for their Global Warming money – are assembled at Foggy Bottom today for the start of what President Bush promises will become an international agreement to set national goals for limits on climate-changing pollutants.
Critics, of course, say this “aspirational’’ attempt to set goals nation by nation falls short of the mandatory global limits that were the goal of the Kyoto Protocols – a treaty which the Bush administration has refused to sign as an unwanted break on the nation’s economy.
But the Bush administration insists that the venture which started at the State Department today will bring important players such as China and India to a table at which all the world’s major industrial nations and emerging powers will set guidelines for a cleaner environment. Bush’s goal is to have that agreement in place by next year.
“We come together today because we agree that climate change is a real problem -- and that human beings are contributing to it,’’ Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the opening of the forum today. “The best science tells us exactly this. Now, it is our responsibility as global leaders to forge a new international consensus on how to address climate change.’’
Bush will address the conference tomorrow. As the president proposed at the Group of Eight summit for major industrial nations in Germany earlier this year, this meeting includes representatives from the G-8 and others: The United States, China, the European Union, Russia, Japan, India, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea, France, Mexico, Australia, South African, Indonesia and Brazil.
"I want to stress that the United States takes climate change very seriously, for we are both a major economy and a major emitter,’’ Rice said. “Climate change is a global problem and we are contributing to it, therefore, we are prepared to expand our leadership to address the challenge.''
Critics say voluntary measures will not solve the problem.
The World Wildlife Fund today said: "The Bush administration should support the UN process and not undermine it. A fair and equitable UN agreement should reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keeps warming well below levels that scientists believe will bring about catastrophic climate change.
"Voluntary cuts in emissions are not enough,'' the group said. "The White House conference must call for each industrialized country to reduce their domestic greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30 percent by 2020.''
"While it was encouraging to hear from Secretary Rice that the U.S. is taking this issue seriously, the voluntary approach promoted by the White House falls short of the actions that must be taken immediately to halt climate change,” said Hans Verolme, director of the WWF Global Climate Change Program. ”Now is the time to show we are serious about not only protecting fragile ecosystems and species but saving people from the dangers of climate change.''
Rice insists that the U.S. and others are "working pragmatically toward a common purpose, to contribute to a new international framework for addressing climate change beyond Kyoto and to help all nations fulfill their responsibilities under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“Here in this room, we have major global players on climate change -- those who contribute most to the problem, and those who are essential to reaching a solution,'' she told the State Department assembly today. "We have representatives of major international institutions and non-governmental organizations. We have members of private industry. And we have governments from countries comprising about two-thirds of the global population, four-fifths of the global economy, and about four-fifths of global emissions.
“We all represent many different interests and opinions, but ultimately, we need to answer just one fundamental question: What kind of world do we wish to inhabit and what kind of world do we intend to pass on to future generations?’’ Rice asked.
“That question resonates profoundly with every American,’’ she said.
“And let me also just say, on a personal level, that I'm a Californian and it is a state along the shores of the Pacific Ocean and among the hills of Palo Alto where I live, where conservation and protection of the global environment is a cause that is cared about very, very deeply,’’ Rice said.
“At the same time, we recognize that climate change is a complex matter and a difficult issue because it cannot be dealt with effectively as an environmental challenge alone. As our leaders agreed at this year’s G-8 and APEC meetings, climate change requires an integrated response –encompassing environmental stewardship, economic growth, energy supply and security, and the development and deployment of new clean energy technology.
"How we forge this integrated response has major consequences -- not only for our future, but also for our present.’’
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Comments
The Kyoto Agreement was so popular with the US Senate it almost recieved one favorable vote. Have any of the presidential contenders used any of their influence to push for another vote? Have any said they would vote differently next time? The ones that do will not become president.
Posted by: whatnow | September 27, 2007 1:30 PM
This administration has zero credibility on the environment.
Did the gathering snicker right away or wait for translations?
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | September 27, 2007 1:53 PM
Of course the US is going to take global warming seriously. As soon as US voters take seriously their responsibility to send bright, committed legislators to Washington. It goes without saying that the US under the current regime will do nothing about global warming until after the 2008 election, if ever.
Posted by: CTurner, Durham, NC | September 27, 2007 2:18 PM
Here is how this Administration has taken Global Warming and The Climate seriously:
1. Appoint a 24-year old Univ. of Texas student who chaired W's 2000 Campaign in the South to write disparaging letters about the President of Space Studies from a branch of NASA who first brought up Global Warming within the government.
2. Have on White House staff a lawyer for the Oil and Energy Industry whose primary responsibility was to pay off Senators and Congressman to vote against bills supporting environmental legislature and speak out against Scientists who talked about Global Warming.
Look at what they do and not what they say.
Posted by: MASTER of REALITY | September 27, 2007 2:30 PM
Here's a little diddy about the NASA Climate expert "James Hansen" - bought and paid for by George Soros. And all you lefties complain about Big Oil.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jake-gontesky/2007/09/26/global-warming-alarmist-james-hansen-shill-george-soros
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/09/19/nasa-scientists-predicted-new-ice-age-1971
Posted by: Terry | September 27, 2007 2:32 PM
The politicians don't understand science. The only elements that can be burned for fuel are carbon and hydrogen, and they are only available, already combined, as coal and oil, which were originally derived from biomass. When fossil fuel supplies become depleted, the only energy sources we will have are the sun (and nuclear energy.) Before the industrial revolution and the development of coal mining, humanity depended entirely on solar energy. Eventually we will have to depend on it again, but the greatly increased mass of humanity will be much poorer.
Posted by: Desmond Armstrong | September 27, 2007 2:49 PM
But nobody takes her seriously. Can anybody point to EVEN ONE SUCCESS that she's had during her tenure as Secretary of State?
Go back to having Chevron oil tankers named after you lady!
Posted by: BC | September 27, 2007 3:14 PM
Terry,
Try to cast doubt on the science. It worked for the Tobacco Industry.
Thank you
RNC Director of Misinformation
re:
Dearest Master,
Help me. The Swamp brought up Global warming again. How should I respond? Thank you your excellency.
Your loyal servant,
Terry
Posted by: RNC talking point response team | September 27, 2007 3:22 PM
Rice: 'The U.S. takes climate change seriously'
Notice how she didn't specifically say "The Bush Administration takes climate chnage seriously." Because for no other reason, the subsequent laughing and hoots of derision would have been too hard to drown out.
Posted by: kb | September 27, 2007 3:22 PM
Posted by: Terry | September 27, 2007 2:32 PM
ONE:
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/09/19/nasa-scientists-
Terry: is it possible that the Earth's climate has had any change whatsoever between now and 1971?
TWO:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jake-gontesky/2007/09/26/global-warming-alarmist-james-hansen-shill-george-soros
I put "Open Society Institute" and "James Hansen" into Google's Advanced search function. it returned page after page of results, NONE of them being true, reputable news sources. Instead, all of them were right wing blogs repeating this "fact" almost verbatim on every site. And NOT ONE had any real proof of this $720,000 "payment" - the best they offered was that the OSI gave Hansen that amount in LEGAL ADVICE. Not exactly paying him for his research on climate.
Posted by: BC | September 27, 2007 3:28 PM
"CONDI SPEAKS, CONDI SPEAKS"
So you ask where have I been. So you ask why am I hiding from you, the American People. So you ask why I haven't answered Congress question as to what an "AUGMENTATION" OF THE IRAQ OCCUPATION/WAR ON TERROR.
I know one thing, we are concerned about Global Warming though. Yes we are, its right up there with the GENEVE CONVENTION!
STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE DIPLOMACY FAILURES IN IRAQ, IRAN, ISRAEL, GAZA, THE MIDDLE EAST AT LARGE ALSO. GLOBAL WARMING like the War on Terror is a Work in Progress and We are working Hard, its Hard Work.
H E N R Y !
CONDI SPEAKS, CONDI SPEAKS!
Posted by: Roger Morris | September 27, 2007 3:31 PM
Is this just a marketing ploy to save face from other countries who are seriously doing the right thing?
I don't believe the Bush administration is serious about this issue until they start to make concrete legislations to help curb global warming.
Posted by: ian | September 27, 2007 3:47 PM
Climate change has not been scientimifically proven. Neither has evomolution.
I think that conservatives are the missing link between man and ape.
Posted by: Water Filtration Smoking Device Hits for Jesus | September 27, 2007 4:00 PM
BC,
Link 1 - Investor's Business Daily
http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=275526219598836
Link 2 - You don't consider the Washington Post a reputible news source? Reference to 1971 Article. This article references to Dr. Hansen and his models that show global cooling.
The fact that you won;t find this on ABC, NBC, CBS, ... just goes to show the slant in the media.
"is it possible that the Earth's climate has had any change whatsoever between now and 1971?" BC has seen the light!!! Do you think 36 years from now the climate could go back to a cooling phase? After all 30 years ago, all the "experts" like Dr. Hansen were proclaiming global cooling.
Posted by: Terry | September 27, 2007 4:07 PM
Terry,
The conclusions in the 1971 article were based on false assumptions. The article was assuming that pollution would cloud the atmosphere and prevent sunlight from reaching the surface of Earth just like the clouds over Venus block out the sun.
Posted by: jethro | September 27, 2007 4:42 PM
I have seen this woman somewhere before. Was it on a TV show or the movies or something?
What does she do?
Posted by: bill r. | September 27, 2007 4:47 PM
Maybe you bumped into her while she was buying shoes, and Katrina was filling up the Gulf?
Posted by: Anonymous | September 27, 2007 9:15 PM
Jethro,
Whose model were those assumption run under?
Posted by: Terry | September 27, 2007 11:04 PM
This "voluntary approach promoted by the White House" regarding actions needed to halt climate change may be the very same "voluntary" approach Bush and many in his cabnet have used for honoring subpoenas.
Doesn't Condi still have an unresolved subpoena to testify before congress? I think that this disregard for the law is the way I may remember her- if at all.
Her name might be an answer one day on a board game- kind of like Squeaky Fromme's name comes up every now and then.
It appears that Bush is throwing a lot of mud on the wall at this late date, for the sake of some sort of positive legacy, hoping that some of the mud will stick.
Posted by: Vivian | September 28, 2007 6:21 AM
Terry,
Not sure it really matters. The conclusion was correct, i.e. no sunlight results drop in temperature. The assumption was incorrect.
Posted by: jethro | September 28, 2007 9:21 AM
Jethro,
And now we have all the sunlight in the world that heats up the planet. Maybe we should go back to doing what we doing in the 70's?
BTW - the creator of the model that predicted the cooling in 70's - none other than Mr. Hansen.
Posted by: Terry | September 28, 2007 9:12 PM