by Mark Silva
In a town where political ideology often has usurped science, two notable statements were heard today:
"We are restoring science to its rightful place,'' President Barack Obama said to applause at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. "Under my administration, the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over. ''
"The science is unambiguous and the logic that flows from it is inescapable,'' said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, addressing a Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Washington. "Climate change is a clear and present danger to our world that demands immediate attention.''
And the United States, the secretary said, is "determined to make up for lost time, both at home and abroad.'' The Obama administration is committed to addressing the problem of climate change, she said, as the U.S. and others prepare for United Nations-sponsored negotiations later this year in Copenhagen.
"New policy and new technologies are needed to resolve this crisis, and they won't materialize by themselves,'' Clinton said. "They will happen because we will set forth an action plan in individual countries, in regions, and globally.
"It took a lot of work by a lot of people to create the problem of climate change over the last centuries,'' she said. "And it will take our very best efforts to counter it....
"The science is conclusive,'' Clinton said. "The evidence and impact is getting more dramatic every year. Facts on the ground are outstripping worst-case scenario models that were developed only a few years ago. Ice sheets are shrinking. Sea levels are rising. Oceans are becoming more acidic, threatening coral and other life forms.
"So the imperative is clear. We are called to act, and future generations will judge us as to whether we do or not.''
After years of the U.S. refusing to take part in the old Kyoto Protocols limiting greenhouse gas emissions or even readily acknowledge the impact of human enterprise on global warming, the U.S., the secretary said, is no longer AWOL.
(Photo of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department today by J. Scott Applewhite / AP)
"The United States is no longer absent without leave,'' she said. "President Obama and I and our administration are making climate change a central focus of our foreign policy.
The Environmental Protection Agency, she noted, has declared that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health and welfare. "This move will open the door for more robust tailpipe emission regulations,'' she said.
The president has proposed "a broad, market-based cap on carbon pollution that would include a mandatory national target through the year 2050, when emissions would be cut by 80 percent,'' she said. "A market-based cap will encourage game-changing private investments in clean energy and improvements in efficiency, streamlining our regulatory process, stimulating new jobs and growth, and setting us on the road to a low-carbon economy.
"We, with our stimulus package of just a few months ago and our continuing emphasis will make significant, direct investments in clean energy technology and energy efficiency. And our EPA is paving the way for more stringent auto emission standards.
"Now, we are well aware that some see the economic crisis as an excuse to delay action,'' she said. "We see it in an exactly opposite way, as an opportunity to move toward a low carbon future. So we work on that internally and we look forward to working with all of you....
"As major economies, we are responsible for the majority of the world's greenhouse gas emissions,'' Clinton said. "We may be at different stages of development and we certainly may have different causes of the emissions that we are responsible for, but we think coming together and working to address this crisis is comparable to the G-20 nations addressing the global economic crisis....
"There is no sense in negotiating an agreement if it will have no practical impact in reducing emissions to safer levels,'' she said. "The math of accumulating emissions is clear. So we all have to do our part, and we need to be creative and think hard about what will work in order for us to achieve the outcomes we hope for...
"Being good stewards as we must be of this fragile planet that we inherit together, requires us to be pragmatic, not dogmatic,'' she said. "We have to be willing to embrace change, not just repeat tired dogma.
"I remember many years ago, as a young woman, seeing the first pictures that came back from space of Earth, and looking at that blue and green orb as it spun on its axis, and I remember being so struck about how it was this place of light and life in what appeared to be just darkness and no life, so far as we knew,'' Clinton said.
"We now bear the responsibility in this generation, and the United States is ready to do our part,'' she said. "We are ready to listen and learn and to participate as a partner and also as a leader at this critical juncture. We want to be sure that that fragile planet we inhabit continues to provide for the greatest opportunities for our children and generations to come. But in order to do that, we have a historic responsibility to come together and actually create a new history.''
Comments
Note how Obama let's "others" be on camera for policy rather than himself.
Next presidential campaign there are no video/audio of Obama, but just others mouthing the pablum.
Why are they in such a hurry. They know they only have four years. Then they are out of office.
Obama will not be re-elected, Hillary is done.
Posted by: Cecil | April 27, 2009 1:58 PM
"The science is unambiguous and the logic that flows from it is inescapable,'' said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Never mind that thousands of scientists have clear, distinct and specific arguments that climate change is natural and could not caused by humans we allow our government officials and leaders to use the mythical "crisis" to find a way to tax -literally- every breath we take.
we may no longer be AWOL- now we are just absent-minded if we buy into this nonsense...
Posted by: heartburn | April 27, 2009 2:46 PM
Poor Cecil. How does it feel to be so wrong about so many things so often? You must have a terrible, well-deserved political inferiority complex by now. Obama will CRUSH whomever you teabag types try to put up in 2012! Jealous much? Bitter? Angry? A politically impotent dittohead? Yes you are! Get a clue, pal.
Posted by: Gandolph Fitch | April 27, 2009 2:50 PM
And then we have "heartburn" and his usual GOP talking-points denial of the fact of global warming. Precisely WHO ARE these mysterious "thousands of scientists" about whom you prattle? What are their credentials? Who (as in, which carbon-based polluting industry) pays for their research? You're a lightweight, son. Go back to Rash LimBaw for your next set of ignorant right-wing talking points.
Posted by: Gandolph Fitch | April 27, 2009 3:18 PM
I see the naysayers are trotting out the tobacco industries strategies, " cigarettes don't kill people, people kill people " !! Give us a break from your idiotic ideology and wake up. Glaciers are melting, animal species are mutating, if not dying out, and you ask: What global warming ?!! Broaden your horizons. What if you and those thousands of scientists, whose objectivity may be questionable, are dead wrong ? It sure would be a shame, if we found out too late. Why don't we err on the side of caution ? That makes a lot more sense, than to do nothing !
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | April 27, 2009 3:25 PM
Looks like Obama's propaganda machine is going full steam.
Posted by: Inky | April 27, 2009 3:28 PM
Posted by: heartburn | April 27, 2009 2:46 PM
heartburn s right, ignore thge tens of thousands of scientists around the world and their reseach supporting the theory of man made global warming. Just listen to the smaller number who disagree. It's all giant international conspiracy to raise taxes in the US amongst thousands of scientist and institutions. They all got together, and over a period of decades, made all this up to hurt industry in the US. Really, you can't trust those sneaky scientists at all. They're all a bunch of liars (except for the ones who support Republican policy of course!)
Listen to Rush, and
Posted by: Rushpublican | April 27, 2009 3:29 PM
On another note Mrs Clinton added " Concerning the poster Bemused who used to support me but now supports Palin.....are you kidding me? The only thing she and I "have" in common is we are both women". "That's all! You have got to be kidding me".
Posted by: bill r. | April 27, 2009 4:21 PM
Posted by: Gandolph Fitch | April 27, 2009 3:18 PM
Here is one- you will find more if you like...not on the Huffington post or MSNBC, but just about anywhere else..
----
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008597
Richard Linzen- author of the above is a noted expert on global meteorology at MIT- also a noted skeptic of the theory of human created climate change.
---
He is one of many- and clearly more "credentialed" than Al Gore and his $100M windfall carbon offset profits that he almost blew a gasket defending in congress the other day... so I would ask you, who is paying for Al's research?
---
Others-equally as smart and credentialed believe that humans and the earth may actually benefit from an increase in earths mean temperature...
---
So go ahead and support the nonsense and feel good ideology - but lots of smart people who have spent their entire careers learning, studying and observing global climate change (before it was politcally expedient) are at best skeptical...
)))
Don F...
"Why don't we err on the side of caution? That makes a lot more sense, than to do nothing!
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | April 27, 2009 3:25 PM
Guarantee- if you talk like you post you are a major contributor to CO2 emmissions and should consider some soul searching...
Actually doing nothing makes way more sense when it is not clear if you have a problem or not...or when you don't have a clue of what damage your "cure" could cause.
It doesn't make sense to err on the side of caution - if it means killing our economy, in particular when the net effect is zero when you consider that China and India, who are doing nothing to reduce emissions, will be replacing any savings in emission quicker than we can stop producing them.
Posted by: heartburn | April 27, 2009 4:41 PM
Posted by: Rushpublican | April 27, 2009 3:29 PM
You don't even see the irony of your own post...
No more arguments! the fuhrer has spoken!
--
Because the science is in... right?
Some GWT theorist equate GWT denial with holocaust denial and that they should be subject to criminal prosectution for denying the latest climate crises fear mongering...
How open minded- !
---
No one refutes that the earth's temperatures have risen and fallen thousands of times in the history of the earth-( ending of the ice age being one of the most dramatic changes recently)- all with almost NO human caused carbon emissions... but somehow we all powerful humans are now the cause of the most recent spike in global temperatures ?? Ironically enough- temperatures have been cooling for the last 10 years.
--
Many of the scientists that believe this GWT theory also believed in global cooling and the pending ice age, or the population bomb that should have already wiped out most of humanity from starvation...
Whats next? Please tell me - I need to know what to be afraid of..
Posted by: heartburn | April 27, 2009 5:00 PM
Heratburn, I'm really with you man. We shouldn't ever listen to the scientists, not when they disagree with good conservative ideology.. NEVER! We just need to listen to good common sense folk like you and Rush. Shut down the Univeristies, who needs them, really? They are a den of the worldwide liberal/Climate conspiracy. Yiour facts mare the only ones we need. Shout down every one else, no matter how much "research" and other pansy liberal nonsense they have done. We don't need facts, we have the Truth. We don't need scientists, they are sometimes wrong, so why ever listen to any of them? Rush has all the answers we will ever need. Science is fraud. Every good, God fearing American knows that! God bless you, brother heartburn for standing up against the athiest scientist liars!
Posted by: Rushpublican | April 27, 2009 5:55 PM
Now heartburn, you say that we shouldn't trust scentists about global warming, becquse some scientists were wrong about global cooling.
Yet, you trust the people who say that torture was an effective and ethical idea, critical to our intelligence efforts, when they were the very same people who told us that Iraq had WMDs that were and immediate and dire threat to the United States. Those people, even though they were very wrong, we are supposed to continue to trust blindly, in your opinion.
I think your standards may be just a bit influenced by your partisan ideology, don't you?
Posted by: Mel | April 27, 2009 6:07 PM
"The science is unambiguous and the logic that flows from it is inescapable,'' said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, addressing a Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Washington.
----------------------------------------
The science is EXTREMELY ambiguous. Just read the damn IPCC Report. It is FULL of WEASEL words. If I wrote a report like that, my boss would shove it down my throat and eat us both whole, as he should.
I know that Ms. Clinton has a law degree, and that is just wonderful, but when and from where did she get her science degree?
If 60% or even 70% of scientists want to prostitute themselves out and support this, then that's fine, but something of this magnitude should require a larger consensus then even 70%. There are STILL many CREDITABLE scientists that are NOT on board with this scam! Just read the damn Weasel report!
Posted by: Django - N Exile somewhere in/around the 30th Parallel | April 27, 2009 6:08 PM
Ahhh, the Lefty Loons and their Kool Aid, spoon-fed to them by Chief Propagandist Mark Silva.
Here is one article on the relationship between sunspot activity and Earth's temps. By the way, a couple of weeks ago, Tom Skilling's Weather page had a chart that showed increase sunspot activity equaled warmer temps on Earth and less sunspot activity equaled cooler temps.
Here is one article that shows the correlation:
http://www-das.uwyo.edu/~geerts/cwx/notes/chap02/sunspots.html
Posted by: John D | April 27, 2009 6:17 PM
Cap and tax is a scam and a sell out of the American people. We will end up sending TRILLIONS of dollars to third world countries. No doubt the US could clean up its environment and if we want to spend TRILLIONS then let's spend it here rather than sending it to some third world war lord.
Posted by: Larry | April 27, 2009 7:09 PM
And the BO administration has yet to do simple math - 30/300,000,000
Posted by: Terry | April 27, 2009 7:22 PM
Whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad.
Posted by: Harold Reimann | April 27, 2009 8:16 PM
bill r., silly boy...Hillary is someone I continue to support. And she's obviously more eminently qualified than your inept hero. How sad that you, flo, liz, silva, and rupert continue your infatuation with me - your vilification, you snide remarks, your pathos, your contempt for different points of view, your smugness, your dishonesty. Sad, but typical of Obama supporters.
Posted by: Bemused | April 27, 2009 9:38 PM
"Results from the AOGCM multi-model climate change
commitment experiments (concentrations stabilised for 100
years at year 2000 for 20th-century commitment, and at 2100
values for B1 and A1B commitment) indicate that if greenhouse
gases were stabilised, then a further warming of 0.5°C would
occur." ~ Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC)
------------------
The above is directly from p. 752, of the Global Climate Changes section of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (released for review). The Model Development section of the report has the requisite Weasel words, but if we can move beyond that, then this section is telling us that, If CO2 levels were unchanged for 100 frickin' damn years, there would STILL be a 0.5 C increase in temperature based on the IPCC's best projection. By their own assessment, MAN CANNOT reverse this, but the tax loving liberals will proceed anyway with the Al Gore - Obama carbon tax?? This is certifiable insanity. Where do you have to go to get the logic / reasoning part of your brain completely removed. A totally rhetorical question, GW liberals.
Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | April 27, 2009 11:01 PM
I couldn't resist bemused. I thought that would put a smile on your face. I'm banking on the fact it is temporary insanity and one day you will get a little bump on the head or something and snap out of it. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Posted by: bill r. | April 27, 2009 11:38 PM
Funny, bill r., I was banking on you getting over your temporary insanity, too. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Posted by: Bemused | April 28, 2009 9:13 AM
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Posted by: Bemused | April 28, 2009 9:13 AM
I still believe in people. Who knows......maybe one day we'll meet in the middle.
Posted by: bill r. | April 28, 2009 10:08 AM
Posted by: Rushpublican | April 27, 2009 5:55 PM
Posted by: Mel | April 27, 2009 6:07 PM
Knuckleheads:
I never said that GWT should not be debated- in fact, I stated the opposite... the fact is many recent theories related to climatic change over have clearly been proven wrong. They have been wrong mainly because they are all built on assumption models that depend on how accurately the model predicts future events... now we are suddenly supposed to trust the newest models that essentially depend on assumptions future events...
We are supposed to buy into radically changing our economy, and taxing an economy in a deep recession? All based on assumptions that credible people, with no political or economic ( unlike Gore) stake in the game have come out saying are wrong?
Can you be any more dogmatic?
BTW- Mel- you can argue that enhanced interrogations may be morally the wrong thing to do- but you can't argue that they weren't effective....Every CIA chief and Nat’l Intel Directors (including the current one) have publicly stated that the techniques prevented a number of attacks ..
Posted by: heartburn | April 28, 2009 11:42 AM
bill, r....I'm in the middle...along with the majority of folks. But I'd have no problem if you'd care to join us here someday.
Posted by: Bemused | April 28, 2009 12:27 PM
BTW- Mel- you can argue that enhanced interrogations may be morally the wrong thing to do- but you can't argue that they weren't effective....Every CIA chief and Nat’l Intel Directors (including the current one) have publicly stated that the techniques prevented a number of attacks ..
Posted by: heartburn | April 28, 2009 11:42 AM
We have no idea if they were trully effective heartburn. The CIA refused to actually study the effectiveness of the techniques. We've also had great success with interrogation techniques that don't involve torture. Perhaps we would have gotten even more information from the detainees without taking the torture shortcut. We'll never know.
Yet again, you prove my point, you blindly accept, without proof or verifiable facts, the prouncements of the same intelligence figures who were so very wrong about WMDs, when they tell you that torture works great. You eat it all up. Yet, when scientist have an open and transparent debate about GWT, you immediately discredit everything one side says, because of past errors (not proven to have come from the one side only, either), no matter what the underlying facts and studies may say.
Whatever your political leaders tell you, you believe without question. Torture good. Global warming massive conspiracy. Iraq has WMDs. That's all it comes down to fro you.
I understand that GWT is not indisputable fact, and that there are elements that are still in question. However, I belive that the evidence overwhelmingly falls on the side of human influence, as do the majority of scientists. As a result I believe that we need to seriously dicuss ways of dealing with these emissions before they have impacts that will disrupt the world, and our economy, vastly more than the taxes in question ever will.
Posted by: Mel | April 28, 2009 2:00 PM