World leaders representing nearly two-thirds of world economic output massively watered-down their public commitment to lowering greenhouse gasses last night, in what may be a grim portent for next month’s climate change talks in Copenhagen.
timesonline.co.uk
Bold text added by the diarist
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this on should suffice in explaining the urgency of our species phlight to act NOW, not later, and not pragmatically.
It is both ironic and sad that as climate change reform is watered down, the sea levels will rise even more.
More sobering reality below the fold.
The leaders were later joined in Singapore by President Barack Obama, who flew in from Tokyo just hours after agreeing with the Japanese prime minister that the two countries would aim to reduce emissions by 80 percent by the middle of the century.
In an early draft of today’s official communiqué from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in Singapore, the 21-nation group said that "global emissions will need...to be reduced to 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050."
But a subsequent, much weaker version of the communiqué was deliberately non-committal on the issue, stating only that "we believe that global emissions will need to peak over the next few years, and be substantially reduced by 2050, recognising that the timeframe for peaking will be longer in developing economies".
timesonline.co.uk
Bold text added by the diarist
In a move that stripped the numbers out of the reform, only leaving a generic, reformishy framework for change in place. Unsurprisingly, while major polluters that compromise a large part of global trade will be allowed to play by softer rules, smaller, less wealthy nations who create less pollution like South American countries will have to face stricter restrictions, but even those will be watered down to allow for "economic growth".
So, in the name of continued "economic growth", the growth of atmospheric CO2 and other man made pollutants will be allowed to continue. Meanwhile, the ice caps continue to melt, sea levels will continue to rise, and all in the name of global "economic growth". How sad, that in order for economies to slowly grow, the planet must slowly die.
Just as health care reform in America has gone from a good idea based on real change to a watered down farce that will not change the problem as much as needed, so too has global climate change refrom fallen victim to the watering down of real change in exchange for a squishy, acceptable middle, one that doesn't threaten economic growth no matter how much our planet or it's people are threatened.
We hold the future in our hands, and this generation will be responsible for either saving the planet's ecosystem or selling it down the river in the pursuit of "economic growth".
How sad, that our planet and our species must suffer so that global trade may thrive. What will it take to change that? I only wish I knew.
Crossposted at The Progressive Electorate.com and Docudharma.com