Johannesburg Earth Summit

[Lauren Hynde]

Today is the last day of the Earth Summit. As usual, the conference aim was to reach an agreement to turn the promises made at the 1992 in Rio into reality. As usual, nothing happened. Except U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, heckled as he was trying to deliever his pre-rehersed speech. I wonder why...

The highlights:

«JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has faced a stormy reception at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg as he sought to defend America's record on the environment.

«Powell was repeatedly forced to halt his speech to delegates as he was booed and heckled on Wednesday -- the last day of the conference.

«"The U.S. is taking action to meet environmental challenges, including global climate change," Powell said, but the conference chairwoman was forced to intervene several times and plead for order as some delegates from non-governmental groups repeatedly interrupted him, chanting and shouting "Shame on Bush."
...

«Many environmentalists and other delegates at the conference have been angered by the U.S.' refusal to sign up to the Kyoto treaty on global warming, which sets targets for nations to cut greenhouse gases.

«President George W. Bush's absence from the summit has also drawn much criticism and many delegates have voiced anger at what they claim is a campaign by the U.S. and big business to hamper attempts to try and counter environmental damage and bridge the wealth gap between rich and poor nations. ...»

Check out the whole story from CNN's point of view

It's almost laughable.

BTW: Where's Bush?

 

[sexy-girl]

i will be in jo'berg tomorrow i just wish i was going a day earlier so i could boo also

sorry but i think they deserve the booing


bush is on vacation i guess

 

[SINthysist]

One more option -

Telling the truth.

With technologies invented in and efforts taken in the United States the world is a much cleaner livable place to be in than it would be if we were what people keep portraying us as for their own selfish control-freak political purposes...

whew!

 

[SINthysist]

Bush is doing what most Texans do when confronted with horseshit...





















...walking around it.

 

[SINthysist]

How Ironic.

On the other thread it's, Why the fawk is the United States EVEN involved...

On this thread it's, Why the fawk is the United States NOT involved...




That's what I keep trying to point out to the Euro's!

You want us involved, just on your terms!




Like we're still a colony or something...

 

[SINthysist]

Like this poll...

 

[bluespoke]

Over the next one hundred years the resolutions taken at Kyoto would, if effected by everyone, reduce global warming by one fourteenth of one degree centigrade.

Makes it a really important treaty!

 

[SINthysist]

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[SINthysist]

Blues - Stop interrupting the schtick with good points. It's hard enough for a mentally challenged soul like myself to be funny as it is!

 

[Coolville]

Bush is doing what most Texans do when confronted with horseshit...
...walking around it.

Or just chucking down to the third world and letting them fall flat on their faces in it.

 

[bluespoke]

Like we're still a colony or something... [/B]

You're not? Did I miss a memo?

 

[sexy-girl]

Re: One more option -

Telling the truth.

With technologies invented in and efforts taken in the United States the world is a much cleaner livable place to be in than it would be if we were what people keep portraying us as for their own selfish control-freak political purposes...

whew!

boo boo hiss

well if i can't boo colin powell i can at least boo sinthysist

doing nothing and saying oh well technologies will make everything alright isn't an answer ... you have to have policys that will promote those technologies over cheaper and less environmental energy sources that are being used now ... because often those technologies will be expensive to start with or expensive to put into use at the start

 

[SINthysist]

With the third world, you do the thing with the tree branch and they fall back into it. That is, if you're a Texan!

Yes you must have missed it, but email wasn't what it is today...

 

[SINthysist]

sexyG -

boos from the left are all the applause I'LL EVER NEED!

 

[SINthysist]

and sexyG

Go tell it to the Chinese...

 

[sexy-girl]

Over the next one hundred years the resolutions taken at Kyoto would, if effected by everyone, reduce global warming by one fourteenth of one degree centigrade.

Makes it a really important treaty!

but if we do what we're doing now a very large amount of the earth wont be habitable in 100 years

what a lot of people don't realize is that emissions are increasing now they aren't staying the same

 

[binkley]

thankfully

Thankfully, we're going to ignore all that poverty-inducing, anti-development guff, and press right ahead with the progress of humanity. Let someone else propose reducing the human population by seven-eights.

 

[SINthysist]

You should have read the doom and gloom predictions we had in the early 70's...

None of it has really been born out.

...and we still work on it every day in America.

In many other places, the environment is just an afterthought.

 

[bluespoke]

Re: Re: One more option -

boo boo hiss

well if i can't boo colin powell i can at least boo sinthysist

doing nothing and saying oh well technologies will make everything alright isn't an answer ... you have to have policys that will promote those technologies over cheaper and less environmental energy sources that are being used now ... because often those technologies will be expensive to start with or expensive to put into use at the start

s-g, the technology that exists now, on which all the targets are based, will be obsolete in a few yers. The American argument has always been that setting targets based on obsolete technology is foolish.

Future technology and renewable energy sources are where the money should go. Not trying to achieve targets plucked out of the air with technology and renewable energy schemes that wont be around ten years from now.

 

[SINthysist]

What are the vote totals now? I can't view them until there's an option I can vote on.






















Oh, what's that A_J?

Oh. I see. It was a Rhetorical Poll...

 

[sexy-girl]

Re: and sexyG

Go tell it to the Chinese...

so you can carry on increasing your emissions when america is the worse offender in the world because china

 

[SINthysist]

Yes blues! And when resources get directed into failing technologies by governmental decree, then they are not available for emerging technologies.

 

[SINthysist]

No because forcing them to use just basic green stuff makes a far more significant difference than fine-tuning ours and tweaking it for just another minor fraction of a percentage.

The Chinese, like the Russians before them are trying to play catch-up and damn the economy or the consequences.

But see, here in the United States, we're downwind from them whilst you're downwind from us!

 

[bluespoke]

Re: Re: and sexyG

so you can carry on increasing your emissions when america is the worse offender in the world because china

s-g, you will never convince the Americans that Kyoto was any good. Apart from the use of old technology and the spurious targets picked out of the air the effect on the American economy would be disastrous.

Implementing Kyoto would reduce the American Gross Domestic Product by up to 3% a year, worse than some recessions.

 

[SINthysist]

Just look what the tax cut did (TIC. Don't want the libs to get a woody. They'll just have to quote me out of context now.).

Kyoto was a crude attempt to kill the goose to get more eggs. They just wanted us to PURCHASE credits from other countries. Nothing more than another transfer-of-wealth scheme...