verbena-19

Climate Change Conference: U.S. Refuses to Agree to a Deal to Tackle Global Warming

Environmental activists have called for action on global warming


Corporations put the politicians into power, hence it is the corporate agenda that is advanced while environmental issues go on the back burner. No real thought is given to the future of our children and grandchildren, even though hard, scientific evidence warns about the warming of our planet. Scientists predict that in just a mere decade, we will have reached the point of irreversible damage to our environment.

We've seen record-setting weather patterns world-wide, not to mention the U.S. hurricane season which was the worst ever recorded, causing devastation from which the South still has not recovered -- and most likely won't for a very long time. New Orleans will never be the same. (40% of that city is still without electricity three months after Katrina, and gun sales are soaring as worried residents seek to protect themselves from the criminals roaming the city's dark streets.) Our polar icecaps are melting fast, warming the oceans. The effect of this will be more extreme weather, loss of fisheries, receding coastlines, loss of the way of life for many people -- the Inuit are a prime example -- and calamities heretofore unseen.

Apart from the Nordic countries of Europe, the others are not doing much more than paying 'lip service' to this dire situation. Politicians make empty election promises, only to glibly forget about them after being elected. Climatologists and environmental activists are fighting an uphill battle to show the world the urgent need to seriously address the issue of global warming in a concerted, global effort.

The U.S. did not sign the Kyoto Protocol and now it is resisting targets proposed at the conference.

This article from the BBC

UN climate talks enter key phase

Environment ministers from around the world are trying to break a deadlock over climate change policy, at a major UN conference in Montreal. Ministers want to agree a deal to tackle global warming that includes the US and developing nations.

Some countries are refusing to limit their greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

"There is an urgent need to send a signal to the world about the future," conference chairman Stephane Dion said.

The US is not a Kyoto signatory. It says it is serious on climate change, but is still resisting targets and is instead pursuing a policy of voluntary reductions through use of new technology.

Along with many developing nations, it fears its implementation of the Kyoto Protocol could harm development and economic growth. "

'Urgent action'
Read rest of article here

More on the consequences of global warming from the CBC:

" INDEPTH: KYOTO AND BEYOND
2005 - A year of record climate extremes
CBC News Online | Dec. 6, 2005

Anyone who works in the business of monitoring, forecasting or reporting weather already knows that 2005 was a busy year indeed. But climate change scientists say they've got the stats to show that, when it comes to wild weather, 2005 is now the year to beat.

The World Wildlife Fund has labelled 2005 as a year for the climate-change record books. Scientists are alarmed by the long-term implications of such extremes – for farming, for fishing, for wildlife, and of course, for the six billion humans who live on the planet.

Hurricane forecasters point out that hurricanes tend to run in natural cycles of severity that tend to repeat every few decades or so – and we're in one of those stormy cycles now. But that alone may not explain why 2005 was such a record hurricane season … or why we saw so many other climate records...." Read rest of this article here

posted by Annamarie at 7:11 PM