I don't trust President Bush on climate change
Posted by DavidM in Climate change | 2 June 2007
President Bush has announced plans to initiate discussions on climate change.
Sounds like fantastic news. The environmentally reluctant Bush who wouldn't sign up to Kyoto wants the US to play a leadership role on the environment. Or does he?
Why is Bush calling for a series of meetings of the G8 plus seven nations to review climate change when there are already plans for meetings of the G8 plus 5 nations discuss it? Could it be anything to do with the additional 2 nations being Australia and South Korea who support the Bush's position? Why not invite countries like Bangladesh who are likely to be hardest hit by global warming?
The US had been refusing to attend a UN meeting on climate change in December, despite having stated in 2001 that "I am today committing the United States of America to work within the United Nations framework". It now sounds like they may now attend but why the reluctance?
The UN and European approach is based on setting targets to impact emissions sooner rather than later. Bush's proposed talks will result in 'aspirational' goals which countries can opt into and will reduce environmental impacts in the next 50 years.
Bush stated in his speech that "the way to meet this challenge of energy and global climate change is through technology, and the United States is in the lead. The world is on the verge of great breakthroughs that will help us become better stewards of the environment."
Very reminiscent of his 2001 talk again where he said "America's the leader in technology and innovation. We all believe technology offers great promise to significantly reduce emissions - especially carbon capture, storage and sequestration technologies." So 6 year's on and it's still future promises. If Bush is so certain technology is aboout to alleviate all our problems, what's the issue with signing up to tough targets?
One of Bush's arguments against Kyoto has been that China and India - two of the largest and fastest growing emitters - were exempt. However, instead of sulking about it, had the president backed the plan there would have been real weight to pressurise those countries to join - formally or otherwise. By leaving himself out, Bush has undermined the most significant (though certainly not perfect) international approach to environmental improvement.
This sounds like an attempt to delay and muddy the real discussions and decisions. There is widespread scepticism over Bush's remarks and intentions, from both environmental groups and the mainstream press.
I particularly liked the The Independent's translations of the President's quotes. Such as;
For "In recent years, science has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new possibilities for confronting it.", read;
"In recent years, my refusal to acknowledge the reality and seriousness of global warming has turned me into a laughing-stock and contributed to my record low poll ratings. So now I have to look interested."
Well, some of the US press has been fooled but the rest of the world isn't.
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President Bush has announced plans to initiate discussions on climate change. Sounds like fantastic news. The environmentally reluctant Bush who wouldn't sign up to Kyoto wants the US to play a leadership role on the environment. Or does he?... [Read More]
Tracked on June 3, 2007 8:54 PM
