The next president needs to move with speed and clear vision on mitigating climate change 10

Comments View as Threaded

1. 

   justlou Posted 10:42 pm
   26 Nov 2007

   Visionariessimply don't get elected.  They get branded as being too far out there -- "Mr. Moonbeam".  People just want someone to keep the wheels on even if they are uncertain of the direction. When the economy gets really shaky people all people will want is a foundation of security, no matter how it is derived. Compromise will be all the vision that we will get out of Washington.  When all your roads lead there, expect the road builders to be in charge.  

   Permalink

2. 

   justlou Posted 10:55 pm
   26 Nov 2007

   The Debate of 2008After the primaries and after the US economy has entered a recession we will be inundated with one main topic -- which candidate has the best policies to stimulate greater economic growth?  It is within this context that global warming will be discussed.  The charges and counter charges from both sides are quite predictable.  How does a vision evolve out of such debate?  

   Permalink

3. 

   stevenearlsalmony Posted 10:57 pm
   26 Nov 2007

   Perhaps, time for honesty and courage is at hand..The great man, Professor Rajendra K. Pachauri, is an exemplar for all of us these days.
   As I see it, there are not nearly enough courageous leaders like Dr. Pachauri among us, leaders who are capable of displaying so uncommon an appreciation of good science and intellectual honesty, needed to acknowledge and address the formidable, human-forced global challenges that are unexpectedly presenting themselves to humanity in our time.
   Because the global challenges resulting from climate change are supposedly human-induced, it becomes immediately clear that human beings can correct their ways of living and, thereby, ameliorate the problems we have a large part in causing.
   Support the good works of Rajendra Pachauri and the IPCC scientists.  By following their valiant recommendations, we have our best chance to save life as we know, and the Earth from ecological collapse, in these early years of Century XXI.
   Steven Earl Salmony
   
   AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population
   http://sustsci.aaas.org/content.html?contentid=1176&p ...
   http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/
   
    

   Permalink

4. 

   Brendan Posted 10:57 pm
   26 Nov 2007

   No point in being pessimisticWhat have we got to lose pushing for vision from Presidential Candidates in this manner? Pursuing these lofty ideals will put America and the world in a much better place when the actual pragmatic politics of action go down. I think the worst thing people concerned about climate change can right now is defeatist, and am most impressed with the PCAP's efforts.  

   Permalink

5. 

   randino Posted 11:38 pm
   26 Nov 2007

   An impolite question.I have about as much confidence in our pulling this off, as I have expectations that Hugo Chavez will ride an Armadillo across my lawn. Possible, but not probable.
   So this is my impolite question to everyone. What do we do if we do not make Jim Hansen's or the rest of our experts' deadlines? Go home and take a drive in our cars with the garage door closed?
   In organizing it is always a maxim to have your next step thought out, win or lose. What do we do if we lose? That is something I would like our gurus to answer. They owe it to us.
   Randy Cunningham
   
   Randy Cunningham

   Permalink

6. 

   socialscientist Posted 2:52 am
   27 Nov 2007

   free public transitstimulates the economy
   
   pays for itself many times over
   
   ends the need for oil wars
   
   helps the working poor
   
   saves the biosphere
   
   threatens carbon/auto profits.... oops, never mind
   http://www.freepublictransit.org
   
   

   Permalink

7. 

   Colin Wright Posted 4:20 pm
   27 Nov 2007

   Latest polling ...Polls zig-zag a lot, but I found the latest from Zogby to be scary:
   
   UTICA, New York - A new Zogby Interactive survey shows Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York would lose to every one of the top five Republican presidential contenders, representing a reversal of fortune for the national Democratic front-runner who had led against all prospective GOP opponents earlier this year.
   Meanwhile, fellow Democrats Barack Obama of Illinois and John Edwards of North Carolina would defeat or tie every one of the Republicans, this latest survey shows
   This was discussed on the Thom Hartmann program this morning: Is America too misogynist or racist to elect a woman or an African-American? Hell if I know...
   
   

   Permalink

8. 

   WineDrkSea Posted 4:33 pm
   27 Nov 2007

   Don't worry too much about that Zogby pollColin,
   I'm not a big Hillary supporter, but Zogby's online polls are not thought to be very sound methodologically. It's worth noting that the same day as that poll came out and got major media play, a Gallup poll showing Clinton beating her Republican challengers got little or no media play. For more details, see:
   http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/11/medi ...

   Permalink

9. 

   caniscandida Posted 5:02 pm
   27 Nov 2007

   misspelling; electibilityI have just now looked at this post for the first time, and noticed that the last name of Rajendra Pachauri is misspelled twice: in the photo caption, and again in the text.
   Colin,
   
   what is an "interactive survey"?  Are the respondents "self-selected," as they say?  Or are they truly randomly chosen?
   Pollsters' questions about particular face-offs strike me as pernicious.  But it is certainly true that primary voters like to weigh the perceived electibility of the various candidates.  Democratic voters seem to have done that in early 2004, when lots and lots of us shamelessly abandoned Howard Dean, after the disgraceful obsession of the media with a silly, meaningless moment of mirth in the company of his campaign workers, and turned to that stalwart war hero John Kerry, in spite of the fact that nobody really sincerely loved him.
   So the interesting question that is elicited by this poll is: Will those Democrats who now support Hillary abandon her, in a month's time, if they are persuaded that she cannot defeat any of the leading Republican candidates, but either Obama or Edwards can?
   It is an ugly fact, that such questions are important in our politics.
   
   Chickens are our cousins! So are fish! So are other sentient animals! Let us learn to be kind.

   Permalink

10. 

    stevenearlsalmony Posted 10:59 pm
    30 Nov 2007

    Time to support the work of Dr. R. K. PachauriOpen Letter to the Grist Community,
    Please find below an email from a distinguished colleague and a personal friend of mine, with its request to you for assistance.
    Dear Steven,
    FEEDBACK DYNAMICS and the ACCELERATION of CLIMATE CHANGE
    Climate change is non-linear.  Once set in motion it is acceleratingly self-perpetuating.  There is
    
    then only a small time-window within which human intervention has any (rapidly diminishing) chance
    
    of halting the process and returning the system to a stable state.  Failure to act effectively
    
    within that window of opportunity would inevitably precipitate cataclysmic change on a par with the
    
    five mass extinction events known to have obliterated almost all life on earth.
    This WESTMINSTER BRIEFING (subtitled PLANET EARTH WE HAVE A PROBLEM) was delivered to a packed
    
    audience in the House of Commons in June 2007.  It is now released in the approach to the Bali
    
    Meeting of the UNFCCC because it presents material not yet addressed by the IPCC, but which is
    
    absolutely critical to the decision-making process at and beyond that event.
    Click on <http://www.apollo-gaia.org> (if the link is not active, copy and paste the address to your
    
    browser) then follow the link to BALI & BEYOND to access the Introduction, Summary for Policy
    
    Makers, Sample Presentations, and Book Order Form.
    FEEDBACK DYNAMICS and the ACCELERATION of CLIMATE CHANGE provides an essential briefing for every
    
    person and organisation involved in the UNFCCC Bali Meeting.  Beyond Bali it lays the foundation for
    
    all future strategic engagement with the imperative task of climate stabilisation.
    Please do everything in your power to ensure that the material reaches:
    All delegates and participants involved in the UNFCCC Bali Meeting
    
    Political leaders and members of government at every level of society
    
    Business leaders with strategic responsibility
    
    Academics and research institutions working on climate change and environmental studies
    
    NGOs and organisations of the Civil Society
    
    Concerned citizens of all ages throughout the world community
    
    Friends and family, colleagues and contacts
    
    E-mail lists, groups, listings, networks, postings and web-sites
    With best wishes,
    David Wasdell
    Director:  The Apollo-Gaia Project
    
    (Hosted by the Meridian Programme)
    
    Meridian House
    
    115 Poplar High Street
    
    London E14 0AE
    
    Tel: +44 (0) 207 987 3600
    
    E-mail: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
    
    //
    var l=new Array();
    
    var output = '';
    
    l[0]='>';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[28]='\"';l[29]=' 107';l[30]=' 117';l[31]=' 46';l[32]=' 103';l[33]=' 114';l[34]=' 111';l[35]=' 46';l[36]=' 110';l[37]=' 97';l[38]=' 105';l[39]=' 100';l[40]=' 105';l[41]=' 114';l[42]=' 101';l[43]=' 109';l[44]=' 64';l[45]=' 108';l[46]=' 108';l[47]=' 101';l[48]=' 100';l[49]=' 115';l[50]=' 97';l[51]=' 119';l[52]=':';l[53]='o';l[54]='t';l[55]='l';l[56]='i';l[57]='a';l[58]='m';l[59]='\"';l[60]='=';l[61]='f';l[62]='e';l[63]='r';l[64]='h';l[65]='a ';l[66]='

    Permalink