Man on Emissions

U.S. summit concludes with no progress to speak of

Posted at 5:47 PM on 28 Sep 2007

At the conclusion of a two-day U.S.-hosted climate summit of the world's major emitters, George W. Bush announced that he's been faking his climate-change laggardness all along, and signed on to reduce greenhouse gases in various planet-saving-while-still-economy-boosting ways. Ha ha ha! Sob. No, just as expected, Bush said what he always says -- voluntary measures will save the world! goals are for pansies! coordinated efforts are stupid! Oh, and there should be discussions about an "international clean technology fund." Woohoo. The gathered countries recognized Bush's admission that climate change is a problem (gasp!) and that something should be done about it (double gasp!) as what suffices for progress from this administration, but were under no delusions that Bush's remedies would be in any way effective. Said John Ashton, a climate envoy from Britain: "I think that the argument that we can do this through voluntary approaches is now pretty much discredited internationally."

sources: The New York Times, Reuters, BBC News, Deutsche Welle, BusinessWeek
see also, in Gristmill: Press struggles to write something interesting about vacuous Bush speech

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"ECOLOGY LEADERSHIP" is inadequate.....

The world's leading nation-state is abjectly failing to provide the necessary direction and support for the "Struggle to Preserve Life as we know it and the Integrity of Earth." Leaders are insuring the continuous growth of the global economy; but they appear to have overlooked the need to preserve Earth's ecology. They appear to have forgotten that there cannot be sucessful economic globalization without adequate natural resources and ecosystem services provided by the planet we inhabit.

For many too many leaders, concerns like long-term human wellbeing, biodiversity preservation and the integrity of Earth's body are MOMENTARILY at odds with powerful big business and political forces which relentlessly and unrealistically maintain an economic system marked by unrestricted and increasing per capita consumption, unbridled and expanding economic globalization, and continuous and rapid growth of the human population.

It now appears clear that at the base of certain primary human activities now overspreading Earth is an "economic engine" that primarily drives human action and requires unregulated human consumption, production and propagation for its continuing success. Because a colossal pyramid scheme is the structure employed for organizing and governing the global economy...... and this endless growth structure could soon become patently unsustainable on a planet the size of Earth...... we will surely find ways to reorganize the world economy so that it is made sustainable by requiring the managers of the economic system to conform their activities to the limitations of the finite world we inhabit.

Public discourse is too often focused upon the ECONOMY and not sufficiently on ECOLOGY. The lion's share of all wealth is used to maximally grow the economy, while lip service is paid to ecology. This lack of balance, this failure by leadership to give adequate attention and economic resources to the preservation of Earth's ecology, could be the primary basis for a nest of emerging global challenges that are already visible to humankind on the far horizon.

by stevenearlsalmony at 8:27 AM on 29 Sep 2007

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