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Stern urges China, U.S. to talk on warming
Jeremy Lovell, Reuters
China and the United States, key to tackling the climate crisis, are both acting on global warming and must start giving each other credit for it, former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern said on Tuesday.
Stern, who produced a seminal report last October on the economics of climate change, said the two countries — one the world’s biggest polluter and the other fast rising up the scale — had to open their eyes and start talking to each other.
“The United States is moving,” Stern told an audience of bankers, politicians and business people at a Reuters Newsmaker event. “And China is moving.”
“If the United States will recognize that China is moving and if China will recognize that the United States is moving … then you can have that kind of discussion,” he said, urging more speed from both sides.
…”We shouldn’t underestimate the resentment that India and China and the other developing countries feel on this issue,” Stern said. “They say ‘you guys stuck it all up there … and now you are asking us to solve your problems.”‘
(27 Feb 2007)
The UK of North America
Eric de Place, Sightline
I’m a bit late on this (that’s my new thing), but things just keep getting bigger and better when it comes to climate policy. Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington are joining forces to reduce emissions. Kudos to all five governors who pledged that:
…within six months they will set a regional target for lower emissions. A year after that, they pledged, they will devise a regional cap-and-trade system, which would let companies that can’t meet their emission reduction targets buy credits from those that reduce emissions more than required.
There’s even icing on the cake: British Columbia is likely to join in, which makes sense given that North America’s energy grid is pretty well integrated across national boundaries.
It strikes me that the combined commitment is good for at least two reasons: 1) It pressures each of the member states to take their goals seriously; 2) The sheer size creates an ever more effective market for reducing emissions, one that is big enough to force meaningful action from national governments. In fact, the combined population of the five states and BC is roughly that of Italy, France, or the United Kingdom (or, if you prefer, as large as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand combined).
(27 Feb 2007)
An Inconvenient Truth now available online
Kate Sheppard, Gristmill
Oscar winner An Inconvenient Truth now available online, in its entirety.
(28 Feb 2007)
Scientists not to be trusted
Tom Tomorrow, Working for Change
Cartoon: “Once upon a time, conservatives decided that the majority of the world’s scientists were simply not be trusted.”
(27 Feb 2007)
Humorous look at climate deniers. To be fair to conservatives, more and more are abandoning the denialist postion. For example, Republican governor of California Schwarzenegger continues to push his global warming policies. And in a 2004 interview, conservative Fox network commentator Bill O’Reilly weighed in:
“Government’s gotta be proactive on environment,” says O’Reilly. “Global warming is here. All these idiots that run around and say it isn’t here. That’s ridiculous.
-BA
