Al Gore: A Generational Challenge to Repower America (the world?)

July 2008
From WeCanSolveIt.org, USA Climate Action site.

This is Al Gore's speech intended to invigorate the current political climate in North America. A great quote is:

"We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change.".



See the transcript of the speech and show support for Al Gore's challenge to move USA to 100% renewable enery within 10 years by signing the campaign. It can be found at WeCanSolveIt.org.

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US Trying to Weaken G-8 Climate Change Declaration

Monday, May 14, 2007
From Common Dreams dot org

WASHINGTON — Negotiators from the United States are trying to weaken the language of a climate change declaration set to be unveiled at next month’s G-8 summit of the world’s leading industrial powers, according to documents.

A draft proposal dated April 2007 that is being debated in Bonn by senior officials of the Group of Eight includes a pledge to limit the global temperature rise this century to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as an agreement to reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. 0514 01

The United States is seeking to strike that section, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post

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Resistance builds to fight on greenhouse gases

My god! No government wants to do anything to address the massive Climate Change probblem. They all fear they will lose their economic advantages. China, the 2nd biggest emmitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) said it doesn't have the capital behind it to make changes. Wow, they weren't capitalist till only recently! Secondly, they have a point - if the USA with its multi-trillion dollar budget that can afford to spend $10 billion a year on a missile defense shield (2004 articel - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4097267.stm, and $365 billion (and counting) http://zfacts.com/p/447.html on a war that has caused more pain in this world, then why can't they find the money to fix up a disaster that is 100% guaranteed to mostly destroy us?

February 7, 2007
From International Herald Tribune.

ROME: The world's leading climate scientists announced last week that global warming was "unequivocal" and predicted catastrophe if emissions caused by human activity were not curbed through swift political responses.

Representatives of 113 nations endorsed the report's conclusions.

But turning that unanimous support into political action is already running into intense resistance.

Reducing carbon emissions requires fundamental changes in how people live and financial risks for powerful industries, including airlines, car manufacturers, industrial farms and construction companies, scientists and environmental groups said. Even "green" politicians may have trouble following up on their good intentions.

In the days following the release of the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 3 of the world's top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases — China, Germany and the United States — made clear the limits of their sacrifice.

Officials from the United States, the world's No. 1 greenhouse gas producer, congratulated the panel but reiterated the Bush administration's longstanding opposition to any caps on emissions.

Qin Dahe, China's top climate official and co-chairman of the climate panel, announced Tuesday that his country had set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 4 percent a year over the next five years.

But he added that China — the world's No. 2 emitter — lacked the money and technology for the task compared with more-developed nations.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the seventh largest emitter, said she supported reducing vehicle emissions but rejected imposing speed limits on autobahns and "one size fits all" mandatory emission limits for cars.

Catherine Pearce, spokeswoman on climate change for Friends of the Earth International, said: "There is always an excuse, it's really disappointing. The message of the report is we know what the problem is, now we need a solution. We need to speed up and have significantly increased commitment. Not more of the same."

Scientists say that a piecemeal approach to cutting emissions will not blunt the Earth's temperature rise and all its devastating ripple effects — from rising sea levels to more frequent and violent storms.

"It disappoints me to hear comments like these," said Julian Allwood, an expert on sustainable manufacturing at Cambridge University.

"Incremental change is not going to get us there. We will have to make a dramatic change in how we live and do business."

European Union environmental officials, who have pushed an aggressive agenda for curbing emissions, said they hoped to use the climate report as a lever to force action.

"This is a very useful instrument to help us push our policies, to help us transmit the urgency of the problem," said Barbara Helfferich, spokeswoman for Stavros Dimas, the European Union environment minister.

She said that Dimas would go to Washington next week to discuss climate change, bearing the message that the United States "can't go it alone — we need to walk together."

Unlike the EU, the United States has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which requires developed nations to comply with limits on emissions.

Western airline, automobile and oil industries have lobbied hard against emissions limits, saying that they would have a hard time competing with products from countries that do not have stringent environmental standards.

In response to Friday's report, the U.S. energy secretary, Samuel Bodman, said that Washington was "concerned" that emissions caps "would lead to the transfer of jobs and industry abroad."

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America CAN Solve Global Warming

Landmark Study to Show: America CAN Solve Global Warming Without Nukes, Without Continued Dependence on Coal

Source: Greenpeace USA

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, January
24, 2007 at 12 PM EST, Greenpeace USA will join with other climate and
energy advocates on a press conference call to release a landmark analysis
showing that the United States can address global warming, without relying
on nuclear power or so-called "clean coal" as some in the ongoing energy
debate claim.

The new study details a worldwide energy scenario where:

• In the United States, nearly 80% of our electricity can be produced by renewable energy sources.
  
• Carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced 50% globally and 72% in the U.S. without resorting to an increase in dangerous nuclear power or new coal technologies.
  
• America's oil use can be cut over 50% by 2050 with much more efficient cars and trucks, potentially including new plug-in hybrids, increased use of biofuels, and greater reliance on electricity for transportation.
  

The study, commissioned from the internationally-respected German Aerospace Centre, shows that significantly increasing renewable energy and efficiency improvements alone can solve the global warming problem. It is the first study to fulfill the promise of Princeton Professors Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow's "wedge" framework, by presenting an alternative scenario for reaching greenhouse gas stabilization.

• Who: John Coequyt, Greenpeace USA;
  
• Sven Teske, Greenpeace International
  
• Scott Sklar, Sustainable Energy Coalition
  
• What: Press conference call to unveil a new blueprint for solving global warming -- and correct the record on nukes and coal.
  
• When: Wednesday
  
• January 24, 2007
  
• 12 PM EST
  
• Call-In: 1-800-896-8445
  
• Code: Greenpeace
  
• Contact: Joel Finkelstein, +1-202-822-5200 ext. 279
  
• Jane Kochersperger, +1-202-319-2493
  

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Chrysler questions climate change

My god number two! The big motor companies in the US are continueing to deny Global Warming. I guess this is the expected behaviour of companies who stand to lose the most. They could have forseen this years ago, like Toyota did with the Prius, but no, they will continue to deny it and hope it goes away. Stuupid gringos. They will loose out even more as people are forced not to buy their big gas guzzlers. They are maintaining their profits now but will loose the lot in only a couple years time. My prediction is that you will see big motor company execs resigning with nice big golden handshakes. I don't think that violence helps anything, though I don't mind releasing some anger to suggest that those execs should be stoned if this comes true.

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Chrysler's chief economist Van Jolissaint has launched a fierce attack on "quasi-hysterical Europeans" and their "Chicken Little" attitudes to global warming.

His attack is in sharp contrast to the green image that the US car companies have been trying to promote at this year's Detroit motor show.

Mr Jolissaint was speaking at a private breakfast where the chief economists of the "Big Three" US car firms presented their forecasts for auto industry sales this year.

Most of the audience - which was mainly made up of parts suppliers - seemed to nod in agreement with Mr Jolissaint.

Neither Ford's chief economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, nor General Motors' chief economist Mustafa Mohatarem, who were on the panel with Mr Jolissaint, questioned his assertion.

Uncertain magnitude

Mr Jolissant, a Chrysler veteran who was recently appointed the chief economist for the German-US DaimlerChrysler Group, said that since he started spending more time at the company's corporate headquarters in Stuttgart he had been shocked by the absurdity of European attitudes towards global warming.

In response to a question from the floor, he said that global warming was a far-off risk whose magnitude was uncertain.

He said that from an economic point of view, it would be more rational to spend lots of money on today's other big problems, and only make small and limited changes in policies relating to global warming, such as a slight increase in gasoline or carbon taxes.

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