Uncategorized: assholes Cancun idiots
by Warren
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Month 12, Day 1: We’re Number One!
The Guardian’s US Environment correspondent, Suzanne Goldenberg, reports on America’s stance going into the Cancun talks. My country really really really needs a talking to.
It is a curious irony that the Republican champions of American exceptionalism currently poised to take over the U.S. House of Representatives are opposed to any sort of meaningful action on climate change — because it is “too hard” on businesses, taxpayers and consumers. Trumpeting the notion that America is the only country that has a “can-do” spirit, they simultaneously assert that American industries are too fragile to participate in a world economy with rules have drastically changed by environmental exigencies. Apparently, since its participation in World War II was crucial to an Allied victory, America deserves a lifetime free pass from the rest of the globe. While it’s unfortunate for the likelihood of a genuine emissions agreement that climate change is represented by massed statistics rather than mustached dictators, the deaths and tragedies brought about by this more insidious enemy will exceed all of humanity’s wars combined.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Cancun The false tyranny of low expections
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Month 11, Day 30: Hope Is A Dodo.
The New York Times reminds us not to ask for more than we’re likely to get. A man’s retch should not exceed his gasp, or something.
As the Cancun conference gets underway, we are reminded by our country’s representatives not to get our hopes up, not to set the bar too high, not to ask for more than modest increments of improvement. Since multi-party negotiations have never yielded results that exceeded expectations, it is entirely sensible for us not to anticipate much. The problem we are facing, however, is not a sensible one. It seems inherently unjust, unreasonable, and unbelievable that all of us who have benefited from the complex consumer culture of the West should suddenly find ourselves complicit in the existential threat posed by global climate change. We don’t want to melt the icecaps; we just want to keep living the way we’ve been living. Alas, the greenhouse effect is unaffected by our desire for continued convenience; what the world needs from Cancun is not a sensible treaty but an unreasonable one.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Cancun climatologists
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Month 11, Day 28: A Race Between CO2 and Stupidity
The Observer (UK) runs a piece of shrill alarmism (that is to say, sober, accurate reporting on science). We need a lot more of this, and a lot less of the other. Note that I used British spellings on this one.
A rise of four degrees C within the next four or five decades is now all but assumed by climate scientists. But what we are likely to see at Cancun, despite the warnings of climatologists, is rhetorical posturing accompanying tiny incremental improvements in environmental policy. This disconnect between political exigency and the facts of the greenhouse effect spells tragedy for a huge percentage of the world’s population, who can expect to lose their homes, lands, hopes and lives as the seas rise and arable water supplies fail. If we are to avoid a climate catastrophe, our news media need to educate readers, listeners and viewers about the scientific reality of climate change. Otherwise, it is unlikely that the world’s wealthiest countries will manifest enlightened self-interest in time to redirect planetary resources towards the essential decarbonisation of our society and our atmosphere — and we will all be the losers thereby.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Cancun China European Union idiots Republicans U.S.A.
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Month 11, Day 27: Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Mate!
The Sydney Morning Herald runs an article by Connie Hedegaard, the European Commissioner for Climate Change, laying out the problems and prospects for any sort of agreement at Cancun. Grim.
Commissioner Hedegaard is correct in her analysis, however unfortunate its implications may be. Two of the world’s most significant greenhouse gas emitters are dragging their feet on a meaningful climate treaty. While China’s intransigence reasonably enough reflects its hopes of securing temporary economic advantages (a position it is well suited to exploit due to its recent expansion of investment in “green” energy resources), the United States’ paralysis is rooted in illogical political exigencies — the U.S. Republican party now considers it electorally fatal simply to acknowledge the existence of climate change, let alone consider doing something about it. The glorification of ignorance (and the dismissal of expertise) that began in earnest under Ronald Reagan has created a political party that is pathologically averse to facts and fact-based analysis. Schiller’s apothegm, “Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain,” is well and truly applied to many members of America’s political culture.
Warren Senders