Obama administration encounters opposition to international climate agenda

Source: The Washington Post

President Obama spoke of lofty intentions to help the world reduce greenhouse gases when he addressed delegates to United Nations talks in Copenhagen in 2009.

“We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, and we will do what we say,” he said. “Now, I believe that it’s time for the nations and people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.”

But the Obama administration is on track to fall more than $200 million short on its $1 billion pledge to help prevent the cutting and burning of tropical rainforests. Lawmakers have slashed requests on everything from promoting clean energy to helping developing nations cope with the effects of global warming. And although the United States is putting into place standards for autos and trucks that will drastically reduce emissions, its negotiators are fighting with European Union officials over their attempt to regulate U.S. airline carbon emissions.

Any clear indication on where the United States is headed in this arena will have to wait until after the 2012 election, if not later, said Robert N. Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obama-administration-encounters-opposition-to-international-climate-agenda/2011/08/01/gIQAnRWoFJ_singlePage.html

more destruction by the corporados at end-of-empire. The rest of the world is on its own, on this issue...

... a few months down the line, people aren't going to recall the interference and obstruction from Congress. They'll just see that it hasn't happened and blame Obama, as with everything else.

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... developing nations cope with the effects of global warming."

Funny how some people never blame Congress, who controls the purse strings.

How thick can they get? Or is it just a matter of the guys profiteering against the rest of US?

Seriously, "they" are that thick, and they plan on getting thicker.

both in instability and in financial harm --- which has long been happening in

insurance costs -- and loss of property --

Disgraceful -- !!!


But from what we saw of this president's treatment of BP "spill" -- and the ignoring

of Fukushima while still pushing a new generation of nuclear power plants here -- and

more oil drilling in Gulf and Arctic -- it's obvious that MIC doesn't want to give up

oil -- a national security issue -- No oil/No wars!!

Boo hoo -- !!

yes, we are royally screwed...

stands to be one of the worst affected countries on earth.

While Russia stands to be one of the biggest beneficiaries.

Ironic.

any nation like Japan which is earth-quake prone --

cause melting of the glaciers will bring increased earthquakes and

more severe earthquakes --

beyond cyclones, tornados, storms, hurricanes -- etal --

I am not kidding when I say this.

The US military is one of the biggest consumers of fossil fuels as well as one of the greatest polluters/destroyers of habitats on the planet.

that there have been several periods of extreme shifts in climate and about a tribe in the southern tip of Africa of whom we are all descendant. The were in a fertile zone but yet subsisted mostly from the sea. We cannot lose the oceans, period.

-p

The whole argument about price competition is keeping countries from doing what is needed, in a hurry, to tackle this problem. If the US, China, India and others won't reduce their emissions it is time to impose punitive tariffs on them to equalize prices, plus 10% penalty, to take away that race to the bottom market incentive.

If these countries are at an economic DISadvantage because of their failures to act, perhaps they will more supportive.

The capitalist system does not know how to price externalities into market prices and thus the 'market' is not working because the market price does not reflect true cost to society. These tariffs would help fix that.

Obama dropped his climate change initiative in the summer of 2010 because the White House felt it would prevent them from maintaining a Democratic majority in Congress after the midterms. We know how that all worked out, don't we.