U.S. FAILS once again, to LEAD on Climate Change

[Triana]

A climate change deal at the end of the year could end up being two treaties because the Americans refuse to sign up to existing global agreements.

MORE...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6527289/Copenhagen-climate-change-deal-could-be-two-separate-treaties.html

[spanone]

1. well, you know, republicans don't believe in it and the weak democrats are afraid to bring it up

[Triana]

7. ^!$#~@#~^$&@*#_$( Dems: Pantywaist effing NINNIES!

WHAT THE HELL does it take for them to STAND for something? ANYTHING?

'If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything'


Pfft.

[Mari333]

2. wait a minute....no CHANGE again?????

this is like watching the Bush administration again. deja vu.

[LWolf]

3. Why did you expect any different? nt

[Le Taz Hot]

4. "Vote for Obama, he's not McCain!"

REALLY????

[Triana]

5. Ha. If there wasn't so much LACK of CHANGE going on, I'd get upset at that comment but...

...Climate Change is a HUGE, extremely urgent issue and one that the U.S. should lead on and should have been leading on for the past 20+ years. This is just disgusting. On this issue, may as well have been McSame. No Diff.

[rurallib]

Only a few years ago we lead on all fronts

Now we lead on nothing and in most cases we are hell bent on dragging everyone else down to our level.

[Triana]

9. Ain't we just the best?

:sarcasm:

[Barack_America]

6. Anyone care to discuss the policy difference rather than just lobbing sarcastic phrases around?

I'm inclined to agree with US's position on this. It's unclear to me how the UN would prosecute those exceeding their emissions quotas in the US. Or would they fine the US, who would in turn prosecute industries themselves?

I'd love to hear everyone's input.

[Triana]

8. How much TIME do they think they have to diddle with this?

They couldn't figure that out? Pfft.

[nc4bo]

10. DU, I don't know what to think about this....

So the hang-up seems to be that any climate change policies should be enforced on ALL countries, not just the rich ones (from what I understand).

Where does China stand in all of this? Will China be exempt? For real? Is this one of the catching points? If so, than I can understand why we're hesitant to get onboard.

Just Google China's pollution problem for more info.

I admit it, I'm lost in ignorance but not willfully so.

[joeycola]

11. “pledge and review”.-(US position) -may indeed be a race to the bottm..........

However, it is clear that the Americans will not sign up to certain aspects of the Kyoto Protocol: Namely, the legal requirement for rich nations to sign up to a world target enforced by the UN.

They want different countries to propose their own targets that are agreed by the rest of the world but enforced by domestic — not international — law in a system known as “pledge and review”. A new treaty must also include legally-binding targets for developing countries. Not necessarily on carbon cuts but “actions” such as introducing a certain amount of renewable energy or phasing out dirty coal.


..................

She accused President Obama of letting the rest of the world down.

“The US must also take its place alongside other rich nations in pledging strong emissions cuts. The Obama administration's proposals for an alternative pledge and review system – where countries would propose targets for emissions targets – would leave us in the obscene situation of seeing a race to the bottom to see who can propose the lowest cuts.”

[Triana]

12. Delay tactic.

We can't afford it.