Gore Blames Bush Regime For Impasse at UN Climate Confab; Promises Change

Delegates to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, convened in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, say that they have arrived at an impasse, and the blame has been placed on the Bush-delegation chaired by Paula Dobriansky, a US undersecretary of state.

At the heart of the impasse is Bush’s much-touted plan for climate control that was launched late last September. This plan lacks the milestones that are being urged by most countries, as well as scientists. From the Washington Post:

“Throughout a week of negotiations on the island of Bali, Bush administration officials have steadily resisted a United Nations proposal calling on industrialized countries to accept a goal of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020.”

Bush’s plan is backed by few countries, including Canada and Japan, industrialized countries that don’t want to cede to developing nations the amount of already excessive green house gases that they emit.

And it’s getting bad because countries in the European Union are already talking about boycotting the Bush-sponsored major economies meeting to be held later on in Honolulu.

My, that is getting bad. These guys take their meetings, and the plush sites where they hold them, very seriously. First in Bali, in Nusa Dua nonetheless (very upscale), and then later in Hawaii. Why not, say, Modesto California? They have a Howard Johnsons.

But back to Bush and his plan, do you not just see the hypocrisy? The fact of Global Warming was denied for years by the Bushies. And why, you might ask? It’s all about the money. Bush’s corporate sponsors would be big losers if we embarked on projects to cut down greenhouse gases. And now that they cannot deny what has become painfully obvious to all, they want to settle on a plan that will do two things: 1) save the Bushie cronies their lucre, 2) not solve the problem.

So in the face of this meeting coming apart, much to the delight of the US delegation, one would imagine, up gets Al Gore. He delivers a 48 minute speech to a crowded room. Gore told the audience not to lose heart. If there is an impasse, just ignore it and go on and do the other things that needed to get doing – ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room as it were. Why? Well, according to Al Gore,

“Over the next two years the United States is going to be somewhere where it is not now. You must anticipate that.”

Clearly he was alluding to the fact that the 2008 elections were going to bring sweeping change in America, and in America’s government’s attitude toward Global Warming.

He got a huge ovation on that one statement.

As side note, what’s all this about Indonesia being a player in the environmental movement? As a developing nation, the Indonesian government supports agricultural practices of clearing their lush rainforests by burning them (emitting greenhouse gases) so that they can replant the acreage to produce palm oil. Right nowpalm oil is just used for cooking, but Indonesia sees palm oil as a big cash cow in our biofuel future. I mean, really, Nusa Dua is practically a paradise, and a nice place to hold a meeting, but I’ve never associated Indonesia with eco-friendly anything.