Leading world politicians and industrialists have reached a new, non-binding agreement at a meeting in the United States on tackling climate change. The two-day meeting brought together legislators from countries including the Group of Eight rich nations plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. Delegates agreed that developing countries will have to face targets … Read More
US politics
Inuit Accuse US of Destroying Their Rights
A delegation of Inuit is to travel to Washington DC to provide first-hand testimony of how climate change is destroying their way of life and to accuse the Bush administration of undermining their human rights. The delegation to Washington will be led by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference who was … Read More
Shell Hires ANWR Drilling Advocates
Ok – so not to be outdone by Exxon that hired Bush advisor Philip Cooney, the former chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Shell has now appointed Gale Norton, a former interior secretary for the Bush administration, as a senior legal advisor. Gale Norton supports opening up the Arctic National … Read More
Meanwhile, on the Hill…
Reporting back from Senator Boxer’s first hearing as chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which included in-person or written statements (all of which will be made publicly available by the Committee) from approximately a third of the Senate on the topic of global warming:
Bush Administration Accused of Doctoring Climate Reports
Poor old George. One week he tries to paint himself green, and manages to mention climate change for the first time in his State of the Union address. The next week, his administration is accused of systemic tampering with the work of government climate scientists to eliminate politically inconvenient material about global warming.
Despite the Democrats, Big Oil Subsidies Continue
Well the public perception is that it is all change at Congress. With the Democrats in power, one of their promises is to get rid of nasty subsidies to the oil industry. Well apparently not. Great article by Laura MacCleery, who is the director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, on TomPaine. According to MacCleery: … Read More
Bush’s Plans May Cause More Harm Than Good
Bush’s plans to tackle climate change and reduce foreign oil dependence have been widely condemned by environmental groups. Jan Kowalzig of Friends of the Earth Europe said that whilst ethanol from corn is “carbon neutral”, production of ethanol requires fossil fuels. “Transportation of the fuels, processing of the fuels – all that requires energy which … Read More
A Tinge Of Green from the Lame Duck President
Did we witness the first green shoots of an ailing President in his State of the Union address? After all the hype of what Bush was going to say about a radical course of direction on climate change, with him calling for a mandatory cap on emissions, it predictably failed to materialize. No surprises there … Read More
Industry Demands Mandatory CO2 Cap
Ten senior US business leaders, including the heads of utility and chemical companies, have issued a direct challenge to President George Bush demanding that he announce mandatory caps on carbon emissions. “We can and must take prompt action to establish a co-ordinated, economy-wide, market-driven approach to climate protection,” the chief executives, from companies including Alcoa, … Read More
Bush Expected to Stress Energy Security
A year after warning that America was addicted to oil, President Bush is expected to renew concerns about energy security in his State of the Union address tomorrow night. But despite his positive rhetoric, little has changed over the last year and little is expected to radically change during the next.