YET MORE OBSTRUCTION….I see that the climate change negotiations in Bali are going pretty much the way everyone expected them to:
“My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali,” said [Al] Gore, who flew to Bali from Oslo, Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize for helping alert the world to the danger of climate change.
….The United States, Japan and several other governments are refusing to accept language in a draft document suggesting that industrialized nations consider cutting emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020, saying specific targets would limit the scope of future talks.
….The United States delegation said while it continues to reject inclusion of specific emission cut targets, it hopes eventually to reach an agreement that is “environmentally effective” and “economically sustainable.”….”We don’t have to resolve all these issues … here in Bali,” said Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, the head of the U.S. delegation.
Translation: Specific targets would limit the scope of the United States to continue doing nothing of substance. Gore’s advice to the delegates was simple: just ignore the Bush administration, pass some targets for emissions reductions, and wait until next November. There’s no guarantee that the next president will support greenhouse gas limits, he told them, “but I can tell you I believe it is quite likely.”
