“I think this process is totally broken,” wrote Melinda Kimble, the U.N. Foundation’s senior vice president, who as a State Department negotiator helped forge the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming. “While we are searching for a new paradigm to advance international cooperation, this meeting is definitely not a model.”
“This process has been exceedingly ill-prepared,” said de Boer [Yvo de Boer, who previously oversaw the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change], a special global adviser on climate change and sustainability for the accounting firm KPMG. De Boer praised the “explosion” of new business commitments unveiled in Rio but added, “although I think all the individual initiatives by companies and partnerships are interesting, they don’t deliver the scale that is necessary to address the global challenges we face on sustainability.”But this is probably the most significant comment of all:
“I don’t know if they’ll ever do this again, and I don’t know if we’ll need it again,” said the Pew Environment Group’s director of international policy, Susan Lieberman. She said she was at least pleased that oceans received more attention this year. “It’s a 12-ring circus here.”As long as every group in the world who wants to do good looks to attach themselves to such gatherings, the process is going to be diluted into nothingness. Of course they should do good, as should we all, but did the Maldives really need to go to the summit to announce that they would ban damaging fishing practices? They did it, of course, as a quid pro quo for assistance/handouts.
“It helps us broaden the understanding of situation of small island countries like the Maldives.” -- Maldives President Mohamed WaheedBy the way, the 45,000 attendees emitted more CO2 flying to the conference than 14 of the world's nations do in a year -- most notably, Vanuatu.
Details: 45,000 attendees, each flying an average distance of 1/4th of the Earth's circumference, emitting 1 lb of CO2 per airline-mile, is 127,000 metric tons of CO2. That's the annual emissions of 28,000 world citizens (each at 4.5 t CO2/yr), 88,000 Indians (1.4 t/yr), or 7,400 Americans (17.0 t/yr).
Worse, the pace at which conference attendees emitted, for the 3-day conference, was 15 Mt/yr, which would have placed them 88th among national emissions (2008), or more than 60% of the world's nations.
Added 1.5 hours later: OK, I'll admit, using the 3-day rate of emissions is a bit of a cheap shot....
10 comments:
WHAT HAPPENED IN RIO?
"Very little, happily. The Rio + 20 conference has ended quietly, with not much damage done. Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President of the Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP), sums up the conference:"
"Apparently, the Rio + 20 Conference ended on Friday. The word apparently is used jokingly. Saturday’s headlines of both the New York Times and the Washington Post failed to include any mention of the closing of the conference. These “newspapers of record” focused on sensational sex trials instead. It seems the conference did not end as the editors wished. According to reports, the conference was tightly controlled by the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – particularly Brazil which headed the conference. The leaders of Brazil, India and China have made it clear that they will not punish their citizens by stopping economic growth. Russia needs revenues from exports of oil and gas to maintain its budget and government spending."
"Those in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), under whose auspices this conference was given, are no doubt disappointed that they will not have a $100 Billion a year Green Fund to manage. The leaders of some third world countries are no doubt disappointed they will not be receiving huge sums from the UNFCCC, dashing their hopes of expanding their Swiss bank accounts or obtaining that special villa in the south of France. But the conference gave some political leaders the opportunity to stay at a luxurious resort while preaching austerity for others. And the conclusion gives the opportunity for many ordinary citizens in the world to sigh with relief."
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/06/what-happened-in-rio.php
Executive Vice President of the Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Fake expert? Yes? Clown car? Yes. Someone addled enough to cite the clown car? Yes. It's like a stand-up routine or parody.
Best,
D
Dano,
Here you go.
""Shooting the messenger" is a metaphoric phrase used to describe the act of lashing out at the (blameless) bearer of bad news.
Moses and the Messengers from Canaan (painting by Giovanni Lanfranco)
In earlier times, messages were usually delivered in person by a human envoy. Sometimes, as in war, for example, the messenger was sent from the enemy camp. An easily provoked combatant receiving such an overture could more easily vent anger (or otherwise retaliate) on the deliverer of the unpopular message than on its author.
"Attacking the messenger" is a subdivision of the ad hominem logical fallacy.[citation needed]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_the_messenger
Let me be more clear and type slowly for you charles:
o Anyone from SEPP: fake expert.
o The SEPP show: clown car.
o Some one addled enough to use a clown car as evidence: any guesses?
o Internet Performance Art, right here folks!
Best,
D
Dano,
Want to cite ANYONE who disagrees with the "Rio 20 Flopped" message?
That's the point charles: there are a milllll-yun people saying similar, yet you chose to quote a disinformation site.
Your choice speaks volumes about your judgement.
Best,
D
Dano,
"disinformation site"
Well I guess you admit they got this story right.
Dano,
"Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace’s executive director, called last week’s United Nations eco-conference in Rio de Janeiro an “epic failure.”"
.....
"Undoubtedly some of the lack of interest in Rio 20 was the result of the worldwide economic crisis, now lingering into its third year.
But mostly the wind has come out of the environmentalists’ sails because the science isn’t so settled as it once seemed. Perhaps the earth isn’t warming as much or as quickly as once feared, and to the extent it is maybe it’s the sun and not man-made carbon emissions that is the cause.
As the climate-change theory crumbles, expect its supporters to be more vocal in its defence, more insistent that the science is ironclad. Like the cultish followers of any faddish religion when it nears the end of its fashionableness, they will proclaim their views even more vociferously and denounce more forcefully all those who disagree.
But increasingly, their warnings of impending doom and their character attacks on their opponents will be performed before empty houses, as in Rio."
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/06/26/world-cooling-to-global-warming
Charles, your article is a joke. The fact is that the science behind AGW has never been stronger, and nothing going on contradicts it in any way.
"Charles, your article is a joke. The fact is that the science behind AGW has never been stronger, and nothing going on contradicts it in any way."
If you believe that CAGW science is strong then you will be happy to know the Chinese are developing LFTR (since China is the biggest coal user).
"The U.S. Department of Energy is quietly collaborating with China on an alternative nuclear power design known as a molten salt reactor that could run on thorium fuel rather than on more hazardous uranium, SmartPlanet understands."
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/us-partners-with-china-on-new-nuclear/17037
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