Despite
much hope when he was running for office, President Obama has shown himself to
be ultra-cautious when it comes to prodding the USA into the forefront of
global warming reduction.
The House is controlled by Republican-Luddites who delight in confessing their
ignorance of scientific discoveries.
The Senate that has its fair share of
Democrat senators who favour doing nothing.
This means that the legislative side of the US
governance troika is set against any meaningful steps to reduce the emission of
carbon dioxide.
The Verdict of History on the Obama, Bush & Clinton administrations:
In a
century (if humans still exist then) historians will note that the Obama-Bush
administrations were ones of ignorance, lost opportunity and deliberate
obsfuscation, at a time when our earth – due to our own contributions of
greenhouse gases from our inefficient industries, autos and use of fossil fuels
– was racing towards a tipping point.
Before
Bush, President Clinton refused to champion the USA becoming a member of the
Kyoto Accord, despite VP Gore's work on climate change.
Enter our Saviours:
But all is not lost.
The
European Union has absorbed the science, and is leading the world in the fight
to save our earth.
Right now, a
worldwide war is being fought over global warming.
One the one hand are those forces that recognize the peril facing the world from greenhouse gases,
and are prepared to take serious steps to reduce GHG.
On the other side are those forces who are
using delaying tactics to avoid meaningful action.
But below the posturing is something rather fundamental; and
the importance of the week's events should not be underestimated.
As became clear at the South Africa meeting, a majority of
governments want action on climate change and want it pretty quickly.
But because of the way international organisations such as
the UN climate convention work, a small number of governments can block
consensus very effectively.
EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard is so far standing
firm against critics
China, India Russia, the US, and Canada found themselves
(largely through reasons of expediency) in the laggards' room in Durban - and
there's common ground between them again as they survey the EU positions.
We need
leadership.
But what the world is getting is the opposite.
