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All over the map: Rounding up editorial reax to Copenhagen
It’s too weak! … No, it was a fool’s errand to begin with … China is to blame! Of course not, it was the United States that brokered a bad deal for the world’s poor … There’s no hope … Progress was made, there’s more to do … Despair … Hope … theogeo via FlickrSuch […]
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Ask Umbra on Christmas trees, broken lights, and naughty birds
Dearest Readers, Now that I’m back from convoluted Copenhagen, I find I need a bit of a break. So I’ll be taking some time off to make gingerbread, sip cocoa, and knit myself a new compost bin, which means you won’t see my column next week. But I’ll be here on January 4 — look […]
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Key countries agreed to Copenhagen Accord
In the late morning hours Saturday in Copenhagen, the overwhelming majority of countries adopted a new framework for addressing global warming. This new agreement — called the Copenhagen Accord (available here) — was hammered out by 28 of the world’s key countries. These countries represent over 80 percent of the world’s global warming pollution (both […]
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A preliminary assessment of the Copenhagen Accord
After years of preparation, the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commenced on December 7th, 2009, and adjourned some two weeks later on December 19th after a raucous all-night session. The original purpose of the conference had been to complete negotiations on a new international […]
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Earth to Thomas Friedman: Winning the “Earth Race” Requires Federal Investment
In a major departure from conventional climate wisdom, Thomas Friedman argues in today’s New York Times that the UNFCCC framework is broken and should be replaced by a global competition in the clean-tech industry, which he says the United States can and should lead. “Let the Earth Race begin,” he declares, contrasting this with the […]
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What’s missing in the Copenhagen accord?
Climate delegates finally finished two years of negotiations Saturday by “taking note” of the two-and-a-half page Copenhagen Accord hashed out Friday night. It reminded me of a marathoner who slow-walks the course, hobbles across the finish line seven hours late, and then declares victory. Yes, there was a semblance of a deal by Saturday, but […]
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Huff Po Green Blog or a Corn Ethanol Lobby Press Release?
Why does Bob Dinneen, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (an organization that just spent almost a quarter of a million dollars last quarter lobbying for corn ethanol) have a blog in the Huffington Post’s environmental forum? Why not give a spot to the ACCCE so they can use it to tell us how […]
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Another Review of Climate Cover-up
Coss-posted on Biodiversivist This review follows on the heels of what the media has dubbed climtategate–a textbook example of how to make a mountain out of a mole hill. A few weeks prior to that brouhaha, the media was awash with reports that the world is actually cooling, which upon closer inspection also amounted to […]
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Copenhagen outcome: a real climate catastrophe
President Barack Obama negotiating with, from left, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller, and Israeli President Shimon Peres, at the Copenhagen climate conference.Photo: White House/Pete Souza This piece appeared first in The Daily Beast. Saturday morning witnessed one of the most extraordinary and dramatic debates in the 17-year history of […]
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Letter to Bill McKibben: don’t blame Obama for Copenhagen
Dear Bill, Yesterday, in response to the end of the Copenhagen negotiations, you issued a press release with 350.org titled “The President has wrecked the UN (and the planet),” in which you wrote: “The president has wrecked the U.N. and he’s wrecked the possibility of a tough plan to control global warming. It may get […]
