International Embarassment in Bali

December 14th, 2007 by Vihar Sheth
Posted in Environment, Government

More often than not, President Bush makes a mockery of himself and his office domestically. He usually gets on TV and says something so magnanimously stupid that only a childish smirk will abate the rage in viewers’ hearts and minds. It’s a brilliant tactic - make people think you’re seven and they won’t lash out at you. It’s the same tactic used by Puss in Boots in the Shrek films. And surely, there have been times I thought the only way what I saw was happening could be true is if it were animated . . . but it wasn’t.

Ignoring climate change passively, by not participating in a global effort or by not pushing for new policies, can at least be spun as the prioritization of other objectives - namely blowing up innocent families in the Middle East. But, sending a representative to a climate change summit of epic proportions and having that representative actively negate the efforts being made by smarter and better people from around the world is disgusting. Carl Pope, in his perpetually educational newsletter, “Taking the Initiative“, brings it home.

Yesterday, first at a private breakfast with U.S. environmental groups, and then in a public presentation, James Connaughton, the chairman of the Whitehouse Council on Environmental Quality and head of the U.S. delegation, presented the U.S. analysis, showing that to stabilize the climate by 2050, the world must reduce its carbon emissions below a business-as-usual scenario: by between 25 and 40 gigatons. He laid out a wide variety of policy changes needed to achieve that goal, emphasized the need to understand that carbon pricing alone will not meet the need without regulation and investment, and emphasized repeatedly that while this is tough, “it can be done.”

And then . . .

So the head of the U.S. delegation understands the problem, its urgency, the solutions, and the global politics of getting the world on the same page. What does his delegation then do? Well, about an hour after the PowerPoint presentation, a story shows up in the Washington Post in which the U.S. delegation is quoted as saying that it will leave the problem of global warming for the next Administration to solve, that it refuses to make any commitments not only here but also at its own alternative — the “major emitters meeting.” And as the reports come back from the negotiating sessions on the various “tracks” that make up what Connaughton called “the Bali road map,” it’s clear that the U.S. and its allies have been refusing to permit closure or progress on anything — technology transfer, deforestation, financial incentives, or targets and timetables.

Sweet Baby Jesus! The United States isn’t the only country behaving badly, but its actions hold the most implications. From the Washington Post article referenced in Pope’s quote above:

“The United States once again can’t help itself from playing games, and it’s a high-stakes game,” said Kevin Knobloch, president of the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, who was to meet with Connaughton along with other environmental leaders on Wednesday morning. “They’re going to play this game to the bitter end.”

The U.S. position is expected to hold sway here not only because the United States plays such an important role on the world stage, but because negotiators are fashioning a consensus document that needs to be approved unanimously by the nearly 190 participating countries.

You have to have guts to go to an area of the world where poor, coastal settlements are already having to deal with the effects of global warming and screw with progress. These decisions don’t make any sense, but then again, these morons have irrational behavior perfected.

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