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US Opposes G8 Climate Proposals
elrond writes "The US appears to have summarily rejected draft proposals for G8 members that would have agreed to tougher measures for controlling greenhouse gas emissions. The BBC reports that leaked documents have indicated the positions of the various world powers, from the timetable-setting of Germany to the US's intractable stance. Red ink comments on the documents hint at the US's irritation: 'The US still has serious, fundamental concerns about this draft statement. The treatment of climate change runs counter to our overall position and crosses 'multiple red lines' in terms of what we simply cannot agree to ... We have tried to tread lightly but there is only so far we can go given our fundamental opposition to the German position.'"
With this attitude, naturally we Americans reject scientific conclusions: e.g., the warming of the globe due to human activity.
Doubtless, some very reputable scientists reject the notion that global warming is due to human activity. However, on crucial matters of national importance, the right approach is to seek the consensus opinion. When the federal government mandated vaccinating all American school children, some reputable scientists dissented. They believed that some children might be killed via allergic reactions or the weakened pathogens (used as the basis of the vaccine). Yet, because the majority of reputable scientists favored vaccinations, the government proceeded to require immunizations for all school children.
The consensus approach is the right approach. It also works in the case of global warming. The consensus among reputable scientists is that human activity is causing global warming. We must immediately deal with the situation by reducing the production of greenhouse gases.
Here is where Nicolas Sarkozy enters the picture. As the leader of a nation that has resolutely declared the supremacy of Western values, he has the political power to confront Washington. If we Americans are too stupid to control greenhouse gases and too stupid to curtail the importation of Chinese products (of which much is toxic -- e.g., toothpaste, catfish, and the like), then Sarkozy should lead the European Union in banning imports of American products. If Americans want to destroy the environment and their health, the Europeans should refuse to be an accomplice to this idiocy.
Sarkozy shows that you can be simultaneously pro-environment, pro-business, and pro-labor -- without being an idiotic cowboy.
P.S.
Perhaps, Sarkozy should consider taking military action against the United States. Destroying the environment is equivalent to brutally using a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) against Europe.
...they would fertilize the oceans and switch to nuclear power.
Instead, they concentrate on smashing the US economy, which is where their true priorities lie.
A large population of our country is simply unable to comprehend american life without their SUVs/cheap gas/walmart lifestyles.
Actually, they remember being worse off before they bought their SUV and before they could buy their stuff at Walmart. Their comprehension of American life is, in fact, the key thing that keeps it the way it is.
What they don't "comprehend" is why you and other folks like you hate/dislike/look down on/disparage their lives and their choices. I'm pretty sure I "comprehend" it though.
Yeah right, "the downtrodden masses of the US really didn't want this government" story.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/24/politic
May I suggest you grow up and take responsibility for your actions?
Global population is the cause of global warming and the looting of expensive and needed natural resources. There is just far to many poor, destitute, criminal, insane, illiterate, retarded primitives wastefully absorbing vital resources needed for the future of the more valuable members of our "New World Order."
...). Global warming will conserve valuable natural resources, drastically reduce the global population problem that is acceleratingly global warming.
... means take drastic manage measures and permanently fix the problem. Environmental Polution problems are far to expensive to ever be acceptable, and population reduction by sterilization does not eliminate the cause of the problems, population decimation is the only affordable and practical method under totalitarian corporatism and/or religious (Christian, Islam, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu...) ethics.
EU, US, and a few others will need far more lebensraum in the future for our posterity.
Global environment conditions are problems for the more primitive humans with marginal or failing living conditions.
Global warming will provide a far more humane method of extermination for the burdensome marginal cultural groups globally (including the US, EU, China
This is just Gods' spiritual and Mother Nature's natural way of putting everything back in balance for the chosen among the world population. Eventually we will not need to expand prisons into concentration camps, cause pestilence, famine, diseases, or start wars to control populations at the lower economic levels.
In the near future, robot technology will give us a cheaper and better living standards, and require little or no exploitable labor pool, which will allow US, EU, and others to reduce the global population further, and eventually (after population decimation) there will be an environmental turn around that saves the world for the irreplaceable members of the US, EU, and a few other important people.
Think of it a wonderful world with a great environment, no welfare or food stamps for the poor, social security payments and medical expenses for the elderly a thing of the past, and human populations so damn low that lebensraum will be cheap for everyone to develop as they deem best without any further government restrictions.
WHAT DO YOU WANT IN YOUR FUTURE? ENDIT/BEIT, US dogmatist, plutocrats, corporatist, and religious leaders have spoken/answered for all! So, find another way
REMEMBER: Patriotism and Religion can serve the few or the many; Also, Patriotism and Religion will never get you through times of no honor, food, family, friends, and education.
!HAVEFUN! It is all about Reality-Spin, I wounder what will happen [NOT!]?
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
Which is exactly what the "environmentalists" want! Nation. A 19th-century notion of national sovereignty allows sub groups to pursue agendas without regard for their effects on the whole. But this wrongly assumes that the health of the whole is a matter of indifference to the group. The United States has long refused to temper its claim to radical independence from all other nations, but that both defines the source of America's disproportionate ecological destructiveness and impedes every effort to mitigate it. There will be no stopping environmental degradation until nations stop thinking of independent sovereignty as an absolute. Climate change respects no borders.
Property. In America, where full citizenship was originally granted only to property owners, we are what we have. The pursuit of happiness equals the accumulation of possessions. This cult of "more" drives an economy that defines its health by growth, its market by the globe. In families, the success of a second generation is defined only by its surpassing in affluence the first. This merciless consumption divides people into "haves," "the have less," and "have nots," but it also eats the environment alive. Sufficiency, simplicity, and a sense that the treasures of the earth are the property of all people must become notes of the new America. Let's see, no borders, no property rights... sounds like no America to me. I think you'll find that many environmentalist are using their environmentalism as a cover for trying to forward socialist ideals over capitalism. Surrendering to a socialist Europe and communist China is exactly what these people want!
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
Not really.
ROFLMAO. Another American who has no idea what socialism means and no clue about Europe and the result is mindless drivel without foothold in reality, good job.
Evidently, I'm not the only clueless one without a foothold on reality. There are many countries that have been ruled by socialist political parties for extended periods of time - most notably Sweden, Norway, and Denmark - without ever adopting socialism as an official ideology in their names or constitutions. Ruled by Socialist, but not named as such. Hmmm. I guess that makes the old East Germany, officially called the DDR, Democratic Deutchlandt Republic, a Democracy?
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
You're calling him an authority on climate change?
Why do you bother with such long, argumentative posts when you're so short on credible information?"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Uh, "China is now poised to pass the US and the EU as the world's largest emittor of CO2"... Yeah, but there are many times the amount of people there. And they're not even there yet. If the US was held to the same standards as the rest of the DEVELOPED world(please stop comparing to hideous dictatorships/developing countries), there would be sanctions galore. Hidebound? No. More like extremely greedy and corrupt. Smokescreen? Back room boys in the UN? Funny how both scientific results and the UN is always being bashed by the US and practically no one else.
Baboons are cute.