BALI, Indonesia, Dec. 13, 2007
Gore: U.S. Blocking Progress On Climate
White House "Principally Responsible" For Obstruction; Europeans May Boycott U.S.-Led Talks
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Nobel Peace Prize laureate Al Gore delivers a speech during the U.N. Climate Change Conference 2007 in Nusa Dua on Bali island, December 13, 2007. The former vice president called on delegates to push ahead on a global pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without the United States, which he accused of obstructing progress at the talks. (Getty Images/Jewel Samad)
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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg sits behind the steering wheel of a solar taxi at a hotel near the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali. (Getty Images/Adek Berry)
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Play CBS Video Video Bloomberg In Bali Harry Smith speaks with Michael Bloomberg about his attendance at the U.N. conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia, and finds out what cities are doing to curb global warming.
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Interactive Global Warming The greenhouse effect, a look at the Kyoto Protocol and a history of the Earth's climate.
But U.S. Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, the head of the American delegation, told reporters that the conference was simply the start of negotiations, not the end.
"We don't have to resolve all these issues ... here in Bali," she said.
That did not satisfy environmentalists, who accused Washington of standing in the way of a meaningful deal - and not just on the inclusion of emissions targets.
"We know that there is a wrecking crew in Bali led by the U.S. administration and its minions," said Jennifer Morgan, spokeswoman for environmental groups on Bali. "They are working hard to pull out the bits of text that matter to developing countries on finance and technology."
In the end, however, all parties agree it is vital that the U.S. is on board.
"Everyone wants the United States in so badly that they will be willing to accept some level of ambiguity in the negotiations," said Greenpeace energy expert John Coequyt. "Our worry is that we will end up with a deal that is unacceptable from an environmental perspective."
The Kyoto Protocol requires 37 industrial nations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by a relatively modest average 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Mr. Bush has continually claimed that the pact would harm the U.S. economy.
He has also made opposing arguments against global agreements. While he criticized Kyoto for not forcing emissions cutbacks on developing economies, like China and India, Mr. Bush now says that such countries should not have mandatory targets imposed upon them in any new agreement, because their economies' ability to grow would be inhibited.
Cap-And-Trade Has Fans And Critics
Nations are not the only governments studying targets on reducing emissions. Many U.S. states and cities are taking their own actions paralleling the Kyoto Protocol.
Many are advocating a "cap-and-trade" program, whereby emissions of carbon dioxide by industries are traded on the market. Companies which reduce their emissions below certain targets can then sell their allotment of allowed emissions to those who are failing to meet their reductions targets.
This system creates a profit motive for companies to employ greener technologies, energy efficiencies and other measures to cut emissions. It is the basis of the America's Climate Security Act, sponsored by Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.
Current cap-and-trade programs in carbon have given rise to a multibillion-dollar global industry of brokers, analysts and project managers dealing in such carbon credits and "green" projects that produce them.
However, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, appearing at Bali, said the growing carbon cap-and-trade industry is vulnerable to "special interests, corruption, inefficiencies," and should be replaced by straight carbon taxes.
Speaking of global warming, Bloomberg said, "Most experts would agree that the way to solve the problem is with a carbon tax."
Bloomberg, who addresses the conference Friday as a representative of the world's local governments, told a meeting with environmentalists Thursday that carbon trading "is attractive to many politicians because it doesn't have that three-letter word 'tax.'"
"But it's a very inefficient way to accomplish the same thing that a carbon tax accomplishes," he said. "It leaves itself open to special interests, corruption, inefficiencies."
Some environmentalists complain the process has been corrupted by projects in the developing world awarded more carbon credits than they deserve, and has become unduly influenced by financial companies that have jumped into the action in a big way.
Many environmentalists say a carbon tax - heavy government levies on coal, oil and other fossil fuels - is a better, more direct way to discourage global-warming emissions, and to finance environmentally friendly policies and technology.
"You really want to tax the coal producers in a way that coal producers could reduce that tax by investing in technology and in ways to make coal a cleaner-burning, less polluting fuel," Bloomberg said.
He said most experts would agree that carbon taxes are "a very difficult political lift," since they would probably boost costs for energy consumers.
"But that's what leadership is all about, and we need leaders around the world who get things done," the New York City mayor said.
At the conference Friday, Bloomberg is expected to tout his new plan to reduce global-warming emissions in New York City by 30 percent by 2030 by, among other measures, improving energy efficiency in buildings, requiring taxi fleets to convert to hybrid vehicles, and levying a fee on drivers entering Manhattan business districts.
©MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 56 CommentsMore important it needs to make a profit in the process. We can''t just stop what were doing we must find a way to keep our economy and your and my job bringing in a living wages.
Stopping co2 is easy. Reducing it and feeding a world hungry for food growing pollution and keeping an economy alive to pay the bills with out falling apart isn''t as simple as Al Gore.
I think the faction that is driving this believes in population control at any price. I believe They see the four horseman of Starvation, Famine, War and pestilence as their minions to carry out there dreams.
Gc
See, here is a person that sees things for the way they are. This person isn''t living in lala land. When a person can stand back and take a good look at themselves and see things for the way they are, I believe they are then half way to solving the problem. Of course this is only one of the very few people in the U.S. that actually isn''t living in denial so I am afraid the U.S. has a long way to go before there is any hope of them fixing any problems they have.
How embarrassing for the American people to have such a loser as president. I don''t know how he can sleep at night knowing that he is going to go down in history as being the worst president of the United States that there ever was.
There is nothing insane about it. You can expect in the beginning that they are going to have to get together to form some kind of plan to get things going. Eventually once everyone knows what that plan is then they will not need to get together anymore. So in the beginning, sure they will be contributing to the problem, but that won''t be forever.
All these delegates and Algore flew from all over the world, spewing the CO2 of 20,000 freakin'' cars, to attend a conference in Bali where some of them had to watch Algore''s drivel ON VIDEO??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If Global Warming is sooo dire, sooo urgent, sooo deadly, soooo in need of immediate action RIGHT NOW, why in the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks didn''t they ALL STAY HOME AND DO THE WHOLE THING ON VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Instead they do a feel-good conference in a remote corner of the Earth where some of them have to watch it on video because the place couldn''t accomodate them all, so they can bash the US while they created more CO2 than 20,000 cars???????
Can''t you Global Warming Sheep see how insane this is?????
Didn''t I kick your a*s on this the other night? So many deniers, so little time...
Read it (again) and weep, Bushie. Its from NASA, so if you don''t believe they took us to the moon, you may just get a laugh out of it:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2006/greenland_slide.html
For example, just planting more trees in the tropics and dumping crop wastes into the oceans would do wonders. But you won''t hear the denyers crowd talking solutions. They''re more into whining about ''liberal conspiracies''.
As for cost, several studies have indicated that this thing can still be tacked relatively inexpensively compared to the costs and consequences of allowing it to accelerate further.
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Posted by denn034 at 04:49 PM : Dec 13, 2007
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ROFLMAO Well SURE folks.. Bush and the Fascist have been so right on this and so much for so long!! ROFLMAO It only took Sir Lies-A-Lot 7 YEARS to finally admit that Gobal Warming ACTUALLY existed and YOU want people to listen to you clowns?? ROFLMAO I hardly think a fascist is someone to be listening to about anything these days... Sieg Heil Bush!!
You know we''re going to raise your taxes a billion percent to cover these costs right? ha
The other site is questionable. Ice might be thickening in spots, but it has been shown that it is shrinking in overall size and it''s moving. I would not trust a fly-by-night site such as this. Not one reference to any other article or report.
Come back when you understand the global warming or climate change process.
The other site is questionable. Ice might be thickening in spots, but it has been shown that it is shrinking in overall size and it''s moving. I would not trust a fly-by-night site such as this. Not one reference to any other article or report.
Come back when you understand the global warming or climate change process.
The Great Emperor could care less about ice caps melting, polar bears and penguins drowning, and sea levels rising, just so long as those things do not affect the profit levels of big business companies and his own personal stock portfolio. After all, greed and profit are what drive the Fascist neocon agenda and those items must be protected at all times.
Besides, armed with the advice of such great "scientists" as Professor Micheal Savage, Doctor Bill O''Reilly, and Professor Rush Limbaugh, together with the "inspired" words of the Reverand Anne Coulter, the Great Emperor is convinced there is nothing to worry about, that the planet is in great shape, and is setting his sights on the Red Planet so he can screw Mars up!
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
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