Cheat Sheet

The Best In Brief

2009
11
22
NOVEMBER 2009
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
 
 
 
 
 
Greenhouse Gases

G-8 Leaders Fail on Climate Plan

We hope it’s not too hot a day in Italy: The New York Times reports that “The world’s major industrial nations and newly emerging powers failed to agree Wednesday on specific cuts in heat-trapping gases by 2050, undercutting an effort to build a global consensus to fight climate change.” Negotiators for the world’s 17 leading polluters dropped a proposal that would cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 50 percent by midcentury and require the most advanced economies to reduce by 80 percent. However, The Washington Post took a more optimistic view of the meeting, since the nations did agree to set a goal of stopping world temperature from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. The U.S. missed the opportunity to bring China aboard climate change regulation since President Hu Jintao left early to deal with violence at home.

Posted at 2:23 PM, Jul 8, 2009
Save it
  |  
Email
  |  
Facebook
  |  
Twitter
  |  
Digg
  |     |  
print
  |  
Cheat Sheet Worthy?
Thumb Up
(%)  |  
Thumb Down
(%)    
Comments ()
squiggy

Will this effect cap and trade? After Kyoto failed and the world economy has failed I wonder why they continue to hash through it.

|
|
Reply
|
2:49 pm, Jul 8, 2009
rapierwits

Kyoto didn't fail squig, the Senate failed to ratify it.

|
|
Reply
|
4:21 pm, Jul 8, 2009
squiggy

your splitting hairs with semantics! It failed to go over in popularity and vote here in the US!

|
7:00 pm, Jul 8, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

|
8:14 pm, Jul 8, 2009
AiriqS

if you look at actual European compliance with Kyoto, it failed. Signing and agreement and living up to it are two different things.

|
1:12 am, Jul 9, 2009
MaliciousDisorder

This is sooo funny. Yeah, the senate voted 100% to fail. They're good at that concept.
It's going to fail here also. The charm is off global warming and Obama in Europe.

|
|
Reply
|
5:47 pm, Jul 8, 2009
Wallysmom

Malicious....the name fits. This has little to do with Obama and more to do with Europe's determination to do their own thing regardless of the US opinion or position. You and others latch onto any crumb of failure to hang on Obama because it is another "I told you so".

|
10:37 pm, Jul 8, 2009
JDK-JDK

I think the Sun, call him/her Sol, should be in on these meetings.

|
|
Reply
|
2:51 pm, Jul 8, 2009
squiggy

sssssssshhhhhhhhhhh! If they know the truth about sun spots we'll get taxed on them, water vapor as well!

|
|
Reply
|
3:19 pm, Jul 8, 2009
JDK-JDK

Damn squig... I'm sorry... I let the cat out of the bag...

My bad, people. Go back to drinking the Kool-Aid and watching American Idol.

|
3:26 pm, Jul 8, 2009
Dreamer4Ever

The sun-spot story/water vapor = BS. Check out AAAS.com.

Who's drinking the Kool-Aid now I wonder.

|
7:15 pm, Jul 8, 2009
Plantagenet

Obama and his G8 partners announced an ambitious goal and failed utterly in taking the first step towards achieving it. No doubt they will then declare the meeting a great success.

|
|
Reply
|
2:58 pm, Jul 8, 2009
rapierwits

Still better than not attempting any thing at all.
Or defending the do nothing approach, for that matter.

|
|
Reply
|
4:24 pm, Jul 8, 2009
AiriqS

Typical response, doing anything is good, even if it makes no sense.

|
1:13 am, Jul 9, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

|
|
Reply
8:15 pm, Jul 8, 2009
guiltybystander

let's just all bend over and kiss our asses goodbye
we're human beings, people- we just don't give a shit

|
|
Reply
|
3:10 pm, Jul 8, 2009
squiggy

Already have, wallet used to keep my pants up, not anymore, thank you very much!

|
|
Reply
3:20 pm, Jul 8, 2009
ConstitutionalRights

As long as people in power have unlimited resources of other peoples money, then self interest will always outweigh public interest.

What made America great for so long was that the world knew that the American people ultimately steer the ship, in spite of the bad captains they elect to lead. Unfortunately, the rest of the world has other self interests.

|
|
Reply
3:22 pm, Jul 8, 2009
Plantagenet

Its easy to imagine what Obama's excuse will be for the G8 failure on climate change.....its the same all-purpose excuse he always uses........they won't even have to rewrite his usual speech on the teleprompter...they only have to change one word. They'll fire up the teleprompter and Obama will sadly read the words: "I inherited this climate..."

|
|
Reply
|
3:27 pm, Jul 8, 2009
JDK-JDK

So how much does the Beast pay you? Are you new to this line of work?

|
|
Reply
3:41 pm, Jul 8, 2009
rapierwits

you are really getting your rap down, Plant.
Keep talking wile there's still air to breathe.

|
|
Reply
4:26 pm, Jul 8, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

|
|
Reply
8:19 pm, Jul 8, 2009
mattbenzor

Pretty soon you'll have to wear some kinda breath mask to go anywhere.China was glad to miss because there the leader in polluting the air.You can't even see the sky in china on a clear day...! here where I live as well the smog is so bad you could cut it with a knife.

|
|
Reply
3:36 pm, Jul 8, 2009
EtienneEtoile

ConstitutionalRights and Plantagenet y'all need to wash that big "L" off your foreheads. Offer some ideas and stop your petty nay saying.
CSL
1) America is still great
2) Let's ween politicians from the corporate teat.
3) The rest of the world in not represented by G8
PL
1)Wait til he has made his excuse
2)Post some link to previous excuses so i can believe you and not this one which is what you continually parrot
Rush: What Obama Inherited
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_060909/content/01125115.gues t.html
I'll give you this one that is absolutely true:
Obama Gets Big Applause For "Inherited" Debt Line
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/02/obama_inherited_debt.html

|
|
Reply
|
3:51 pm, Jul 8, 2009
JDK-JDK

Plant gets paid to write his trash. I'm not sure if he really believes it.

|
|
Reply
3:52 pm, Jul 8, 2009
SC0TTBL4M

@Rush's idea that America was perfect until Obama was sworn in....

Lol. This man is a clown.

|
|
Reply
4:26 pm, Jul 8, 2009
theoPitt

So the Democrats applaud Obama for the Inherited Debt Line? Did you think they'd boo him?

And when in ten years the debt has doubled again, as Obama's economists have predicted (and that includes a robust rebound in the economy) I guess the next President can blame that one on Obama?

(Well, if it is still held by a Democrat, they can blame Bush)

|
|
Reply
4:51 pm, Jul 8, 2009
rapierwits

Those that can't see the light
will feel the heat

|
|
Reply
4:28 pm, Jul 8, 2009

This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.

|
|
Reply
|
4:35 pm, Jul 8, 2009
squiggy

So, the real story is the world is going to warm us to extinction whether we pay taxes or go green or cap and trade or whatever else Gore and O come up with? Geez! Have you got a copy of that to post so the rest of us could read it?

|
|
Reply
|
4:49 pm, Jul 8, 2009
patterson

www.ipcc.ch
1250 Authors, 2500 Scientific Experts from 130 Countries
Look for IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4)

|
5:36 pm, Jul 8, 2009
squiggy

thanks patterson!

|
9:36 pm, Jul 8, 2009
SC0TTBL4M

So were you saying that NASA was wrong when they said that the Sun heating up was the primary cause of Global Warming and that it would cool down? Or how about the one that said that Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere are getting too high?

I never heard any politicians commenting on those.... let's blame Obama anyway!

|
|
Reply
5:06 pm, Jul 8, 2009
Plantagenet

If inheriting a budget deficit is the excuse for Obama making the budget deficit much much worse, then why shouldn't inheriting global warming be an excuse for Obama to make the climate much much worse?

|
|
Reply
|
5:27 pm, Jul 8, 2009
rapierwits

It's not a deficit forever if it's an investment.

|
|
Reply
6:53 pm, Jul 8, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

|
|
Reply
8:20 pm, Jul 8, 2009
neverlate

It is stretching the meaning of the word naive to believe that 20 politicians up to their ass in economic trouble are going to agree to essentially put a "boat anchor" around their economies. They would have done more for the earth's carbon footprint if they left their jets in their hangars.

|
|
Reply
5:30 pm, Jul 8, 2009
drevilo

Lets by all means keep this on the table. Al, "Mr. Internet Himself," Gore needs to keep raking in big bucks to pay his "foot print" expenses. All this nonsese is just that, nonsense.

|
|
Reply
|
5:46 pm, Jul 8, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

|
|
Reply
8:21 pm, Jul 8, 2009
Dreamer4Ever

People love to savage Climate Change by savaging Al Gore.

Wake Up. Al Gore didn't invent or even conduct the research. He's not a scientist, he's a politician, and using those political skills to become the face of the Green Movement. Because believe it or not, no cause, however righteous, can really get national traction without a human advocate.

You have an issue with Climate Change as a fact, take it up with the AAAS. You have a problem with Gore as a person, take it up with Gore. But you can't use one to attack the other.

|
|
Reply
8:35 pm, Jul 8, 2009
mcmchugh99

We can't pass laws on this subject or any other that will affect China and India. They are going to do what they're going to do, and that's all there is to it.

A green bank is a good idea, as is major investment in high-speed rail, natural gas, wind and solar, as well as new technologies like fusion and ion power. We need to do all of this, since it would be better to stop spending on foreign oil and keep that money at home.

All of this is good, and will benefit the country, even though we have no control over what other countries do. The Republicans just let this whole issue slide like they did with so many things, and it was a mistake.

My main concern with cap and trade is that most of these pollution credits will go to big business interests, and it's not clear how all that is going to do anything for Joe Average.

|
|
Reply
6:05 pm, Jul 8, 2009
jus1drun

wait a minute, wait a minute..... didn't gore say the science on global warming is clear? it can't possibly be true he is being ignored can it? i've seen him speaking to classes full of young children. my god what should i do with my recyclables? is there something i can do about the co2 i breath out. ignore that, i'm sure some of you have ideas.

|
|
Reply
6:53 pm, Jul 8, 2009
patterson

Our climate is changing whether you want to believe it or not.

The credible evidence is overwhelming whether you want to read it or not.

You can choose to be the frog in the slowly warming pot of water or you can stand like a man. As a Human Being with an enormous and unique capacity to determine your fate.

I know you are distrustful of the "powers that be" whether its government or corporations or the media. But they are not all powerful, despite their ad campaigns to the contrary. You decide your vote, your purchase, what you listen to and read.

Perhaps we could start by replacing the names of National politicians with your local pols. Do you know your Mayor? Your Councilman? Do you know what they stand for and what they do?

Can you scrap up the extra 20% to buy from an independent shop? Can you learn the shopkeeper's name?

Can you turn off MSNBC and FOX? Can you find a serious source that doesn't speak in 2 minute blurbs of concentrated inanity?

And specifically on Climate Change, can you reduce your red meat consumption by half? Its a drain on your wallet and your health, and it would reduce more carbon emissions than if you cut your driving in half.

Solutions exist. And we are NOT a nation of cowards. We do not cower in the face of challenge. We are NOT lazy, weak, and easily manipulated. Our fate is decided at our kitchen tables not in Washington.

Its time we remembered who we really are.

|
|
Reply
|
6:57 pm, Jul 8, 2009
jus1drun

bravo! i'm there and been doin' it. it's not that i think gore knows his "a" from a hole in the ground, truth is i don't know. but if there are things that we can do that are helpful but not economy killing then regardless that the science isn't settled (sorry), why not do it. come on pitch in!

|
|
Reply
9:10 pm, Jul 8, 2009
sparky13

Why don't they have these meetings in places like Precideo, Texas, Phoenix, Az., even Dallas or Austin. Today it was 100 plus and 70% humidity. Those panty-waisted bastards would pass anything to get out of there!

|
|
Reply
8:37 pm, Jul 8, 2009
DreddBlog

They of course will be held accountable along with several billion other planetary officials who fancy themselves to be more than they really are.

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/06/ecocosmology.html

|
|
Reply
9:38 pm, Jul 8, 2009

This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.

|
|
Reply
10:00 pm, Jul 8, 2009
amapola101

totally delapitaded,Thats terrible,I cant sleep Now what.?Without China,we cant stop anything.

|
|
Reply
|
10:31 pm, Jul 8, 2009
SlaveRevolt

"Without China,we cant stop anything."

That's a big problem. Even if the U.S. ends up with all electric cars, trucks and other vehicles and replaces every coal-burning power plant on a one-for-one basis with solar-wind-hydro-wave-geothermal or whatever, without China on board it's all going to be ruined anyway and as a latecomer to the game rapidly industrializing like the U.S. in the late 1800s-early 1900s it's hard to ask them to retard their own growth and development by subjecting it to environmental standards that the U.S. economy in its industrialization wasn't subjected to. Granted it's a different world nowadays but I can see how getting them aboard would be difficult to say the least. I don't know how much progress China-wise this G-8 summit would have had with Hu there anyway.

|
|
Reply
|
11:14 pm, Jul 8, 2009
rapierwits

so is it worth it to pay them off with access to our next-gen nuke plants, wind etc.?

|
11:32 pm, Jul 8, 2009
SlaveRevolt

Rapierwits:

That's a good question. I would say yes. (And you know how it goes with the Chinese economic espionage, if the U.S. develops something it's highly likely a couple years later a copy of it will have found its way to China anyway.)

|
12:23 am, Jul 9, 2009
jus1drun

legit problem. kinda like, is the science real? same solution, we all do what we can but don't whack the economy with cap and trade. this is not a good time to be stupid.

|
12:32 am, Jul 9, 2009
Leave a Comment
Leave a comment

Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.

View Comments
Leave a comment

Please log in to leave comments.

View Full Cheat Sheet