Another Blow to the Environment

There always seems to be an excuse as to why climate change cannot be tackled head on. The latest? The economic crisis, of course.

Attempts to tackle global warming are being made more difficult by the spreading economic crisis even as Democratic congressional leaders say it's still a top goal for next year.

At the very least, fear of a prolonged economic downturn is expected to delay attempts by the United States to cap greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate as well as both presidential candidates say addressing climate change by imposing mandatory restrictions on heat-trapping pollution — especially carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels — remains a priority.

Only months ago, the prospect of climate legislation passing in the next Congress and becoming law looked promising. Both presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain support mandatory emission cuts and a Democratic majority vowed to act on the problem early in the new year.

Chertoff says Illegals Degrade Environment

I had to read this article twice to make sure that I read the headline correctly. This coming from our oh-so-green-government. Unbelievable!

Bush Climate Conference Charade

As expected, the much touted Bush meeting on climate change produced nothing of substance. In fact, the US nows finds itself totally isolated on this issue. According to the Guardian,

"George Bush was castigated by European diplomats and found himself isolated yesterday after a special conference on climate change ended without any progress.

European ministers, diplomats and officials attending the Washington conference were scathing, particularly in private, over Mr Bush's failure once again to commit to binding action on climate change."

They go further and state that "The conference, attended by more than 20 countries, including China, India, Britain, France and Germany, broke up with the US isolated, according to non-Americans attending. One of those present said even China and India, two of the biggest polluters, accepted that the voluntary approach proposed by the US was untenable and favoured binding measures, even though they disagreed with the Europeans over how this would be achieved."

This issue will have to be dealt with eventually. Sooner is much better than later. We need to quit letting politicians be politicians and demand action be taken on one of the most serious challenges that we face as a planet today.

G8 and the Environment

Greenpeace took their protest to the seas and one of their boats was literally run over by the German police. Take a look.

Invasion of the Plastic People

Mounds and mounds of plastic. Where does it all go? Think of all the shopping bags, drink bottles, toys and other things that you have had in your lifetime and remember...it's all still around in one form or another. It is estimated that each one of us throws away about 185 pounds of plastic a year. I came across a very interesting and sad article that illustrates the seriousness of this issue. Check it out.