Treaty Ties that Bind Reason Online, December 12, 2005 In Gulliver's Travels, the diminutive Lilliputians tie down the "giant" Gulliver with hundreds of tiny cords. The other nations of the world are hoping to try the same trick on the "giant" United States, binding it with strings of small international agreements that will ultimately restrict its emissions of greenhouse gases. The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal ended this past weekend with two such accords. In the first deal, the parties to the Kyoto Protocol reached an agreement to launch negotiations about imposing further restrictions on their emissions of greenhouse gases after that treaty expires in 2012. Since the United States is not a party to the Kyoto Protocol it had no say in this agreement.
Nature's Style: Naturally Trendy Geophysical Research Letters, December 8, 2005 These findings have implications for both science and public policy. For example, with respect to temperature data there is overwhelming evidence that the planet has warmed during the past century. But could this warming be due to natural dynamics? Given what we know about the complexity, long-term persistence, and non-linearity of the climate system, it seems the answer might be yes. Finally, that reported trends are real yet insignificant indicates a worrisome possibility: natural climatic excursions may be much larger than we imagine. So large, perhaps, that they render insignificant the changes, human-induced or otherwise, observed during the past century.
Austrailia: Forget Climate Target, Timetables Reuters, December 9, 2005 Short-term targets and tight timetables are no solution to fighting climate change, Australia's environment minister said on Thursday on the sidelines of a U.N. climate conference. The talks have struggled to make headway on advancing the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. The pact enshrines binding curbs on the emission of greenhouse gases, something Australia and the United States say threatens economic growth. Both countries have refused to ratify Kyoto, saying clean technology is crucial in fighting climate change.
Trail Goes Cold in Search for Climate Deal The Times, December 9, 2005 The Montreal conference on global warming looks like ending tonight with no big agreement: nothing approaching the status of the Kyoto Protocol, and possibly nothing at all. That is not a tragedy. It is more like a success. One of the fortnight's achievements is to have drawn attention to the difficulty of enforcing the Kyoto Protocol itself, never mind drafting a successor, given that so many countries are on course to breach it by an extravagant margin.
Copying Zeropa: U.S. States Pay Price for Mandatory Climate Policies Yahoo Financial News, December 7, 2005 U.S. States that are moving forward with legislation to address climate change through mandatory carbon emissions reductions and mandatory emission trading regimes will pay a high economic price for their policies, according Dr. Margo Thorning, senior vice president and chief economist with the American Council for Capital Formation.
Italian Evironment Minister Won't Risk Damaging Businesses AGI Online, December 7, 2005 Environment minister Altero Matteoli arriving in Montreal today to take part in the UN conference on the climate said: "We cannot damage our businesses that must become competitive again"
Blair Deserts Kyoto Financial Post, December 8, 2005 As the UN's climate convention in Montreal draws to a close, it is becoming apparent that, despite the usual rhetoric, all attempts will fail to extend the Kyoto Treaty beyond its expiration in 2012. What is largely overlooked, however, is that - for the first time ever - hardly any pressure was put on the U.S. to yield. The driving-force behind this seismic shift of the political landscape is one man and one man only: Tony Blair.
Media's Propensity For Gloomy Eco-Stories BBC News, November 30, 2005
Reason Online, December 12, 2005
In Gulliver's Travels, the diminutive Lilliputians tie down the "giant" Gulliver with hundreds of tiny cords. The other nations of the world are hoping to try the same trick on the "giant" United States, binding it with strings of small international agreements that will ultimately restrict its emissions of greenhouse gases. The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal ended this past weekend with two such accords. In the first deal, the parties to the Kyoto Protocol reached an agreement to launch negotiations about imposing further restrictions on their emissions of greenhouse gases after that treaty expires in 2012. Since the United States is not a party to the Kyoto Protocol it had no say in this agreement.
Nature's Style: Naturally Trendy
Geophysical Research Letters, December 8, 2005
These findings have implications for both science and public policy. For example, with respect to temperature data there is overwhelming evidence that the planet has warmed during the past century. But could this warming be due to natural dynamics? Given what we know about the complexity, long-term persistence, and non-linearity of the climate system, it seems the answer might be yes. Finally, that reported trends are real yet insignificant indicates a worrisome possibility: natural climatic excursions may be much larger than we imagine. So large, perhaps, that they render insignificant the changes, human-induced or otherwise, observed during the past century.
Austrailia: Forget Climate Target, Timetables
Reuters, December 9, 2005
Short-term targets and tight timetables are no solution to fighting climate change, Australia's environment minister said on Thursday on the sidelines of a U.N. climate conference. The talks have struggled to make headway on advancing the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. The pact enshrines binding curbs on the emission of greenhouse gases, something Australia and the United States say threatens economic growth. Both countries have refused to ratify Kyoto, saying clean technology is crucial in fighting climate change.
Trail Goes Cold in Search for Climate Deal
The Times, December 9, 2005
The Montreal conference on global warming looks like ending tonight with no big agreement: nothing approaching the status of the Kyoto Protocol, and possibly nothing at all. That is not a tragedy. It is more like a success. One of the fortnight's achievements is to have drawn attention to the difficulty of enforcing the Kyoto Protocol itself, never mind drafting a successor, given that so many countries are on course to breach it by an extravagant margin.
Copying Zeropa: U.S. States Pay Price for Mandatory Climate Policies
Yahoo Financial News, December 7, 2005
U.S. States that are moving forward with legislation to address climate change through mandatory carbon emissions reductions and mandatory emission trading regimes will pay a high economic price for their policies, according Dr. Margo Thorning, senior vice president and chief economist with the American Council for Capital Formation.
Italian Evironment Minister Won't Risk Damaging Businesses
AGI Online, December 7, 2005
Environment minister Altero Matteoli arriving in Montreal today to take part in the UN conference on the climate said: "We cannot damage our businesses that must become competitive again"
Blair Deserts Kyoto
Financial Post, December 8, 2005
As the UN's climate convention in Montreal draws to a close, it is becoming apparent that, despite the usual rhetoric, all attempts will fail to extend the Kyoto Treaty beyond its expiration in 2012. What is largely overlooked, however, is that - for the first time ever - hardly any pressure was put on the U.S. to yield. The driving-force behind this seismic shift of the political landscape is one man and one man only: Tony Blair.
Media's Propensity For Gloomy Eco-Stories
BBC News, November 30, 2005
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