The Bush administration is hosting another meeting of the world's biggest polluters in Hawaii this week, in hopes of subverting the UN process for negotiating a new climate pact. This is the second "Major Economies" meeting in which they'll be pushing for "voluntary measures" and "aspirational goals" to control climate change, and tout "technology" as the solution to all our problems, much like they did in the first meeting in September. Before the US delegation even left for Hawaii, James Connaughton, White House Council on Environmental Quality, was already trying to minimize expectations for the summit: "I think these will be iterative discussions, which the initial goal will be to lay out a variety of options without holding any country to a particular proposal."
This is particularly salient in light of Bush's rhetoric on climate and energy in his State of the Union address this week:
And let us complete an international agreement that has the potential to slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases. This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride.
And:
Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions. Let us increase the use of renewable power and emissions-free nuclear power. Let us continue investing in advanced battery technology and renewable fuels to power the cars and trucks of the future.
Bush wants us to believe that action on climate change will be one the legacies he leaves behind this year, that he's gotten the gospel on global warming. And to listen to him talk, you might actually believe it. But all their action, between undermining international action on climate change to pandering to the energy industry at home, has done and continues to do nothing but set us back.
Greenpeace pulled of a massive, impressive stunt this week to call attention the Bush administration's chicanery, casting a giant projection of rising sea levels onto the Washington monument (see photo here) to point out that the Bush "climate policy" remains talking big, doing nothing, and subverting the work of those who are actually making advancements.
--Kate Sheppard
