Europe backs off demands to satisfy U.S. and Canada
After two weeks of often-bitter wrangling, climate negotiators in Bali were on the verge of agreement today on a road map for tougher action on global warming, but the deal was considerably weakened to satisfy U.S. and Canadian opposition to hard targets for emissions reductions.
The tentative deal, reached at an all-night negotiating session, declares that “deep cuts” will be required in global emissions of greenhouse gases to respond to the “urgency” of the global-warming crisis. But the draft fails to mention specific goals, leaving that issue for further talks over the next two years.
The negotiators reached a breakthrough when the European Union agreed to drop its insistence on specific targets.
Full Story: globeandmail.com: Draft Bali deal omits specific targets
November 5th, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Even letting the debate continue, when our species may hang in the balance, says something about us. I argue that there is a certain presumptuousness surrounding our approach to how we are addressing global warming that goes well beyond simply having a short-term perspective. What if the cockroach has a more sustainable position? I recommend the following post: http://euandus3.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/climatic-presumption-what-is-the-forecast/