By Andrew L. Jaffee

I believe that we are experiencing global warming. It is an issue that both the developing and developed worlds need to address right now. But what I’ve seen over the last week is farcical: 1) a UN “climate change” conference whose participants pumped an “equivalent to what a Western city of 1.5 million people, like Marseilles, France, would emit in a day” into our atmosphere; 2) a new Australian Labor leader whose “negotiating stance” on the Kyoto Protocol is the same as President Bush’s; and 3) the fact that China and India, “among the biggest contributors to the problem, both say they will not sign any climate change treaty that would slow the pace of their development.” Here are the goodies (insert your own, canned laugh-track):

From the Beeb:

… What the new [Australian] government is less likely to advertise is how its negotiating stance on the post-Kyoto framework - the protocol becomes obsolete in 2012 - is very Howardesque.

As the Labor leader conceded during the campaign, a Rudd government would not sign up to a post-Kyoto global treaty that did not include China and India. … [Ed note: Same stance as Bush.]

From the New York Times:

Coal-burning power plants belch pollutants into the air in China, contributing to global warming that experts say has destroyed billions of dollars in crops.

In India, melting Himalayan glaciers cause floods, while raising a more daunting long-term prospect: the drying up of life-sustaining rivers.

The two economic giants are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of rising temperatures. But though they are among the biggest contributors to the problem, both say they will not sign any climate change treaty that would slow the pace of their development. … [Ed note: What good will Kyoto do without these 2 powers, except hamper Western economies?]

And the kicker, from the AP:

… The U.N. estimates 47,000 tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants will be pumped into the atmosphere during the 12-day [climate change] conference in Bali, mostly from plane flights but also from waste and electricity used by air conditioners at five-star hotels lining palm-fringed beaches.

If correct, Goodall said, that is equivalent to what a Western city of 1.5 million people, like Marseilles, France, would emit in a day.

But he believes the real figure will be twice that, more like 100,000 tons, close to what the African country of Chad churns out in a year. …

Host Indonesia, which has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world, averaging 300 football fields an hour, said it had planted 79 million trees across the archipelago nation in the last few weeks. …

In largely symbolic gestures, 200 bright yellow mountain bikes are being offered to participants so they can pedal around the heavily guarded conference site, and recycled paper is being used for the reams of documents being handed out. Bins separating plastic and paper dot hallways — a rare sight in a country where formal recycling is virtually nonexistent. …

Yet SUVs, taxis and other cars sit in long lines at the gates to the site, spewing out exhaust as they wait to get through security checkpoints. …

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Related: Pure Politics, Environment

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