President Barack Obama spoke on the last day of climate talks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The President called on all major economies to put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions and turn the corner on climate change.
Excerpt From NYT’s ClimateWire, By DARREN SAMUELSOHN AND LISA FRIEDMAN
Obama Tries to Rally U.N. Climate Conference, but Deadlock Persists
Behind the scenes, dozens of presidents and prime ministers worked on a three-page document that they hope will become the lone outcome of the two-week negotiations here.
But the blame game is also under way with more than 115 heads of state in Copenhagen — many with years of work and their prestige on the line — struggling to bridge a divide between the world’s rich and poor nations. Several major industrialized countries pointed the finger at China for balking at demands to ensure their emission commitments would be open for public scrutiny.
A hush fell over the entire Bella Center during Obama’s eight-minute speech (pdf). He took on climate skeptics with his opening words and then made an all-out push for a collective agreement.
“While the reality of climate change is not in doubt, I have to be honest, as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now and it hangs in the balance,” he said. “I believe we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of a common threat. That is why I have come here today. Not to talk, but to act.”
But with nearly 200 countries handing the negotiations over to their heads of state after two brutal weeks of gridlock, those talks have yet to bear any fruit.
China’s leader ignores compromise meeting
Obama and 19 other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, met for about 90 minutes in the Bella Center trying to find a compromise.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao boycotted the meeting and instead sent his vice foreign minister, He Yafei. In remarks to reporters, Sarkozy noted the protocol breach and said an agreement remained out of reach because of Beijing’s resistance to emissions monitoring.
Read the rest of the story at the New York Times: Obama Tries to Rally U.N. Climate Conference, but Deadlock Persists
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I think there will be a backlash from the greens after this and a possible scapegoating of Phil Jones et al for spoiling the party with their sloppy science. It could be ugly.
LOOK out for INTERNET CENSORSHIP.. it is next. They have brought it up in AU and the UK… for your own good. Can’t have you thinking or hearing alternate views based on facts, not fiction and illusions.
Now, we have to fight for our right to communicate. It is all that has truly saved us… for now. Once these clowns are exposed fully, I truly hope the ‘educated’ future ‘leaders’ will remember how lying, manipulating and so on will, in the end NOT pay off, regardless of what the hidden masters do say.
No, now there is certainly going to be scrutiny from where it did not come from before… i hope.
Fight against I2 and keep the free flow of info alive.
Why hasn’t the leaker come forth? Damn. Russsia says they know where it came from, so release it already.
What does it tell us about the level of corruption of our western democraties when we have to rely on communist China and Wahabi Saudi Arabia to bring a little bit of sanity into the talks?
Isn’t it lovely they’ve managed to rebrand ‘global warming’ as ‘global climate change’? Warming, cooling, temperature stagnation, drought, wild fires, unusually early blizzards — it’s all because of CO2. Even earthquakes are apparently due to CO2, at least according to the UN opening video!
“While the reality of climate change is not in doubt”
YOU LIE
The composer Rossini once said “Give me a laundry list and I will set it to music.’ No doubt if you gave the same list to Obama he could turn it into a speech. But no matter how you parse the words you still can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit.
I don’t see the “tips” thread anymore on the top bar so I will pass this along here:
A scientific comedian!
Biologist turned comedian.
Not much of a speech for a guy who aced the LSAT’s.
Oops, I wrote too hastily, and typed a but instead of by; please read above:
“The reality of climate change is not in doubt” – Barack Obama
So he’s trading politically on this proposition. It’s just as easy for me to say:
“The reality of political bias in the science in not in doubt” – HankHenry
My sincere congratulations to all participants, you have succeeded doing what you always do: NOTHING!
Be Our Lord praised for that!
Star Trek idea of a parallel universe:
President Obama, of whom many are worried is way too conservative:
“Let me be clear, now is not the time for action”
I almost choked on the world biggest economy line..
he forgot to say BANKRUPT!
Bernanke will be warming up those Fiat money presses again..
all the people living in tents that have lost their homes and jobs?
wonder how they feel?
charitably inclined to see money that could home and feed them given for no sane reason to “the poor 3rd world”?
while they are the 1st worlds poor..
if I closed my eyes I could hear Bush..if you arent with us, your against us echoing in my ears.
Obama, some of us are so against you, you wouldnt believe:-)
why does the earth never open and swallow idiots and dangerous fools like these?
I’d love to arrange tickets to see Mayon go boom , up close and personal,for the whole stupid mob of sheeple they are.
Make that speech.
Copenhagen just doesn’t seem to like Obama.
@Indigo (08:45:10) :
“I’d really like to know what you recommend is best to do for the young people in our families in the West who believe all the AGW rubbish because they were filled up with this throughout their school days.”
There is no simple answer for that except to always be an example of rational skepticism. It takes time to shed BS thinking, and it is a process that is unique to each individual. Regardless of what age they are, what culture they’re from, or what they believe, the best thing to show people is how to ask good questions and the importance of the question itself.
Oh, my, the AGW true-believers are trashing Obama’s speech in the Guardian:
Barack Obama’s speech disappoints and fuels frustration at Copenhagen
“I was wondering where the $1 Trillion (100 billion/year x 10) they promised to developing countries was going to come from?”
I have news for you: OUR POCKETS.
Actually it gets better Fox News has this:
“DEVELOPING STORY: India and China walked out of the climate summit in Copenhagen on Friday, the India news agency Press Trust of India reported. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao walked out of the summit along with their respective delegations, as talks failed.”
I guess they were a little underwhelmed by Barry.
Oops here is the link:
http://foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=17316&external=131521.proteus.fma
I think that the frantic scenes at the end of this conference has disproved the conspiracy theory that this was a done deal with media management making things more dramatic for impact.
Wen Jiabao has played a blinder. The BBC are reporting (17:05 GMT) that the Chinese have sent a representative to the final round table leaders talks – the Chinese deal-makers are staying away. What’s the betting that the representative has no authority to negotiate?
Is this what Obama meant when he promised in the campaign to “restore science to its rightful place”? Seems that what he really meant was: “restore science to its rightful place so long as it agrees with my socialist agenda.”
Perhaps China told western countries: Please do not offer OUR monney!
“Oh, my, the AGW true-believers are trashing Obama’s speech in the Guardian:
Barack Obama’s speech disappoints and fuels frustration at Copenhagen”
So basically he’s pissed everyone off.
Here’s a thought – the only thing that’s kept the U.S. from drowning itself in Kyoto and/or cap-and-trade has been China’s refusal to yield its sovereignty and to undermine its own economic development. If they had played along, the U.S. Senate might have ratified Kyoto. As bad as the economy is now, it’d be far worse were it not for China’s refusal to straitjacket its economy. Remember that, except for a handful of congressional critters, most have bought into the AGW nonsense. The only reason Congress hasn’t acted hasn’t been due to Republicans vs. Democrats, but because China wouldn’t play the West’s silly game.
China and India and other developing nations are showing more integrity than our own politicians.