[jrw71470]

One of my greatest concerns about global warming is its impact on many of the impoverished nations in the third world. The potential for demographic displacement, desease, and death is frightning. Lets take Bangledesh for example. Bangledesh is a small nation just east of india that sits on a delta. It has a very low sea level throughout the country. It is very small geographicly, maybe as large as New Jersey, but, it contains over 200,000,000 people. With rising sea levels on the way people in Bangledesh have very few options. They will end up going to either India, which will be coping with its own problems, or, Burma, which has a unsympathetic government and fewer resourses then India. Tens of millions of people will be displaced in an appalling human tragity. Potentially millions could die in a catastrophy that would dwarf Katrina a hundered fold. I tend to believe that global warming is a human disaster waiting to happen.

[Lionhearted]

The United Nations Climate Control Conference (http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_12/items/3754.php) is being held in Nairobi, Kenya at this moment. One thing to come out of this conference that has grabbed the attention of the mainstream media is the Climate Change Performance Index (http://www.germanwatch.org/klima/ccpi07c.pdf) released by Germanwatch (http://www.germanwatch.org/start/english.htm) at the concference.
The index ranks 56 countries that were part of a 1992 climate treaty or that contribute at least 1 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The countries make up 90 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Of these 56 countries, the United States ranks 53rd (http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/13/climate.ranking.ap/), with only China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia doing worse.
I find this appalling for a nation of our supposed "stature". Thank goodness that Tony Snow and some obscure administration bureaucrat have set me straight.

"The president has made dealing with climate change a priority for this administration (and) will continue to," White House spokesman Tony Snow said Monday.

When asked about the rankings, Kristen A. Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said there were many different ways to measure environmental progress.

"The U.S. has seen one of the smallest increases -- 1.3 percent from 2000-2004 -- in greenhouse gas emissions (of) any major world economy," she said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.

Thus far, only two major industrial powers have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, Australia (because John Howard says it would cost Aussie jobs and he/the government believes Australia is doing enough to cut emissions) & the US because W believes:
"This is a challenge that requires a 100% effort; ours, and the rest of the world's. The world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases is the People's Republic of China. Yet, China was entirely exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. India and Germany are among the top emitters. Yet, India was also exempt from Kyoto … America's unwillingness to embrace a flawed treaty should not be read by our friends and allies as any abdication of responsibility. To the contrary, my administration is committed to a leadership role on the issue of climate change … Our approach must be consistent with the long-term goal of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere".

Now, I have never thought the Kyoto Protocol was all that and a bag of chips. In fact I have long felt it was more symbolic than effectual. I feel playing politics with the health of the planet is unconscionable and simply cannot understand why it is not the top priority of the world's governments.

[MAGI]

Well Lionhearted it sure shows what a little BS spin can do. I like the last 3 paragraphs of one of the articles you posted.
Now if we can get moral representation on those committees.......

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/13/climate.ranking.ap/

Climate rankings: U.S. near bottom
POSTED: 0329 GMT (1129 HKT), November 13, 2006

Scientists blame the past century's 1-degree rise in average global temperatures at least in part on the accumulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere -- byproducts of power plants, automobiles and other fossil fuel-burning sources.

Some climate conference participants said Democratic victories in U.S. midterm elections were a good sign for environmental issues.

"The U.S. elections are clearly good news for strong U.S. action on global warming," said Jeremy Symons of the National Wildlife Federation. He said new leadership will "break the conspiracy of silence and denial" on environmental issues.