Related: Globe Embraces Occupy Wall Street
Also see: More than 1,000 Vermonters head to climate march
What is with the mess, kids?
"Obama seeks China pledge on reducing air pollution; In UN speech, he challenges Beijing to lead" by Mark Landler and Coral Davenport | New York Times September 24, 2014
UNITED NATIONS — President Obama, emboldened by his use of executive powers to fight climate change at home, challenged China on Tuesday, declaring that the United States and China — the world’s two largest economies and largest polluters — bear a “special responsibility to lead,” Obama said, “That’s what big nations have to do.”
And if you "lead" us in the wrong direction.
Btw, you have a responsibility to DO WHAT the PEOPLE WANT in this representative democracy.
The president’s remarks, delivered in a packed chamber of the General Assembly, were broadly aimed at marshaling more than 100 world leaders to confront climate change. But his words at a UN climate summit were directly focused on putting the onus on China.
What a sphincter.
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Unless officials in Beijing and Washington can resolve their differences, climate experts said, few other countries will agree to the treaty and it will probably founder.
Obama made clear that after he took the political risks, in June, of proposing a far-reaching Environmental Protection Agency regulation to force US power plants to curb their carbon emissions, he now expected the Chinese to do likewise.
There were indications that China might be ready with its own plan, although many analysts say they will be skeptical until Chinese officials reveal the details. The decision of President Xi Jinping of China to skip the summit also sent a less-than-enthusiastic message.
"The president and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, who addressed the chamber after Obama, met briefly at the summit Tuesday, before Obama’s speech."
But a senior Chinese official sent in Xi’s place said his country would try to reach a peak level of carbon emissions “as early as possible.” That suggested that the Chinese government, struggling with air pollution so extreme that it has threatened economic growth, regularly kept millions of children indoors, and ignited street protests, was determined to show faster progress in curbing emissions.
Protests in China? Yeah, right.
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With its surging use of coal, China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest greenhouse gas polluter. But in the past year, as thousands of Chinese have protested the reliance on coal and its contribution to some of the world’s dirtiest air, Chinese authorities have signaled they intend to adopt policies to reduce the use of coal.
Related: Obama Coal Kochs Colorado Environmentalists
What a fraud!
“We’ve been working hard on this plan, looking at what kind of changes we will make to industry,” Junfeng Li, director general of China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy, said in an interview.
Junfeng said his center had prepared “multiple choice” options for a proposed climate plan, and that Beijing officials would choose one to put forth....
In recent years, the Chinese government has sent other signals about addressing carbon pollution, some of them encouraging to environmental experts.
It has created seven regional cap-and-trade plans aimed at cutting carbon pollution from coal plants, and in August, a Chinese government official suggested that China is exploring the possibility of a national cap-and-trade plan.
The bankers must be $alivating.
For Obama, the climate summit was the first time he had spoken to such a gathering, with a significant carbon-cutting plan to his credit....
They are turning his failure to get legislation into a victory?
“There should be no question that the United States of America is stepping up to the plate,” he said. “We recognize our role in creating this problem; we embrace our responsibility to combat it.”
Especially if the dictator says so.
Reciting a litany of record-setting temperatures and natural disasters, from hurricanes and wildfires to droughts and floods, the president warned that the climate was changing faster than the world’s response to it....
Then ISIS must be freezing it because the planet has been cooling for 16 years.
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The president said “nobody gets a pass” -- except the U.S. military, which receives an exemption.
Related: Wind energy proposal would light Los Angeles homes
Success hinges on a string of uncertainties, one being the weather.
Sorry I no longer like the climate at the Boston Globe.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
Obummer staking his claim to the Pacific:
"Obama to expand ocean preserve to 6 times the size" by Josh Lederman | Associated Press September 25, 2014
UNITED NATIONS — President Obama is carving out a wide swath of the Pacific Ocean for an expanded marine preserve, putting the waters off-limits to drilling and most fishing in a bid to protect fragile underwater life.
As he wages war on the life forms living above.
The revamped expanded Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument will cover 490,000 square miles — an area roughly three times the size of California — and will become the largest marine preserve in the world. Millions of seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals live in the bio-rich expanse included by the new monument, which will also add new protections for more than 130 ‘‘seamounts’’ — underwater mountains where rare or undiscovered species are frequently found.
The move to broaden the George W. Bush-era preserve comes as Obama seeks to show concrete presidential action to protect the environment, despite firm opposition in Congress to new environmental legislation.
I was told yesterday he had.
At the United Nations this week, Obama announced new US commitments to help other nations deal with the effects of climate change, as world leaders seek to galvanize support for a major global climate treaty to be finalized next year in Paris.
May we all make it that far and survive the psychopath.
‘‘We hope the steps taken today by the US government will accelerate similar actions by a growing list of coastal nations to protect more of the world’s great ocean treasures,’’ said Matt Rand, who heads the ocean program at the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Obama will sign a memorandum expanding the ocean preserve on Thursday, said White House officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan ahead of Obama’s announcement.
Of course, handing out more permits for deep-water drilling doesn't conflict with those laudable goals.
What is the real point of this, to cover up the radioactive Fukushima saturation?
Obama signaled his intent to expand the monument in June and asked for input on the boundaries from fishermen, lawmakers, and scientists. Officials said they received more than 170,000 comments on the proposal.
The memorandum bans commercial fishing, deep-sea mining, and other extraction of underwater resources, but recreational fishing will continue to be allowed. White House officials said they decided to allow some fishing in an attempt to preserve and encourage the public’s access to federal areas.
While a major symbolic victory for environmentalists, the designation will have limited practical implications. That’s because little fishing or drilling are taking place in the region even without the new protections.
So this is a NOTHING STORY! It's all about making Obummer look good as he wages the Third World War he started.
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Also see: Fire at Los Angeles seaport extinguished
The coverage of the wildfires just petered out.
