Environment : 2006, time to act not debate.

January 3, 2006

The Environment - It's Getting Hot in Here By Mark LynasPosted Monday, January 2, 2006 2005 was the year in which concerns about the stability of the climate regularly made the headlines; 2006 may be the year when demands to do something about it finally become irresistible. Please go through the excellent article; http://www.news.vu/en/news/environment/060102-Its-Getting-Flooded-In-Vanuatu.shtml Some excerpts: The Government is fond of reviews. It allows difficult decisions to be postponed indefinitely while placating demands for action with warm- sounding soundbites. Climate

change is no different. .....the challenge to climate campaigners is clear: the Government must no longer be able to hide behind climate-friendly rhetoric while entrenching patterns of social behaviour that make tackling global warming ever more intractable. UK will miss its target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2010 by 20 per cent. Nuclear (power) is now justified on the basis that it generates carbon-free electricity, perhaps the only persuasive argument for taking it seriously, given the multiple other drawbacks varying from radioactive waste to the sheer expense. Montreal was also successful in cementing America's near-total diplomatic isolation on the climate change issue. When the US delegation staged a petulant walk-out during the final hours of the conference, it expected half the world to follow. No one did. Instead of shutting down

Montreal, the Americans were shamed not only into returning to the conference floor, but also into agreeing to further negotiations this year. There are also indications that the US will not be able to evade legal culpability for its emissions for much longer. “New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.” – George Bernard Shaw.

for Good - Make a difference this year.