about time....

[Guest guest]

about time ya limeys got on our case!!!!

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalwarming/story/0,7369,716184,00.html

 

Planet is running out of time, says Meacher

US rejection of Kyoto climate plan 'risks uninhabitable Earth'

Nicholas Watt, political correspondent

Thursday May 16, 2002

The Guardian

 

Britain will today launch its strongest attack on George Bush's

rejection of the Kyoto climate protocol, as the government warns that

Washington's actions threaten to make the planet " uninhabitable " .

 

Angered by the US government's decision to rule out signing up to Kyoto

for the next 10 years, the environment minister, Michael Meacher, writes

in today's Guardian that the world is running out of time. " We do not

have much time and we do not have any serious option. If we do not act

quickly to minimise runaway feedback effects [from global warming] we

run the risk of making this planet, our home, uninhabitable. "

 

The minister's intervention came after Washington's chief climate

negotiator, Harlan Watson, said in London earlier this week that an

independent US initiative to cut emissions of greenhouse gases would not

be assessed until 2012. " We are not going to be part of the Kyoto

protocol for the foreseeable future, " he announced.

 

Mr Watson's remarks prompted an outspoken attack on the US by Mr

Meacher. " I am so disappointed that this week the US refused to

reconsider coming back into the climate talks for 10 years. The need for

action is urgent, " he writes.

 

Tony Blair also admitted last night that Britain and the US were at odds

over the Kyoto protocol, the international agreement drawn up to help

slow, and mitigate the effects of, climate change.

 

In an interview on BBC2's Newsnight, the prime minister said: " On Kyoto,

there is a difference of opinion. We have made that clear. "

 

Mr Meacher takes a swipe at the US's apparent complacency when he warns

that there are strong reasons for " doubting the comforting US picture

that there's plenty of time to deal with the problem " . The minister

adds: " One [reason] is that climate change may be not steady but abrupt;

the other is that the pressures we inflict on the climate may trigger

wholly unexpected developments from feedback effects. "

 

Latest scientific evidence suggests the impact of climate change on

Britain could be " faster and sharper " than expected, says Mr Meacher.

[Guest guest]

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