Heavy first snow covers Beijing two months earlier than last year, with officials saying they have artificially increased snowfall to ease a lingering drought in the region.
For more news video by Current TV visit http://current.com/Heavy first snow covers Beijing two months earlier than last year, with officials... more
To not include water as part of these negotiations will prove the parties involved are not serious about addressing the climate crisis. Water policy is central to an effective treaty as sea level rise, drought, glacier melt, and wetlands loss are all key to protection from storms, agricultural diversity, and life itself.
Just what are they thinking?http://www.panda.org/wwf_news/news/?uNewsID=179601
To not include water as part of... more
As the water level in the reservoir on the Yangtze River approaches its final height of 175 meters, criticism of China's Three Gorges Dam continues.
The completion of Three Gorges is being met with little fanfare, unlike the elaborate celebrations Beijing staged 12 years ago to mark the diversion of the Yangtze on the spot of the future massive dam, Inter Press Service reports.
In China, critics are saying filling of the dam is worsening the drought already affecting the Yangtze's delta. And Chinese diplomats are being met with skepticism in their efforts to promote hydropower across Asia and Africa.
To construct Three Gorges -- the world's largest and most expensive dam -- 1,350 villages were submerged and 1.3 million displaced from their homes. The dam has a capacity of 18,000 megawatts of electricity.
The dam's original cost, when approved in 1992, was estimated at $8.3 billion. That figure has now risen to $27 billion by Beijing's estimate, while other predictions slate the final cost at $88 billion.
"The Three Gorges dam is a model of the past," said Peter Bosshard, the policy director of California-based International Rivers, an organization whose mission is "to protect rivers and the communities that depend on them," Inter Press reports.
"There are smarter ways of generating energy and managing floods than by building outdated mega-projects," said Bosshard.
By blocking the flow of the Yangtze, its ecosystem has been altered to the extent that rare river species of dolphin and sturgeon are now facing extinction. Commercial fisheries along the Yangtze as well as off the river's mouth in the East China Sea have declined. And landslides, pollution of freshwater supplies and a greater risk of earthquakes are among the side effects of the dam.
In September 2007 government officials admitted, "If preventive measures are not taken, there could be an environmental collapse."
Pan Jiazheng, hydrologist with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, maintains that water is the only renewable energy source in China that can be developed on a large scale.
"Developing hydropower is the only viable way to make a dent in China's consumption of coal," Pan told Inter Press. "Those who argue that hydropower is not a clean energy have to ask themselves whether there is any other task more urgent for China's clean development than burning less coal."
Despite domestic and foreign criticism of Three Gorges, China is actively seeking to build hydropower projects in countries ranging from Cambodia to Pakistan to Nigeria.
"It is quasi-science to believe that hydropower equals green energy," said Zheng Yisheng, who researches environment and development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "You can't see rivers just as a source of energy and choose to ignore their ecological function as ecosystems. People need energy but they need a place to live, too."http://www.terradaily.com/reports/No_fanfare_for_Chinas_Three_Gorges_Dam_999.html... more
Americans are using less water per person now than they have since the mid-1950s, thanks to water-saving technologies and a nationwide push to safeguard dwindling supplies.
A report released Thursday by the U.S. Geological Survey also shows that industries as well as the general population are sucking up less water overall than in 1980, when the nation's thirst for water peaked.
Experts said it was particularly welcome news in the burgeoning West, where cities built in dry regions are grappling with intense disputes and ecosystem collapse tied to dwindling supplies.
"Even during a time of population growth and economic growth, we are all using less water," said Susan Hutson, a USGS hydrologist in Memphis, and an author of the report. "It's exciting to see we have responded to these crises by really seeking solutions."
California, in the third year of a withering drought, was the most water-hungry state in 2005, the most recent year for which figures were available.
California used about 9 percent of all water extracted from lakes, rivers and underground aquifers, followed by Texas, Idaho and Illinois. All told, those four states drew more than a quarter of the country's total freshwater supplies in 2005.
Nationwide, about 80 percent of the 410 billion gallons used each day went to produce electricity at thermoelectric power plants and to irrigate farm fields.
But as the drought and environmental battles persist in California, some of the state's most productive farmers are receiving as little as 10 percent of their normal supplies, forcing growers to leave hundreds of thousands of acres unplanted and lay off thousands of farmworkers.
This year, city dwellers, too, have been forced to shorten their showers and let their lawns turn brown under mandatory water rations.
"We still have collapsing ecosystems because of water use, we still have rivers and aquifers that are overtapped, and we still have rapid population growth," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank based in Oakland. "I guess the optimistic way to put it is, we're learning our lessons about smart water use but we have a long way to go."
The Ewaso Nyiro River flows down from Mount Kenya to water the dry plains that stretch east from the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. The sparsely populated plains are a haven for wildlife, which rely on the Ewaso Nyiro River as a source of water. Multiple public and private wildlife reserves, including Samburu National Reserve and Buffalo Springs National Reserve, line the banks of the river. In 2009, the river wasted and then went dry as the region sank into severe drought. The dry river bed is exposed in this true-color image, captured by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s EO-1 satellite on September 27, 2009.
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Amazing yet sad NASA image of what drought is doing to Kenya.
Perhaps I will send this to the UN and Copenhagen with a big 3 5 0 written across it..The Ewaso Nyiro River flows down from Mount Kenya to water the dry plains that stretch... more
NAIROBI, Kenya - Ethiopia said Thursday it needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million people, an appeal that comes 25 years after a devastating famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million and prompted one of the largest charity campaigns in history.
The crisis stems from a prolonged drought that has hit much of the Horn of Africa, including Kenya and Somalia.
Drought is especially disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 percent of people live off the land. Agriculture drives the economy, accounting for half of all domestic production and most exports.
Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia's state minister for agriculture and rural development, appealed to donors Thursday for more than $121 million. In January, he had said that 4.9 million of Ethiopia's 85 million people needed emergency food aid.
Ethiopia has long struggled with cyclical droughts, which are compounded by the country's dependence on rain-fed agriculture and archaic farming practices.
In 1984, Ethiopia's famine drew international attention as news reports showed emaciated children and adults with limbs as thin as sticks. The crisis launched one of the biggest global charity campaigns in history, including the concert Live Aid.
...More...NAIROBI, Kenya - Ethiopia said Thursday it needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million... more
Population discussions raise lots of hackles. And they bring the crazies out of the woodwork like termites when the Orkin Man appears. But I hope to post a series of pieces on population and water because we must stop ignoring the role of population in our environmental and water problems.
The amount of water on Earth is fixed. We’re not losing it to space and we’re not getting more (with negligible exceptions). The amount of water in a river basin or watershed is fixed. It goes up and down with natural variability, and it may change over time due to climate changes, but water is a renewable resources and our use of it does not affect the amount we get next year.
But population is not fixed. It is growing, and growing rapidly in some places. As a result, the amount of water available per person (”per capita”) is declining. Here is a simple example: assume that the average flow of water in a river basin is 10 million acre-feet per year and the population using that water is 20 million people. Then on average, the water available for use is around 450 gallons per person per day, if you could use it all (which would, of course, destroy the river ecosystem, but that’s another topic). If the population of the basin doubles to 40 million, the water availability per person drops in half, to around 225 gallons per person per day. If the population doubles again, water availability drops to just over 100 gallons per person per day.
The math is easy, but the consequences can be severe: abundance can become shortage. In simple terms, addressing water problems in the face of population growth come down to three choices: (1) increase the water supply, (2) decrease the water demand per person, or (3) change the number of people. Water policy in the past century focused only on increasing supply. Most of the work of the Pacific Institute has focused on the second because we believe the options for new supply in most places are increasingly limited, expensive, and environmentally damaging, and we see enormous potential for reducing demand. Almost no discussion, anywhere, focuses on the third choice. But the failure to address population in the long run will be disastrous. And the “long-run” is no longer so far away.
Water (Population) Numbers: While total water availability remains fixed, the population of the United States has grown from around 150 million in 1950 to over 305 million today. The population of California in 1950 was 10.5 million; today it is around 37 million. The population of the state of Georgia in 1950 was under 4 million; today it is approaching 10 million. The population of Jordan in 1960 was around a million; today it is 6 million. The population of Israel in 1960 was just over 2 million; today it exceeds 7 million. The population of Iraq in 1960 was around 7.3 million; today it exceeds 31 million.
Is it any wonder that California’s, or Georgia’s, or the Middle East’s water problems have worsened?
In a recent paper, Richard Seager of Columbia and his colleagues analyzed the recent drought in the southeastern United States. This drought led to water use restrictions, depleted flows in the major river basins of the region, and growing political tensions over water sharing between Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. The authors of this paper concluded that the recent drought in the Southeast was not climatologically different from past droughts, but was felt more severely largely due to the growth in population in the region. In July, a Federal judge ruled that Atlanta had to fundamentally change the way it obtains its water, and noted that
“Too often, state, local, and even national government actors do not consider the long-term consequences of their decisions. Local governments allow unchecked growth because it increases tax revenue...
more at the link
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Peter Gleick is president of the Pacific Institute, an internationally recognized water expert and a MacArthur Fellow.Population discussions raise lots of hackles. And they bring the crazies out of the... more
"President Mwai Kibaki has declared the drought a national disaster and appealed for $150 million to feed the hungry.
Rural areas like northern Kenya, which have suffered decades of neglect and under-development, are most affected, with livestock herders particularly at risk.
These are areas with little access to education, healthcare, water and sanitation – making them even more vulnerable.
Cattle and goats – the weakest of the livestock species reared here, began dying a long time ago. In some places, livestock grazers have already lost entire herds to drought and disease.
We met Abdille Qayleey in the village of Jowhar just outside Wajir town. He had 200 goats when the rains first failed. Today he has just 25 and they are too weak to provide a livelihood for his family of eleven."
I wonder if those who deny global climate change would do so if this was happening to them?"President Mwai Kibaki has declared the drought a national disaster and appealed for... more
For the entire month of October, the Water Is Life Group will be showcasing organizations that bring life, hope, and clean water to those in need. If you know of a group that is doing this and wish to post about it on this group, please do so. The global water crisis that much of the world now finds itself in will not go away if we are apathetic to it thinking water will replenish itself. As we are seeing, water evaporation, drought, changes in rainfall patterns, and lack of access through waste and privitization are impeding progress in seeing the more than one billion people on our planet without potable water having access to it.
This simply is unacceptable. Water is a human right.
Any support we can then give to those organizations working hard and sincerely to bring the gift of hope and life to others can make a huge difference.
Please watch this video from the UN: Water: The Drop Of Life, and consider helping these organizations.
Yesterday morning, as Senators Boxer and Kerry unveiled the Senate's new climate bill, they emphasized that the threat of climate change is about more than just hotter weather. It's about the economy and national security, two issues that are getting a lot of attention right now - but climate change is also about another incredibly important problem: water.
The water we all use to drink, swim, wash and bathe is seriously threatened by climate change, as altered weather patterns and water cycles could cause communities all over the country to face longer droughts, more frequent floods and storms, and increased water pollution. Obtaining, transporting, and treating water also uses lots of energy, creating the same global warming pollution that threatens our water in the first place.
(Read the rest at link)Excerpt:
Yesterday morning, as Senators Boxer and Kerry unveiled the Senate's new... more
On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver. The leafless scrub, bleached white by the sun, looks like a forest of fake Christmas trees. Carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Siridwa Baseli walks out of the haze along a path of the dead and dying. He passes a skeletal cow that has given up and collapsed under a thorn tree. A nomad from the Rendille people, he is driving his herd in search of water.
He marks time in seasons but knows that it has not rained for three years: "Since it is not raining there is no pasture," he says. Only 40 of his herd of sheep and goats that once numbered 200 have survived. Those that remain are dying at a rate of 10 every day.
Across the north of Kenya competition for water, grazing land and surviving cattle has sparked ethnic conflict. Cattle raids were always a feature of nomadic cultures but as the battle for survival intensifies the death toll climbs. Sixty-five people have been killed in the Turkana region alone since January.
Despite being a disaster three years in the making, the drought is in danger of catching Kenya and the UN unprepared. Failed harvests mean high food prices, the national government is crippled by infighting and corruption, and international aid groups have seen funding squeezed by the credit crunch.
The food vouchers sustaining hundreds of Rendille families will run out in less than a fortnight as the Irish aid agency paying for them, Concern, has run out of money for the project.On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver. The... more
This year’s drought is the worst in east Africa since 2000, and possibly since 1991.
Famine stalks the land. The failure of rains in parts of Ethiopia may increase the number needing food handouts by 5m, in addition to the 8m already getting them, in a population of 80m. The production of Kenyan maize, the country’s staple, is likely to drop by one-third, hitting poor farmers’ families hardest.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says famine in Somalia is going to be worse than ever. Handouts are urgently needed by roughly 3.6m Somalis, nearly half the resident population (several million having already emigrated during years of strife). In fractious northern Uganda cereal output is likely to fall by half. Parts of South Sudan, Eritrea, the Central African Republic and Tanzania are suffering too. Rich countries are being less generous than usual. The UN’s World Food Programme says it has only $24m of the $300m it needs just to feed hungry Kenyans for the next six months.
For more info on the drought in E. Africa, check out:
Across the north of Kenya competition for water, grazing land and surviving cattle has sparked ethnic conflict. Cattle raids were always a feature of nomadic cultures but as the battle for survival intensifies the death toll climbs. Sixty-five people have been killed in the Turkana region alone since January. Despite being a disaster three years in the making, the drought is in danger of catching Kenya and the UN unprepared. Failed harvests mean high food prices, the national government is crippled by infighting and corruption, and international aid groups have seen funding squeezed by the credit crunch. The food vouchers sustaining hundreds of Rendille families will run out in less than a fortnight as the Irish aid agency paying for them, Concern, has run out of money for the project. In the last week, other big organisations such as Oxfam and Cafod have launched emergency appeals. The UN has received less than half the £350m it has called for.
In reality no one can deliver the rain that is really needed. Leina Mpoke has been working to unravel the cycles of drought, local deforestation and global influences for the Kenya Climate Working Group. "The drastic changes we're experiencing cannot be explained by local activities," he says. "Across the southern Sahel we're seeing a huge trend."
In the 1970s there was a major drought once in the decade. In the 1980s this quickened to once every seven years, in the 1990s, once every five years. At the beginning of this decade the rains failed every other season and what we now see is "perennial drought".
"What's being seen," says Mr Mpoke, who works with Concern, are "the consequences of global climate change".
Marsabit mountain rises up from the semi-desert of northern Kenya to touch the clouds at nearly 2,000 metres. Its highland slopes have always offered respite from the heat and dust of the savannah.
The mountain was known as "Saku" or mist, and its elevated forest sheltered elephants, kudus, lions and high altitude lakes. It is now home to climate refugees who have swollen the population to more than 40,000. Ibrahim Adan grew up in Marsabit and is sad to see how it's changed: "It used to be all green, now it's horrible and dusty."
"I remember as a child we had food we didn't know what do with."
He now runs a local organisation called Cifa that is working with struggling nomadic communities and distributes food stamps. He describes what's happening as a "national crisis".
"The climate has forced people to the mountain. The number of poor people is increasing every day. They are cutting down the forest for firewood, the environment is totally degraded."
Everything in town is coated in a choking layer of red dust, the two mountain lakes have dried to a green-black crust and rangers at the Marsabit National Park say that eight elephants have starved to death in recent months. "If it wasn't for climate change we wouldn't have this concentration of people, it's a vicious circle," says Mr Adan.
Many of the climate refugees come to Petro Namweni Lojich when they arrive. He is the local chief of the Turkana, proud and warlike nomads whose homeland is more than 200km west of Marsabit.
Every time a vehicle arrives in town, he says, it brings another five or six Turkana.
"Drought and conflict are forcing them to come," he explains.
These outlanders are shunned by many of the jostling communities in Marsabit and live on the margins. Their fate is a bleak harbinger for other nomads. Stripped of their livestock and "prestige" there is no way back for them.
The chief insists he is "still a Turkana" but admits that without a herd he would be treated as inferior even if he could go home. Without rain, he believes, the rest of the Turkana will be forced to do what he has done: "What is the alternative?" he shrugs.Across the north of Kenya competition for water, grazing land and surviving cattle has... more
CSIRO scientists have bottled 'Recharge' , pure drinking water that was once stormwater. "This is an exciting demonstration of the value of stormwater and the drinking water that can be produced from it by using a combination of natural treatment processes and engineered methods," CSIRO's Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Urban Water Stream Leader Dr Peter Dillon said.
The water was captured in the City of Salisbury, on the Northern Adelaide Plains in South Australia. It was stored under Salisbury in a porous limestone aquifer 160m below ground.
When recovered it was found to meet drinking water health standards.
"The stormwater was first treated by passing it through a reed bed or wetland," Dr Dillon said.
"This allows particles to settle. It was then injected via wells into a limestone aquifer for storage and months of natural slow filtration through the aquifer."
After recovery the water was rigorously tested in National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) accredited laboratories.
For extra safeguard and aesthetic quality the water was aerated, filtered through an activated carbon filter and it underwent microfiltration and ultraviolet disinfection.
'Recharge' complies with the same health standards as tap and bottled water.
Dr Dillon said the water demonstrates that drinking water can be produced from stormwater, and that the concept can be part of a suite of diversified water supply options.
"Compared to other common alternative supplies stormwater harvesting is cheaper, energy efficient and has a small carbon footprint."
"It also avoids the economic, social and environmental costs of building new dams for water storage and shows the value of urban aquifers."
CSIRO scientists are continuing to test the robustness of the concept to ensure water can be produced that consistently meets drinking water health standards.
'Recharge' was produced by CSIRO's Water for a Healthy Flagship and the City of Salisbury.CSIRO scientists have bottled 'Recharge' , pure drinking water that was once... more
The thought of a meat dinner sent a village into a frenzy on Monday, Locals who had not seen a piece of meat in months where preparing to kill and eat an elephant and a hippo which unfortunately for them were stuck in the mud caused by the drought.
“How can they try to rescue the animals while we have not fed on meat for months?” asked a resident.
Police dispersed the crowd with tear gas.
As the drought bites deeper people are becoming more desperate.
I have never eaten elephant, but I hear the trunk has the best meat.
Do you think the villagers should have been allowed to eat dumbo?The thought of a meat dinner sent a village into a frenzy on Monday, Locals who had... more
Space tourist and circus entrepreneur Guy Laliberte has begun his journey as the "first clown to go into orbit".
The Canadian billionaire was aboard the Soyuz craft which blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS).
Mr Laliberte, who founded the Cirque du Soleil theatre company in the 1980s, reportedly paid $35m for his ticket.
He says he will make the ISS astronauts laugh during his 12-day stay, and produce a web event that highlights the issue of clean water for all.
The Canadian is the seventh private individual to make the trip. While previous tourists have emphasised science as a motivator, Mr Laliberte says his inspiration lies elsewhere.
"I'm an artistic person and a creator. I'm not a scientific. I'm not an engineer," he told the BBC this month.
On 9 October he intends to lead a "poetical social" performance from orbit. The two-hour show will link up with contributions from 14 cities worldwide. The whole endeavour will be streamed on the web.
Celebrities, including former US Vice President Al Gore and Irish rock band U2, are set to make appearances.
The purpose of the poem, written by Yann Martel, author of the Man-Booker prize-winning novel Life of Pi, is intended to emphasise the need for all the world's population to have access to clean water.Space tourist and circus entrepreneur Guy Laliberte has begun his journey as the... more
More than 23 million people - equivalent to one third of the UK population - are being pushed towards severe hunger and destitution across East Africa, international aid agency Oxfam has warned as it launches a £9.5 million emergency appeal.
A severe and persistent five-year drought, deepened by climate change, is now stretching across seven countries in the region and exacting a heavy human toll, made worse by high food prices and violent conflict.
The worst affected countries are Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda, while Sudan, Djibouti and Tanzania are also vulnerable.More than 23 million people - equivalent to one third of the UK population - are being... more
In 2007, facing growing opposition to its water management practices, particularly in India, Coca-Cola's CEO, Neville Isdell came up with a brilliant idea. The Coca-Cola company, he announced, will become water neutral, replenishing every drop of water they use, and therefore, as the suggestion went, Coca-Cola would have no impact of water resources around the world.
Voila! Problem solved, a company using 300 billion liters of water annually would have no impact on water resources. Sustainability doesn't get any better than that. The only problem was that Coca-Cola knew that water neutrality was impossible to achieve.
In a concept paper on water neutrality that Coca-Cola developed with others, it clearly stated that, "In a strict sense, the term 'water neutral' is troublesome and even may be misleading. It is often possible to reduce a water footprint, but it is generally impossible to bring it down to zero."
But minor details such as "misleading," "troublesome" and "impossible" did not stop Coca-Cola from using the term liberally and widely. And in India, where they have faced the most intense opposition (two bottling plants have been shut down), Coca-Cola went on a fast track, announcing that they will become water neutral by the end of 2009. It took a challenge by the India Resource Center and our allies during in December 2008 to get Coca-Cola to change its tune and to admit two months later that water neutrality is controversial and they will not use it.
"Please note that the terminology "water offset," like "water neutrality" is controversial ... Until a better terminology is identified and accepted by the broader water community, we are using the term offset." -- From Coca-Cola's "Achieving Water Balance through Community Partnership," February 2009.
But the marketing appeal of a concept like water neutrality, however impossible it may be to achieve, is simply to great for a publicity driven Coca-Cola to pass by. Sharing the opening plenary of the Clinton Global Initiative with Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Walmart two days ago, Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola's new CEO, blurted out that Coca-Cola will become water neutral by 2020.
Wait a minute. Is there something new from the "broader water community" since February this year that has enabled water neutrality to be possible and not controversial? No, there isn't, and trust me, we would know if there was because we keep a close watch on Coca-Cola and its shenanigans. Muhtar Kent's blurt is truly indicative of how Coca-Cola has approached its "water stewardship" initiatives.In 2007, facing growing opposition to its water management practices, particularly in... more
A heartbreaking article about the main and man-made cause of Kenya's current catastrophic drought, its many dramatic consequences, and the radical but logical measures that will be taken.A heartbreaking article about the main and man-made cause of Kenya's current... more
You know, at this point I say, SO WHAT? It isn't as if this Congress is even going to give us a bill that the Earth NEEDS. 17% reductions of GHGs by 2020 is PITIFUL. Dragging your feet on giving us REAL fuel emissions standards is PITIFUL when scientists have already stated we could be getting 80 miles to the gallon in our cars. And where are the subsidies for the AFFORDABLE hybrid plug- ins for the middle class? Ignoring Arctic melt because you want to secure sea routes for the resources there is PITIFUL. Ignoring the effects your cronyism in the agricultural sector are having on the environment is PITIFUL. Continuing to allow the practice of mountaintop removal is CRIMINAL.
So by all means, U.S. Congress, show the world your true colors and just how bought and sold to the coal and oil industries you really are even at a time of planetary crisis. Then go to Copenhagen hanging your heads in shame. Approving the Alberta Clipper pipeline to pipe in dirty bitumen tarsands while trying to tell the world the U.S Is ready to tackle climate change is also an insult to our intelligence. But go ahead, continue to think you can rickroll the American people with your doubletalk and ignorance. The day will come when your decades of inaction will have the full effect and your petty, selfish, politically partisan drivel will be seen for the irrelevance it is.
This also proves their level of consciousness about this is nil. It is not now a question of them having the luxury of a CHOICE as to whether they can pass this in time or not. This is a moral imperative that scientists state must be done and done right to stave off the worst effects of a crisis that will change our way of life. This in essence IS our healthcare bill, because without a sustainable planet we have nothing else, including health.
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Excerpt:
The fate of U.S. legislation capping carbon emissions weighed heavily on delegates at U.N. climate talks starting Monday in Bangkok, with the Americans saying delays in passing the bill could deter commitments from other nations.
Negotiations on a new U.N. climate pact have been bogged down by a broad unwillingness to commit to firm emissions targets, and a refusal by developing countries to sign a deal until the West guarantees tens of billions of dollars in financial assistance — something rich countries have so far refused to do.
"The more specific we can be, the easier it is to press others to be equally specific," Jonathan Pershing, the chief U.S. negotiator at the talks, told The Associated Press. "We have a lot of things we want from countries. ... The less we can put on the table, the harder it is to achieve that outcome."
The two weeks of U.N. climate talks in the Thai capital are drawing some 1,500 delegates from 180 countries to boil down a 200-page draft agreement to something more manageable, aiming for a new international climate pact this year.
In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its first bill to cap carbon emissions. The Senate, currently embroiled in debate on health care, is expected to take up the legislation as early as this week.
But Pershing said he doubted there's enough time to pass a climate bill in Congress before the year's biggest climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December, which aims to reach a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012.
end of excerptYou know, at this point I say, SO WHAT? It isn't as if this Congress is even going to... more
