Europe News
Merkel won't compromise with Bush on climate, doesn't see G8 deal
Jun 2, 2007, 11:27 GMT
Berlin - Germany is not prepared to budge on the goal of limiting global warming, Chancellor Angela Merkel says in an interview published Saturday, adding she does not expect agreement with the United States on climate change at this week's G8 summit.
There would be no compromise on the European Union goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to two Celsius degrees by 2050, Merkel told Der Spiegel news magazine, days before she hosts the G8 gathering in Heiligendamm.
'If the US does not move, probably the others will wait. I do not expect a solution this week,' the chancellor said.
Merkel flatly rejected the possibility of accepting a four-degree rise, as opposed to the two degrees outlined by the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
'That would be exactly what I would call a dirty compromise. We have to orientate ourselves to the findings of the scientists and not soften them,' she said.
Compromises could be found on the measures to be taken, 'but I cannot negotiate on the two degrees,' she said.
Merkel said officials were wrestling with the issue of climate change, which she has put at the top of the G8 agenda, 'right up to the last minute.'
'You can take it from me that I will not allow the scientifically based findings, such as those of the IPCC report of the United Nations, to be watered down,' she said.
The IPCC issued its third report in May, outlining how global warming could be contained to between 2.0 and 2.8 Celsius degrees, as long as measures were taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Referring to US policy to rely on technological innovation to curb emissions and a new initiative from President George W Bush to draw up a scheme involving only a group of 10 to 15 major emitters, Merkel said she backed definite targets.
Proceeding through the UN was 'non-negotiable,' she added.
'We Europeans find it more convincing, as a motor of change, to agree on ambitious goals at an international level and to implement our measures accordingly,' the chancellor said.
On Thursday Bush outlined a plan to limit emissions within a group countries, including the industrialized world and rapidly growing large economies like India and China.
Merkel did not reject Bush's initiative.
'We are not at the end of talks. I am confident that we will see movement in the negotiations,' she said, but she acknowledged that some themes on the agenda for discussion would not be mentioned in the final G8 document when the summit ends on Friday.
A senior US official said Merkel had been 'positive' about Bush's initiative, when the two leaders discussed climate change in a video conference Friday.
Bush's initiative in effect rebuffed EU calls, led by Merkel, for a G8 commitment to cut global greenhouse gas emissions to 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Merkel has made clear that the EU wanted a UN-led process to replace the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, which the US has not ratified, when it runs out in 2012.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
gr8 3 cheers to Merkel...
hope she can put sense into bush
For the next elections I will vote for the candidate who puts the fight against global warming at the top of his or her agenda. If there is no such candidate then I won't vote. I am really sick of looking around at all of these pigs who leave their Suburban running for a half hour as they shop for groceries just so they can return to their car in comfort. I see this and other disgusting behaviors every single day in this country full of pigs. We need a president who can impress our citizens with the sense of urgency that this issue demands.
she's so completely irrelevant, this story doesn't even matter.
Global warming is such a fraud. There is no such thing. The so-called scientists are in bed with grant money, so they have to keep beating the same drum.
Reality is that we are merely going through a standard cycle of the earth temps. When they naturally go back down, the moronic global warming conspirators will do the 'I told you so' dance, even though they had nothing to do with the change in temp.
Get a grip people. Global warming is a scam.
Yes it does matter. Every person who makes an effort to clean up the environment makes a difference. This person happens to lead an entire nation in such efforts. Your perspective is exactly the problem!!
Bush is nothing more than an oil company hack. We just have to count down to the magic day when he will be out of office and we can have some real progress on reversing global warming. Merkel is right to move on without him.
Global warming is a fraud? Hmmmm....I wonder if I should believe idiots like yourself or 2000 of the worlds top scientists. Tough decision....
Have you ever seen the chart that shows these historical climactic variations? If you have then you should certainly know that this is far beyond a typical cycle. You need to educate yourself before you speak!
Dr Griffin told the program: 'I have no doubt that a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with.
'To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change.
'I guess I would ask which human beings - where and when - are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take.'
Anything coming from this white house is suspect.
From the begining of time the climate has changed.And it will continue to do so.What makes anyone think that they can control or change mother nature?
Paul Calabrese,
Now why do not you spend your precious time praying and advancing your ignorance even further. You are just like those folks in the middle ages who wanted us to believe that the earth is the center of teh solar system. Luckily foolsk like you are an ever decreasing minority.
When German Chancellor Merkel becomes Queen of Earth, US citizens might actually care what she thinks. Until then, she can wash my schnauzer! We don't care what she, or any other non-American, wants. Germans still haven't taken full responsibility for WWII. Why should the US government derail the American economy to please a bunch of European socialists???
And by the way, Paul Calabrese is correct (read a college geography textbook if you don't believe me). If humans did not exist, do you really think the earth's temperature would remain constant? Of course not. Physical systems on earth are constantly in flux, and humans have tried to take credit for nature's fluctuations throughout recorded history. 'Global Warming' is just the new way to cry out that the sky is falling. I'm surprised the neo-alarmists haven't demanded virgin sacrifices to stop global warming - but I guess they have discovered modern way to spill innocent blood: destroy capitalism, so the whole world will be poor. Is that fair?
Paul Calabrese and Temper - you are quite a disappointment and such widespread ignorance is the reason I have lost faith in humanity
Temper, you are willing to destroy OUR planet out of resent for a German Chancellor. What a fool.
gem for Belgium - you quoted one person who happens to be an idiot and has drawn intense criticism from the scientific community because of his ignorance. He may lose his job for his ignorance. I hope you
Paul Calabrese - yes, the climate has always changed; the point is that the AMOUNT of fluctuation in the climate is greater than ever before. What part of that can you not understand?
My children and theirs will suffer because we must share this planet with people like the three of you. I sincerely wish that you would take the time to educate yourselves.
Mr 'Fools' you have illustrated two sad facts:
1) That you have reproduced.
2) and worse, that you have fallen for and perpetuate the the neo-alarmists lie about the phone 'global warming' crisis.
Get your head out of the sand and learn some real facts, not just what those alarmists preach to you.
I have learned some real facts - and I have presented them. What have you presented beyond insults?
Have any of you narrow minded people who refuse to see the obvious facts even taken the time to consider that global warming is real? Have you even looked at the evidence? I think not!
ecobridge dot org
The subject of 'global warming' will be debated until the world ends, whether it be naturally as some think or by human's mistreatment. It is a fact that soome warming can be attributed to population and should be corrected as much as possible, but on the other hand, Mother Nature will always have the upper hand!!
The sky is not falling.
To assume that the false global warming will be debated only until the cycle changes and then you same chickent little types will start crying that global cooling is going to end the world.
Fools, continue to jump on the chicken little bandwagon. But hurry, because the wagon is pretty full.
and a tad logically...
the earth DOES go thru environmental changes. the difference now is that we can verify how much and how quickly that change is happening.
you cannot bulldoze down a hill for a superhighway, can't fill in wetlands for condos, and can't drop nuclear bombs on hiroshima and nagasake and at the same time claim 'humans have nothing to do with changes in the earths climates'.
whales beach themselves, much more than gets reported by the way, and most of that happens near coastal military bases (also more than gets reported). bees are disappering in the US, while cell phones and in particular GPS systems become more widespread. GMO seeds produced by monsanto are non-seeding crops so you HAVE to buy new seeds each season; in turn farmers in India are being forced more and more into debt, driving many of them to suicide.
then when nature, ala hurricane katrina style, corrects imbalances forced onto it by human occupation (pun intended on all levels), the hypermodernizing human race crys 'foul'.
grow up 'children of the earth'. at some point, you have to stop blaming your mother for everything.
Global warming is real, it is also a natural phenomenon. It is not man made. People have been programmed to think 'pollution' every time they hear 'global warming'. It is a psychological trick that has been played on you. It is a part of an advertising concept called 'Branding'.
You need to ask yourself, what does advertising and branding have to do with science? The obvious answer is NOTHING. There is money to be made off this hysteria by governments (Tax), self appointed governments (The UN, EU, again with Tax) and the scientific community. (Grants for junk science that confirm political goals)
YOU ARE BEING MANIPULATED. YOU ARE BEING CONNED INTO INSISTING THAT YOU GIVE UP YOUR OWN SOVEREIGNTY AND MONEY TO THESE SWINDLERS!
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2332531355859226455
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3309910462407994295
Climate change will be considered a joke in five years time, meteorologist Augie Auer told the annual meeting of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton this week.
Man's contribution to the greenhouse gases was so small we couldn't change the climate if we tried, he maintained.
'We're all going to survive this. It's all going to be a joke in five years,' he said.
A combination of misinterpreted and misguided science, media hype, and political spin had created the current hysteria and it was time to put a stop to it.
'It is time to attack the myth of global warming,' he said.
Water vapour was responsible for 95 per cent of the greenhouse effect, an effect which was vital to keep the world warm, he explained.
'If we didn't have the greenhouse effect the planet would be at minus 18 deg C but because we do have the greenhouse effect it is plus 15 deg C, all the time.'
The other greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide, and various others including CFCs, contributed only five per cent of the effect, carbon dioxide being by far the greatest contributor at 3.6 per cent.
However, carbon dioxide as a result of man's activities was only 3.2 per cent of that, hence only 0.12 per cent of the greenhouse gases in total. Human-related methane, nitrogen dioxide and CFCs etc made similarly minuscule contributions to the effect: 0.066, 0.047 and 0.046 per cent respectively.
'That ought to be the end of the argument, there and then,' he said.
'We couldn't do it (change the climate) even if we wanted to because water vapour dominates.'
Yet the Greens continued to use phrases such as 'The planet is groaning under the weight of CO2' and Government policies were about to hit industries such as farming, he warned.
'The Greens are really going to go after you because you put out 49 per cent of the countries emissions. Does anybody ask 49 per cent of what? Does anybody know how small that number is?
'It's become a witch-hunt; a Salem witch-hunt,' he said.
The only way to eliminate so-called man-made global warming is to do away with all modern conveniences and live like they did centuries ago. I do believe that steps should always be taken to make it a safer world in all aspects and not wait until they have decided what has been happening is not good. Figure it out to begin with. And if anyone has the answer to controlling Mother Nature, we'll have it made!!! But, alas, the debate will go on and on with each group bashing each other until something else comes along to give their attention to.
'controlling mother nature' is what got us into this mess.
i cannot believe i've heard as many responses as i have that global warming, and/or humans have no effect on, etc... as i have on this comment thread.
the best one was the bit about 'giving up your sovereinty to the greens' yada-yada. i wonder if that particular person happens to be a cigarette smoker.
i am; and i am certainly tired of hearing no-ones-holier-than-me types tell me what a horrible affect i have not only on myself but on the world in general. listening to anti-smokers one would think i'm a cross between a nuclear power plant and a child molester. and you realize, i as a smoker am getting blamed for persistantly rising asthma rates?
in the meantime, SUVs buyers in the States continue to get substantial tax breaks while our gov't continues to limit, or phase out, the tax incentives on hybrids.
yup, but iraq is stabilizing nicely and the war was NOT about oil so we must be mistaken about global warming as well.
NOT.
'the best one was the bit about 'giving up your sovereinty to the greens' yada-yada. i wonder if that particular person happens to be a cigarette smoker.
i am;'
Nope, but after reading the lack of common sense and even a coherent point in your comment my sadness at you removing yourself from the gene pool is somewhat diminished.
I dont think anything is to be gained discussing scientific matters with neocons and conservative republicans .Who would want to debate with cognitive impaired people claiming the earth exists for 6000 years only and humans and dinosaurs coexisted .Because that is the level of their scientific understanding .Irrelevant and futile .Let us just carry on adressing this problem without their consent .Nature will force them to order sooner or later .Augie whatever was his name is definitely nothing compared to the scientific community united in their efforts to save the human race from the abyss .
i apologize that you're not getting it.
let me lit up inside my own home and ponder abit about how to make it easier for you to understand.
when i do drive, i drive an emissions efficient vehicle. i purchase energy-saver products whenever i need to purchase computers, appliances, light bulbs, etc. when i heat, i choose to keep it as low as possible, and when i use, i reuse and recycle as often as possbile. small acts to be sure, so i'm certainly not saving the world single-handedly, but i do employ some restraint on the effect i have on the planet. hey, i'm even doing my part to get off it quicker! (wish i could say the same about the 'there's no global warming problem' types) yet somehow, it is *I* as an individual who's choice to smoke persistantly inflicts asthma, cancer, emphysema, etc upon the poor, vulnerable populace.
somehow i as an individual can't save it but i as an individual can kill it.
now, when a country that has 5% percent of the world's population and produces 25% of the CO2 emissions, not to mention a host of other 'influences', is called upon to show restraint regarding its behaviours - that's called liberal bias, propaganda and subversive science.
it seems that the only lesson that we learned from the Big Tobacco mess wasn't that mega-business lies, but that we shouldn't have them take oaths before they testify before congress. it's too embarrasing later.
can't have it both ways you puesdo-capitalists.
get the corporations off the government teats and see how quickly a REAL free market responds to the needs of the people, not the-people-in-charge.
You repeat the same useless rhetoric every post on here. You are not from Belgium either. Isnt Global warming in the Bible?
Get ready as we head to the Ice Age, We will ned all the Global Warming we can get...PS...When is the next killer asteroid?
To smelly yellow toothed bone head,
The points are:
1) the science is dubious at best that man is behind global warming.
2We shouldn't kill off what is left of our industries, only to have them exported elsewhere and continue doing precisely what they were doing before to the planet but at the loss of jobs and taxes.
3) Calling for restraint wouldn't be so hypocritical if other countries who have signed on to this stupidity had done anything to live up to their word.
4) The patch works and cancer is a horrible way to die. If I can quit you can too. Wise up and get the patch, put it over your mouth and it will solve both our dilemmas.
congratulations to you.
i however, do *not* wish to quit.
oh sure, i did for a little over 3 years but i missed it (some say addicted) and even though i seem to be able to choose when and where i smoke, it's now aggravating the pompousity of ex-smokers that i'm most addicted to.
and don't you find it just a tad interesting, just interesting mind you, that cancer is abnormal cell GROWTH. just like what hormones are utilized for in a variety of food sources?
what is wrong with restraint? the government and others who enjoy thinking of themselves as THE higher beings have gained so much experience in browbeating individuals into arresting (pun intended) individual choices, when will those entities start learning to lean on conglomerated interests more?
killing industry? you want to know what kills industry? ask anyone attempting to build a new product or provide a new service, like for instance, eletric vehicles. hostile takeovers of government by high-powered lobbiests have done more to undermine new industry and job creation than saving a tree or wetland. and jobs get sent overseas by corporate interests not by individuals who still want those jobs.
again, balance is the word, 12-year-quitter. i didn't say i gave up my car, just some of what it used and emitted. i'm not asking that the world stand still like a deer in headlights, just stop rushing forward with it's eyes closed.
oh, but speaking of innovation, check up on the pharmaceutical industry lately? they're finding new uses for nicotine that *they* can make money on, especially when they're done 'patching' up smokers. you'll have to search a bit, like checking out the description for new US embassy in iraq, but i'm sure you'll be able to... um. never mind.
Weather global warming is true or false is not that relevant because we must take action (ie conservation) to reduce the strangle hold that OPEC has on our necks. Doing that will offset the warming issue as a side benefit.
global warming being true or false IS relevant; just as whether it's OPEC or EXXON-MOBIL that maintains a strangle-hold.
what isn't relevant is where the solution starts as it always begins with us individually.
Trying to control Mother Nature probably is one of the things that is causing problems, BUT you can only go so far in the controlling - She still has the upperhand!!!
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i'm impressed...Jun 2nd, 2007 - 12:17:52
good for merkel!
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