Obama transcript on climate: Act boldly

Good morning. It's an honor for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. You would not be here unless you -- like me -- were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies and our planet. That much we know.

So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge -- the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, our ability to take collective action hangs in the balance.

I believe that we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of this common threat. And that is why I have come here today....
. . .

To conclude, we all agree on this:

2. We agree that deep cuts in global emISSIOns are required according to science, and as
documented by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report with a view to reduce global emissions by 50
per cent in 2050 below 1990 levels, taking into account the right to equitable access to atmospheric
space. We should cooperate in achieving the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as
possible, recognizing that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing countries and
bearing in mind that social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and
overriding priorities of developing countries and that a low-emission development strategy is
indispensable to sustainable development.

For the full agreement in detail, you are welcome to go to:

Copenhagen Accord 4.30pm

This is what is required to play safe:

It now seems clear that whatever transposes in Copenhagen; major problems are looming. The skeptics have had a field day with the recently released hacked emails from an important research agency into climate change. The mere hint that some of the data was ‘corrected’ has proven more than sufficient justification for most deniers to stick to their guns. Indeed some have gone further and are now actively claiming success. Glenn Beck from Fox news is one such denier who has taken this path. His oversized ego just can’t help himself.

This dreaded truth of denial is alarming in its likely consequences. It is entirely possible to move towards a more energy efficient future through sufficient commitment by all world governments. With sufficient research and development it is possible to mitigate runaway climate change. Unfortunately and only because of the deniers, this future is unlikely.

What is more likely is this. This is what is required to play safe:
Keep global increases within 1.5c or 350ppm.
Anything less than this is quite frankly unacceptable for most credible scientists. It is certainly unacceptable for anyone else thinking about the welfare of the planets many species.

Whatever commitments are made at Copenhagen, these commitments are dependent on a handful of greenhouse gas contributors. These same contributors are currently the world’s biggest emitters or soon will be. (not necessarily by capita)
Number 1 is the US.
Number 2 is China.
Number 3 is the EU including Russia.
Number 4 is India.
Number 5 is the rest of Asia.
Number 6 is South America.
Number 7 is Africa
Number 8 is everyone else.

Let’s not spin words here. The US has some ground to make up ever since it unwisely decided to exit out of any Kyoto Protocol negotiations. Thankfully the previous US voice of ignorance is increasingly being superseded by voices of reason.


"Climate change negotiations started over 20 years ago," he said. "This is an incremental, progressive process so if you take the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)as a first milestone in the negotiating process, the Kyoto Protocol as the second milestone, I think that Copenhagen ought to be the third. Efforts for human kind to respond to climate change will not end in Copenhagen. They will continue. They need to continue."

scientists just doing their job?

"The collapse of communism was a disaster for the left. They embraced environmentalism as their new religion,"
Minchin said, sparking a blizzard of controversy.


Minchin is a red neck ‘liberal’ politician from the right in Australia. Liberal in this instance just means he supports less government intervention. You can see how an issue like climate change would tend to wind him up into overdrive.

However the chances of a left wing conspiracy seem remote. How about scientists just doing their job?

Postscript
Just as it is hard to accept the negatives in some relationships; it is equally difficult to accept that some of your opinions might be wrong. For example; accepting that man made climate change is real is a big ask for some people. For these people they prefer to escape into some other blissful state better known as denial and turning a 'selective' blind eye.

Hard as it is to believe as a credible scientist, but yes: in this blissful state it is even possible to think that the world is currently cooling, even as sea levels rise and glaziers melt at record rates.