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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (6374)	5/13/2006 8:53:04 AM
From: average joe	Respond to of 36917

Canada would lose credibility if it withdrew from Kyoto: briefing note Fri May 12, 06:53 PM EST OTTAWA (CP) - Canada would lose international credibility and the ability to influence future climate-change negotiations if it withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, say briefing documents prepared for Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. "Given the Kyoto Protocol's international profile . . . withdrawal from the Protocol would have important foreign policy implications," says the document, marked "secret." The analysis could explain why the Conservative government has chosen to remain within the protocol despite having fought it while in opposition, and despite deeming its targets unrealistic. "Canada would have diminished credibility in discussing options for what future commitments industrialized countries might make, having rejected its earlier commitments," says the analysis, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. "Canada would also have difficulty contributing effectively to consideration of possible future commitments by the developing countries, like China and India, who argue industrialized countries need to make emissions cuts first." Canada's withdrawal would produce negative reactions from poor countries who are hoping to obtain access to emissions-cutting technology under the protocol, says the document. "Further, small island states . . . view serious action to reduce emissions as critical to their own survival threatened by rising sea levels." The briefing note says some Canadian businesses would oppose withdrawing from Kyoto because they want to participate in the international carbon-trading system being developed under the Kyoto framework. The treaty allows companies and investors in richer countries to invest in and profit from cuts in emissions in poorer nations. The World Bank reported this week that the global carbon market was worth $11 billion US in 2005. Ryan Sparrow, a spokesman for Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, played down the significance of the briefing notes. "Briefing books are filled with various policy options and recommendations from the department," he said. "Obviously, our new government is going to move ahead with our made-in-Canada plan. This government is turning a new leaf on the environment with a commitment to Canadians that money for the environment will be spent on the Canadian environment." In other Kyoto-related developments: -An Ottawa conference organized by the Engineering Institute of Canada called upon engineers and their professional bodies "to acknowledge the challenges posed by climate change and to adapt actions, precautionary or otherwise . . . to develop solutions to these challenges." The resolution was opposed by three out of about 300 engineers in attendance, said John Plant, executive director of the institute. -A federal report shows Canada's greenhouse gas emissions barely increased from 2003 to 2004, seemingly contradicting claims that emissions are rocketing out of control. Total emissions rose to 758,000 kilotonnes in 2004 from 754,000 kilotonnes, an increase of less than one per cent. Repeated references to sharp emissions growth are intended to reinforce the argument that Kyoto targets are not attainable, said Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute. "The reality is that we can still comply, but only if the government moves immediately to put in place the policies and measures that reduce greenhouse emissions while leaving the door open to investing in good projects in developing countries." ca.news.yahoo.com

To: longnshort who wrote (6374)	5/13/2006 9:11:10 AM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36917

A sad day for Freedom of Choice End of the road for the hulking Hummer H1 Washington Post Saturday, May 13, 2006 The Hummer H1 -- the biggest, toughest sport utility vehicle on the road -- has run out of gas. Cheering just about every other driver on the road, General Motors Corp. said Friday that it is ditching the H1 by June. The vehicle, which delivered a shot of in-your-face masculinity, has a price tag of $140,000, weighs 5 tons and gets less than 10 miles to the gallon. But sales have slowed to a trickle. GM has sold fewer than 100 this year. Many see the H1 as a symbol of personal excess and American overconsumption. The H1 has been the target of attacks by radical environmentalists. "It's the ultimate statement of outrageous excess," says San Diego automotive consultant Daniel Gorrell. "It's the statement of 'I will run over you and crush you like a bug.' " GM has steadily expanded the Hummer line but shrunk the models' size. In 2002, it introduced the H2, a medium-size version, and last spring it brought out the even-smaller H3. Still, the entire Hummer group has been outsold this year by the Toyota Prius, a gas-electric hybrid. sfgate.com There is always the Mercedes Unimog. eurotruck-importers.com