Are We There Yet?

I don’t get it… why does this have to be soooo difficult?  Am I being too much of a simpleton?  There are worse things to be I guess.  We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – just talking about it ain’t gonna help; action is what we’re missing here and I think it can be accomplished a lot faster. 

For the next two days (27^th & 28^th), Washington will host a meeting of major economies to discuss energy security and climate change.  Representatives from the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, South Africa, Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea and China will attend the meeting. 

Bush’s meeting invitation states “At this meeting, we would seek agreement on the process by which the major economies would, by the end of 2008, agree upon a post-2012 framework that could include a long-term global goal, nationally defined mid-term goals and strategies, and sector-based approaches for improving energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, we expect to place special emphasis on how major economies can, in close cooperation with the private sector, accelerate the development and deployment of clean technologies, a critical component of an effective global approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We plan to follow this initial session with a series of meetings throughout 2008 to further refine our plans and accelerate our progress on this important challenge.” 

There seems to be an awful lot of talking, lots of meetings and lots of discussions, but not a whole lot of commitment.  We just don’t seem to be getting any closer to a firm resolution – it’s like being squashed in a small car with no air-conditioning on a stinking hot day for a leisurely 36 hour drive… are we there yet???? 

So I guess while the big boys (and girls) are talking about it, we can all do our best to clean up our act and support those working towards a greener and more biofriendly environment.