Spirituality and Ecological Hope

Fostering Ecological Hope
Today from Margaret Swedish:

No surprise after Bush’s very public attempt to derail any possibility of progress on carbon emission reductions at the G-8 summit, but he did in fact manage to take off the table the proposal of the summit’s host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. That proposal called for lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050 and holding global temperature rise to two degrees centrigade. That rise would cause us lots of suffering, but is also a kind of threshold to possible catastrophic climate change.

Bush doesn’t like it. Such a proposal — mandatory targets, international cooperation to reach them — is anathema to the constituencies he represents — fossil fuel industries, oil, natural gas, and coal companies — people like his Vice President, Dick Cheney, and Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice.

Not a surprise, just tragic, even pathetic. He punctuates his in-your-face attitude towards the international community, even US allies, with a good dose of hubris.

So the New York Times reported on a little moment that passed between Bush and the Chancellor. Having just sabotaged Merkel’s proposal by rejecting it outright, he stood next to her and said that he had “a strong desire to work with you.”

It was at this moment, according to the Times, that “the chancellor pursed her lips.”

It’s just hard to believe this guy. Hard to believe he represents the United States of America.

Okay, this is interesting. When I went to do the link for this article, I saw that the headline had changed from the morning print version. The print version said, “As Group of 8 Starts Meeting, Bush Rebuffs Germany on Cutting Greenhouse Emissions.” Now it reads, “Europe and US Reach Climate Deal.” What?! But then you read it and wonder how it merited that headline.

Bush promises to think about Merkel’s proposal. That’s it? That’s the deal?! Okay, he said he would “seriously consider” it, and I wonder how long it took them to agree to that carefully drawn phrase.

Britain’s Tony Blair is positively euphoric — an agreement! an agreement to take climate change and carbon emissions seriously! even more, an agreement to think about a proposal for dealing with it! and later, even an agreement to talk some more about it!

The Washington Post quoted Bush sounding a lot on global warming as he does on the Iraq war — rude, nasty, unself-reflective. Asked by reporters if he would relent and support the chancellor’s proposal, our president said:

No. I talked about what I’m for. Remember? I said I’m for sitting together with the nations to sit down to discuss a way forward.

This is the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!! This is also embarrassing. This guy actually stands before this cooking world with government leaders ready to take action and says he is in favor of sitting to sit down to discuss!

Thank you, George.

Meanwhile, the Washingon Post has two other stories today that show us just how bad this crisis is and the profound moral failure of the US government. While Bush and Congress put off meaningful action, the Earth is already melting. Global climate change is not a future story, it is happening now, and in some places in dramatic fashion.

Check out, Icy Island Warms to Climate Change. It’s about how the melting of Greenland is impacting people’s livelihoods. For some, there is boon; for others, disaster. But beyond those stories is the fact of the warming itself, which is pretty dramatic.

Then there’s this, something closer to home — our precious Chesapeake Bay and its magnificent ecosystem — the article: Group Predicts Disaster for Wetlands, Bay. The Post reports:

More than half of the wetlands along Virginia’s coastlines could be drowned by rising sea levels in the next century, destroying wildflie habitats and natural filters for the Chesapeake Bay.

I thought about Chincoteague — this magnificent protected coastline, the dunes, the nature reserves, the bays, and inlets and marshes where wildlife goes nuts.

Drowned.

We will be dealing with a lot of grief in the days ahead.

Thank you, George, for caring more about Dick Cheney’s and your family’s financial interests than the beauty and well-being of this magnificent unique planet of ours.

[tags] G-8 summit, Angela Merkel, Bus scuttles proposal to cut emissions, fossil fuel industry, global warming in Greenland, Chesapeake Bay threatened[/tags]