INTERNATIONAL POLITICS - G8

[verena schmidt]

hey all,

what do you think about the results of the G8 summit so far?
They agreed upon considering reducing greenhouse gas emmissions by 50% until 2050. Considering? What's that for a vague conclusion?

Furthermore, they want to discuss more about the topic in the UN. Is that the right way? What do you expect there if even just eight countries cannot find a real outcome?

Greetings,
Verena Schmidt

[Robin Verschuren]

Adding to this what was asked by Paul on the mailinglist: is the G8 deal any good? And he also wonders about the merits on moving ahead with strict targets without the involvement of the USA. Sjoerd then said deals are quite useless as it's up to the people to change their behaviour.

I agree with both, and therefor disagree with both. I happened to be in the USA last winter, in redder than red state Utah. Bush' stubborness regarding environmental treaties has now resulted in several individual states and cities signing up to Kyoto or just setting themselves quota. The mayor of Salt Lake City which is in the middle of Republican country is from the Green party, and greener than any mayor in the world. He has made really big changes regarding the city's environmental policies and it's really paying off, both environmentally and economically. So even though the big boss refuses to sign anything, the little mayors and many many many citizens are because of that much more aware of the environment than here in Europe. Among the US very rich, hybrid cars are already quite common. I haven't seen any around here yet, but that might be because I'm in the wrong circles

So yes, if the world keeps moving forward without official support of the US, the people will start changing their behaviour. It might not be as effective as Europe but at least it's something...

I guess it's up to fancy politicians to set agendas, more practical policy makers, industrials and citizens should then get inspired to actually do something with it. Just because the topic was high on the agenda this G8, I consider it a success. Dispite vagueness.

[martien van gool]

I think the good news is that president Bush finally put his name to an agreement to cut back CO2 emissions. And that it was already on the first day of the G8 means something. I also think that the USA are seriously considering cutting back these emissions, not because of global warming, but because it would be politically beneficial to reduce the USA's dependency on oil delivering nations. Power and money, that's what it's about.

That's the good thing I see there. But off course the agreement could have been a lot more concrete.

Greetings,

Martien

P.S. Robin, is it a Belgian thing not to drive hybrid cars? Family of mine from Belgium bought one about a year ago, and it was then the 3th car driving in Belgium. By that time you already could see them on a regular basis in The Netherlands...

[Robin Verschuren]

P.S. Robin, is it a Belgian thing not to drive hybrid cars? Family of mine from Belgium bought one about a year ago, and it was then the 3th car driving in Belgium. By that time you already could see them on a regular basis in The Netherlands...

It's like a Third World country, politicians here have other things to worry about than climate and promoting environmentally friendly cars. Worldthreatening things like frenchspeaking socialists for example

So yes it's definitely all about power and money. It's a vicious circle, the population doesn't get aware of these things until they're strongly promoted by the government, but the government won't do this unless they have something to gain (like votes). It's up to us to break this cycle