#Mr Obama, here's your Copenhagen speech
5295 Dead, 428 since 1/20/09
deal-barack-obama-speech
by Georges Monbiot
Mr Obama, here's your Copenhagen speech
Only one person can now rescue these climate talks. This is the speech to
turn shambles to triumph
Everyone seems to be waiting for someone to break the dam. And everyone
knows who that someone is. Because of the size and weight of the United
States, and the moral power invested in the current president, it is
Barack Obama, and Barack Obama alone, who can rescue the climate
negotiations from the dismal bickering into which they have slumped. To
save him the trouble, I have written the speech that could turn the talks
around.
"Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Everyone in this room is
confronted by voices urging us not to act. There are those whose
immediate interests would be damaged by the action we need to take. There
are those who do not wish to confront the uncomfortable truths we must
discuss. But the threat of climate breakdown transcends the usual
political demands.
"All those of us who are elected to high office dream of a time when we
might do what is right, rather than what is expedient. All of us dream of
being statesmen rather than mere politicians. But when those
opportunities arrive, all too often we duck them. There are too many
political favours to return, too many powerful interests to appease. We
cannot allow this to be one of those occasions.
"Most of us have agreed on the ultimate goal: to prevent more than two
degrees centigrade of global warming. But it should not be left to the
poorer nations to remind the rich world of what its own scientists say.
Even the most ambitious cuts the wealthy nations have proposed cannot
meet our goal. They are likely instead to deliver three or four degrees
of warming, threatening many of the world's people.
"So I have come here to propose two policies which could meet the
challenge our scientists have identified. This is the first. I hereby
commit the United States to cutting greenhouse gases by 50% against our
1990 levels by 2020. I commit to this cut regardless of what other
nations might do, but I urge you to compete with me to exceed it. We
should be striving to outbid each other, not to undercut each other.
"I recognise, however, that even this measure cannot guarantee that we
stay within the two-degree limit. Eventual global temperatures will be
set by the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The best
scientific estimate is that we can afford to burn a maximum of 60% of the
carbon stored in the world's current reserves of fossil fuels. A safer
proportion would be 40%.
"When I arrive home I will commission a taskforce to identify which of
the fossil fuel reserves of the United States will be left in the ground.
I will commission a second taskforce to identify the conservation and
renewable energy projects needed to cover the gap.
"These policies will present the United States with a formidable
challenge. But my country, with its great wealth and deep reserves of
ingenuity and enterprise, is better placed to respond than any other.
When the United States entered the second world war, it was unprepared
for the challenge presented by its enemies. But within six months we
turned the economy around to meet it. By the middle of 1942, more than
1,000 automobile plants in the United States had been converted to
manufacture weapons. Ford was soon turning out a B24 bomber every 63
minutes, GM took just 90 days from a standing start to begin the mass
production of amphibious vehicles.
"Today a similar technological revolution is required. Just as in 1941,
we can rise to it, but, with the benefit of modern methods and materials,
even more quickly. No longer will the United States, which has long been
in the forefront of every one of the world's technological revolutions,
be left behind in the most important race of all.
"The transformation I have announced today will not be painless. Some
people will lose their jobs, some companies will lose the value of
investments they have made. But, as with all such revolutions, this is
likely to create more jobs than it destroys.
"I have no illusions about the resistance these proposals will encounter.
This will be the political battle of my life. But I know it is a battle
worth fighting. If I duck it, future generations will never forgive me,
just as they will not forgive anyone in this room for failing to rise to
our greatest challenge. This is the battle we owe to our children and to
their children. This is the time to do not what is expedient, but what is
right."
Can he do it? We should hope so. There won't be another chance like this
one.
--
Slavery: The belief that people can be property
Corporatism: The belief that property can be people.
Dänk 1010011010
wrote:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/dec/16/copenha...
> deal-barack-obama-speech
> by Georges Monbiot
>
> Mr Obama, here's your Copenhagen speech
Maybe Mr. Obama could explain why he has flown to Scandinavia (with a
full entourage, including Oprah) three times in as many months if he
is so concerned about global warming.
Why does Chairman Obama hate Planet Earth?