EU Tells U.S. We Can Work Together On Climate Crisis

[RestoreGore]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/02/28/EDGRJN7A541.DTL

Commentary by John Bruton,
The San Francisco Chronicle,
February 28, 2007.

"As the European Union's ambassador to the United States, I have been very vocal in alerting this country to the looming disaster of global warming. With mounting, irrefutable evidence, Americans are finally coming to heed the danger signs and are beginning to listen. Europe has cheered as California and like-minded states have taken steps to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, but these efforts should really only be the beginning. We Europeans have seen and felt the changes caused by global warming for some time now in Europe. Glaciers in eight of our nine glacial regions are at their lowest levels in 5,000 years. A heat wave killed more than 25,000 people in 2003. And the number of floods has increased fourfold on our continent from 1950 to 2000.

Americans, likewise, recently have suffered major droughts, devastating storms such as Hurricane Katrina and record-high temperatures... As the United States begins to wake up to the harsh realities of global warming, the European Union stands ready to assist with the knowledge and expertise European nations and industry have gained over the years... Since 2000, the European Union has launched more than 30 initiatives to address climate change, including research on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources such as wind, sun, water and waste... The European Union and the United States were at similar greenhouse-gas emission levels in 1990, but between 1990 and 2004, the EU economy grew by 32 percent and the greenhouse gas emissions went down by almost 1 percent compared to 1990 levels. By contrast, the U.S. economy grew by 52.6 percent between 1990 and 2004, but its emissions grew by 15.8 percent and are projected to increase to 32.4 percent above 1990 levels by 2010... The European Union continues to reach out beyond the European borders because it will take the cooperation of the entire world to make a difference.

The EU is ready to discuss a new international agreement, which must include the United States, to cut 30 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions from developed countries by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. Developing countries such as China and India must also be helped to put in place energy efficient technologies to slow their growth in emissions... We are working against the clock here." John Bruton is the EU ambassador to the United States.
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I'm afraid that Americans on the whole are just not seeing this fast enough yet because we are being distracted by BS, and WE have to see it now. The spate of tornadoes hitting the Southeast that are said to be the strongest in a decade is to me an indication of more to come this year. Scientists have also stated that hurricanes this year will be stronger in the Atlantic due to the end of El Nino. The phrase "reaping the whirlwind" I fear is now reality, and if we do not "get this" on a grand scale this year, then people better be prepared to adapt to a world they made that will be unfamiliar and cruel.