The War on Our Environment

I've put together an array of articles all pointing to one irrefutable fact: Bushco is no friend to our environment, which, of course, means he is no friend to anyone on this earth.

George Monbiot: The Struggle Against Ourselves

Speech to the Climate March on December 3, 2005:

"These are the greatest political challenges any movement has faced. The struggle against climate change is a struggle against much of what we have become. It is a struggle against some of our most fundamental urges."

Polluter Playtime
By Frank O'Donnell
TomPaine.com

"For a government seemingly obsessed with promoting the “rule of law” everywhere from Iraq to Mongolia, the Bush administration can be pretty loose when it comes to enforcing the law back home.

Especially when it comes to enforcing environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act."

Climate Change Protests Worldwide
Activists Gather for Climate Change Marches
The Associated Press

"The Arctic Inuit who are losing their ice caps and activists demanding urgent action on global warming were among thousands taking to the streets in cities around the world Saturday to raise awareness of climate change.

The demonstrations coincided with the 10-day UN Climate Change Conference under way in Montreal to review and update the Kyoto Protocol, the global accord that binds the top 35 industrialized nations to lower greenhouse gas emissions."

Planetary doom prediction by global warming scientist
Radio New Zealand

"The scientist who first raised the alarm about global warming says the planet will be irrevocably damaged within a decade if greenhouse gases continue to be produced at current levels."

Hole in Ozone May Stay Longer Than Expected
By Usha Lee McFarling
Los Angeles Times

"The ozone hole over Antarctica may persist two decades longer than predicted, until 2065, because ozone-destroying chemicals are still being released by developed nations a decade after their production and importation was banned."

Australia shifts on climate change
By Michel Comte
Herald Sun

"THE US has found itself isolated as other countries, including ally Australia, backed the early start of negotiations for deeper cuts in greenhouse gases, the fossil-fuel pollution blamed for global warming."

How America plotted to stop Kyoto deal
By Andrew Buncombe
The Independent

"A detailed and disturbing strategy document has revealed an extraordinary American plan to destroy Europe's support for the Kyoto treaty on climate change.

The ambitious, behind-the-scenes plan was passed to The Independent this week, just as 189 countries are painfully trying to agree the second stage of Kyoto at the UN climate conference in Montreal. It was pitched to companies such as Ford Europe, Lufthansa and the German utility giant RWE.

Put together by a lobbyist who is a senior official at a group partly funded by ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company and a fierce opponent of anti-global warming measures, the plan seeks to draw together major international companies, academics, think-tanks, commentators, journalists and lobbyists from across Europe into a powerful grouping to destroy further EU support for the treaty."

Bush Threatens U.N. Over Clinton Climate Speech
By Greg Sargent
New York Magazine

"Bush-administration officials privately threatened organizers of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, telling them that any chance there mightíve been for the United States to sign on to the Kyoto global-warming protocol would be scuttled if they allowed Bill Clinton to speak at the gathering...."

U.S. Delegation Walks Out of Climate Talks
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
New York Times

"The Bush administration was sharply criticized by environmental groups for walking out of a round of informal discussions shortly after midnight that were aimed at finding new ways of curbing gases beyond steps taken so far.

The walkout was widely seen here as the capstone of two weeks of American efforts to prevent any fresh initiatives from being discussed."

Ecosystem Changes a Threat to Human Health: WHO
Reuters

"The rise of deadly new diseases such as SARS and bird flu could be linked to the destruction of the environment, the World Health Organization said on Friday."

Climate Campaigners Claim Greatest Ever Success at Montreal
By Andrew Buncombe and Geoffrey Lean
The Independent UK & t r u t h o u t

"The fight against climate chaos scored its greatest success to date on Saturday when negotiators from more than 180 nations unexpectedly agreed to develop far-reaching measures to combat climate change. In the process, the delegates dealt a humiliating blow to President George Bush's five-year attempt to destroy the Kyoto Protocol."

Greenpeace Warns: WTO Threatening Last Ancient Forests
Reuters
t r u t h o u t

"Greenpeace warned the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that further opening of forestry trade threatens the remaining ancient forests, particularly in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Brazil. The 'World Trade Organisation is pushing for less regulation rather than more ... which would take us exactly into the wrong direction.'"