Jonathan Freedland: If Obama can't defeat the Republican headbangers, our planet is doomed

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/15/obama-healthcare-climate-change-copenhagen

If Obama can't defeat the Republican headbangers, our planet is doomed

One year on, the world still looks to the US and holds its breath. The fate of a global climate treaty rests in American hands

Jonathan Freedland
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 September 2009 22.00 BST

Anyone who cares about the survival of our planet should start praying that Barack Obama gets his way on reforming US healthcare. That probably sounds hyperbolic, if not mildly deranged: even those who are adamant that 45 million uninsured Americans deserve basic medical cover would not claim that the future of the earth depends on it. But think again.

Next week, world leaders will attend the first UN summit dedicated entirely to climate change. Their aim will be to plunge a shot of adrenaline into stuttering efforts to draw up a new global agreement on carbon emissions. The plan is to replace the Kyoto treaty with a new one, to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. Trouble is, the prospects of getting a deal worthy of the name get bleaker every day.

Few deny that the world needs a new agreement. In the 12 years since Kyoto, we've emitted a whole lot more carbon – and gained a whole lot more knowledge of its dangers. The science is now clear that if we do not manage to keep the increase in the earth's temperature below 2C, we risk facing the effects of catastrophic climate change – with all the flooding, drought, mass migration and human suffering that it would entail. The experts tell us that the only way to stay below that 2C limit is for global emissions to peak in 2015 – and then start falling. In other words, we have set ourselves up at a nice corner table in the last chance saloon.

Copenhagen is that last chance. If successful, it could see rich countries promise not only to cut their emissions but to stump up cash for poor nations to pay for the changes they'll need to protect their towns and villages from those effects of climate change already under way and too late to reverse (think houses on stilts on easily flooded sandbanks in Bangladesh). Developing countries would not have to cut their own emissions right away, but they would have to plan now for a low-carbon future, one consistent with keeping the planet below that two-degree mark. A new Copenhagen treaty would lead us to the day when our worldwide emissions peak – and then start coming down. We would at last be reversing the tide that threatens to engulf our planet.

…

[Ian David]

1. And if we can't help him do it, maybe the human species isn't worth saving. n/t

[polichick]

2. This is my big concern - healthcare is just a warm-up for what's coming...

Oil and coal lobbyists will make insurers and big pharma look like preschoolers.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Yeah, and to make matters worse, I think “Climate Change” should be an overriding priority

It’s rather depressing actually.

“Universal Health Care” should have been an overriding priority for years now. How many times have you heard the most conservative people you know say something like, “Well… if you don’t have your health…”

But the way I look at it is this, “Climate Change” has the potential to be a matter of life and death for our species and many/most others. That moves it to the front of the line.

[polichick]

5. imo it's the biggest issue too - but I'm glad the prez cut his teeth on...

...a few other things first ~ he'll need to be brilliant to rally Congress to stand up to the pressure.

[Birthmark]

3. Okay, while I agree in general I much point out...

...that the planet is perfectly safe --or as safe as it ever was. GW may, and probably will, wipe out our little civilization, but the Earth will go on.

In all likelihood so will H. sapiens, though they'll be far fewer of us.

So while I think that GW is the number one problem facing America and every other nation, I disapprove of the statement that the planet is in any real peril.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. Yes…

In http://www.amazon.com/Gaia-New-Look-Life-Earth/dp/0192862189">Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth Lovelock pointed out that while we might kill off ourselves, and most higher order plants and animals, we would almost certainly not kill off all life…

I actually took some small comfort in that; but not much…

[imdjh]

10. So really, mass suicide solves everything. nt

[Nihil]

18. It certainly seems to be the plan so far ...

... well, suicide for some, extinction for others and short-term profits
for the decision-makers who are fully supporting the current "strategy".

[wuvuj]

11. The planet is...

...is the biosphere...don't be dumb?

[Birthmark]

12. The biosphere will be fine, too...

...in the aggregate though individuals and species will suffer. But overall, the biosphere will party on with or without our civilization.

[wuvuj]

13. A crippled and degenerated biosphere won't feel like partying?

...

[Birthmark]

14. Some species will be quite happy.

But if it does get real bad (and there's no firm indication that that will be the case)....well, that's when Nature gets to go nuts and all kind of weird critters evolve.

[wuvuj]

15. You and a few others on this thread...

...must be out in a car driving around drinking them brews...saying...here have another...and another...if we hit a tree...our car will just develop new passengers and go on partying like we were never here.

Don't take this personally...but you need to experience suffering of some sort.

Reminds me too much of some of the attitudes towards the victims of our wars in the ME.

[Birthmark]

16. I appreciate that you have feelings on the subject.

So do I. But I like to let fact have a bit of a say in the matter. This fact is clear: AGW will not wipe out life on Earth. That fact can't be changed due to anyone's feelings, no matter how strongly they feel.

[NickB79]

17. The biosphere can and will regenerate.

Just look to previous mass extinctions to see how life rebounds. The Permian extinction saw 90% of all species on this planet go extinct. Despite this crushing blow, the biosphere saw a speciation event that gave rise to the dinosaurs, the mammals, the birds, and numerous oceanic species less than 50 million years later.

Life is far more tenacious then you give it credit for. The resultant life that arises from the ashes just won't look like anything we've seen before.

[wuvuj]

19. "We" won't be there?

"The resultant life that arises from the ashes just won't look like anything we've seen before."

[NickB79]

22. True, we probably won't be there to see the new lifeforms.

[NecklyTyler]

7. Health care has been static to improving since WWII but Global Warming has been proceeding unabated

President Obama needs to address the most imperative issue first. Without a planet to live on, health care is not important.

[imdjh]

20. Healthcare is much more important than "global warming" for one major reason

Health care is real.

[NecklyTyler]

21. Well slap me and call me Susan

'ya learn something everyday.

Health care is real - I never thought of that!

[pscot]

8. Hey. Max Baucus is going to be writing the climate bill.

With the able assistance of Grassley, Enzi, Cornyn and Conrad. What could possible go wrong?

[Jester Messiah]

9. The planet will be fine. We, on the other hand, will be fucked. [nt]