Pelosi off to Greenland, England & Belgium-Global Warming Tour

[partylessinOhio]

Global Warming Tour: Pelosi Does Greenland
By John Bresnahan

May 21, 2007

(The Politico) Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and a group of House members are planning to go to Greenland and Europe next week as part of what her critics have dubbed the "Global Warming Tour."

Pelosi will be joined by Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.), Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), John Larsen (D-Conn.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), and David Hobson (R-Ohio) on the trip, according to a draft itinerary of the trip circulating among House insiders and obtained by my Crypt-mate, Patrick O'Connor.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/21/politics/politico/thecrypt/main2833813.shtml

Glacier visit aiming to be an ice-opener
A CU scientist in Greenland will provide House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
and others a close look at the effects of global warming.
By Katy Human
05/25/2007 03:02:58 AM MDT


Boulder scientist Konrad Steffen is hosting Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this weekend, and he has told her exactly what to wear.

A thick, hooded parka and insulated boots and pants.

Steffen, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado, is at his spring field site, a snowfield on the edge of a Greenland glacier.

In addition to his normal research - tracking glacial changes that result from warming temperatures - he'll spend an hour or two this weekend briefing 16 House members and staff.

"My main message is the Greenland ice sheets and the Arctic in general are responding to climate change," Steffen said by satellite phone this week. "And the ice loss here is even larger than we expected." ...

Pelosi's group, which will include Rep. Edward Markey, chairman of the new 15-member House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, is scheduled to fly Saturday to the research site in two helicopters from the coastal town of Ilulissat, Steffen said.

Likely visible during the flight is a massive glacier, now racing 9 miles a year into the sea - resulting in massive chunks of ice calving into icebergs daily, Steffen said.

"The ice breaking off in two days is enough freshwater for the city of New York for a year," Steffen said. "They will see this. That is important." ...

The temperature at the snowfield these days dips to a balmy zero degrees Fahrenheit, Steffen said, adding that the evening's low sun casts beautiful light over the snow in all directions.

"I hope this weather holds. The weather is always a question," he said. ... "I ordered 16 extra sleeping bags in case the helicopter can't (take the delegation back) on time," Steffen said, ...

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5982359?source=rss

Springfield's Hobson to be lone Republican on global warming trip
The congressman is going to Greenland, England and Belgium
with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

By Jessica Wehrman
Thursday, May 24, 2007

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. David Hobson is globe-trotting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi again.

The duo, along with six other lawmakers, are scheduled to travel from Saturday until May 31 to Greenland, England and Belgium for a trip to study global-warming — an issue Hobson, R-Springfield, is concerned about as a member of the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

"I've never been on a glacier before," he said.

First, though, he'll be briefed by the White House on its thoughts on global warming. Hobson will be the lone Republican on this trip, as he was in January, when he and a delegation led by Pelosi went to Iraq, and in late March, when he went to the Middle East with Pelosi and other Democratic lawmakers. ...

During his upcoming trip, wants to learn more about possible causes and solutions to global warming.

"This is an interesting trip to me," he said. "Global warming is an issue we all need to understand."

Joining him on the trip are Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., Hilda Solis, D-Calif., Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., John Larson, D-Conn., and Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/05/24/ddn052407hobson.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=16

[wakeme2008]

1. So that's way Nancy got on her knees and gave Bush everything he wanted

did not want to upset her vacation plans :grr:

[dflprincess]

3. It's one way to avoid the voters in her district

n/t

[glowing]

2. So, why doesn't she conference call and save the planet

from her jet setting spew?

[Telly Savalas]

4. No shit.

How will looking at the melting ice firsthand improve the legislation that's already months overdue?

Edit: I'm of course jumping to conclusions by thinking we'll ever see legislation from this unambitious Congress.

[hatrack]

5. Then she'll be able to send a non-binding voluntary polite note to Little Boots

It'll suggest that he might want to do something about rapid climate destabilization and the impending collapse of most of our assumptions about what the weather's going to do.

Of course, it'll do so in a non-confrontational way that doesn't make her look like a defeatist or overly ambitious or aggressive, since we all just know how bad that can be for a female politician.

And, of course, if one were to promulgate just such a Sense of the House resolution, that might make certain campaign contributors uneasy, and that would be a bad thing. It might be better yet to assign a committee of the best minds available on this issue to convene and talk and put our a report of some kind.

Still, I'm sure she'll have a lovely trip.

[IndianaGreen]

6. There she goes, burning jet fuel, and adding to global warming.

She should stay home and watch Al Gore's video.