Climate campaigners claim greatest ever success at Montreal
The Independent (UK), 12-11-05, by Andrew Buncombe and Geoffrey Lean
Humiliation for Bush as last-minute twist means an isolated US is forced to sign up for future talks on global warming.
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Climate compromise reached
The Toronto Star , 12-10-05, by Peter Gorrie and Peter Calamai
Meeting not a campaign ploy, Martin insists. Softens criticism of U.S. refusal.
U.S. agrees to deal calling for non-binding talks.
Critics see pact on emissions as watered down.
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Nations Agree to Binding Climate Talks
United States Balks, Agrees to Informal Dialogue
The Washington Post, 12-10-05, by Julet Eilperin
Brushing aside the Bush administration's initial protests, all the industrialized nations except the United States and Australia reached an agreement early Saturday to embark on a fresh round of formal talks aimed at setting new mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions after 2012, when the existing pact known as the Kyoto Protocol expires.
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U.S., Under Fire, Eases Its Stance in Climate Talks
The New York Times, 12-10-05, by Andrew C. Revkin
The United States dropped its opposition early Saturday morning to nonbinding talks on addressing global warming after a few words were adjusted in the text of statements that, 24 hours earlier, prompted a top American official to walk out on negotiations.
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Martin remarks miff White House
America's image being sullied amid Canadian electioneering, says U.S. ambassador
The Toronto Star , 12-9-05, Canadian Press
The U.S. administration has told Canadian Ambassador Frank McKenna it strongly disagrees with Prime Minister Paul Martin’s recent negative remarks regarding American policy on climate change, U.S. officials said Friday.
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US facing pressure to sign up to future climate protocols
The Independent (UK), 12-05-05, by Andrew Buncombe
The United States faces intense lobbying from governments around the world in an effort to force concrete action from the Bush administration.
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Talk of the Town: Global Warming
The New Yorker Magazine, 12-12-05, by Elizabeth Kolbert
To delay ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is not to put off catastophe but to rush toward it.
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Climate Official's Work Is Questioned
Washington Post, 12-05-05, by Juliet Eilperin
Environmentalists are unhappy with the job the lead U.S. climate negotiator, Harlan Watson, has been doing in the ongoing Montreal talks on how to combat global warming.
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Inuits Transformed by Global Warming
Associated Press, 12-03-05, by Phil Couvrette
Canada's isolated northern aboriginals have a front-row seat to the chilling effects of global warming.
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10 things you can do at home
The Independent (UK), 12-03-05
What you can do to help stop global warming.
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Montreal climate conference adopts 'rule book' of the Kyoto Protocol
30 November 2005 - The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal on Wednesday finalized the 'rule book' of the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 landmark treaty designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Under the Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force 16 February 2005, more than 30 industrialized countries are bound by specific and legally binding emission reduction targets. As a first step, these cover the period 2008-2012.
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Leggo My Negotiation
U.S. gums up works at Montreal climate talks
Representatives of the world's governments are currently gathered in Montreal for a historic summit on the most pressing problem facing civilization: global warming. And the U.S.? "The United States is opposed to any such discussions," says Harlan Watson, who bears the somewhat misleading title of "chief U.S. climate negotiator." Watson is quite open about the fact that he's in Montreal to prevent negotiation. Instead, he argues that "there's more than one way to approach climate change," though the only alternative he's mentioned is ... can't you just guess? ... more research and technology. Other summit participants are putting on a brave face, hoping to, as the head of the British delegation puts it, "start a dialogue," but behind the scenes it's widely acknowledged that no real progress is possible without the participation of the U.S., and the U.S. isn't going to participate under the Bush administration. Until 2009, meaningful global efforts to fight climate change would seem to be at a stalemate. (Gathered by Grist Magazine.)
BBC News, 30 Nov 2005
Reuters, Alister Doyle and Jeffrey Jones, 29 Nov 2005
CNN.com, Associated Press, 29 Nov 2005
Global warming talks eye U.S.
Reuters, 11-29-05, by Alister Doyle
The United States remains staunchly opposed to caps on CO2 emissions.
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In Montreal, delegates look at post-Kyoto world
Christian Science Monitor, 11-28-05, by Peter N. Spotts
Their focus will be on how to keep the environmental protocol moving after 2012. Of particular concern -- the developing world.
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Bush Administration Shuns Conference On Strategies to Build on Kyoto Pact
Washington Post, 11-27-05, by Juliet Eilperin
This article places the U.S. government’s resistance to participating in collective international strategy to slow or reverse global warming in the context of efforts in Congress and by state governments, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and other nations.
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Climate change fires young minds
Reuters, 11-24-05, by Jeff Coelho
Young campaigners work to put the world on a sustainable course.
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New UNFCCC publication confirms decreases in greenhouse gas emissions from developed countries, highlights the challenges ahead
17 November 2005 - In its new publication, the United Nations Climate Change secretariat confirms that developed countries, taken as a group, have achieved sizable emission reductions. Compared to the 1990 levels, overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of these countries were down 5.9% in 2003. But the secretariat warns that further efforts are required to sustain these reductions and to cut the emissions further.
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read the full report
The 12-day UN Framework Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) beginning November 25 in Montreal is likely to be dry and all but incomprehensible to the uninitiated, even to people who are losing sleep over global warming. Here are two attempt to entice through jocularity, from Grist Magazine:
Party Time: What to Expect from the U.N. Climate Change Negotiations in Montreal
Grist Magazine, 11-16-05, by Jason Anderson
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Call the COPS: A Refresher on the Basics of Climate Conferences and Kyoto
Grist Magazine, 11-16-05, by Sarah Kraybill
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