humble pie

Sooner or later, in a just world, the bullied wake up, and realize that if they stick together, their oppressor can be contained. that is what happened in Bali. The Bush Administration, which had been standing obstinate, blocking all progress at the Bali conference, was booed at, pushed aside, and otherwise humiliated, with its own words being flung back at them. Ultimately, and suddenly, they backed down. And now we have something of an agreement that promises to do something good for the world. Of course, the White House quickly stepped back from even this iota of cooperation with the rest of the world and re-asserted its obstinacy a few hours later. But thank goodness most delegates had gone home by then.

here is the Grist reports it.

'Tis the Season to Be Bali
High drama leads to compromise at international climate meeting

After days of bitter fighting and an overtime stretch filled with twists, turns, and tears, world leaders on Saturday agreed on a broad plan for developing a new global climate treaty by 2009. The "Bali roadmap" calls for measurable and verifiable steps by developing nations as well as industrialized ones, and calls for developing nations to get credit for protecting their tropical forests. The European Union had pushed for industrialized countries to commit to cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions of 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, but the U.S., Canada, and Japan balked, so the final text just says that "deep cuts" in emissions are needed. The U.S. also announced that it could not support language committing rich nations to provide technological help to poorer ones; that move elicited boos, hisses, and an impassioned plea from a Papua New Guinea representative to the U.S.: "If you're not willing to lead, then get out of the way." Believe it or not, the U.S. then did get out of the way, changing its position and saying it would support the agreement. Still, just hours after the deal was finalized, the White House expressed "serious concerns" about it, just like it does whenever democracy gets in its way.


Let's keep the pressure on and see if we can truly make progress to save this planet.