Climate Change Legislation Benefits Elite, Not People
September 10, 2010 by admin
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September 10, 2010
Natural News
By: Jonathan Benson
The National Forestry Commission of Mexico in conjunction with the Swiss government recently held a conference to discuss the possibility of new, centralized climate change legislation. If enacted, the legislation will change the way Latin America governs its forests, and potentially set a precedent for how governments around the world manage their resources. But many at the conference expressed concerns that such legislation will end up benefiting a few wealthy elite while depriving local communities of their natural resources–all in the name of protecting the climate.
The REDD+ legislation–short for “reducing deforestation and forest degradation”–will require industrialized nations to pay developing nations to store carbon in their forests as well as manage them according to sustainable standards. Advocates say REDD+ will greatly benefit developing nations by helping to bring them out of poverty and end forest mismanagement.
Critics, however, say the legislation will do the exact opposite. By centralizing control of forest management, local communities and property owners in forest-rich nations like Brazil will be robbed of their resources, and a select few will have total control of these valuable resources.
The vast majority of Mexico’s 64 million hectares of forest, for instance, are currently owned by rural communities and local landowners who manage them well. Climate change legislation that takes this control away and gives to centralized governments will only devastate these communities and open up the floodgates for corruption.
“Mexico’s long tradition of community forest management provides a strong foundation for local action,” explained Jose Carlos Fernandez Ugalde, head of Mexico’s National Forestry Commission.
So rather than transfer control of Latin American forests and their resources to a select few in the name of protecting the climate, many experts are urging that such control remain in the hands of the people.
“If REDD+ is to succeed, it must not come from central government decrees that undermine rural communities,” stressed Christian Kuchli from Switzerland’s Federal Office for the Environment. “It must have local support and involve increased resource flows to rural areas, with adequate safeguards in a balanced regulatory framework.”
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Geithner says US can ‘no longer drive global growth’
June 25, 2010 by admin
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June 25, 2010
BBC News
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has told the BBC that the world “cannot depend as much on the US as it did in the past”.
He said that other major economies would have to grow more for the global economy to prosper.
He also played down any differences in policy between the US and Europe regarding deficit reduction.
Mr Geithner was speaking in Washington ahead of G8 and G20 meetings this weekend in Toronto.
He said all members of the group were “focused on the challenge of [building] growth and confidence”, and would be working to this end at the meetings.
The Group of Eight and Group of 20 rich and developing nations are assembling on Friday for three days of talks on emerging from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who has arrived in Canada along with other leaders, said in an article for the Globe And Mail newspaper: “No-one can doubt the biggest promise we have to deliver: fixing the global economy.”
“I believe we must each start by setting out plans for getting our national finances under control,” he added.
Common goals
Many European governments have implemented severe austerity measures in recent weeks in order to cut debt levels.
In a letter to G20 leaders last week, US President Barack Obama warned against cutting national debts too quickly as it would put economic recovery at risk.
But Mr Geithner said the US and Europe “have much more in common than we have differences”.
“We all agree that we have to restore responsibility to our fiscal positions. Everyone agrees that those deficits have to come down over time to a level that’s sustainable,” he said.
But he said that the US and Europe would take “different paths, at a different pace” in order to reach the common goal.
“It’s going to require different things as we have different strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
Mr Geithner said the US was not in a position to work out what were the best policies for European countries to pursue.
‘Strong growth’
The treasury secretary said the US had laid out “very ambitious plans as well” to cut its deficit.
But he said the US was in a stronger position than many other economies to cut its debt levels.
“We’re in the very good position of being able to deliver relatively strong growth rates [compared] to what we’re seeing in other major economies,” he said.
Some commentators in Europe argue that austerity measures should only be introduced once strong growth has been secured in the wake of the global downturn.
This was a more widely held position until the Greek debt crisis focused policymakers’ minds on cutting debt levels.
The Greek crisis showed that governments with high levels of debt find it very difficult to borrow money from international investors, money that they need to service existing debts.
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WHO To Tax Internet Usage To Fund Vaccine For Third World
June 24, 2010 by admin
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June 24, 2010
Natural News
By Mike Adams
(NaturalNews) The United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) is pushing hard to impose global consumer taxes to help fund its various programs, including a new proposal that would tax the internet in order to pay for vaccines and other pharmaceutical medicines for third-world countries. Yes, you read that right – WHO wants every person in the world to help pay for drugs that make Big Pharma even richer.
Consider it a reverse Robin Hood ploy: They’re stealing from the working class and giving to the ultra wealthy drug companies!
Of course this isn’t the first time the UN has petitioned governments around the world to illegally tax citizens in order to further its own agenda. This body of unelected officials tried to push “cap and trade” legislation for supposed climate change just last year (but failed to do so because many countries simply refused the idea).
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Prescription Drug Abusers Exceeds Illegal Drug Usage
June 23, 2010 by admin
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June 23, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) Rates of prescription drug abuse worldwide are higher than those for the use of cocaine, ecstasy and heroin, combined, according to a new report by the United Nations’ International Narcotics Control Boards (INCB).
“Abuse of such drugs has been spreading over the world in recent years,” said report co-author Hamid Ghodse of St. George’s University in London. “It needs to be tackled urgently.”
Ghodse said that prescription drug abuse is a “hidden problem,” and it is difficult for authorities to get comprehensive data on the scale of the abuse. Recent high-profile celebrity deaths from prescription drug abuse, such as that of Michael Jackson, have brought more attention to the issue, however.
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Economic Recovery Slower Than Reported
May 27, 2010 by admin
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May 27, 2010
My Way
By Jeannine Aversa
WASHINGTON (AP) – The economic rebound last quarter turned out to be slower than first thought, one of the reasons unemployment is likely to stay high this year.
The economy grew at a 3 percent annual rate from January to March, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was slightly weaker than an initial estimate of 3.2 percent a month ago. The new reading, based on more complete information, also fell short of economists’ forecast for stronger growth of 3.4 percent.
The reasons for the small downgrade: consumers spent less than first estimated. Same goes for business spending on equipment and software. And, the nation’s trade deficit was a bigger drag on economic activity.
In a separate report, the Labor Department said Thursday that the number of newly laid off workers filings claims for unemployment benefits fell by 14,000 to 460,000 last week. The decline came after claims had risen by a revised 28,000 in the previous week, the largest gain in three months.
The latest level of claims is slightly higher than it was at the start of the year. That shows the nation’s workers are still facing tough times even though the overall economy is growing again.
During normal times, growth in the 3 percent range would be considered healthy. But the country is coming out the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression. So economic growth needs to be a lot stronger – two or three times the current pace- to make a big dent in the nation’s 9.9 percent unemployment rate.
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Poor Nations Push for “New World Order” in Copenhagen
December 18, 2009 by admin
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December 18, 2009
Eur Active
An attempt by developing and emerging countries to create “a new world order” in which Western industrialised nations are no longer dominant is threatening to scupper an agreement on climate change in Copenhagen, warned EU delegates. EurActiv reports from the Danish capital.
As more than 130 world leaders arrive in Copenhagen for the final two days of the UN climate conference – US President Barack Obama is due to arrive tomorrow (18 December) – negotiators have warned that the risk of failure has never been higher.
“The final negotiations will be tense and strenuous,” said Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who is chairing the conference after Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard resigned from the role to move the negotiations up a notch.
‘New world order’
Jo Leinen, who leads the European Parliament’s delegation in Copenhagen, told EurActiv that the conference has been rigged with mistrust between rich and poor nations over emissions reduction targets and aid to the developing world (EurActiv 16/12/09).
Leinen’s interpretation of the current state of play is that developing countries were trying to use the conference as a way to force a new world order in which industrialised countries are no longer the dominant power.
“I think we are at the beginning of a new world order,” the MEP said. But he warned that it would be “a pity to sacrifice the climate conference for unsolved global governance problems”.
UK Climate Research emails Posted
November 25, 2009 by admin
Filed under News Stories
Novemeber 25, 2009
The Wall Street Journal
The following are emails we’ve selected from more than 3,000 emails and documents that were hacked last week from computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit in the United Kingdom. The CRU is the data repository for much of the world’s climate research and is a major source for the judgments reached by the U.N.’s climate reports. A nearby editorial (“
Global Warming With the Lid Off“) puts the emails in their political and scientific context, but readers may want to browse for themselves to get a flavor of the thinking of scientists who are the leading advocates for the belief that global warming is man-made and that nations must re-order the world economy to stop it. We’ve removed the email addresses and phone numbers, and we’ve inserted paragraph breaks in some places. The emails are otherwise unedited. The ellipses are the authors’ own. On freedom of information rules and deleting files:
From: Phil Jones
To: “Michael E. Mann”
Subject: IPCC & FOI
Date: Thu May 29 11:04:11 2008
Mike,
Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise. He’s not in at the moment – minor family crisis. Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don’t have his new email address. We will be getting Caspar to do likewise.
I see that CA claim they discovered the 1945 problem in the Nature paper!!
Cheers
Phil
Prof. Phil Jones
Climatic Research Unit
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich
—————————————————————————-
From: Phil Jones
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 11:30 AM
To: Wahl, Eugene R; Caspar Ammann
Subject: Wahl/Ammann
Gene/Caspar,
Good to see these two out. Wahl/Ammann doesn’t appear to be in CC’s online first, but comes up if you search. You likely know that McIntyre will check this one to make sure it hasn’t changed since the IPCC close-off date July 2006! Hard copies of the WG1 report from CUP have arrived here today. Ammann/Wahl – try and change the Received date! Don’t give those skeptics something to amuse themselves with.
Cheers
Phil
