“Even if we were successful in accomplishing some kind of debate and discussion about what caps might be here in the United States, we are a small contributor when you look at the rest of the world.” ~ Samuel Wright Bodman III, United States Secretary of Energy – February 2nd, 2007.
The above comment was made by the United States Secretary of Energy in response to the fourth, and most damning, report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control, published yesterday.
Samuel Bodman is either totally naive, or more likely, he thinks we are.
The United States is the world’s biggest polluter still, even though India and China are working hard to catch up. New economies battling their way through the equivalent of the West’s industrial revolution, both these nations can perhaps be forgiven for tardiness in controlling their emissions. The United States has no such excuse. America’s only reason for its global irresponsibility is avarice, the insatiable greed for wealth driving this nation ever onwards to its own implosion. It is likely to take the rest of the world with it.
From the Independent Newspaper, 19 April 2006:
” The United States emitted more greenhouse gases in 2004 than at any time in history, confirming its status as the world’s biggest polluter. Latest figures on the US contribution to global warming show that its carbon emissions have risen sharply despite international concerns over climate change.
The figures, which were quietly released on Easter Monday, reveal that net greenhouse gas emissions during 2004 increased by 1.7 per cent on the previous year, equivalent to a rise of 110 million tons of carbon dioxide.
This is the biggest annual increase since 2000 and means that in 2004 – the latest year that full data is available – the US released the equivalent of nearly 6,300 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.”
A small contributer, Mister Bodman?
The Independent:
“Professor David Read, the vice-president of the Royal Society, said that the US and Britain needed to take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas levels in order to honour their commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“The figures published this week show not only that the US emissions are not decreasing, but that they are actually increasing on an annual basis,” Professor Read said. “And while the UK appears to be doing slightly better, its carbon dioxide emissions have been rising annually for the past three years,” he said. “The US and the UK are the two leading scientific nations in the world and are home to some of the best climate researchers.
“But in terms of fulfilling the commitment made by their signature to the UN convention to stabilize greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, neither country is demonstrating leadership by reducing their emissions to the levels required,” Professor Read said.”
The US produces about a quarter of total global emissions of greenhouse gases polluting our atmosphere – 25% of the world’s total!
Hardly a “small contributer”, Mister Bodman.
Prior to his post as the nation’s energy chief, Mister Bodman worked as Deputy Secretary of Commerce from 2001, and became Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in 2004. Prior to that, according to Wikipedia he was “…….President and Chief Operating Officer of Fidelity Investments and a Director of the Fidelity Group of Mutual Funds. In 1987, he joined Cabot Corporation, a Boston-based Fortune 300 company with global business activities in specialty chemicals and materials, where he served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director.”
Hardly a background suited to reining in the excesses of corporate America?
Samuel Bodman’s comment yesterday was absurd. It was so moronic we have to wonder how someone in his exalted position could make it. But then, he was chosen for the position by George W Bush, who has a long history of picking the most unsuitable people to fill high government positions.
In the light of Mister Bodman’s crassness, is it likely anyone is going to call for his resignation? After all, if the fourth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control is to be believed, Bodman’s attitude could spell the end for humanity. The report states that temperature is likely to rise between 4 – 6 degrees by the end of the century. It doesn’t sound very much. Perhaps Bodman thinks it not worth bothering about. If that is the case, he couldn’t be more wrong.
But, you can read all about that – HERE.
Filed under: Global disaster