Are U.S. views converging with the rest of the G8 nations on global climate change?

Question

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda seems to think so. Still, this from Yahoo Green:

"Climate negotiators largely agree that any agreement on an emissions cut target would come next year after Bush leaves office. Both major candidates to succeed Bush have pledged tougher action to fight global warming."

http://green.yahoo.com/news/afp/20080706/sc_afp/g8summitclimatewarming.html

But another question remains: Is this the the right forum to discuss what to do after Kyoto's obligations end in 2012?

Your thoughts?

Answer 1

My thought?

Any American leader who would hobble the US to such a piece of trash should be, and I hope is shot.

Answer 2

My thought: if 2012 comes and goes and 1998 is still the "warmest year on record," there is clearly no need for any sequel to Kyoto.

Answer 3

The fact that so many Republicans are now acknowledging the politics of global warming does not mean that they believe in it, it shows that they believe it's a hot button political issue. It's a bs topic as far as I'm concerned.

Answer 4

Yes, I think it's evident that gradually the understanding of the importance of climate change has grown in the US, and we're now nearing a point where we're willing to do as much about it as the other G8 nations.  The only concern I have is that many Americans may still place short-term economic concerns over long-term climate change concerns.  This was the reason the Lieberman-Warner carbon cap and trade bill went nowhere.

The question then becomes, did the shelving of this bill represent the will of the majority of Americans, or was it simply an error on the part of the Republican Party?

I think the upcoming G8 meeting is a good place to start discussing the successor to Kyoto, but the final decision will thankfully be made by our next president.

Answer 5

Absolutely not, the democrats have had the house long enough to make some policy changes, they can't even agree what color the white house should be.

Answer 6

I think G8 is absolutely the right place to discuss how to deal with climate change.  I think even Bush realizes now that this is an extremely important topic, and I think the time is right because now he's worrying about his legacy.  Kyoto seems to have been a bust so far, even among the signatories, so it's a good time to start planning to move forward from it.  Just as important will be planning for a post-petroleum world, as it's becoming clearer every day that OPEC has little ability to ramp up production any higher than present levels, at least for sweet light crude.