back to article Clinton calls for Kyoto successor

Bill Clinton has called on the international community to draw up and sign up to a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to tackle climate change. Speaking at the Greenbuild Conference in Chicago on Wednesday, Clinton was clear on the need for action: "The sale's been made, otherwise Al Gore wouldn't have gotten the Nobel Prize," he …

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  1. Lloyd
    Thumb Down

    Hmmm

    This would be the same Bill Clinton that signed the US up to the Kyoto treaty and then proceded to do absolutely nothing to hit the targets leaving Bush in the position to justify scrapping the whole deal when he came to power then would it?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Kyoto Smyoto

    He still hasn't learned to keep his cigar to himself.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Castor Oil???

    Clinton's comment on proving the new protocol is not like drinking a bottle of castor oil is purposefully vague. Is he alluding to its emetic properties, its potential connection to terrorism as it contains the protein ricin, or just the plain awful taste? Any way you look at it, Clinton is casting doubt on the legitimacy of Gore's work.

    Among the buzzword, hivemind, headline ideas on the Greenbuild website is the gem, "I am weaning myself off paper." As a forester, I fail to see how this will make any difference whatsoever. Paper is a renewable resource and the ability of plants to sequester carbon is just a temporary effect unless special conditions exist to prevent liberation of the C back into the environment.

    Bottom line, Clinton is as skillful as they come at delivering mixed messages.

  4. Arnold Lieberman
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    What a load of hot air

    "Fatih Birol, the agency's chief economist, told The Times that the developed world had to act now to deal with the problem of runaway growth in demand for energy, and stop trying to blame developing nations. Developing nations have the right to grow, Dr Birol said, but that only added to the urgency for the west to get on top of its own energy needs."

    So is this about actually lowering the world's consumption of oil (and derivative products) or trying to build some sort of socialist utopia where everyone is equal by dragging the West back to subsistence farming? I expect Ms. Birol has errected a wind turbine on her chauffeur driven limo so she can feel slighty more smug on her journey to the office whilst the rest of us fight over space on our overpriced public transport (buses use oil as well).

    The only way we're going to deal with the "runaway demand for energy" is to either a) kill ourselves or b) stop buying goods manufactured in developing countries.

    As far as the UK goes, a) willl temporarily reduce the world's CO2 output by 2%, until the flesh starts rotting and China switches on its next power station, and b) won't help lift the devloping world out of poverty.

  5. Tom

    Yes...

    ...trees are renewable but only if we plant as many as we cut down! Currently we're not and seem to have no intentions of doing so.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    US never adopted Kyoto

    The dirty little secret is that the US never adoped Kyoto. The treaty was signed by Al Gore on behalf of Bill Clinton, but it was never submitted to the Senate for its advice and consent. Therefore the treaty was never ratified by the US, it was never part of US law, and George Bush had every right to repudiate it.

    As far as Bill Clinton is concerned, he ought to read Bjorn Lomborg's "Cool It" before he runs his fat, cigar-puffing mouth.

  7. Luther Blissett

    Clinton calls.... could be the start of something

    Look forward to lots of Clinton calls stories now that the Shuttle has landed. eg

    1. Clinton calls time at the Cock and Bull

    2. Clinton calls Strip the Willow, Blaydon Races, and Bridge of Athlone (uh-hu)

    3. Clinton calls Hilary a good lookin' bitch, then

    4. Clinton calls on Monica

    5. Clinton calls a man about a van

    6. Clinton calls it off

    7. Clinton calls WinLongJmp() with no return parameters.

    I made that last one up. Completely on my own. No help at all from Bill. (Gates, this is, not Clinton).

  8. Eduard Coli
    Paris Hilton

    What the h...

    You have to be simple to still listen to Bubba anyhow.

    He gets paid to open his mouth, he never does it for free.

    I'm sure he made a mint whenever he said the above and is making a mint off his life partner's campaign.

    What is this with India and China's economy?

    You can not call it an economy when you only have one industry and those industries are based mainly on poor foreign policy by the US.

    As the US goes so will India and China.

  9. Jedi Knight
    Thumb Down

    The Bent One & Kyoto

    Close but no cigar Anon. The protocal did get to the Senate. It was defeated 95 to Zip. Seems like the bent one and albore couldn't even get their socialist nitwit pals like kennedy, kerry, leahy, durbin, harkin, boxer, feinstein, schumer, feingold, wellstone or dashole to vote for kyoto. Now all these leftoid scum criticize President Bush for not doing enough! Give Me a Break.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Seems that an unusually vocal group of right-wingnuts

    have gained access to their institution's PC today.

    Too bad that the rest of us have to share the world with them - especially should it follow the policies that they seem to favor (otherwise, we could just happily ignore them as we do the rest of the whackos).

    - bill

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