Spinning on the Axis of Evil

It was never going to be long before the Whitehouse Muppet had another go at destroying the planet. This time apparently it's his ego in the face of the United Nations that seems to be at the root of it.

Shortly before the G8 summit Bush decides that it would be a good idea to launch his own climate change agenda, outside of that which has been painstakingly put together by the UN, effectively destroying any chance of making progress in the immediate future. Clearly this is a diversionary tactic - but why?

We can only presume - apart from his already proven stupidity, Christian fundamentalist credentials and arrogance, that he wants to avoid being seen to make a U-turn, particularly after the hard time that the UN gave him over Iraq. If climate change were not such a serious issue there would be some satisfaction to be had from gloating over his fuckwit behaviour.

The question remains, however, how many of the major developed nations will follow the Bush administration's lead in favour of the UN. Not many I would imagine - and I suspect that when the history books are written the Bush era will be seen as a watershed marking the point at which the wane of America as a world power became irreversible.

Let's hope so - the planet cannot afford another Bush.

White House Muppet v Big Energy

It would be nice to think that George Bush was watching the UKTV History channel last night. Somehow I don't think he was, but when he reads this he'll know what it was all about.

'Meltdown' was a part of a series on climate change. The big question is - given that we know beyond doubt that the planet is heating up, how much can be attributed to natural variations and how much can only be explained by man made effects?

For thousands of years the temperature of the Earth was governed by two main drivers: the solar cycle (i.e. variations in the sun's output) and the amount of volcanic activity which affects the amount of dust in the atmosphere and hence the amount of sunlight that can penetrate. The match between the actual temperature and the predicted temperature is stunning - until you get to the last 150 years. The increase of greenhouse gasses and with it the global temperature has been in liftoff, tracking the course of the industrial revolution and consequent carbon emissions.

Surprisingly one of the big voices in the debate in America putting pressure on the White House Muppet has been Big Energy. Surprising? Yes, until you realise that they own massive infrastructure and they need to be able to plan their businesses. They know that carbon emission caps will be arriving sooner or later, but until they have a regulatory level playing field it is hard for them to know how to invest their shareholders' capital.

Watch this space.