After Gutenberg

Subtitle: blighter (n. Chiefly British Slang) A fellow, especially one held in low esteem. Taken from blight, see “a bad case of the humans“

HuffPo contributor Richard Greene wants to hear some words that we can believe in, to wit:

The “CLEAN AMERICA Bill” IS:

• Our Children’s Energy
• Our Grandchildren’s Energy
• Sustainability
• Corporate Accountability
• Slowly changing the way we use energy and do business
• Punishing polluters
• Rewarding good (stewardship)
• “Honesty” and “Honest Accounting”
• “The REAL Cost” of goods and services
• The Beginning of the END to “Corporate Socialism” (where the public is forced to pay for the damage that corporations create and foist unto the public)
• The Beginning of A New Era in Energy and Business

When I read that U.S. President Barack Obama said he would travel to Copenhagen… if a climate summit is on the verge of a framework deal …and his presence there will make a difference in clinching it…. I thought, “Please, don’t, don’t say such things, and don’t go. We have so little credibility as it is.”

Climate Progress commentator Christopher, who already was pissed off because “Copenhagen was a known goal for years, and we missed it,” used all upper case in his response to the President’s announcement that he would go to Copenhagen if he can seal a deal: “WE ARE NOT LEADERS ON THIS.”

I concur. the President’s appearance at the United Nations seemingly was a test of rhetoric in lieu of substantive action. He said, “We understand the gravity of the climate threat. We are determined to act. And we will meet our responsibility to future generations.” And, yet, the United States is a principle source of GHG emissions and we ecocidally refuse to place limits on anthropogenic emissions contributing to catastrophic degradation of the Earth’s atmosphere. Among the global community, rather than setting a good example, we are the prime bad example. To act otherwise is to ridicule the efforts toward, and the outcry that will come from, the Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen on December 7.

Thus, while Richard Greene wants words that he can believe in. I am more concerned with recent actions (and inaction) by the Obama administration. With words, it sometimes is difficult to hear them over the mountain tops being blown up, or heavy excavators gouging strips from public lands.

More Treehugger Posts about Obama Climate Change Rhetoric

• Obama Cites Michael Pollan’s Sun-Food Agenda
• Obama to Give First Big Climate Change Speech
• Obama’s UN Climate Speech Lacked Details to Lead World Forward: Bill McKibben
• Obama Says Climate Change Is Real, Will Hire Gore

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• Analysis: What hope for Copenhagen now? (guardian.co.uk)