Splendid Isolation

The United States found itself isolated today in battling against new emissions goals for developed countries. The White House renewed its call for emissions targets for countries like China and India. They said that any new agreement to succeed the UN Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, must acknowledge a country's sovereign right to pursue economic growth and energy security. "The negotiations must proceed on the view that the problem of climate change cannot be adequately addressed through commitments for emissions cuts by developed countries alone. We must give sufficient emphasis to the important and appropriate role that the larger emitting developing countries should play in a global effort to address climate change," croaked the voice from behind the curtain.
That's not a wizard, it's just a very dumb man. The Jacobshavn Ice Stream, a glacier on the west side of Greenland that drains about six and a half percent of the continent's massive ice sheet. Between 2000 and 2003, its rate of retreat nearly doubled. The Qori Kalis Glacier in Peru, whose initial retreat rate around 1991 was about six meters per year but now is sixty meters per year. NASA climate scientist, Jay Zwally, remarked this week: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions." Because of global warming, Inuit people no longer feel safe travelling on ice where they travelled for centuries, and some Inuit communities are sliding into the sea, forcing their relocation to new sites. The White House does not see this as a uniquely "American" problem.
What's a Scarecrow to do? There are four hundred and one day's left in the Pinhead's Regime. Let's hope for a protracted cold snap while the brains in Washington thaw out.