- Sad to see such a big step backwards for Brazil as it re-writes its forestry policy and offers amnesty to illegal loggers. Bad news for the Amazon.
- Bill McKibben has a great piece on making connections, and “the comforting mantra that no single weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change.”
- Nice to see a footballer who gets the environment – Gary Neville‘s testimonial match raised money for community wind farms.
- In the past decade, 26 countries have been reclassified from low income to middle income countries – one of many interesting points in this report from the Brookings Institute.
The Earthbound Report 
What we learned this week is that some nations are returning to fiscal sanity… “DEAUVILLE, France: Russia, Japan and Canada told the G8 they would not join a second round of carbon cuts under the Kyoto Protocol at United Nations talks this year and the US reiterated it would remain outside the treaty, European diplomats have said… At last Thursday’s G8 dinner the US President, Barack Obama, confirmed Washington would not join an updated Kyoto Protocol, the diplomats said.” REF 1
On the other hand, some nations are adamant that the ruling class is truely the controlling way… “Germany’s green government advisors admit frankly that decarbonization can only be achieved by the limitation of democracy – both nationally and internationally. When it comes to environmental and climate policy, Germany’s Scientific Advisory Council on Global Environmental Change (WBGU) is an influential advisory committee for the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The chairman of the council is Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research… All nations would have to relinquish their national interests and find a new form of collective responsibility for the sake of the climate.” REF 2
What does that mean for you and I?… “”In order to anchor future interests institutionally, the Council recommends expanding the parliamentary legislative process with a deliberative ”future chamber”. To avoid interference by interest group and political parties, the composition of this chamber could be determined, for example, by drawing lots… Internationally, the WBGU calls for a “World Security Council” for sustainability. The members of the proposed “future chamber” for Germany would explicitly not be chosen democratically and would limit the powers of Parliament.”
Jeepers… maybe alarmist conspiracy theories have a basis in fact!!
REF 1… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/05/29/its-all-over-kyoto-protocol-loses-four-big-nations/
REF 2… http://www.thegwpf.org/international-news/3095-germany-sliding-head-over-heels-into-the-eco-dictatorship.html
Good links! Maybe the Germans will go back to burning witches (skeptics) at the stake to keep warm as they did during the last dark age.
Good ole Bill McKibben. Never let a crisis go to waste.
Thinkprogress, George Soros’ pet project, went as far as to blame the dead for the tornado. Nice touch Greg.
Forget that even NASA says that AGW is not responsible for any of these extremes, just keep spewing mindless propaganda and scaring the public.
Forget that a warming planet means less sever storms overall, and that a cooling planet is capable of stronger storms (hint).
Forget decency. Forget ethics. Forget honesty. Forget integrity. Forget science. Forget humanity. Just push that agenda guys!
Class act.