Greens versus Green-washed: Mesplay on the Bali Climate Change meeting

Press release from Kent Mesplay, Green candidate
for President of the United States
http://www.mesplay.org


Greens versus Green-washed: Mesplay on the Bali
meeting


The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
meeting in Bali is drawing to a close.  While the
rest of the world is determined to do something
about Climate Change, the United States under the
Bush Administration continues to practice divide
and conquer tactics between countries in order to
avoid taking any responsibility for ourselves.
They use the word "consensus" in press
conferences and then try to undermine the
consensus that already exists.

This administration has been treating Al Qaeda as
a security threat and ignores the security threat
from an entire planet whose populations,
especially those of the poorest countries, have
been destabilized by rising ocean levels, failing
crops, drought and floods. That is the real
security issue of the 21st Century and it cannot
be solved by 19th Century policies.  The
beginnings of this are already clear, as the US
Dept. of Agriculture announced this week that we
have had significant falls in the stocks of corn,
wheat and soybeans, along with an increased
demand.

The House Oversight Committee (Rep. Henry Waxman,
Chair) has just released a major report that
details exactly how far the Bush Administration
has gone with their political interference with
the work on climate science. As a scientist
myself, one whose current work deals with air
quality control, I am appalled that our
government has perpetrated this deceit on the
American Public.  Under a Green Party
administration, there would be two standards: are
we getting the science right and are we being
just in our use.

The scientific consensus is clear.  The only lack
is a political consensus. Even as the Bush
Administration's performance in Bali brings shame
to this country, the Congressional Democrats are
trying to green-wash themselves, hiding bad
policies behind carefully scripted language. The
Energy Bill (HR 6) recently passed by the House
of Representatives does contain some improvements
such as an increase in Corporate Average Fuel
Standards (CAFE) for both cars and trucks; but
not until 2020.  It also calls for a three-fold
increase in the renewable fuel standard which
will create a greater demand for ethanol from
corn, itself a worse producer of green house
gases than the petroleum product it would
replace.

Even Sen. Obama cannot help but propose
legislation that would "require the production of
18 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2016".
The words he wraps around it are all about
boosting our rural economy.  It is just about
winning votes in the Iowa primary and gaining the
support of major agri-business contributors.
Diversion of even more corn from our dwindling
supply for the production of ethanol will drive
up the prices of almost all our corn-derived
groceries: meat, milk and many packaged products
containing "high fructose corn syrup."

I want an improved political process that allows
good candidates to run so that we have public
officials who treat science with respect and who
actually work to make us more secure rather than
catering to their favorite businesses.

It is for lack of political will that we do not
have solar and wind as the back-bone of all
energy production in this nation.  If we take
away the subsidies given to coal and nuclear,
allow an even handed, true costing of all energy
options, we will no longer be proposing new coal
or nuclear power facilities.  Once we develop the
mind-set of every structure being designed for
energy efficiency and becoming its own power
plant we will not need those new plants.

There is now a proposed Science Debate 2008.  I
would relish the opportunity to challenge any of
the other candidates.  The debate we need is over
energy.  The energy we need will come when one
joins the Green Revolution. Register Green and
Vote Green. Just be wary of green-washed
candidates.

http://www.mesplay.org