This past week was a busy one regarding green issues. Starting with the sad news about President Lula signing the bill that allows Amazon farmers to acquire an area of public land, and ending with a hopeful one involving President Barack Obama, who has pushed urgently for passage of legislation to confront global warming.

Hours after the House approved a climate bill that, for the first time, would force US companies to limit greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming, President Barack Obama urged (this Saturday) senators to show courage and follow suit.
The 219-212 vote marks a major victory for President Barack Obama, who has made global warming and clean energy legislation a top priority for his administration.
The bill now moves to the Senate, which could have an even tougher time getting the measure passed. Groups on both sides have also vowed to continue pushing for changes as the legislation makes its way through the US Congress.

"I know this is going to be a close vote, in part because of the misinformation that is out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and our economic growth."

"My call to those members of Congress who are still on the fence as well as to the American people is this: We cannot be afraid of the future, we can't be prisoners of the past. "We have been talking about this issue for decades, now is the time to finally act." Obama said.

The US, which together with China emits about half of the world's greenhouse gases, has long faced pressure from other governments to more aggressively reduce its carbon footprint.
The Obama administration hopes the bill will bolster the country's bargaining position at a critical meeting in Copenhagen in December, where governments are expected to thrash out a new global treaty to combat climate change.
Obama hopes a cap-and-trade system will cut US emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels - about seven percent below 1990 levels - by 2020, and nearly 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.

"Europe in many ways over the last several years has moved more rapidly than the United States," Obama said after his meeting with Merkel. He was "impressed" with Germany's "foresight and commitment to clean energy".

"It is my hope that the United States will match that commitment today," Obama said of the House vote.


Attention for the picture of a flock of geese flying past a smokestack at the Jeffrey Energy Center coal power plant near Emmitt, Kan.

Leave a Reply