How they see us: Joining the fight against global warming

The Americans have finally started to feel the heat, said Damien Roustel in France’s L’Humanité. At the global conference on climate change in Bali recently, the U.S. made an “astonishing about-face.” After two weeks of stonewalling the negotiations, refu

The Americans have finally started to feel the heat, said Damien Roustel in France’s L’Humanité. At the global conference on climate change in Bali recently, the U.S. made an “astonishing about-face.” After two weeks of stonewalling the negotiations, refusing to commit to any cuts in greenhouse gases unless they applied equally to developed and developing countries, the U.S. delegation ultimately agreed to a compromise. The U.S. still refuses to include a binding commitment to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent. But it did agree to commit to unspecified “deep cuts” in emissions. More important, it will give technological and financial aid to developing countries to help them “grow green.”

It took the pressure of the entire world to puncture America’s intransigence, said Caroline De Malet in France’s Le Figaro. Speech after speech by delegates from developing nations lambasted the U.S. for its selfishness in demanding that China and India make concessions before the U.S.—the world’s biggest polluter—would even consider making any. Some speeches were downright shaming, as when the Papua New Guinea delegate shouted, “If you don’t want to take the lead, at least don’t get in our way!” The turning point came when the U.S. delegate, Paula Dobriansky, took the floor to the boos of the world community. It then became obvious that the U.S. “would be held responsible for the failure of the summit” unless it made some real concessions. Shortly thereafter, Dobriansky did just that.

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