Dancing to a Different Tune: Theme Music for the Climate Talks

Roughly half the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are generated in China and the US, so these two countries hold the key to real progress on the issue.

The leaders of both countries made announcements this past week: Barack Obama said he will be in Copenhagen to promise that the US will cut emissions 17% from 2005 levels by 2020, and Chinese President Hu Jintao indicated that China will reduce their emissions by 40% – as a percentage of GDP – by 2020. As exciting as these two announcements are, both are woefully short of the goals set by the international community, which is a 20% cut from 1990 levels. The US target actually represents only a 4% decline from 1990, and China’s offer, if their GDP keeps growing at a 7-8% clip, translates into a rise in emissions in the next decade.

As I ponder whether these are commitments of action or inaction, the lyrics of Monty Python’s “Eric the Half a Bee” come to mind:

Half a bee, philosophically,
Must, ipso-facto, half not be.
But half the bee has got to be
Vis-a-vis, its entity.

But can a bee be said to be
Or not to be an entire bee
When half the bee is not a bee…

In this case, half a commitment is also half not a commitment.

Of course other countries also have their own music to dance to:

INDIA
Song:    “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel
Why:    For insisting that the Western developed nations clean up the mess.
Quote :   “This [Global warming] is a challenge for the West. Those countries have been at a tremendous party since the nineteenth century and now the party has to come to an end. It is the West that has to get serious about this problem.” - Pradipto Ghosh, India’s Environment Secretary

CANADA
Song: “Burning Down the House” by the Talking Heads
Why: Per capita emissions as high as the US, and what some describe as an obstructionist position.
Quote: “One thing the Conservative government will never do is fly over to Copenhagen, pull a target out of the air that is ill-suited to our industrial base, to our geography and agree to damaging the Canadian economy.” – Jim Prentice Environmental Minister

MALDIVES
Song: “I’m Burning for You” by Blue Oyster Cult
Why: The Maldives is a nation of tropical coral islands just 1.5 metres above sea level.
Quote: “Climate change isn’t a vague and abstract danger but a real threat to our survival.” – Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Republic of Maldives

Will we be singing “Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen?” What other songs apply?

Note: Follow me on twitter, and be alerted when I post! http://twitter.com/ClimateTweeter

Read more: global warming

Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

pierluigi b.

1:05AM PST on Dec 28, 2009

Thanks for the article!

send a green star

Ronnie N.

10:19AM PST on Dec 12, 2009

"Hide The Decline" - M4GW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEiLgbBGKVk

Because climate is not static and another ICE AGE is the only alternative.
WARMING IS GOOD FOR LIFE ON MOTHER EARTH.

Katy L.

12:54AM PST on Dec 7, 2009

Thanks for all these information

Paul P.

11:38AM PST on Dec 4, 2009

Thanks Dave, missed it in the post, good thing there wasn't a test...

Dave R.

11:07AM PST on Dec 4, 2009

HI Paul

The statue is Hans Christian Anderson (in reference to the song Wonderful Copenhagen at the end of the post)

Dave

Ben O.

2:15AM PST on Dec 4, 2009

"One day the Earth woke up, saying:
-Boy, I feel half dead...!
...Save me now, save me now...
(Jeff Lynne)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVKxrgTDbs8