Current State of Climate Politics

Todd Stern, America's chief climate change envoy, will remember Durban for the series of round-the-clock marathon sessions to bring COP 17 to a meaningful close. Negotiating endless hours over bracketed draft proposals is nothing the seasoned negotiator would raise eyebrows over. Once Stern had...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental policy and law 2012-07, Vol.42 (3), p.188
Main Author: Vogt, Erich
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate change
Climate policy
Climate science
Environmental policy
Industrialized nations
Kyoto Protocol
Market economies
Negotiations
Presidents
Scientists
Sustainable development
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Todd Stern, America's chief climate change envoy, will remember Durban for the series of round-the-clock marathon sessions to bring COP 17 to a meaningful close. Negotiating endless hours over bracketed draft proposals is nothing the seasoned negotiator would raise eyebrows over. Once Stern had regained his composure, he launched into a vigorous defence of US climate change policy and the multiple efforts of the Obama administration to reach a comprehensive global climate change agreement. Because the debate in the US is only on the surface about climate change. Climate change is merely the message, the proxy that is telling the American people that many of its culture's most cherished ideas and values are no longer viable. In other words, the core of the debate has very little to do with climate change. What it is really about when stripped of the "emperor's clothes" is the threat to the American way of life and by extension the shredding of America's free-market economy and society.
ISSN:0378-777X
1878-5395