Annan: Leaders need courage to fight warming

[Alternawatt]

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the U.N. conference on climate change Wednesday that those who would deny global warming or delay taking action against it are "out of step" and "out of time."

"Let no one say we cannot afford to act," Annan declared. The United States, for one, contends that reducing global-warming gases would be too costly to its economy.

The U.N. chief lamented "a frightening lack of leadership" in fashioning next steps in mandatory reductions of global emissions. "I would want leaders around the world to really show courage and to know that if they do, their people and the voters will be with them," he told reporters after his speech.

[url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/15/annan.climate.ap/index.html]Annan: Leaders need courage to fight warming - CNN.com[/url]

[AdMan]

Courage is a light word for it.
People are so used to energy consumption that the whole economy would collapse if everybody started to live green.

It's like asking a formula 1 racing car to operate on photovoltaics!

[Alternawatt]

Courage is indeed an understatement. However, it is good to know (and I'm not just speaking from an industry standpoint) that the United Nations takes Global Warming seriously, unlike the United States government.

[AdMan]

To be fair,
It's taken 50+ years to become greedy energy hungry people. That's a few generations worth.

The question is: Can we take another 40 years to decelerate our usage? NOT!!

[Alternawatt]

Ah...but lest ye forget:

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. " - John F. Kennedy

[url=http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/ricetalk.htm]JFK RICE MOON SPEECH[/url]

[meshinc]

Leaders do not have to be in politics to make remarkable chamges in the world. From Gandi to Martin Luther King to Yunus and yes...Henry Ford...these people simply saw that something needed to be done and they went forward. Motivating and encouraging others and most of all they set examples. The changes in industry can and are being made! Rapidly!
The same greed that has driven the oil industry is fueling the growth in solar. Recycling programs became profitable..... and cities began supplying recycling bins for trash collection.
Change is going to come on a grand scale over the next decade the middle east will be left in shambles. Mining silicon will be the maker of new Fortune 500 corporations. Who is an economic visionary, a motivator, showing CEOs the profits of solar, hydro and wind?
Forget the business as usual buracracy they will adapt in time....But government drones are never the ones who produce change! They adapt to change.
Create a vision of monumental proportions and then follow through one step at a time...... The UN is not the source of change they are not leaders, just members of a club. It is the people who are starting solar companies in thier garages that will become the new movers and shakers in this coming generation. Is that YOU?

[Admin]

[URL="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=T&ct=us/0-0&fd=R&url=http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/partner/story%3Fid%3D47283&cid=1113150675&ei=WvC_RYzPAZWQp wKZjPSgDQ"]Therapeutics, Inc. Converts to Solar Power[/URL]
RenewableEnergyAccess.com, NH - 3 hours ago
Therapeutics, Inc. recently completed installation of an 82kW solar electric system on the roof of their San Diego facility, down the street from their ...
[URL="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=T&ct=us/0-1&fd=R&url=http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/reinsider/story%3Fid%3D47252&cid=1113150675&ei=WvC_RYzPAZWQp wKZjPSgDQ"]Renewable Energy Grows Up[/URL] RenewableEnergyAccess.com
[URL="http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=ISO-8859-1&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-44,GGLG:en&tab=wn&ncl=1113150675&hl=en"]all 2 news articles[/URL]