President Obama convinces China to agree to a first time ever commitment to curb carbon emissions.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

China and the United States made common cause on Wednesday against the threat of climate change, staking out an ambitious joint plan to curb carbon emissions as a way to spur nations around the world to make their own cuts in greenhouse gases. 

The landmark agreement, jointly announced here by President Obama and President Xi Jinping, includes new targets for carbon emissions reductions by the United States and a first-ever commitment by China to stop its emissions from growing by 2030. 

Administration officials said the agreement, which was worked out quietly between the United States and China over nine months and included a letter from Mr. Obama to Mr. Xi proposing a joint approach, could galvanize efforts to negotiate a new global climate agreement by 2015. 

It was the signature achievement of an unexpectedly productive two days of meetings between the leaders. Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi also agreed to a military accord designed to avert clashes between Chinese and American planes and warships in the tense waters off the Chinese coast, as well as an understanding to cut tariffs for technology products.

I can see the Fox News reporting on this already, "President Obama sends another secret letter to  enemy of America."

Even after years of political and personal attacks from the Right Wing, and after losing the Senate to Republicans, the man continues to be a thorn in the conservative's side simply by doing his damn job.

I guess the Chinese did not get the word that this was the least effective President in the history of America. Perhaps they don;t get Breitbart News.

By the way if ANYBODY needs to curb carbon emissions it's China.

I don't know how these people get through the day breathing this crap.

Elections have consequences. Thanks to the Republican takeover of the Senate this guy will now be in charge of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Courtesy of The New Republic: 

In handing Republicans control of the Senate on Tuesday, Americans effectively voted for the party's hostile plans against President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy. Their votes also put the Senate's environment and climate policy into the hands of the worst science-denier in national politics: Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who is almost certainly the next chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. 

Inhofe claimed in 2003 that global warming might help humanity. “It's also important to question whether global warming is even a problem for human existence. Thus far no one has seriously demonstrated any scientific proof that increased global temperatures would lead to the catastrophes predicted by alarmists. In fact, it appears that just the opposite is true: that increases in global temperatures may have a beneficial effect on how we live our lives.” In that same speech, he argued that an international body of climate change scientists “resembled a Soviet-style trial, in which the facts are predetermined, and ideological purity trumps technical and scientific rigor.” 

Inhofe refuted climate change science in 2012 by citing the Bible. “[T]he Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.’ My point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.”

I first heard this on election night from Rachel Maddow and I was hoping that there might be a slim possibility that she was wrong.

Nope.

So what do you think, since the UN says that most electricity must be produced through renewable energy by 20150,  we need to get off of fossil fuels altogether before 2100, do we think that Inhofe is going to do any work toward making that a reality?

Or do we think he is going to do everything in his power to defund climate science research and completely disregard any current findings that conflict with his belief that the climate is controlled by God with a thermostat in the sky?

We're doomed.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that unrestricted use of fossil fuels must be phased out by 2100 to save planet.

Courtesy of the BBC: 

The unrestricted use of fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100, if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change, a UN-backed expert panel says. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says in a stark report that most of the world's electricity can - and must - be produced from low-carbon sources by 2050. 

If not, the world faces "severe, pervasive and irreversible" damage. 

The UN said inaction would cost "much more" than taking the necessary action. 

"Science has spoken," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. "There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.

I can see the conservative response now: "Oh, well that gives us a free pass for at least three more decades."

I feel that the only way that we as Americans will have any hope of meeting this timetable is to never elect another Republican again. Of course that seems perfectly reasonable to me.

You know I wish actual conversations with overly religious people went this smoothly.

(Source.)