George Monbiot of the Guardian U.K. reminds us Here of a little history lesson while calling it like it is in regards to the ever-increasing dangers being posed by global climate change.

Though one can applaud Al Gore’s recent efforts on behalf of crusading for awareness regarding the necessity of confronting man-made climate change on our planet, confronting the unpleasant truth of the systemic nature of American intransigence in the face of making the necessary efforts and sacrifices towards resolving these problems also involves some serious responsibility and culpability on Mr. Gore’s part. He also identifies in one line the single most important reason why wholesale political change in the United States isn’t simply a matter of partisan political interest, but is in fact a necessary step towards the survival of life on planet Earth as we know it.

America will keep on wrecking climate talks as long as those with vested interests in oil and gas fund its political system

‘After 11 days of negotiations, governments have come up with a compromise deal that could even lead to emission increases. The highly compromised political deal is largely attributable to the position of the United States, which was heavily influenced by fossil fuel and automobile industry interests. The failure to reach agreement led to the talks spilling over into an all-night session.”

These are extracts from a press release by Friends of the Earth. So what? Well it was published on December 11 - I mean to say, December 11, 1997. The US had just put a wrecking ball through the Kyoto protocol. George Bush was innocent; he was busy executing prisoners in Texas. Its climate negotiators were led by Albert Arnold Gore.

The European Union had asked for greenhouse gas cuts of 15% by 2010. Gore’s team drove them down to 5.2% by 2012. Then the Americans did something worse: they destroyed the whole agreement.

Most of the other governments insisted that the cuts be made at home. But Gore demanded a series of loopholes big enough to drive a Hummer through. The rich nations, he said, should be allowed to buy their cuts from other countries. When he won, the protocol created an exuberant global market in fake emissions cuts. The western nations could buy “hot air” from the former Soviet Union. Because the cuts were made against emissions in 1990, and because industry in that bloc had subsequently collapsed, the former Soviet Union countries would pass well below the bar. Gore’s scam allowed them to sell the gases they weren’t producing to other nations. He also insisted that rich nations could buy nominal cuts from poor ones. Entrepreneurs in India and China have made billions by building factories whose primary purpose is to produce greenhouse gases, so that carbon traders in the rich world will pay to clean them up.

The result of this sabotage is that the market for low-carbon technologies has remained moribund. Without an assured high value for carbon cuts, without any certainty that government policies will be sustained, companies have continued to invest in the safe commercial prospects offered by fossil fuels rather than gamble on a market without an obvious floor.

This is all pretty depressing, and shameful, stuff.

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