Gaseous Europe

Better hurry up with those British carbon-emission ration cards that Ron posted about yesterday. The European Environment Agency is reporting that the EU's carbon dioxide emissions rose by 1.5 percent in 2003 in the 15 member-states of the "old" EU, after falling in 2002. In fact, Britain was one of the major offenders (along with Finland and Italy). A spokesman for Friends of the Earth obliged the BBC by calling the new figures "shocking."

The Beeb passes along this quote, too: "The blame goes mostly to national economy and industry ministers, who constantly block any attempts to introduce mandatory targets for renewable energies, energy efficiency rules or fuel consumption standards for cars." Also, "cold weather was blamed for a rise in the use of fossil fuels to heat homes and offices."

Comments

wellfellow | June 22, 2005, 9:28am | #

"cold weather was blamed for a rise in the use of fossil fuels to heat homes and offices."

If only there were a way to heat up the earth...

M1EK | June 22, 2005, 9:36am | #

Because, as Rush tells us, global climate and local climate are the same thing!

wellfellow | June 22, 2005, 9:38am | #

Because, M1EK, I was totally serious. Jesus.

crimethink | June 22, 2005, 10:06am | #

If they want to heat up the local climate, maybe they should force workers to wear ties. I think Japan might have some for export...

FoE | June 22, 2005, 10:23am | #

I bet the EU would meet all it's targets if every politician on the continent just shut up for a month.

R C Dean | June 22, 2005, 10:34am | #

I love it - the EU can't meet its global warming emissions targets because the weather has been too cold.

joe | June 22, 2005, 10:43am | #

I suppose that would look ironic to somebody who didn't know anything about weather, the climate, or the effects of global warming.

Rich Ard | June 22, 2005, 10:47am | #

Sounds like everyone on earth qualifies for that one, Joe.

Phil | June 22, 2005, 1:02pm | #

The irony has nothing to do with understanding any of those things, joe. It has to do with a casual observation of how much discomfort Britons are (or aren't) willing to undertake to meet their emissions goals.

grylliade | June 22, 2005, 2:27pm | #

Because, M1EK, I was totally serious. Jesus.

It's not nice to joke about other people's religion, wellfellow. Shame shame.

B.P. | June 22, 2005, 4:26pm | #

Advantage: Rich Ard.

J.T. | June 23, 2005, 3:58am | #

If all environmental nutcases and politicians (and maybe some lawyers) would commit mass suicide we'd easily meet any emission target as well as stopping the release of a huge amount of hot air into the atmosphere.

Ron | June 29, 2005, 12:13am | #

Interesting article by Yury Izrael, Director,
Global Climate and Ecology Institute, Russian
Academy of Sciences and a IPCC Vice-President,
DEBUNKING global warming scare stories and
"supposed" man-made climate change. At www.rian.ru/analysis - date of article: 6/29/05.