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<\/a><\/p>\n“If [the US] cannot get\u00a0your team on the ground,\u00a0move aside and let the rest of the world\u00a0move forward with an agreement.” These and other strong words came from Kumi Naidoo (second from left), a representative from Greenpeace International, who was in favor of leaving the U.S. behind for the rest of the conference negotiations.\u00a0He said that current agreements on the table are what\u00a0he likes to call FLAB; or Full of Loopholes And B***S***.<\/p>\n
Jim Leape (second from right), a U.S.\u00a0rep from the WWF said that\u00a0his country has a “failure of ambition…which will lead\u00a0us into a 4 degree warming world.” He continued, saying, “…the\u00a0current solutions and mitigation actions on the table\u00a0will not save us from catastrophic outcomes.” Mr. Leap also pointed out the hypocrisy of the U.S. position; ignoring\u00a0a problem which is\u00a0and will continue to affect\u00a0its own people. He emphasized his point, explaining that 47 of\u00a0the 50\u00a0United States had declared a\u00a0state of emergency for a climate related disaster within the last year. He said 14 of these disasters cost over one billion dollars in damages.<\/p>\n
A third panelist, Sharan\u00a0Burrow (far right), an Australian from the International trade unions, echoed the desperation of our situation in the negotiations.\u00a0“We don’t want to wait until 2020 for an agreement, we don’t want to wait another 12 months, we want one THIS WEEK! We want the U.S. to be a part of this agreement…but they need to stop blocking.”<\/p>\n
These examples are a few of many sentiments regarding the U.S. position (or lack there of) in the negotiations. To learn more about this topic, what is causing the U.S.\u00a0and other countries to stall progress of the COP negotiations\u00a0(and also so that what I am writing will not be redundant for those of you so diligently following this blog),\u00a0check out\u00a0the following posts completed by my fellow Dickinsonians\u00a0here in Durban:<\/p>\n
U.S. Step Aside, Developing Countries Step Up<\/a>\u00a0by Maggie Reese<\/p>\n The Kyoto Roadblock Explained<\/a>\u00a0by Tim Damon<\/p>\n