The Low Hanging Apple

First, apologies for the recent poor formatting of my blog. I am putting in all of these cool websites and pictures, and none of them seem to be coming up well on the blog itself. I have emailed Experience about the problems, and hopefully we will fix them soon. Until then - you have my apologies.

Big News today - The United States agreed to "seriously consider" (whatever that means) a proposal to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases in half by the year 2050. The United States and Germany (Mrs. Merkel) were at the heart of the negotiations. Mrs. Merkel is a phyicist and was elected on a platform of halting global warming. Germany is gung-ho (sp?) to address the climate change issue - partially because they are already developing renewable energy (such as wind). However, the United States is extremely wary of promising to lower emissions by specific amounts or adopting emissions targets. For example, Germany wanted the 8 to adopt an energy efficiency clause in their agreement, but this seems unlikely. Mrs Merkel's chief advisor on climate issues, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (what a name!), was quoted as saying:

"It would be very disappointing if the energy efficiency issue is marginalized,” Mr. Schellnhuber said in a telephone interview before today’s meetings. “It’s a huge, low-hanging apple, which can be plucked now."

(Above information from: "Europe and U.S. Move Toward Climate Deal" By MARK LANLDER and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG. New York Times. Published: June 7, 2007.)

Hmmmm. A huge, low-hanging apple. What a strange, yet vivid mental image. Thanks Hans.



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For better reporting on the G8 deal, check out BBC.com - the news is headlined right now. Additionally, they have a great photo essay of anarchists, students, and anti-globalization protestors in Germany outside the G8 summit. I am including one of their photographs below, in hopes that it will come out.



http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/43021000/jpg/_43021589_g8demosafp3.jpg


There are mixed reports on how far the US truly intends to go. However, the international mood seems to be optimistic.

In other words, Yay!

Time to go enjoy the weather and make bean lasagna with my delightful roommates.

- Emily