Obama admits failure at climate change conference

Well, at least we know they don't believe their own fantastic rhetoric. We're speaking, of course, of U.S. President Barack Obama's statement today that he understands why people view the just-concluded climate change summit in Copenhagen as a failure. "I think that people are justified in being disappointed about the outcome in Copenhagen," Obama said in an interview with PBS Newshour, according to the Reuters international news service. The conference ended with a nonbinding agreement to limit carbon emissions blamed for global warming, far short of a 50 percent reduction that was the stated goal of industrialized nations at the summit. But Obama, who was instrumental in overcoming sharp differences with China and India just to arrive at a nonbinding deal, said the fact that any agreement was reached at all was an important step. "Rather than see a complete collapse in Copenhagen, in whcih nothing at all got done and would have been a huge backward step, at least we kind of held ground and there wasn't too much backsliding from where we were," Obama said. "We were able to at least agree on non-legally binding targets for all countries -- not just the United States, not just Europe, but also for China and India, which, projecting forward, are going to be the world's largest emitters." Developing economic powers China, India, Brazil and South Africa, which were resistant to any deal that could limit their growth, signed on to the agreement at the last minute after Obama's personal intervention. "At a point where there was about to be complete breakdown, and the prime minister of India was heading to the airport and the Chinese representatives were essentially skipping negotiations, and everybody's screaming, what did happen was, cooler heads prevailed," Obama said. But many European participants had far less positive evaluations of the final agreement, however. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the deal "flawed and chaotic" and Sweden called it a disaster for the environment, Reuters said. British Environment Minister Ed Miliband told the Guardian newspaper on Monday that China had "hijacked" emission-reduction efforts, but Beijing accused England of trying to drive a wedge between developing nations to force them into an unfavorable agreement, Reuters said.

Shadowy environmental group knocks down radio towers

In a world grappling with international terrorism and cowardly attacks that kill hundreds or thousands of people in an instant, it's easy to react with outrage but not nearly as simple to craft a proportionate reaction to Friday's toppling of two radio station towers north of Seattle by a radical environmental group. The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for knocking the KRKO-AM towers down with a stolen bulldozer in Snohomish County, Washington, according to Cable News Network. One of the towers was 349 feet tall. The ELF, which has been involved in other high-profile attacks in the Northwest, issued a statement claiming the towers were destroyed because they caused higher cancer rates and harmed wildlife, as well as interfering with phone lines. "When all legal channels of opposition have been exhausted, concerned citizens have to take action into their own hands to protect life and the planet," said Jason Crawford, a spokesman for the group. No one has been killed in any of the group's attacks. But federal and local law enforcement officials were not exactly tolerant. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Department turned the case over to the FBI's Seattle office for a formal investigation. KKRO manager Andy Skotdal said the tower complex was "flattened like a pancake" and would take at least three months to repair. "There's quite a bit of destruction to the antenna and it will probably take at least three months to get it back up and operational again," station manager Andy Skotdal said, according to CNN. If caught, the ELF people responsible for the attack will no doubt face prosecution. A crime is a crime. But there's a difference between crimes against property and crimes against people.

Marine scientists will prove the obvious at ocean garbage patch

Don't expect any good news from this month's research mission to the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," the hundreds of miles of plastic debris drifting in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean. A crew of 30, including marine scientists and technicians from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography left on the three-week fact-finding tour on Sunday, according to the Reuters international news service. The mission is designed to figure out just how much garbage is out there and what effect it is having on the marine ecosystem. Among the concerns are whether the garbage is killing the plankton, whether fish are ingesting the plastic, and if species are attaching themselves to the plastic and being transported to areas where they don't belong. "The concern is what kind of impact those plastic bits are having on the small critters on the low end of the ocean food chain," Bob Knox, the deputy director of research at Scripps, told Reuters on Monday. The crew is expected to conduct research in a laboratory aboard the 170-foot ship, the New Horizon, and to bring back samples for more-intensive study back in San Diego, Reuters said. But the research will most likely prove all of the above. Our rapidly growing human family is dumping so much garbage that the capacity of the oceans to disperse it has finally been exceeded. We're going to have to stop throwing away so much trash and figure out how to get rid of the junk we already have without doing irreversible harm to our environment.

New administration frees scientists from doghouse

The significance of Friday's announcement that U.S. environmental regulators have officially determined that air pollutants blamed for global warming pose significant health hazards to people is not only that emissions can be regulated, but that government officials are again listening to scientists. Finally, a scientific approach to problems -- far superior to the 'faith-based' approach of President Barak Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush. The Environmental Protection Agency, which made the announcement, did not just find out about heat-trapping gases -- they've understood that for years, as have many of us. But irresponsible leaders of the last administration obviously muzzled regulators to reward corporate campaign contributors who will have to pay for compliance with new regulations. "This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a news release, according to Cable News Network (CNN). "The science clearly shows that concentrations of these gases are at unprecedented levels as a result of human emissions, and these high levels are very likely the cause of the increase in average temperatures and other changes in our climate." Jackson was nominated by Obama and confirmed by Congress in January. Reuters said environmentalists applauded the EPA announcement. "Global warming threatens our health, our economy, and our children's prosperity," said Vickie Patton, deputy general counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund. "EPA's action is a wake-up call for national policy solutions that secure our economic and environmental future." But Republicans in Congress condemned the decision, saying it would lead to an increased in government regulations. "Today's action by the EPA is the beginning of a regulatory barrage that will destroy jobs, raise energy prices for consumers and undermine America's global competitiveness," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.