36 Hours in Bali
After a typically roadblocked delay caused by the anti-planet Republicans filibustering a critical energy bill at the end of the week, Senator Kerry still flew halfway around the globe to address an even more critical global energy conference this weekend. Then, after an equally gruelling return trip necessary to get him back on the ground in Washington in time for another series of important floor votes, Senator Kerry still made time to hold a phone-in press conference today to discuss the results of his recent trip to the UN Climate Change talks in Bali, Indonesia.
During this morning’s press conference — which was attended by everyone from CNN, Reuters, global environmentalist media representatives,and activist bloggers —the Senator discussed his meetings in Bali with delegates from China, the European Parliament, Japan, Australia and representatives from the Alliance of Small Islands States. (Click here to listen to MP3 audio of this call-in conference from the multimedia section of www. johnkerry.com.)
The press conference echoed interviews with the world press that the Senator gave over the last 2 days. The UK newspaper, The Guardian said Kerry, “told the Bali event that a Democratic successor to George Bush in 2009 would bring the US fully on board. ‘Every single Democratic candidate for president has embraced mandatory caps … and expressed their willingness to immediately be part of the Kyoto discussions and try to find a successor agreement to Kyoto,’ he said.”
The European Parliament Vice-President and delegation chair Alejo Vidal-Quadra also met with Sen. Kerry in Bali. Vidal-Quadra sounded encouraged by the news that the US Congress is looking beyond the roadblocks put up by the current Republican Administration to change. As China’s Xinhau news service had it:
On the heels of the delegation’s earlier meeting with U.S. Senator John Kerry, Vidal-Quadras noted that the former presidential candidate’s remarks were “extremely encouraging”.
“Although we cannot expect much movement on climate change from the current U.S. administration, the attitude on climate change in America — among the public, but also in Congress and at state level — is evolving in a very positive direction. By next year, I hope, the U.S. and Europe can reach a transatlantic consensus on binding climate change targets for the post-2012 framework,” said the EU official.
John Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts in the United States, came to Bali Monday representing Congressional leaders. He called on the Bali conference to result in a “strong mandate based on science.”
“We believe that there is a significant transformational effort now taking place in the U.S.. The U.S. is going to lead.” New legislation under consideration in the Senate, he said, would implement a cap and trade system that would contribute to greenhouse gas emissions of 65-70 percent by 2050.
There were other articles in:
and video from New Zealand’s 3 News
There is a lot of global interest in the Bali Climate Change talks. The world is waiting for the US to lead on this issue. Sen Kerry mentioned today in his press conference that the Chinese are waiting for a signal from Washington that the US is serious about limiting greenhouse gas emissions, investing in renewables and taking other action on these urgent problems. They are waiting for the US government to show that they are serious about solving the problems and not being an ongoing roadblock to global progress on these issues.
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The people of America are lucky to have a man like John Kerry working to help solve this problem.I wish every day that he was our President as he should be.
Happy Birthday Senator Kerry!