NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070321-0538-czech-environment-.html

PRAGUE – Czech President Vaclav Klaus said on Wednesday that fighting global warming has turned into a a 'religion' that replaced the ideology of communism and threatens to clip basic freedoms.
The right-wing president, a free-market champion, wrote to the U.S. Congress that adopting tough environmental policies to fight climate change would have destructive impact on national economies.

'Communism has been replaced by the threat of an ambitious environmentalism,' Klaus wrote in response to questions from the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce.

This is funny as hell. Maybe someone should tell this guy that Global Warming is indeed happening!

This is funny as hell. Maybe someone should tell this guy that Global Warming is indeed happening!

......

Who are you and what have you done with the real Corny?

Why wouldn't Santa like global warming?

......

Who are you and what have you done with the real Corny?

I never said it wasn't happening. Just not totally buying man made global warming. That however, is a different debate.

I liked global cooling better. I like cold more than warm so can we pass a UN resolution and someone make another report (like the one in '79) about how global cooling is a major problem?

Well I suspect that his right-wing free market beliefs are the cause of the clash. He probably believes that it will be detrimental to his economy if he acknowledges global-warming because of the implications that it is caused by human activity. Why don't free-market capitalists catch on to the benefits of profiting from the coming changes rather than bitch and moan that changes have to be made at all. It's not like one idustry will collapse over night while a new one emerges.

I liked global cooling better. I like cold more than warm so can we pass a UN resolution and someone make another report (like the one in '79) about how global cooling is a major problem?Could we see that report?

Well I suspect that his right-wing free market beliefs are the cause of the clash. He probably believes that it will be detrimental to his economy if he acknowledges global-warming because of the implications that it is caused by human activity. Why don't free-market capitalists catch on to the benefits of profiting from the coming changes rather than bitch and moan that changes have to be made at all. It's not like one idustry will collapse over night while a new one emerges.There isn't much in it for the Czechs. German companies have realized that paying lower wages also gets worse quality work, which is why the renewable energies industries are staying on the German side of the border.

Good luck with that, Klaus.

Good luck with that, Klaus.

Yeah, good luck, Klaus, when the Arctic Ice Cap melts and you and all your elves end up treading water.

Yeah, good luck, Klaus, when the Arctic Ice Cap melts and you and all your elves end up treading water.

I count three levels of high humor in that statement. Very well done.

Could we see that report?
I don't think it was a single report so much as a bunch of newspaper and magazine articles like when it made the cover of Time or something. That was before formal reports. Back in the day you went with your gut; radioactive drinking water was healthy, no burn policies were the rule. People didn't know then that a 30 year rise or fall in temperatures does not mean the world is coming to an end.

I don't think it was a single report so much as a bunch of newspaper and magazine articles like when it made the cover of Time or something.Newsweek, actually :p

Just for the sake of arguing...
There is no global warming. It is all part of an overall trend to go up and down over the years, and while it may be ate its highest in the last couple of hundred years, in the global scale of things, we are right around the median.

There....
Now that I have gotten that little republican out of my head, I will beat down my own arguement. None of that is factual. It is just what a republican argued to me. No facts. Sorry Mr. Czech. :rolleyes:

Well I suspect that his right-wing free market beliefs are the cause of the clash. He probably believes that it will be detrimental to his economy if he acknowledges global-warming because of the implications that it is caused by human activity. Why don't free-market capitalists catch on to the benefits of profiting from the coming changes rather than bitch and moan that changes have to be made at all. It's not like one idustry will collapse over night while a new one emerges.

This is what has always troubled me, but not enough to make a thread about it. What the hell...sorry, bad way to start off.

All I ever see is the rhetoric about how addressing global warming will 'ruin' the economy and that making fuel efficient cars will destroy Detroit. But Toyota can't make cars quick enough (and they manage to make more of them here in the US than all the "American" companies, which is why we get the sureal Camry in NASCAR...), Honda, too. Making fuel efficient cars hasn't destroyed the Japanese manufacturers...and isn't there industry in building, installing and implementing renewable resources? And aren't those resources cheaper in the long run, anyway? What happened to investing?

I don't get it. I seriously don't understand the whole, "It will destroy our economy" logic. While I'm at it I don't understand India and China's arguments either, that they have to build to grow and they should be allowed-why the hell don't you build with renewable now and save yourself the future expense of changing later, hell, since you're building from scratch you'd actually have a head start on the rest of the world.

Doesn't make much sense.

I liked global cooling better. I like cold more than warm so can we pass a UN resolution and someone make another report (like the one in '79) about how global cooling is a major problem?If we cut back on GHG emissions, change our land use practices and start emitting a shitload of highly reflective aerosols into the atmosphere again, sure.
Some of the rightwing scum and conspiracy loons have already proposed doing just that, and as they point out, we've done it before.

Why anyone would want to do something that destructive though.. I can't even begin to guess. It's like some half arsed megalomaniac's scheme out of a James Bond movie.

Yeah, good luck, Klaus, when the Arctic Ice Cap melts and you and all your elves end up treading water.

Hey! I'm czech and I'm no elf! I hate you!

But when the artic melts we all will tread water, at least one hundred million people are in the flood zone if say, greenland was to melt. and if the ice of greenland were to just slip off (has happened before in the antartic), then it would happen very quickly, with millions of lives lost. Ouch Mr. Klaus. Ouch.

Why do some right-wingers (mostly but evidently not all Americans) think that climate change and environmentalism in general is a conspiracy to overthrow capitalism? Need I remind you all that the USSR was the least environmentally friendly nation ever.

Yeah, good luck, Klaus, when the Arctic Ice Cap melts and you and all your elves end up treading water.

I dont think that Klaus is really worried about that. Czech can easily say "bring it on" ;) :
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/EU_location_CZE.png

Hmm... I think he needs to Czech his facts.

Hmm... I think he needs to Czech his facts.

owowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowow

owowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowow

:D:D:D

good for him.

Hmm... I think he needs to Czech his facts.
wtf?

Hmm... I think he needs to Czech his facts.

*dies of laughter*

GOOD ONE Greyenivol Colony :D

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070321-0538-czech-environment-.html



This is funny as hell. Maybe someone should tell this guy that Global Warming is indeed happening!

Quoted for lolz.

This is what has always troubled me, but not enough to make a thread about it. What the hell...sorry, bad way to start off.

All I ever see is the rhetoric about how addressing global warming will 'ruin' the economy and that making fuel efficient cars will destroy Detroit. But Toyota can't make cars quick enough (and they manage to make more of them here in the US than all the "American" companies, which is why we get the sureal Camry in NASCAR...), Honda, too. Making fuel efficient cars hasn't destroyed the Japanese manufacturers...and isn't there industry in building, installing and implementing renewable resources? And aren't those resources cheaper in the long run, anyway? What happened to investing?

I don't get it. I seriously don't understand the whole, "It will destroy our economy" logic. While I'm at it I don't understand India and China's arguments either, that they have to build to grow and they should be allowed-why the hell don't you build with renewable now and save yourself the future expense of changing later, hell, since you're building from scratch you'd actually have a head start on the rest of the world.

Doesn't make much sense.


Too f**kin right!

Yeah...let's see the cost after the seas rise.

Hmm... I think he needs to Czech his facts.

Burned.

He is trying to use this argument to get space in the media, same as his 2005 declaration that "ngo-ism" is undermining freedom(link (http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/206)).

As a proof (link (http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1899)):
... I don’t have to be a climate scientist myself to read them. And inside the papers I have read, the conclusions we may see in the media simply don’t appear. But let me promise you something: this topic troubles me which is why I started to write an article about it last Christmas. The article expanded and became a book. In a couple of months, it will be published. One chapter out of seven will organize my opinions about the climate change
(my emphasys)

And more (link (http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/23/czech_politics/1185/)):
HN: You do not believe that we're destroying our planet?
I'm going to act as if I did not hear that. That could only be said by Mr. Al Gore; a normal person would be hard-pressed. I see no destruction of our planet. Nowhere in life have I seen it, and I do not think that any serious and reasonable person could say it. You represent the economic press, so I assume a certain economic erudition. My book will answer that for you. But, for example, we know that there is a huge connection between the view toward nature and the development and riches of human society. It is evident that the poorer human society is, the more brutally it behaves toward nature; the more developed it is, the opposite is true.

Notice that President Vaclav Klaus is a (in my opinion pretty weak) economist, not a climatologist. But His Book will show us the light.
An interesting side note is that six days after this interview the Hurricane Kiryl hit Czech Republic.

Need I remind you all that the USSR was the least environmentally friendly nation ever.

And currently, commie China is, with the US second and India rising.

Looks like environment isn't a big worry for politicians as a rule.

He is trying to use this argument to get space in the media, same as his 2005 declaration that "ngo-ism" is undermining freedom.
An interesting side note is that six days after this interview the Hurricane Kiryl hit Czech Republic.

I cannot remember how many times you quoted Václav Klaus to me as an example of idiocy. New Václav Klaus record.

And, of course, I'm going to sue him if the global warming ruins Czech hops. That is, if the czechs don't kill him first.

This is funny as hell. Maybe someone should tell this guy that Global Warming is indeed happening!


and maybe someone should tell you global warming/climate change is a natural phenomenon.

and maybe someone should tell you global warming/climate change is a natural phenomenon.

Please tell me where I said that it wasn't. I'll be waiting for you to do so.