On heels of climate report, governments and businesses get real
Heeding a call from French President Jacques Chirac, 46 nations are backing a plan to create a powerful new U.N. Environment Organization that could police climate offenders. Egregious emitters Russia, China, India, and the U.S. didn’t leap up and down volunteering to join, but Chirac will keep pushing, since the “very survival of humankind hangs in the balance.” Whatevs. In other news, 12 corporations including Nike, Polaroid, Sony, and IBM pledged to cut emissions totaling 10 million tons annually by 2010 as part of the World Wildlife Fund’s “Climate Savers” program. WWF says only 1,300 more big companies need to sign on to meet the world’s Kyoto Protocol goals! Facing an even bigger obstacle, newly minted California Attorney General Jerry Brown (D) (yup, that one) is seeking a deal with six leading automakers over an emissions suit filed by his predecessor. Brown hopes to avoid pressing the suit: “At the end of the day, we’re looking to control global warming, not just employing lawyers.”
