2019.12.31 00:52
2019.12.31 02:22
2019.12.31 03:01
(Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel called global warming “real” and “dangerous” in her New Year’s address, saying she will do everything in her power to ensure Germany makes a meaningful contribution to tackling it.
“Our children and grandchildren are the ones who will have to live with the consequences of what we do, or fail to do, today,” Merkel said in the written version of a televised address to be broadcast on Tuesday.
“That is why I am making every effort to ensure that Germany does its part –- environmentally, economically and socially –- to deal with climate change,” added the German leader.
Merkel acknowledged the shortcomings of a much-criticized climate package her coalition government agreed in September, saying she is aware that some are concerned the measures are “more than they can handle,” while others fear they don’t go far enough.
Germany’s upper house of parliament approved the core element of the package this month, including a higher levy on carbon pollution than first planned. Critics ranging from environmental activists to utilities decried the initial tax as too low to help stem global warming.
Merkel said the legislation represents a “vital -- in every sense of the word -- framework” for Germany’s contribution to addressing climate change.
“The warming of our planet is real. It is dangerous,” Merkel said. “Global warming and the crises that arise from it are caused by human activity. This means that we must do everything humanly possible to meet this human challenge. It isn’t too late.”
(Updates with official translation of Merkel quotes)
--With assistance from Brian Parkin.
To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Rogers in Berlin at irogers11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Daniel Schaefer
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
2020.01.01 01:37
Happy New Year!
Good to hear about David Attenborough, my favorite narrator no one could beat. Indeed through these many years I spent so much time to watch his Nature program on PBS to learn a lot and whenever I have a time I enjoy the CD collection of Blue Planet and Planet Earth he narrated.
Interestingly, he was raised and educated at Leicester where I infrequently visit to my buddy, Sir Peter Bell through decades - Peter did his transplant and vascular surgery fellowship at Denver, Colorado under Tom Starzl at the same time when I did fellowship at Richmond so that we became a lifetime friend - so that I learned about David Attenborough's personal affair like both knee replacement surgery, etc. and I believe he is now age 93 or so.
Wish him for best!
BB Lee
2020.01.02 06:00
This morning I responded to Dr. KwanHo Chung through his article: 守歲 杜甫(수세 두보): 제야에 가족모임 in regard to the issue of ‘climate change’ he seems to be skeptical, quoting the article Sarah Kaplan wrote on WAPO about Kallan Benson, another 15-year-old activist living in nearby Annapolis, Md, on this climate change like Greta Thunberg.
The story under the title of “A lost decade for climate action: We can’t afford a repeat, scientists warn” on Page A4, January 2, Thursday was rather plain and straight forward to concern this climate change like all of us, saying “We’re kind of running out of options. And we’re running out of time.”. Benson is now 15 and a national coordinator for the youth climate organization ‘Fridays for Future’.
Indeed, we all remember the hurricanes which lately devastated New Jersey and Puerto Rico but I also personally witnessed such terrible outcomes of natural disaster, cyclone, along the region of Tamil Nadu, South India a few years ago, which is equivalent to hurricane but originated from Indian Ocean, through the travel from Chennai, old Madras along Bengal Sea, to Vellore a month after the disaster.
Despite I arrived at Chennai a month after the cyclone devastating South India, Chennai as the world center of the publication- the publishers, mostly based on UK and US, of my books, 4 out of 5, I wrote/edited had to get the final works done at Chennai!- remained to stop functioning, literally paralyzed with no electricity for weeks. The damage throughout the city vicinity was unimaginable and the road connecting Chennai and Bangalore remained so badly damaged despite such heroic efforts to restore this main lifeline of Tamil Nadu so that it took more than 5 hours to get to Vellore from Chennai than usual two and half hours.
Besides, the air pollution throughout China is getting worse, not getting better, for the last 30 years since I started to visit China in early ’90. Indeed, if you are lucky, you could barely see the outline of Sun like Moon with halo in the afternoon, not only in Beijing but also all other cities like Shanghai or Guangzhou I frequently visit. Lately heard they started to have a water pollution as well.
Now we all acknowledge that such frequent attacks of natural disasters are the self-inflicted wound by irresponsible human behaviors throughout the world. Indeed, as shown through a Washington Post poll this year, 76 percent of American adults view the issue as a “major problem” or a “crisis.”. So, it is NO longer a small issue of two teen age girls but a global issue.
If I may add a few more words, it is OK with an idiot Trump whose brain maturation stopped at the age of 3-4 years old so that no brain tissue capable to understand he has. But the crooks surrounding Donald is ‘똥걸래보다 더더러운놈들’ who scrapped the hard earned policy to replace coal power with renewable energy. They are indeed 똥물에 삶아죽일놈들 who are willing to fuck their own mother if anyone pays extra pennies- please excuse my French!-.
God forbid, this Idiot will be reelected??? Disaster, disaster!
Concerning,
BB Lee
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS FRSA FLS FZS FSA (/ˈætənbrə/; born 8 May 1926)[2][3] is an English broadcaster and natural historian. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural history documentary series forming the Life collection that together constitute a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth. He is a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s. He is the only person to have won BAFTAs for programmes in each of black and white, colour, HD, 3D and 4K.[4][5]In 2018 and 2019, he received Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Narrator.[6][7](from Internet)