We’ve received numerous requests to stop President Obama from signing a climate change treaty in Copenhagen this December. Many of these requests were inspired by a presentation given by Christopher Monckton at the Minnesota Free Market Institute on October 14.
Monckton says he has read the treaty, believes Obama is sure to sign it, and that it would cede the sovereignty of the U.S. to a world government. (For a video of his remarks on the treaty, go here. To see his full 95-minute presentation that challenges the global warming theory, go here.)
We have yet to see any kind of crisis successfully mitigated through greater coercion, centralization, and bureaucracy. Whether or not one agrees that there is man-made climate change, Monckton’s allegations are pretty scary. Anthony Watts provides more scary stuff by providing extensive passages from the treaty.
But there’s no need to panic . . .
- The treaty Monckton refers to is a “Framework Convention On Climate Change” or “revised negotiating text.” That is, it’s a proposal, not a finalized treaty. You can read it yourself here.
- The Financial Times reports that the United Nation’s top climate official doesn’t believe a treaty will be signed in Copenhagen. What is hoped for is a “political framework for cutting greenhouse gas emissions” with details to be supplied later.
- As Pat Buchanan notes, scientific studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that global warming isn’t happening. This is building doubt among the people and causing the climate-change lobby to change tactics.
The most important reason not to panic is that there’s something more urgent than Copenhagen. It’s the Cap & Trade bill which has passed the House and is before the Senate. As the Financial Times states,
[T]he White House will find it difficult to commit to specific [emissions] cuts before the Senate has considered the cap-and-trade bill now before it.
Todd Stern, US special envoy for climate change, is adamant that Mr Obama will not repeat the mistakes made over the Kyoto protocol, when the Clinton administration signed a deal that didn’t have Congressional approval.
Buchanan concludes,
If, however, cap-and-trade, which the Congressional Budget Office says will be another blow to economic growth, can be stopped before the Copenhagen summit in December, the republic may have dodged another bullet.
If Cap & Trade is defeated, the Obama Administration will have little stature when it attends Copenhagen. It knows that if it can’t get 60 Senate votes to invoke cloture and pass a domestic Cap & Trade bill, it will never summon the 67 votes needed to pass an even harsher treaty.
So if you’re scared by the possibilities of Copenhagen, the best thing to do is tell the Senate to stop Cap & Trade. You can do so here.