AGW: U.N. Meeting in Poznań, Poland

U.S. Constitutional Rights vs. United Nations "Rights" - By Cathie Adams, Eagle Forum Correspondent, December 2, 2008

Americans treasure our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness avowed in our Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution. "Rights” declared by the United Nations, however, are not the same.

The UN proclaimed "rights" have no guarantees unless two-thirds of the members of the U.S. Senate vote to supersede our U.S. Constitution by ratifying a UN treaty. In order to coax nations into ratifying their myriad of treaties, the UN hosts taxpayer-funded forums and uses them to coerce diplomats into badgering their heads-of-state to sign the treaties. The president then recommends that the U.S. Senate ratify them, even though the process cedes their own responsibilities to taxpayer-funded, yet unaccountable, global bureaucrats.

A new and most egregious "right" has been proposed by the former chairman of the Bar Council in England, the equivalent to the American Bar Association: a "right to a healthy environment" implemented by a new international court to punish states that fail to "protect wildlife and prevent climate change." The author, Stephen Hockman, has proposed a body, similar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, to be the supreme legal authority on issues regarding the environment.

The proposal is extremely dangerous because it is being discussed at the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Conference of the Parties #14. The UNFCCC COP14, is meeting December 1-12 in Poland to build a treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the "global warming" treaty, set to expire in 2012. The aim is to have a completed document to present to the 2009 meeting in Copenhagen.

For the past nearly eight years, the UN has scoffed at American diplomats who question the science, yet respectfully consider the global warming "theory." Those meeting in Poland claim that global warming exists, that it is human-caused, that unless the UN acts, the economic fallout will be greater than two world wars plus the great depression. Their solution is for every nation, starting with the world's 37 industrialized nations, to make "real, measurable and verifiable" commitments to the UN to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide, a non-polluting gas that is emitted when humans breathe out and when fossil fuels are burned. The UN is also demanding that industrialized nations grant, not sell, technologies to undeveloped nations.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, stressed the need for the 10,696 participants from 187 countries to offer political guidance for cooperative action at this halfway mark between last year's Bali, Indonesia, conference and next year's Copenhagen conference.

The U.S. head of delegation for the first week, Harlan Watson, responded graciously to questions about America's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

U.S. Senator John Kerry is to lead the Senate delegation to Poznań. Secretary Boer told conferees that "Senator John Kerry has indicated that even though he does not think it will be feasible for the U.S. to adopt a domestic policy package in a year's time, he does believe it's possible for the United States to contribute to an international agreement in Copenhagen." Former VP Al Gore is also expected to attend this conference.

The Poland conference is important because of the transition of U.S. presidential administrations and because of the re-write of the Kyoto Protocol to be completed in Copenhagen next year. The UN's definition of "leadership" concerning the Copenhagen document is based upon action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and to provide (free of charge) resources and technologies to the developing world so that they can supposedly comply with the UN's demand for "measurable, reportable and verifiable" greenhouse gas emission standards.

In light of the Wall Street bailouts and America's economic crunch, it remains to be seen whether America's policymakers will commit to the "global warming" treaty that amounts to a massive reduction of our economic output by limiting the use of fossil fuels. And President-elect Obama's promise to meet such reductions by 2020 is beyond his term limit, so we will keep a close watch on commitments made by Americans in Poland.