Blogs & Ecology

Image from gabemac

Given the Bush administration's involvement -- or "non"-involvement, if you prefer -- it was no big surprise to see the latest G8 summit fail to make any real progress on the issue of GHG emission targets. Sure, Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda got the participants to "commit" to a 50% cut by 2050 (a target even President Bush agreed to seriously consider). And, yes, it may be that this pledge will help pave the way for a more significant breakthrough at the UN's climate summit in Copenhagen next year.

Over at greenz.jp we just finished an event tonight with invited guests speaking about their experiences from Hokkaido and the G8 Summit. Clearly, many young participants felt left out of the picture, unless you were a member of one of the NGOs and maybe even got to actually shake hands with a G8 leader. One thought: Susan George, long-time activist and author asked here in Tokyo last week: "How many people have actually read a G8 Summit Document?"

G8 meetings are a way for our dear leaders to get together and share their pain. I bet they have a lot to moan about in those private sessions. Mum's the word: privacy, secrecy (until it is time to write that best-selling ghost-written auto-biography).