Prius-owning Oregon democratic state senator: “I hate ethanol.” | GORE LIED

Sen. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, co-sponsored the bill that would eliminate the ethanol blend requirements. She testified Thursday, saying the ethanol blend reduced the mileage in her hybrid Toyota from 42 mpg to 36 mpg.

“I hate ethanol,” Walker told the committee. “We all voted for this thing (in 2007), and I’m not liking what’s happened.”

Bonn 1, blog 1: The ‘pre-sessionals’ « It’s Getting Hot In Here

COP15 in Copenhagen this December – the meeting where governments are set to decide whether they will come together to lead on solving climate change peacefully, or whether they force us to take things into our own hands – is not the only UN meeting on climate change this year. There are three important ‘intersessional’ meetings of the UNFCCC bodies and working groups – ‘Bonn 1′, in Germany for the first two weeks of April, ‘Bonn 2′, for the first two weeks in June, and ‘Bangkok’ in
September.
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I am in a big room at the ‘Maritim’ hotel in Bonn, Germany, for the ‘Pre-Sessional events’ – before the proper negotiations start on Sunday. There is a long desk on a stage at the front of the room, where the Chair of the session sits, alongside a rapporteur and the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Yvo de Boer – who looks positively bored. I sort of feel sorry for him. There are rows of desks for the 196 countries of the world, with two seats of each. Then maybe another 300 seats for NGO representatives at the back of the room, which quickly filled up. For people who arrived late (like myself and about 50 others) we can sit on the floor in the corridors. There are also far too many lights on – a large star-shaped arrangement of decorative lightbulbs, crystals and mirrors adorns the ceiling.

Today, the Chairs of each of the UN negotiating bodies are giving presentations, giving their summary of the state of negotiations and their recommendations for focusing discussion over the next few weeks. They are taking clarifying question-and-answers from the plenary floor. It is a lot like in any consensus-based meeting of activists where we agree on the process before going on to discuss the content – except their all wearing suits and being very ‘polite’ – to me, the room seems bereft of the passion which should be evident when dealing with such important issues as the very future of the planet and humanity. And there are certainly no twinkling fingers in the air when someone says something that we support.