Friday, November 30, 2007

About that "Bali communique"

I've got a number of questions about some AP climate propaganda here.

Excerpts:
The hastily prepared petition drive, coordinated through the environmental office of Britain's Prince Charles, is signed by leaders from mainstream powerhouse companies such as Shell UK, GE International, Coca-Cola Co., Dupont Co., United Technologies Corp., Rolls Royce, Nestle SA, Unilever, British Airways and Volkswagen AG.
...
In the three weeks that the business leaders circulated the petition, primarily in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and Australia, more than 80 percent of the giant firms contacted agreed to join in, said petition coordinator Craig Bennett, of the University of Cambridge's Programme for Industry.
The story refers to a "Bali communique" here.

Some questions:

1. Why does the word "drastic" appear three times in the AP link above, while appearing zero times in the actual communique?

2. Why was the petition drive "hastily prepared"? Were the business leaders actually the driving force behind the creation and circulation of this petition? Which companies declined to sign the petition?

3. The communique claims that the "scientific evidence is now overwhelming". Could any signer of the petition explain specifically what that evidence is, in his or her own words?

4. The wording of the communique seems to be typical feel-good lip-service. Of the businesses signing the petition, how many have taken the real-world drastic action of banning private jet travel for their executives?

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