The depth of our concern

As a diver, I have to say this is one of the coolest global warming actions of all time:

The president of the Maldives is desperate for the world to know how seriously his government takes the threat of climate change and rising sea levels to the survival of his country. He wants his ministers to know as well.

To this end, Mohamed Nasheed has organised an underwater cabinet meeting and told all his ministers to get in training for the sub-aqua session. Six metres beneath the surface, the ministers will ratify a treaty calling on other countries to cut greenhouse emissions.

Ahead of the meeting, scheduled for 17 October, cabinet members have been squeezing into wet-suits and practising their underwater skills. The President was not present at the first session, held over the weekend, because he is already a qualified diver.

They released this jaunty photo of the cabinet with their dive instructors:

(There's an even more entertaining photo here*.)

I like this underwater governance idea.  In fact, I like it so much that I think the entire legislative and executive branches in the United States should try it as well—but they should descend to a majestic 30 meters instead of a paltry 6, and they should breathe 100% oxygen to symbolize the purity of their commitment to environmental issues.  I think I can guarantee that the country, and indeed the entire world, would be far better off after this historic dive.

That's going to remain a wistful dream for the moment, though, since this is what the Obama administration is actually doing these days:

The US threatened to derail a deal on global climate change today in a public showdown with China by expressing deep opposition to the existing Kyoto protocol. [...]

[Chief US negotiator Jonathan Pershing] forcefully outlined America's opposition to the Kyoto protocol. "We are not going to be in the Kyoto protocol. We are not going to be part of an agreement that we cannot meet. We say a new agreement has to [be signed] by all countries. Things have changed since Kyoto. Where countries were in 1990 and today is very different. We cannot be stuck with an agreement 20 years old. We want action from all countries."

(The best part is where Pershing says, "There has been a startling change in the US position. There is now engagement."  Because it's so much better to tell the rest of the world to go fuck itself in person!)

Compare the Obama administration's startling stance to John Kerry's official 2004 position on Kyoto:

The Kyoto Protocol is not the answer. The near-term emission reductions it would require of the United States are infeasible, while the long-term obligations imposed on all nations are too little to solve the problem.

Or Al Gore's remarks at the Kyoto conference in 1997:

Our first step should be to set realistic and achievable, binding emissions limits.... [Our proposal] provides the means to ensure that all nations can join us on their own terms in meeting this common challenge.

Ah, the Democrats: so reassuringly consistent in their refusal to do anything about global warming that would prioritize the survival of human civilization over corporate profits.

*UPDATE: Well, there was an even more entertaining photo there, but it's been removed.  Luckily I was able to retrieve a copy from the web's voracious maw:

Let me just take this opportunity to extol once again the many virtues of fair use.

Comments

[SteveB]

I like how "the agreement that is now 20 years old" is also "the agreement we cannot meet."

Yes, let's all get together to develop a new agreement that we'll claim we cannot meet either!

[Save the Oocytes]

Any relationship to Black Jack Pershing?

I'm surprised to hear that if the legislative and executive branches were thirty meters under you'd give them oxygen. I'm pretty sure it says something awful about me as a person that I'd have to think for a while before making that decision.

[John Caruso]

Yes, I would give them oxygen. It would be wrong not to give them oxygen.

[Duncan]

I think I'm in love. Maybe I should move to the Maldives.

[KDelphi]

Do you really dive? I used to, havent for years.

I think that they should descend to 140 ft and have to come up very quickly and then get on their private jets...agony!....Maldives does look great. no?

[John Caruso]

Yep, really do, and yep, it sure does. Maybe a good idea to visit before it disappears forever.