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Europe
US pollution partly to blame for Katrina: German minister
2005-08-30
BERLIN - Germany's environment minister hinted Tuesday that Americans were to blame for Hurricane Katrina due to the U.S. refusal to cut greenhouse gases which many experts say cause global warming. "The increasing frequency of these natural events can only be explained through global warming which is caused by people," said Trittin who is member of the Greens in a ZDF TV interview.
Trittin contrasted Germany's cutting of greenhouse gas emissions by 18.5 per cent since 1990, with the U.S. from which emissions have continued to increase. "A U.S. citizen causes about two and a half times as much greenhouse gas as the average European," said Trittin.
Seems like German ministers release a lot of hot air as well.
Commenting on Trittin's remarks, ZDF said the minister "saw a parallel between the hurricane and U.S. wasting of energy." The German government has been strongly critical of U.S. President George W. Bush's refusal to ratify the Kyoto agreement on global warming. At least 55 people were left dead when Hurricane Katrina swept over the southern coast of the United States on Monday.
Posted by:Steve

#16  Canadians are the world's biggest per capita consumers of energy by quite a long way.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-08-30 18:41  

#15  People like this can't be bothered with teh facts. The facts are "global warming" is a myth. There is no scientific basis for attributing the warming of the earth to human activity. Round them all up and put them in the same place and let them live in the utopia can't create.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom   2005-08-30 18:34  

#14  Trittin (what kind of name is that, either be Tritium and boost nukes or be Tintin and have an unusual relationship with a small dog) - it is considered good manners to offer condolences when people have died in the midst of a disaster. At least have the decency to wait until the waters have subsided before making asshole comments.

Or I shall taunt you a second time - idiot.
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2005-08-30 18:22  

#13  I read RFK's post on Arianna Huffnpuff's blog. He outright blames the Bush administration and Mississippi Governor Barbour for the hurricane. If only they had listened to him and signed the Kyoto accord everything would be OK. I was VERY surprised at the blasting he got from fellow Democrats in the comments section.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2005-08-30 16:33  

#12  TW, do you expect enviros to think in terms of real world consequences, rather than obligatory rituals? Gaia would never talk to them again!
Posted by: gromgoru   2005-08-30 14:53  

#11  Trailing Wife, stop with the carbon sink stuff, that's exactly what Gore tried to put into Kyoto but was rebuffed. See the thing is if you count carbon sinks the US could qualify for Kyoto without crippling our economy and what fun would that be?
Posted by: rjschwarz   2005-08-30 14:34  

#10  I thought the U.S is a carbon sink because of all the reforestation that's been going on for the last generation? Certainly the Northeastern States have not been so well forested since the Indians were running things. Germany, on the other hand... the Black Forest is infested with something that is seriously weakening the trees -- there are dead trees everywhere one looks. And our local American Women's Club took it upon themselves to plant trees over a capped off landfill in the area, a shocking idea to our German friends. Not to mention Mr. Wife the engineer did a back of the envelope calculation, and concluded that Germany's feel-good recycling efforts (returning empty glass bottles to the manufacturer, collecting plastics for storage in abandoned East German salt mines, undermining the French paper re-use industry) had a higher economic and environmental cost than no recycling at all.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-08-30 14:01  

#9  "A U.S. citizen causes about two and a half times as much greenhouse gas as the average European," said Trittin. Funny, this guy's a Green. I'm betting that the members of his party, with its high preponderance of vegetarians, put out more methane per capita than any other political organization.
Posted by: imoyaro   2005-08-30 12:45  

#8  Sure, Bobby. Call up Uncle Teddy and ask him what the holdup is on that windmill farm in Nantucket Sound. It's early so he may be relatively sober...
Posted by: tu3031   2005-08-30 12:15  

#7  Ron Reagan is repeating the same meme right now on MS-NBC TV - over and over.
Posted by: 3dc   2005-08-30 12:09  

#6  Think I'll give the embassy a ring to register my disgust.

While you're at it, call up RFK, Jr. and give him a piece of your mind.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2005-08-30 11:55  

#5  Trittin? He's only got one name? What's he like the Prince or friggin Madonna of environment ministers? And I'm sure he's driving to work in some solar powered tricycle, not some behemoth Mercedes limo, right?
Posted by: tu3031   2005-08-30 11:39  

#4  STFU, idiot. The amount of damage done by hurricanes is more related to the level of development of the coastal areas (more people and buildings, more death and destruction), than necessarily to the intensity or frequency of the storms.
Posted by: Spot   2005-08-30 11:27  

#3  Think of all the greenhouses gasses than can be saved by not buying German cars.
Posted by: ed   2005-08-30 11:11  

#2  Ah, he's in good company in as much as every nutter haboring a little hatred and envy has a similar angle on what was simply a large hurricane that came too close to a city vunerable to such disasters. Think I'll give the embassy a ring to register my disgust.
Posted by: MunkarKat   2005-08-30 11:10  

#1  Can we shoot him now for rudeness above and beyond any bounds of acceptable?
Posted by: 3dc   2005-08-30 11:00  

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