The Daily Climate: Climate & Economy Whiplash Edition

Published October 23, 2008 @ 08:52AM PT

In today's edition of pitting climate re-stabilization against economic recovery, the morning's news could leave you wondering if the world will end not only with a bang, but with a whimper that "we didn't think we could afford to fix it." *

On one side: Maneuverings by some European Union politicians to scuttle sharp emissions cuts as impossibly expensive under the current financial meltdown. On the other: arguments from inside and out of the political class that these twin crises -- re-stabilization of the global climate and the global economy -- are mutually inclusive.

Are we witnessing the tipping point history will look back on, when we chose between solving and succumbing to global warming?

Update 12:21 ET 10/23/08: Just discovered this new Change.org action, relevant to today's Daily Climate, started by Lashitha Sanjeev: Tell Europe to show leadership on climate change

Europe’s Leadership in Carbon Control at Risk in Credit Crisis (The New York Times)
UK: Gov't Calls for 80% Carbon Cuts by 2050, But Battle Looms in Parliament (BBC News)
UK Becomes World Leader in Offshore Wind (Energy Efficiency News)
Solve Economy, Poverty, Global Warming with Green New Deal, Says United Nations (The Guardian)
World's Major Cities Pledge Action on Climate Change (Australian Broadcasting Service)
Low-Carbon Economy Is Not a Luxury (BBC News)
Low Carbon Economy Must Be Part of Economic Recovery (The Telegraph)
Climate Change: Next Steps in a Troubled Economy (The Huffington Post)

* Apologies to T.S. Eliot, whose poem "The Hollow Men concludes,

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

Image: Still from the preview to Heat, Frontline's investigation of how big business is or isn't changing to help solve global warming. On the web for your viewing pleasure as of October 21!

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