For folks terrified of warmer weather, the UN climate commissars sure do have a strange affinity for the balmy climes of Bali.
Recall that in December, 2007, as the common folk shivered in the wintry vicinity of the UN’s well-appointed offices in New York, Bonn and Geneva, a horde of UN climateers decamped to the far side of the globe for a fortnight of conferencing by the Indonesian beaches of Bali’s ritzy Nusa Dua resort (and convention center). There, up close and personal, they braved the preview of a world beset by warm temperatures and ocean waters, as you can see in this virtual tour of the adjacent beach resort — complete with its freshwater pool, beachside cocoons, seafood buffets and winding paths beneath the palm trees.
Now they’re at it again. The UN Environment Program, which is based in Nairobi, is convening a set of meetings this week – not in Nairobi, or New York, but at the same Bali beach resort (and convention center) where they sacrificed all that time for the greater good in 2007. Never mind the UN’s continuing campaign — in the face of its crumbling “climate science” — to restrict and control carbon emissions. Yet again, we are asked to believe the UN deserves special exemptions from its own preachings. Its conferees are jetting to Bali for the greater good of all the little folk, whose job is merely to pay the bills for such pleasures, and live with any resulting rationing and regulation. According to the Jakarta Post, some 1,500 people from 192 countries are expected to attend this shindig — where UNEP claims that envoys of some 140 governments will be present. The pre-session events (the UN goes in for a lot of those on Bali) have already begun.
This gathering is on a somewhat different theme from the grand “global warming” jamboree of 2007 (or the UN anti-corruption convention at the same Bali beach resort in 2008). The main topic of discussion this time is supposed to be the “sound management of hazardous chemicals and wastes.” Unlike carbon dioxide, that actually is worth worrying about. But do you trust this crowd to handle it? These folks are the from the same UNEP (launched and initially run by Maurice Strong, who went on to godfather the Kyoto Treaty) that has been one of the big purveyors of UN climate alarmism. This is the same UNEP which, together with the UN’s Geneva-based WMO (World Meteorological Organization) established the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which under the leadership of UN climate guru Rajendra Pachauri is now embattled over one revelation after another of missing data, faulty data and cooked results in its politicized findings of climate “consensus.”
Yet another example of our progressive elites saying we must all tighten our belts and give up some of our wealth, while the tough it out in an exclusive/expensive resort in a setting 99.9% will never, ever have the chance to see. But it’s for our own good…
Why not move the U.N. to Bali and save all the travel expense? Surely it is more attractive than frigid NYC.
Its conferees are jetting to Bali for the greater good of all the little folk, whose job is merely to pay the bills for such pleasures, and live with any resulting rationing and regulation.
Another of their jobs is to invent, develop, market, and operate the planes and cars that transport these slimy vampires. What if they all just walked off the job?
As the InstaPundit has repeatedly said, “I’ll believe it’s a crisis when the people who claim it’s a crisis start acting like it’s a crisis.”
Travel for me but not for thee (and at your expense!).
Part of this UN bash will be a special session of the UNEP governing council. That council includes not only such members as the U.S., Canada and Japan, but also Russia, China, Cuba, and Iran –
Gee, ya think China will stop dumping benzene into its rivers ? Reportedly, 7 of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in China.
Will Russia re-think some of its more charming inclinations, like dumping nuclear waste into oceans ?
Or will the upshot of yet another UN gabfest merely be like its predecessors, the island nearly sinking under the weight of the pompous and the self-indulgent, spewing reams of hot air ?
I vote for Door #2.
Claudia, I’ve read your articles for years, and especially appreciate your very diligent coverage of the shenanigans of the U.N. I thank you for that and continue to relish your assessments of the U.N. corruption. It must seem a pretty frustrating mission to expose their outrageous behaviors when this whole climate scam has become such a “cool” preoccupation within the ‘elites’. Great work and thank you again.
Thanks Claudia,
Whatever you can dig up on the U.N. Claudia; go for it!! I agree with post #1 (Larry C); let’s petition to get the U.S. out of the U.N.; kick them out of NYC and move them to Bali!! Yeah!
What would we save in doing so?
Minimum; 5 Billion dollars/year of taxpayers money and the relief of NOT having to listen to their eco-enviro-freak rantings; their constant Leftist pontifications; their utopian global governace dreams; their constant berating of exeptionalism and the American way of life; their rampant anti-Semitism…..Just to name a few, or is it phew!!!!!
Seems to me (a mere redneck); that we’d have a little more objectivity, tranquility and security without having to deal with these utopian morons and their constant harrasment.
Their departure (and demise) is long overdue; they are outstaying their welcome in typical elitist fashion. Eurocrats go home!!!!
Bali, huh? Sounds nice. How come they don’t ever hold these conferences in Fargo North Dakota? I understand they have a convention center there and everything.
“For folks terrified of warmer weather, the UN climate commissars sure do have a strange affinity for the balmy climes of Bali.”
Yeah, how can they go to Bali and still believe in global warming? More hard-hitting PJM reporting!
Larry C suggests moving the UN to Bali.
I say, move them to the Maldives, and give them lifeboats and paddles for when the rising sea levels drown the beaches (and the sons thereof.)
Last year the Asian Development Bank held its meeting in Bali. Among the neww advisers were Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs and Ravendra Pachauri. Pauchauri and Soros advise the Earth Institute, directed by Sachs at Columbia.
If only Holdern, Chu, and the National Academies of Science (hey, isn’t James Hansen a member) would speak out, and if the WSJ would debate the matter, “The public will learn to appreciate that the scientific community is working urgently, rigorously, and ingeniously to better understand the complex climate system, for our shared safety and well-being.” http://www.ScientificAmerican.com/mar2010
#15: You can make hundreds of such posts defending these scam artists but they still will not invite you to Bali. And they will still make you pay for their trip.
Bali sounds nice.
This is not unusual by the way.
It is part of a deal which has gone on in academia for a very long time. It is part of the deal in academic contracts that one gets sometimes elaborate seeming trips to ‘hobnob with the other wizards’ in exotic locations.
It is not so simple when goes out on such trips. There is a tradeoff and most people there will be working as much or more they do at home.
This could be as true in a conference on breast cancer as it might be on hazardous waste management.
Take the Las Vegas conference schedule this month and look at it. Now cherry pick who needs to go to Vegas on that big tax break.
Just doesn’t seem as big a deal to me where it happens, as what might be talked about.
Spin
Wow — thanks for the link to the hotel! The picture of the lobby is worth 1000 words on hypocrisy. It looks more splendid than any 5 star hotel in the US, nicer than The Four Seasons or the Palm Beach Ritz Carlton. May I volunteer to go study the environment in Bali? Pleaasse??