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Fossil a Day Keeps Climate Talks Frustration at Bay |
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| CANADA: December 7, 2005 | ||
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MONTREAL - In the environmental equivalent of name and shame, countries making the silliest or most backward comments at climate change talks in Montreal are being awarded toy dump trucks filled with coal.
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In a gathering where solar, wind and geothermal power are being touted as ways of saving the planet from global warming, green groups are using the fossil-of-the-day award to take the sting out of talks that stubbornly refuse to make much progress. "If someone says something pretty outrageous during the negotiations sessions, we give them a fossil," said John Lanchbery of Birdlife International after announcing the award, which occurs at 6 p.m. at the Montreal convention center to the cheers of environmental activists. Between 200 and 300 members of environment and development groups hold a daily catch-up meeting and vote on which countries get the awards, Lanchbery said as he stood in front of a poster showing Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Web site www.fossil-of-the-day.org. On Monday, the awards went to the European Union, Japan and Australia. But since the talks began on Nov. 28, the United States has won the most awards for its refusal to even talk about emissions targets or the shape of the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty when its first phase ends in 2012.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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