Yesterday I talked briefly about the recent discovery that the Arctic ice was melting faster than had been thought, and that it was now likely that the ice in the Arctic would be totally gone in summer by the year 2012. That was bad enough, and I took the current administration to task for its unwillingness to be part of a solution to this problem.

Now, actions (or rather lack of actions) at the United Nations Climate Change Conference today, despite the accelerated Arctic melting, highlighted the differences between the European Union and the United States in taking action on global warming. The EU want an agreement that contains specific numerical targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases, as does most of the world. As always, the current U.S. administration does not wish to agree to anything specific, lest it irk the major corporations that have funded the Bush / Cheney era in Washington.

Without specific reductions in emission levels, this crisis will turn into a worldwide tragedy. The only thing standing in the way of a reasonable international agreement to curb the production of greenhouse gasses is the outright greed of large American corporations and the plethora of American politicians that they pay to be their puppets. If nothing else, there is an election coming up in this country. If you can find a politician that has not been bought lock, stock, and barrel by the major corporations (not an easy task), vote for that candidate and be vocal about why you did so. Such votes may be all that save our world from the truly ruthless profiteers of the modern era.