Humanity has 'opened gates of hell' says UN Secretary General at climate summit - BBC News

[OKIsItJustMe]

[femmedem]

1. I wonder if the US didn't attend because we refused or weren't welcome.

"Leading polluters China and the US were conspicuously absent." It sounded like we weren't welcome because we might distract from or derail other nations' working toward sincere commitments.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. We weren't invited

The Independent: US, UK and other major polluters sidelined at ‘no-nonsense’ UN climate ambition summit

‘Humanity has opened the gates to hell,’ said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres

Louise Boyle
Senior Climate Correspondent in New York

The list was notable for those who were not invited to speak at the UN Climate Ambition Summit on Wednesday – an event championing the “movers and doers” taking accelerated action to cut greenhouse gas emissions boiling the planet.

The leaders of China and the United States, the world’s largest polluters, were absent. President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, was in the room but relegated to the sidelines.

Also missing was the United Kingdom with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak preferring to stay in London to announce rollbacks on net zero policies on Wednesday, a move that was met with widespread dismay and disgust at the New York gathering.

The summit, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, was to be “no-nonsense”, according to UN chief Antonio Guterres after another year of catastrophic disasters.

…

[femmedem]

3. Thanks. I just watched Kerry on MSNBC.

He explained that only countries' leaders were allowed to speak, and so because Biden didn't attend, the U.S. couldn't speak.

Kerry sounded a lot more optimistic than I am about what's possible, while being less optimistic about whether people would act quickly enough.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. I saw him speak as well

I love John Kerry, but he has experience as both a diplomat and a politician.

Why didn’t Joe Biden attend?

[femmedem]

5. Good point.

I wondered, too. I also thought he was too optimistic about, for example, carbon capture. But I give him credit for going on TV and speaking highly about the summit instead of complaining that the US was snubbed. And I thought he would have been a helluva president had he not been swiftboated.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. ...had he not been swiftboated

Ah yes, the Republicans love veterans, unless a decorated veteran is running against their president who volunteered to fly for the National Guard (not that there’s anything wrong with that…) Just as they’re big fans of law enforcement, unless it’s their president breaking the law. (“Don’t you dare say, ‘lock him up!’”)