Clouds over Bali

Re “Climate deal gives room to all at the table,” Dec. 16

The Bali summit made absolutely no progress in stopping the life-threatening buildup of carbon dioxide. Climate change, added to the world’s emerging and dire problems, makes a recipe of nightmarish proportions that has never been seen before by humankind.

But the greatest threat to human stability is that people in high places do not realize that the time span for solving these huge global problems is finite. Leave it for 20 more years and we shall not have the necessary lead time to do anything. This is what we really have to get our leaders, politicians and multinational industrialists to understand. If they do not change quickly, if only for the sake of self-preservation, time will literally run out on us all.

David Hill

Chief Executive

World Innovation Foundation

Bern, Switzerland

Our government is a bully on the world playground. America’s contribution to climate change affects every country on the planet. But we let our government hide from its responsibility to lessen our carbon footprint.

Our leaders point their fingers at China and India, while the United States does nothing meaningful. Fuel economy standards of 35 miles per gallon by 2020? A puny act by a puny government.

At world climate negotiations in Bali, a delegate representing Papua New Guinea told the U.S.: “If you cannot lead, leave it to the rest of us. Get out of the way.” After two weeks, the U.S. agreed to work with the rest of the world because the document contains no quotas.

Our bully government pretends to negotiate but holds out for exactly what it wants. We need to tell every candidate running for office, “Lead on the issue of climate change or get out of the way.”

Gale McNeeley

Santa Maria