WASHINGTON (CNN) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, telling U.S. lawmakers that the world needs an agreement on global warming.
"Icebergs are melting in the Arctic. In Africa, people become refugees because their environment has been destroyed," she said.
"We need an agreement on one objective: Global warming must not exceed two degrees Celsius."
She said the agreement must be reached at a the climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month.
Merkel is the first German chancellor to address a joint meeting of Congress.
From CNN Politics
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Work for us | Help
Get Obama and Gore off their private jets. Those who claim to be so concerned with global warming are the biggest polluters.
Germany needs to buy american
Unless china and india sign on to this agreement, any CO2 commitments the U.S. makes (including cap and trade legislation) will damage our economy.
She should address those countries as well...
Do you think any republican will listen?.
They are falsely under the impression they know everything.
Course, trying to resolve global warming might cost their big
businesses some money as they would have to stop their
horrendous polluting, so they will prob continue to fight what
is best for our world, as they do everything else.
Perfect timing for global warming issues. We have a global financial crisis (which everyone but the US is on the way out of) and now we are going to concern ourselves with increased taxes - lets call them what they are - to preserve the planet.
Not to mention that for every global warming study that prove it exists, there are plenty that prove the effect is negligible.
I can see it now... The house Republicans will be falling all over themselves to see who can be the first to heckle the chancellor with a shout of "YOU LIE!" Or they'll be sitting there like petulant school children with bored looks on their faces, twittering on their blackberries, holding up questionable scientific reports and waving them like fools.
Just try and tell that to the Republicans that still think that Global Warming is a Myth .......
Morons
Sounds like Merkel slipped her grip. Africa has no trees cuz they cut em' all down to make charcoal for a buck or two. They are like locusts and have raped their own land w/o regard for their future. Let 'em eat dirt.
I want to see which republican is going to repudiate what the Chancellor had to say.
Only a German, and Al Gore, would believe they can change what Mother Nature is doing and limit temperature change to 2 degrees in a world where even the scientists don't agree what is changing or which direction it is changing. Mankind is so naive.
Chancellor Merkel is a leader of CDU/CSU party in Germany (Christian Democrat), which corresponds to Republicans in the US. For all those calling her a Socialist – get your facts straight – including the FACT, supported by her right-wing party, that global warming is happening now AND it is human made.
Merkel is a globalist stooge. Of course, she's going to come here with her fantasy talking points.
And B is the true moron. Marching lockstep in the two-party scam.
She might as well be asking people not to breed. It is futile.
Let's not forget the UN backed IPCC was busted last year for using false data. They managed to keep that little fact buried to keep advancing "global warming" during a period of global cooling.
the republicans already have decided to obstruct this issue as well by not attending the meeting in congress on this issue.
This should be a wake up call for all of us who vote to vote out the republicans now and in 2010/2012 if we ever expect to get this country back for the people.
We need to say no more hate/fear/obstructionism.
Has someone thought to invite "Mother Nature" to any of these meetings?
This statement made by Merkel to Congress is a ploy of greed.
"We need an agreement on one objective: Global warming must not exceed two degrees Celsius."
Oh, please! Give me a break! We are now all going to have to pay to fight against "Mother Nature". Anyone in their right mind should know that this is only one of the many ways that our new forming "World Government" will suck more money out of us. And for what?
Merkel and Congress are a little more than two degrees off center if they really believe that anyone who has any level of education will believe any of their "hot air".
People, come on let's get some common sense here, please.
Before we all have to find a second and third job just to be able to buy a loaf of bread.
Fox News Rules... you are so ignorant to the real world, I won't even waste the pixels to point out how pathetic your views are in the greater scope of reality. But here goes...I would imagine, 1. you never been out of this country, or even your backwoods state, even more so the county on al lot in which you sit in a trailer. 2. You don't have more than a high education and it was probably one that Bush had a hand in teaching to the test, in no child left behind. 3. If you do have a college education, ask for your money back, because you didn't receive one. 4. Put down the pipe.
OK, so apparently I am not allowed to post a link. THe Earth has been cooling for 11 years.
Google "junk science returns to white house" and you will be led to a very interesting article that Al Gore has failed to bring up while he jets around the country and world.
Maybe they will 'boycott' her speech, too?
BTW, did you know that Gore, at his daughter's wedding, served a type of sea bass that is on the endangered species list?
I guess we should do as he says, but not as he does.
Only the Democrats and socialists think they can control everything, including the weather. She wants to control the temperature plus or minus 2 degrees. Good luck. There is mounting evidence that any warmining is not man-made and in many places, there is actually global cooling. We do have 100 or so years of data so out of 4.5 billion, I guess that is enough. What caused the other periods of warming and cooling? It must be George Bush and the big bad corporations.
I don't know if global warming is actual considered a certified fact but I do know the majority of respected scientists strongly believe that it does exist and that humans are the root cause. That's why I don't understand why there are so many people out there that easily dismiss it. I also don't understand how there are people out there that aren't worried at all. It's obvious that Earth isn't gonna stay habitable forever. Seriously, why don't some of you guys think sometimes.
Y'all on the "global cooling" bandwagon: Take a close look at who funded the studies you love to talk about. Also look at the resumes of the scientists putting this crap out. Interesting stuff. Have a nice day!
Democrat solution – tax manufacturers and consumers....
The Government we have in place cant even decide if they should send more troops or pull them out of Afghanistan while they are being killed. Not one person on the American tax payers salary should even give this a moment of thought while this great country is going in the pooper.
Chancellor Merkel has a Ph.D. in quantum chemistry so she knows what she is talking about. We aren't used to having a scientist in the White House and automatically discredited this smart woman in science and politics. We have a lot to learn from Chancellor Merkel.
During many years, the defenders of the 'abiogenesis theory' (which claimed that life can be originated nowadays from inanimated matter) said that the defense of the 'biogenesis theory' (life originates life) had been debunked by their 'researches'.
During many years, the defenders of the 'smoke don't cause cancer' theory claimed that their 'researches' proved them right.
NOW, defenders of the 'global cooling' claims that their researches are right and the 'global warming' ones are junk data, when all is needed to prove them wrong is a comparition in the level of ice and permafrost around the world through the past 50 years...
But they still defend their point of view tenaciously...
What a shame, she seemed to be so intelligent too.
Wake up people of the earth.
Review the science and be informed on the environmentalists scare tactics. This is just a means by which to control your behavior, but not theirs. We don't need Cap and Tax to change the way energy is generated or consumed.
Americans have become narrow minded and have the need to politizise everything.
Angela Merkel is a very smart and educated woman , no celebrity status there unlike the phoney you elected as your President.
Anybody who votes " PRESENT " that many times during a very short span in Senate should have told you all that this man has no leadership skills nor does he have substance .
Angela Merkel 's address is nothing more than an opinion and she puts it out there for discussion.
What on earth does that have to do with being a Democrat or Republican.??
To all those who claim that she's a leftist and thus has no say in any matter (which goes against the 1st Ammendement BTW...)
Merkel is as Socialist as Limbaugh, she still has a functional brain though...
Go ahead and believe Rush,hes in big oils pocket for a ton of cash,follow the money people,It will lead to the crooks.
Iceburgs are melting, and the Republicans are sticking their heads in the sand. How sad.
Even Merkel knows that the health bill reform will cover illegals domiciled in Germany.
The problem with health care reform is that there is no savings / cost cutting...
"We need an agreement on one objective: Global warming must not exceed two degrees Celsius." – Chancellor Merkel
When Dr. Merkel said two degrees Celsius, she meant it. Two degrees C is the result of careful scientific calculations. She knows the horrible consequences of rising temperature by two degrees C around the world. What could happen when it gets warmer by 2 degrees C?
People who think that nearly 6.8 billion people, over 600 millions cars/trucks/SUVs, etc., plus all the factories, homes, buildings and other entities putting out heat and carbon dioxide aren't having an effect on the weather – are just plain DUMB!
"Icebergs are melting in the Arctic. In Africa, people become refugees because their environment has been destroyed," she said.
____________________________________________________
Of course the African refugees she is referring to are Mugabe's people that redistributed wealth of the South African farmers by taking lands owned and operated by the Europeans and giving it to the native people. They immediately ran the richest and most productive farm lands in Africa into the ground, destroying their food source and creating a dust bowl that will never produce another morsel of food for the next 50 years. Kind of along the same line as smoking the AIDS medicine we send them to get high making more virulent strains of HIV instead of taking it for the intended use....
Liberals are living proof you can't cure stupid!
To some of the GOP: no, this is not a scare tatic. You might get your news about global warming from FAUX...but some of us actually know something about it. Either people are living it, or like me – work for engineers and scientists who see change happening at alarming rates. Go ahead and stick your head in the sand, though.
What I dont get is that even if capping emissions doesn't directly help our issues with global warming...wouldn't you want a clean earth? Wouldn't you want peace of mind that the water you drink is clean...that the air you are breathing is healthy?
Dont complain, GOP, when your children have cancer because you live next to a gas station pumping gas with MTBE. Or, the plant who's pumping out massive carsinogens into the atmosphere...
To everyone who's more concerned about the "damage to our economy" than saving the planet:
I'm sure that will be your dying thought: at least we had an economy!
Then perhaps Merkel can agree to end the coal production in Germany as a show of leadership, rather than asking the US to carry the burden alone.
Since 2005 the polar bears have been increasing. If we were not governed by hypocrites,they would lead by example and give up their private jets and SUV's and stop all this traveling and cut fuel costs and use. Congressional travel is up more than 50% from last year. All Obama does is travel and campaign.
Typical conservative arrogance:
"The rest of the industrialized world is wrong on issues like global warming and health care.
WE are the only ones who are right!
Even when a European Conservative (who is also a scientist) says there is an environmental problem, that automatically makes her a socialist!"
Who's bringing the tape for Joe Wilson's mouth?
Good! The more commune-ications we have with others, the more transparent is this world. If we always just run around Obfuscating the facts, we don't get anything really meaningful accomplished. These are EXACTLY the Conditions we find now and for forever in this continuing SAGA of Human Kind! We rush headlong into DEATH explaining as we go just WHY we CAN'T get all of these corrections made. These COMMONS are for all to pay for unless we might just Abolish Money to get down to the true mission of Caring, Sharing, Fixing just because we want and need to do it for our own survival. Any HONEST dialogue we can foster with others can clear this dishonesty up if we will only do it. It is like this with everything on this Planet. Feed the Hungry, Clothe the Naked, House the Homeless. Is this NOT what the leader of Christianity said to do? Is not perverted forms of all ideas responsible for our present dilemna? I'll be listening for real signs of Change to see if Ms. Merkel is different or just the Same! Peace
In another Ticker story today: "Republicans boycotted a Senate committee hearing Tuesday on a major bill to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.y today:"
Were the Republican Senators at this meeting, or did they write Germany's Chancellor off as a socialist or a Marxist? Maybe these Senators were out in the hallways of Congress picking up their envelopes from lobbyists for the energy companies.
Ironically the very people liberals hate stand to profit beyond belief from this silly cap and trade proposal. Wall St. will make a killing in fees for trading the "pollution rights", utilities will have to pass the increase in costs on to the consumer for purchasing these rights while others wil prosper from selling them. Increases in cost for almost everything we buy is guaranteed. So, in the end, Wall St. and corporations will either make money or at least break even at our expense. Aren't these the very most hated entities by liberals? Oh, by the way, whatever is done will have no effect on the environment if you believe the so-called experts the liberals depend on. They all say without cooperation from China and India any action by the rest of the world will have zero effect. China and India are growing economies. They will never hinder those economies by burdening them with this ill conceived idea. How completely stupid can it get?
I cannot believe the idiots out there that think people listen to Rush Limbaugh! I NEVER listen to him BUT I do pay attention to what's going on and over 600 scientists cannot be wrong! Global warming is a natural occurrence; not manmade as Al Gore would have everyone believe so he can get richer!
You stupid Republicans from the U.S are basically the only idiots who dispute climate change. If you refuse to do nothing then step aside so the rest of the world can come together and solve this problem.
and the party of NO sits there- the party of the ex-President who said as he campaigned in 2000 that he wasn't sure that "Global Warming is a FACT". The more things change, the more they stay the same. No wonder only 19% of Americans say they are republican.
Thanks for the support and loyalty Chancelor Merkel. Nice to see American allies backing the President again now that Darth Vader and his village idiot sidekick have left town.
she is dead on with the climat issues and we need to do something now
gary davis
harbor oregon
OK everybody, all together now: "You Lie." The sun causes temperature changes on earth. Also, there was more noxious gases released from Mt. St. Helens than all automobiles driven in the last 100 years. It's just like liberals; faulty and selective data.
Dear Ms. Merkel,
Your credentials are the leader of European conservatives can't hide the fact that you are a radical leftist extremist just like Obama, Colin Powell, Charlie Crist and Deedee what'shername (the gal who just got booted out of the NY Republican Party).
In fact, how dare you talk to usAmericans in degree Celsius! Only the devil, and not any God-fearing Americans, know what a degree Celsius is!
Signed
Palin-Limbaugh 2012
global warming is a lie ! sciencetist have proven that.
though its funny that she gets more respect then our own presdent by the gop? that's saying a lot
I wish America still meant advancement in science and knowledge.
We used to be a big, powerful country which tried to make the world a better place, by using our money to advance science and advance social issues and actually HELP people.
We are still big and still powerful, but we are no longer near the top in education, science, or social issues. We are rapidly becoming a backward country.
To all that say that she is leftist or socialist, being conservative in America is totally different than being conservative in Europe. She's a member of their conservative party, but she's in the middle left. You won't see what Americans think of conservative in any part of Europe.
too bad chancellor Merkel didn't understand that most Republicans in congress have little to no idea what Celsius stands for - Republicans zoned out and are wondering what kind of 'death panels' the Germans have in their Socialistic health care system.
And she is a conservative. Why do we have such a low brow conservative party? The environment was a republican issue in my fathers day.
The average global temperature is 1.2 deg C cooler than it was in 1998 and is currently at .2 deg C below normal. The average global temperture from 1880 until 2009 has changed less than .8 deg C. For the past 30 yrs the global temperture has averaged .1 deg C above normal. Someone please tell me why we should even acknowledge the climate change wackos? Concentrate on real problems, there's enough of them to go around.
There can be no solution unless it is universal. Does the EU suggest invading China when it doesn't comply with its wishes???
Well one thing is for sure. If we are in a global warming and do nothing about it until we finally realize it after it becomes critical, then it will be to late. Now if we do something about it now and there is no global warming then we will have prolonged the lowered earth temps.
The problem is that not everyone thinks we are experiencing global warming and china doesn't care so what do we do. Let the Republicans resolve the issue. I am sure they will find a way to start another war and claim the addional temp increase is from all the heat generated by the Nukes that went off someplace they did not like. That is their simi-standard response for everything. The only other sloution to any other problem is to give tax cuts. They have even figured you can give tax cuts to the poor who have not work or money and the tax cuts will free up enough of the income they don't have to be able to buy affordable high priced health care insurance
To those who are saying "read the science", let me remind you that Merkel is a scientist by training - she's a chemist. I'm sure she reviewed the scientific evidence concerning climate change before making her statements to congress.