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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 12:47pm PT
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Why aren’t people who are supposed to be concerned concerned?
BBC:
Report slams ‘high flying’ UN environment chief
Matt McGrath - environment correspondent
The head of the UN body that leads on sustainability and green issues has been criticised for extensive and expensive air travel.
A draft internal audit, obtained by the Guardian and seen by the BBC, says that Erik Solheim's actions risked the reputation of UN Environment.
The report says he incurred costs of $488,518 (£373,557) while travelling for 529 out of 668 days.
There was "no oversight or accountability" to monitor this travel.
Mr Solheim says he has paid back the money where "instances of oversight" occurred.
The audit was carried out by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
Across UN Environment, around $58m was spent on travel in the two years up to 2018.
OIOS points out that the amount of money UN Environment spends on travel essentially doubled over the three years between 2014 and 2017.
While all UN staff are expected to complete "mission reports" within two weeks of travel, OIOS found that these were often missing.
When they requested reports for 596 trips undertaken by 32 managers and staff, 210 mission reports were not provided, while around 200 others were only completed after the request was made.
The report is particularly critical of the travel undertaken by Mr Solheim, UN Environment executive director since 2016 and former Norwegian environment minister.
According to OIOS Mr Solheim's leave and travel were approved by a member of his office who reported directly to him, in contravention of UN rules.
The report says that Mr Solheim travelled extensively across the continents, making several trips and stops in Paris as well as Norway. On one occasion, "he made an eight-hour trip from Washington DC for a weekend in Paris, before taking another flight to New York city."
The draft audit says the senior management at UN Environment "fostered an organisational culture that defied established internal control systems".
After one request by a UN official for more information about a trip to his home country, the report says that Mr Solheim responded: "We cannot accept this question on holiday vs job. Please tell UN Nairobi it is totally irrelevant..we are not any longer living in the industrial age and they must stop treating me as if I am a 07 to 16 factory worker...the other side of this coin is that they must stop asking this stupid question".
The pattern of travel among senior management, said the auditors, was contrary to the ethos of carbon emission reduction. The report highlighted the former UN Secretary General's statement that "what we demand of others, we must do ourselves."
Environmentalists in Norway said the audit the report was "ironic and sad".
"I strongly believe even UN bodies, as well as everyone else, should be aware of their environmental impact and have policies and routines to reduce them," said Truls Gulowsen, from Greenpeace.
"Solheim has been a very visible UN Environment leader, which is good and clearly warrants travel, but this volume and attitude towards environmental footprints does not set a positive example."
In a statement, Mr Solheim said he wasn't able to comment in detail on the audit as it was a confidential process, but that he had paid back any money owed.
"The Office of Internal Oversight Services earlier this year investigated all my travels in great detail and found three instances of oversight out of all of them. The money was refunded immediately. If any other mistakes are found, we will immediately correct them.
"Where questions have been raised about the authorisation of my travel it should be noted that we have immediately put new procedures in place whereby my travel is approved by the office of the Secretary General."
"Let me underscore that we will work diligently and without question to implement the auditor's recommendations in the final report, and that we welcome any audit process and external oversight that helps improve operational efficiency."
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This so typical of the hypocritical UN and EU socialist elite.
Apparently they haven’t heard of telephones or emails.
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BeeTee
Social climber
Valdez Alaska
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Sep 22, 2018 - 10:53am PT
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Though I believe climate change is real...what to do about it is up for debate...what concerns me is all the blame directed at the supply side...oil companies per say....we can all do something about it changing like few styles etc....the approach I see now has Its downside in the fact that the outdoor industry has hijack the cause to in effect seek approval from there customers as if the Ihdustry is doing something about when in fact they are part of the problem...to me a true environmentalist is a minimalist....not a 60k plus income driving a dodge sprinter fat bike owner with a hundred cams claiming if they buy Patagonia they are somehow doing the world some favor...all these do good er outdoor companies latching on the idea if u just but from them your helping the environment....it's time for the outdoor world to look in the mirror instead of casting an aura of approval...I find it rather sanctimonious that here in the first world were over the top with toys but we blame others for the excesses of our consumption.....how does a multi billion dollar industry traded on Wall Street justify there actions....buy from us and you'll help the world....
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Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
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Sep 22, 2018 - 11:43am PT
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Reilly makes an excellent point. Al Gore's carbon footprint? Holy crap! George W. Bush has a much greener house in Texas, for example, than Lord Gore.
BAd
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Sep 22, 2018 - 12:08pm PT
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^^^
If you can point to someone else’s hypocrisy you don’t feel as bad about your own.
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BeeTee
Social climber
Valdez Alaska
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Sep 22, 2018 - 08:34pm PT
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Ok so I see if you point out hypocrisy then u must be hypocrite and therefore by that conclusion hypocrisy doesn't exist...hardly true.......that is a ridiculous statement when u think about it......my newest vehicle is a 1999 Ford Expedition with 162k miles on it,,,my work van has 192k miles.....I buy my bibs at second hand stores....still using the yellow koflachs.....I'm not saying everyone should live that way but one on....I walk the talk....my ice tools are probably 15 years old at least.....before u critique other industry's or people ....everyone should look at what they could do better themselves....
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Sep 22, 2018 - 11:07pm PT
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Actually I'm not all that concerned with hypocrisy on the individual level when it comes to climate change.
Sure it is pretty silly for some who lives in a McMansion and eats a lot of beef to think they did their part because they bought a $50,000 electric car.
But I don't think we are going to make much of a dent in climate change by a few individuals making some selective decisions.
Is it reasonable of me to buy a 4x4 gas guzzler because my long-term carbon footprint is way below the American average because I don't have kids?
If I keep a 1999 vehicle running instead of buying a new $35,000-$50,000 vehicle, that would be typical of someone in my income bracket, what happens to that money? Does it disappear? Do I spend it on more flights/trips to Patagonia?
How does owning a dog compare to driving down to Sf once a month to see live music?
Does it add more to climate change to buy local tomatoes that were grown in a hothouse or ones that were flown in from further south?
And if, optimistically, 5% of the population worried about things like that, would it make any difference?
A broad carbon tax would go a long ways toward steering consumers to lower carbon choices.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Sep 24, 2018 - 05:56pm PT
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2018 Arctic Seaice Minimum is in.
Thirty-five percent higher than 2012. Is that a lot? 35%?
Yay 2018 minimum.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Sep 26, 2018 - 01:13pm PT
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I wrote a paper on the CFC problem in the mid 80s for a podunk college. My professor told me he learned a lot from my research. The science was in and irrefutable.
The problem was run up the flagpole at many think tanks and eventually the science was discussed by politicians until, lo and behold, we collectively acknowledged the problem and did something about it before it was too late to make a difference.
From everything I have read on climate change, I believe it is too late to make a difference. If we stopped all CO2 emissions today average global temps will continue to rise for 100 years.
The number of things that caused CFC to be added to the atmosphere is very small and only affected a relatively few industries.
CO2 is a much different story.
It is not too late to make a difference. If over the next 30 to 50 years we brought net CO2 to zero, the earth, in 200 years time, would be in much better shape than if we continued on with business more or less as usual.
If you have beginning stages of emphysema, quitting smoking won't undo the damage. But you will still be better off than continuing a 2 day habit.
I actually think we have the technology to get carbon neutral by the end of the century and still maintain world living standards.
I have absolutely zero expectations that the world has the political will to make much of a dent in the problem.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Sep 26, 2018 - 04:16pm PT
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The more I think about it, I really don't think that climate change will end the human species. What will happen, instead, will be a significant culling -- like maybe 90 or 95 percent, followed by a dark ages, and then a human comeback. We're like cockroaches. I'm trying to be optimistic.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Sep 29, 2018 - 06:43pm PT
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If civilization collapses there will be a lot high quality tools laying around and metal that can be melted down.
But there are no easy coal or oil deposits to be had. The only fuel is going to be wood. That would really slow things down.
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Sep 30, 2018 - 01:34pm PT
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The area around trumpy's property in south Florida will be regularly submerged by high tides and storm surges more and more in the next few decades. https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/07/donald-trump-maralago-climate-change/
And in 80 years, when sealevel rise will be several times worse, it will be below sea level for much of the time. And with the trumpy denier do-nothing approach, it will continue to rise for hundreds of years. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-early-climate-action-big-effect.html#nRlv
Around 120,000 years ago, during the last interglacial period, sea levels rose 6 to 9 meters (20 to 30 feet) higher than today as the planet warmed by zero to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). During the Pliocene Epoch 3 million years ago, which saw a carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration similar to today’s, sea levels rose by up to 10 to 30 meters (32 to 98 feet).
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/antarctica-meltdown-could-double-sea-level-rise/
Of course, sea level rise is only one of the many problems caused by Carbon emissions.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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The area around trumpy's property in south Florida will be regularly submerged by high tides and storm surges more and more in the next few decades...
Such a shame that Trump won't live to see that.
Actually, strike that. Not shedding any tears when he kicks off.
But there are posters on this site, and others that I post on, that I hope live long enough to have grand-kids, and I hope their grand-kids can track down what they actually said BITD on sites like these.
So that it is 100% clear that granddad, despite future denials, actually was 100% part of the problem.
Life's small victories, but take them where you can find them.
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Krease
Gym climber
the inferno
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/climate/epa-trump-mercury-rule.html
This administration is striving to personify evil. Poor Brett Kavanaugh, that martyr of justice and keg-standing, ruled in favor of cutting the coal industry this well-deserved break. I can only hope there is indeed a "blue wave" in November so as to at least slow some of this awfulness down. F*#k you, tRump and co.
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WBraun
climber
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Antichrist -- "Dumb people breed dumb people."
Thanks for perfectly describing yourself ......
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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UAH: Globally, the coolest September in the last 10 years.
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her socks on the floor
Gym climber
Camino
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edT i'm sure you'll sign up for cancer treatment when you contract the parasite. "give me the shot! give me the pill! give me the cure! look what you've done to my world."[Click to View YouTube Video] so you trust medical science.
or how about when you want to spy the solar eclipse and those scientiest tell you exactly when and where to stand for the best spectating. oh my goodness, they are correct in their calculations.
or how about a jaunt on over to asia. for some climbing. or opium ingestion or whatever you fancy. them scientist sure are good at making planes fly.
f*#king hypocrite.
climate science is more real than some dipshit called moses that lived inside of a whale. or parted the red sea. anthropology and geo-science are more real than your stupid f*#king bible that claims a 4000 year old earth, that god smeared into existence in 7 days.
you present like an ignorant kindergarten dropout.
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