This is not snark. The House of Representatives has passed a climate change law that will require 50% less carbon production by 2050; phase out fossil fuel subsidies; make renewable power fully competitive with oil, gas and coal; cut dirty carbon emissions 30% by 2020 with international support; and ensure that 35% of the country's electricity will come from clean sources by 2024.
When this new law is approved by the Senate, it will be only the second such law in the world, putting the country in an elite global club, along with the United Kingdom.
How incredibly telling, and sad, that not a single person reading the two paragraphs above will believe a word of it -- because no such law could ever be passed by the United States Congress. But in fact, this law was passed on April 12 by the House of Representatives, of the United States -- of Mexico.
More below the International Border Squiggle of Rational Thought.
WWF Global has the full story: New law makes Mexico a climate leader.
O si hablas español, puedes leer la noticia en WWF México: Aprueba Cámara de Diputados Ley General de Cambio Climático
The Mexican climate change law has only to pass the Senate there, and be signed by President Felipe Calderón, to become the law of Mexico. Judging from the overwhelming vote in the lower chamber -- the vote was 280 in favor, and only 10 against, with a single abstention -- the prospects in the Senate would seem to be good. (See update below.)
(The chamber that is the equivalent of the U.S. House of Representatives in Mexico is there called, in Spanish, La Cámara de Diputados, which is sometimes literally translated as the Chamber of Deputies. WWF and other sites refer to it as the House of Representatives, since, like our House, it is the "lower" chamber, and has a similar role.)
The fact that it's Mexico that's doing this is rather remarkable:
...Mexico is not really a rich country. By the government's own count, some 40% of the population lives in poverty. Yet its government and Congress see that ending poverty and growing the economy will be that much harder unless they, we, all of us do something about climate change.
Even more remarkable is that Mexico is in the midst of a contentious
general election campaign, with election day less than three months away. The political parties in Mexico are far from monolithic. Yet, the vote in the Cámara de Diputados clearly crossed party lines. Can anyone even begin to imagine that happening here?
Despite being poor and relatively undeveloped compared to the U.S., with just over one third our population, Mexico plays an important role in climate change. Again, from WWF:
Mexico is the world's 11th biggest emitter and also its 11th biggest economy. By 2050, it's projected to be the fifth largest economy in the world. If it continues with this path, it is set to be one of the greenest. In a world with nine billion people in 2050, "renewable" and "sustainable" will be essential, not just for nature but for basic access to food, water and energy.
In comparison, the U.S. is the world's 2nd biggest emitter and Canada is 7th. Under its current conservative leadership, Canada has been a disaster, turning its back on Kyoto, promoting high carbon, high impact projects like tar sands development, and ignoring its significant renewable energy resources. And of course, the U.S. still has no climate law at all, or any law on renewable energy or federal limits on emissions.
If a relatively poor, developing country like Mexico can be a leader in promoting renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions, why can't we? In fact, Mexico is not pulling any punches -- they are putting the words "Climate Change" front and center in the name of the law itself: la Ley General de Cambio Climático, or the General Climate Change Law.
The law is based on agreements that have already been reached with strategic sectors such as energy production, transport and waste management. All of this will translate into job creation and a transition towards development that is low in emissions.
The law will create a National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change, under the auspices of the Federal Public Administration of Mexico, but will be decentralized and under the direction of a Board with expert representatives of the scientific, academic and technical communities. Activities will include: mitigation and adaptation; promoting education, research, development, and technology transfer; integration of the civil and private sectors, academia, youth and indigenous communities in decision making; design and promotion of economic, fiscal and financing mechanisms; budgetary provisions; and evaluation and compliance with the law.
The one thing that seems to be missing from the law is a treaty with the United States that will allow us to send our Congresspeople to Mexico for remedial education in basic science and civic responsibility.
(There's a nice video on the bottom of the WWF Global page, but I'm not succeeding in embedding the Vimeo video.)
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Update, Tues 10:00 am MDT. Awoke to find this on Community Spotlight and the Rec List -- gracias! CS rocks. :-) Some additional information:
One of the comments asks for more information on the likelihood of this being passed by the Mexican Senate. In doing some additional reading, it seems that the cited references in the diary were referring only to the need for the Senate to approve the final version of the law as passed by the Cámara de Diputados. The Mexican Senate already passed the law on December 6, 2011. So, this appears to be a done deal.
It also occurs to me to comment: While the right wing in this country seems to be bound and determined to turn the U.S. into a country that looks like Mexico used to look twenty years ago, with an entrenched oligarchy, and a population largely mired in poverty with little access to education, health care or the opportunity to get ahead, Mexico has been forging ahead (albeit not without major challenges) with progressive changes to improve education, and access to government provided health care for everyone. (Immunization rates in Mexico now approach 100%, for example, a public health achievement that puts us to shame.) Mexico still has huge problems with corruption, and of course organized crime and the drug wars. But the fact that Mexico is capable of uniting for the common interest and passing a climate change law that the overwhelming majority see not as a political issue but as necessary for the future security of the entire country, speaks volumes about how far they have come -- and how far we have fallen.