Flashback 2002: Jerry Brown says ‘it’s not viable’ for poverty stricken developing world to emulate prosperity of U.S.

Originally Published by Cybercast News Service on September 3, 2002

Jerry Brown to World’s Poor: Let Them Eat Cake?

By Marc Morano – CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer – Johannesburg (CNSNews.com) – Former Democratic Governor of California Jerry Brown believes that poverty stricken residents of the developing world who want to emulate American prosperity should not be allowed to do so because “it’s not viable.”

In an exclusive interview, CNSNews.com asked Brown whether he thought the residents of the poorest nations of the world wanted to develop economically as the U.S. has done.

“Many do, but it’s not viable,” Brown replied. “I would say we can’t develop like us, nor them…the developed model cannot work without another five planets,” he added.

A British author critical of the Green movement, Professor Philip Stott, said Brown’s anti-development views, as relayed to him, can be likened to Marie Antoinette’s reported response when she was told the French peasants had no bread to eat: “Let them eat cake.”

“I am deeply worried when I hear a white, Western, male start to lecture the developing world on what they should, or should not, want,” Stott told CNSNews.com.

Brown, the current mayor of Oakland, Calif., appeared at the U.N.’s Summit on Sustainable Development (or Earth summit) on behalf of the environmental group Global Greens. Brown, who earned the nickname “Governor Moonbeam” for his somewhat unconventional style, appeared in numerous panel discussions while at the summit.

In the interview, Brown defended the Green group’s efforts to stop infrastructure projects deemed too ecologically destructive in countries like India and Brazil. The projects would have brought running water and electricity to the poor residents of the nations.

“One thing you have to realize is the economy is inside the environment, not the other way around,” an unapologetic Brown replied. […]

A British author critical of the Green movement, Professor Philip Stott, said Brown’s anti-development views, as relayed to him, can be likened to Marie Antoinette’s reported response when she was told the French peasants had no bread to eat: “Let them eat cake.”

 …

Greenpeace Leader: There is urgent need for the suppression of economic growth in U.S…’Lifestyle of the rich in the world is not a sustainable model’

The outgoing leader of Greenpeace has issued a call for the suppression of economic growth in the U.S. and Western nations. Under questioning by BBC reporter Stephen Sackur on the August 5, 2009 “Hardtalk” program, Gerd Leipold, the retiring leader of Greenpeace, said “the lifestyle of the rich in the world is not a sustainable model.

Excerpt from NotEvilJustWrong.com: “Leipold told the BBC that there is an urgent need for the suppression of economic growth in the United States and around the world. He said annual growth rates of 3 percent to 8 percent cannot continue without serious consequences for the climate.”

“We will definitely have to move to a different concept of growth. … The lifestyle of the rich in the world is not a sustainable model,” Leipold told the BBC.

“If you take the lifestyle, its cost on the environment, and you multiply it with the billions of people and an increasing world population, you come up with numbers which are truly scary,” Leipold explained.

You can watch the full BBC interview with Leipold here or here.

Related Links:

Flashback 2002: Jerry Brown says ‘it’s not viable’ for poverty stricken developing world to emulate prosperity of U.S.

Flashback 2002: Average American Lifestyle Called “Total Bull—t” by Environmentalist – Excerpt: ‘If anyone in a developing country looks to the U.S. and wants a lifestyle like the average American–it’s total bull—t!’

African Activist: ‘African life span is lower than it was in U.S. and Europe 100 years ago. But Africans told we shouldn’t develop’ because wealthy Western nations are ‘worried about global warming’: Excerpt: ‘Telling Africans they can’t have electricity and economic development – is immoral’

Flashback 2002: UN Earth Summit’s Failure Called ‘Good Thing’ For Poor Nations: Excerpt: The first world became rich without the IMFs and World Banks, and the less of them that are around, the more likely the Third World is to do the same.”

Gore: U.S. Climate Bill Will Help Bring About ‘Global Governance’ – July 10, 2009

Former EU Environment Minister Margot Wallstrom: ‘Kyoto is about the economy, about leveling the playing field for big businesses worldwide’

‘Climate Justice…the underlying principle for global equity’

Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper once dismissed UN’s Kyoto Protocol as a ‘socialist scheme’

Flashback 2000: Actor Chevy Chase Says ‘Socialism Works’ — ‘Cuba might prove that’

It is a moral issue! – ‘People cannot cook’…Chad’s

UN climate summit flop feared as 20,000 hotel room reservations are cancelled

Reprinted Excerpts from Copenhagen Post:

UN Climate summit flop feared

Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:37 KR News

Hotel reservation cancellations spark failure fears for the upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen.

The Foreign Ministry has cancelled 20,000 overnight hotel reservations meant for people attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December.

The move is expected to cost the hotel industry about 40 million kroner in lost revenue, calculated by each night in a hotel room costing about 2,000 kroner, reports Business.dk.

Reservations in a number of hotels across Zealand and parts of Skåne in southern Sweden have been cut from 120,000 to 100,000 overnight stays.

The two-week conference in December is expected to attract between 12,000 and 15,000 participants. The ministry described the cancellations as a natural ‘adjustment’.

But Thomas Færgeman, the director of environmental think tank Concito, was concerned the government had lost confidence that it could broker a ground-breaking climate and had therefore lowered expectations as to how many participants were expected.

Hotel cancellations have also been taking place in Copenhagen and Denmark’s largest hotel, the Radisson SAS Scandinavia, near the conference centre, has seen 10 percent of the ministry’s bookings cancelled.

The hotel’s general manager, Karim Nielsen believed the cancellations were due to the Foreign Ministry lacking confirmation of attendance from participants.

‘No one knows how big the Copenhagen climate conference is going to be. If the ministry doesn’t cancel the surplus reserved rooms at least a month before the conference, they will be liable for 100 percent of the payment,’ Nielsen said.

For Full Article go here.