The governments of many developed countries will in effect boycott a conference the United Nations is holding in New York June 24-26 to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis on developing countries. The developed countries object to efforts by the General Assembly president—Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, who was foreign minister for Nicaragua's leftist government in the 1980s—to have the conference discuss reforming such bodies as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "You can't have a few calling the shots and others suffering the consequences of their decisions," D'Escoto said to the British daily Financial Times about the major powers. "If they were more frank, they should say might is right." His one-year term ends in September. (FT, June 7)

US automaker General Motors (GM) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection June 1. The proceedings will be handled by Judge Robert Gerber of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York—which is also overseeing the bankruptcy of rival automaker Chrysler Group. US President Barack Obama addressed concerns that the federal government's large ownership stake in GM may hinder the company's recovery saying:

President Barack Obama May 19 announced plans for national fuel efficiency requirements. The policy is aimed at increasing fuel economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and is projected to conserve 1.8 billion barrels of oil and reduce emissions by an approximate 900 million metric tons under the life of the program.

The beginning of President Obama's extention of long-overdue public control over Detroit. Let's hope it isn't also the end. From Motor Trend, May 12:

Chrysler cleared a major hurdle in its bankruptcy restructuring last week when holdout investors gave up their quest for better compensation, but there are plenty of hurdles left. Chrysler dealers, fearful of losing their franchises, are banding together to fight back against the company's consolidation while the Automotive Task Force has slashed the company's ad budget.

Key Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee endorsed a climate bill and Republicans readied more than 400 amendments to the measure May 19. Democrats are supporting a measure that would instate a carbon-trading system, which in theory would spur development of less-polluting energy sources such as wind and solar by regulating emissions caused by energy sources such as oil and coal.

To prevent Earth's average temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, several teams of researchers say that cumulative carbon emissions must be limited to no more than 1 trillion metric tons. The findings, released April 30 in the journal Nature, are daunting because human activity has already exhausted more than half that allotment since the Industrial Revolution began. Human activity will likely emit the rest of that budget in just a few decades, even if emissions are held at the current rate. The two-degree limit comes from the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a target to reduce the impacts of climate change.

From the Indigenous Environmental Network, April 25:

Anchorage, Alaska — At the first global gathering of Indigenous Peoples on climate change, participants were outraged at the intensifying rate of destruction the climate crisis is having on the Earth and all peoples. Participants reaffirmed that Indigenous Peoples are most impacted by climate change and called for support and funding for Indigenous Peoples to create adaptation and mitigation plans for themselves, based on their own Traditional Knowledge and practices. Indigenous Peoples also took a strong position on emission reduction targets of industrialized countries and against false solutions.

Greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare, the US Environmental Protection Agency found April 17, under a scientific review ordered in 2007 by the Supreme Court. The proposed finding states: "In both magnitude and probability, climate change is an enormous problem. The greenhouse gases that are responsible for it endanger public health and welfare within the meaning of the Clean Air Act."