In San Jose, after touring the Echelon Company with Governor Schwarzenegger, Ban Ki-moon said:

“We know in broad strokes what to do. The time for action is now. Time is of the essence. Our weapons range from new carbon-capture technologies to better land-use laws. Energy conservation is part of the solution; so are renewable fuels and private market incentives. The UN’s environment and development programmes play a lead role in crafting strategies for achieving these aims. What’s missing is political will and political leadership. In that regard, I have deep appreciation and respect for Governor Schwarzenegger.”

That is why I am in California. Governor Schwarzenegger has demonstrated what a difference leadership can make. Thanks to his commitment and leadership, California has embarked upon an ambitious programme to limit greenhouse gases – and to preserve and advance the state’s remarkable quality of life. As the Governor just said, cutting 25 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 is a very bold and courageous initiative. And now, other American cities and states are following suit. The world is taking notice. Governor, we thank you for your vision and your courage.

My job is to help. At the UN, I will encourage world leaders to embrace a similarly bold vision – one that can be applied beyond this Golden State to the entire world. A critical starting point will be our coming high-level meeting in New York – on 24 September – where a large gathering of Heads of State will take up the climate issue – in person, forthrightly and with vigor. We have a short window of opportunity – the next 10 years – to chart a course that will prevent dangerous, potentially catastrophic changes in the Earth’s climate. We know the cost of inaction is greater than the cost of action. We must move forward with urgency.

The visionary leaders who gathered in San Francisco 62 years ago hoped to create a world institution that could deal with world-sized problems. The central purpose of my tenure as Secretary-General is to realize that dream more fully. Working together, with partners like California and Governor Schwarzenegger, we can. And let’s do it.

We did not find what Governor Schwarzenegger said. What we found in the press are basically the following:

In San Francisco, Ban Ki-Moon Offers UN Vision.
By Mike O’Sullivan
San Francisco
27 July 2007

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has finished a two-day trip to San Francisco, a city he first saw as an 18-year-old student in 1962. Mike O’Sullivan reports from San Francisco that 45 years later, the U.N. leader has made the city a platform for a message about the organization’s future.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban K-moon visits with Libby Patterson
In two busy days, Ban Ki-moon spoke at the San Francisco sites where the United Nations was born in 1945: the Fairmont Hotel and War Memorial Opera House, where international delegates hammered out details of the U.N. Charter in both formal and informal settings. He also met with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to about talk the state’s aggressive efforts to combat global warming.

Beyond the policy discussions, this was a personal homecoming of sorts. In the audience as Mr. Ban addressed the San Francisco World Affairs Council Thursday was 90-year-old Libba Patterson. She was a housewife, mother of three, and Red Cross worker when she opened her home to Ban Ki-moon, then an 18-year-old student who arrived as a winner of a Red Cross speech contest. They have kept in touch through the years, and she says he still calls her his American mom. She has marveled at his progress, from South Korean diplomat to top U.N. official.

“I thought it was pretty fabulous when he became foreign minister of South Korea. That was quite an honor. And when he told me that he was going to campaign to be the UN secretary (general), I just encouraged him because that is what I did when he was 18. I encouraged him. He had such high ideals for himself,” he said.

A young Ban Ki-moon found more inspiration when he traveled to Washington to meet then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy, a meeting arranged by the American Red Cross.

Seven months into his job as secretary-general, Mr. Ban responded to critics who complain of the organization’s slow and sometimes inefficient bureaucracy, and its lack of transparency.

As he spoke with reporters Thursday outside Mrs Patterson’s home, Mr. Ban said many Americans also support the organization, and that he is committed to making it transparent and effective. He says he working to re-energize the body and update its culture.

“I know there are some mixed perceptions of the United Nations among American people. Still, a lot of American people believe in the relevance of the United Nations and effectiveness, and contribution of the United Nations,” he said.

Mr. Ban points out that the U.N. is composed of 192 member-countries, and says it is sometimes slow to act, but that no other international body exists to take its place. “Therefore, it is very important for the world community to nurture and support the United Nations’ activities for the promotion of human rights, for development of the economy. There are still billions of people who are suffering from abject poverty,” he said.

Today, he says, climate change, nuclear proliferation, the killings in Darfur and conflict in the Middle East are added to the problems that need collective global action.

Ban, Schwarzenegger Urge Global Warming Action
By Mike O’Sullivan
San Francisco
28 July 2007

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday, and the two called for stepped-up global action on climate change. Mike O’Sullivan reports from San Francisco, the U.N. official praised the West Coast governor for his state’s aggressive role in tackling the issue.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made climate change a priority at the United Nations. He had flattering words for Governor Schwarzenegger, who has set ambitious goals to reduce his state’s greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global warming. The pair toured a company called Echelon Corporation in the high-tech region of Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco. The company produces energy-saving technology that is being used in countries from Austria to China.

California’s far-reaching environmental targets, which Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law last year, are spurring new technology at companies like this one. The state has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, and reduce them by 80 percent by mid-century. The governor acknowledges the goal is ambitious.

“Why we’re comfortable that we’re going to reach this goal is because of technology, and innovators like Echelon will help us actually achieve those goals. And we are building tremendous momentum right now. States like New Jersey, Hawaii, Utah and Florida are all joining us, having recently taken action similar to California, which means reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

The U.N. Secretary-General says the science is clear, and global warming is a fact beyond debate. “We also know in broad strikes what to do. The time for action is now. Time is of (the) essence,” he said.

Mr. Ban says the weapons to fight climate change include carbon-capture technologies and better land-use laws. “Energy conservation is part of the solution. So are renewable fuels and private market incentives,” he said.

He says the world also needs political will and leadership, the kind of leadership he says Arnold Schwarzenegger has shown.

The United Nations leader invited the governor to share his ideas at a U.N. meeting on global warming September 24 in New York.

——————

 http://www.thesop.org is THE STUDENT OPERATED PRESS - but they got the following information from the UN sources - so it sounds the way the UN wants it to sound.

Secretary-General issues strong call for action to combat climate changes, by SOPnewswire.

Posted July 27, 2007

Warning that failure to act on climate change will have grave consequences for all countries, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today in San Francisco called for urgent international action to address the problem within the framework of the United Nations.
“I am not a scientist; I am not an economist, but if you ask any scientist or economist they will tell you the science is clear, the economics are clear,” he told a breakfast meeting with staff of the San Francisco Chronicle. “They say action should have been taken yesterday, but it may not be too late if we take it today.”
Mr. Ban said the international community has reached “almost the saturation point” on the issue, which the UN “takes very seriously.”

The Secretary-General emphasized the toll that climate change is taking on developing countries, pointing out that they do not have the resources to cope that are available in developed States. “It is ironic that those people who have least [contributed] to this cause will have the brunt of serious responsibility [for its consequences],” he said, declaring: “The industrialized countries must help.”

Mr. Ban laid out a clear timetable for action. The intergovernmental process includes a meeting of the General Assembly next week as well as the holding of a high-level meeting Mr. Ban will convene in New York on 24 September. Negotiations will begin in December in Bali.

The Kyoto Protocol, the international community’s current framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, will expire in 2012, and Mr. Ban said a successor pact must be ready for ratification three years before that date to allow countries to make it law in time.

Asked about the role of the United States, Mr. Ban said he had a “very good meeting” on the issue 10 days ago with President George W. Bush, who “now realizes the seriousness” of the problem.

US leadership on climate change will be “very important,” said Mr. Ban. The status quo “cannot be an option” for the US, which should, “look beyond its national situation.”

All industrialized countries must show leadership on the issue, he said. “They should think about the future, not the present situation”

Source:UN

The problem with the way this material was reported in the media - that is outside the San Francisco Chronicle, local papers in North California, and the VOA, …. there was no coverage whatsoever in National media. As of Monday July 30, 2007, and Mr. Ban Ki-moon is already back in New York, we have not succeeded yet to find reporting in such papers as the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal or the Los Angeles Times.

We will continue to look for such reports as we wonder what that means to the subject of climate change policy, to the UN and to the UN Secretary-General. This while, seemingly, at the UN in New York, the above visit is supposed to mean a sign of strong action and progress. Specially as it came before a UN General Assembly debate July 31 - August 1, 2007 on climate change with quite interesting and very varied participants. All of this with the idea that the California trip, right after the Washington trip, sets the stage for serious debate. The target of the debate is the high level session on September 24, 2007. So there is quite some wind but bloggers are being kept away from the UN - they might interfere by asking irreverent but pertinent questions.