02/08/07 WTO Resumes & Energy Summit

WTO progressing & Upcoming Energy Summit. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy appeared to be upbeat in latest report to the General Council that negotiations have resumed. LAMY: We have resumed our negotiations fully across the board. Political conditions are now more favourable for the conclusion of the Round than they have been for a long time. It was about two years ago when the phrase "25 by 25" was coined. Since then - the vision of building energy self sufficiency  strengthening national security  revitalizing rural economies - and protecting the environment has grown. And March 20th through the 22nd - the vision will continue to grow through participants in the 3rd Annual Renewable Energy Summit in Washington, D.C. At the Summit - government decision-makers and leaders of agriculture and forestry - the energy sector - the environmental community - and business and labor will work to advance the goal of achieving the 25x`25 vision. Goals include - further motivating and uniting Ag and forestry renewable energy stakeholders - advancing 25x`25 policy recommendations - promoting the benefits of a 25x`25 energy future - validating the feasibility of 25x`25 - and rolling out the public awareness and partnership components of the 25x`25 implementation plan. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. I shed a tear when I heard Barbaro was euthanized, I did. Something about the gallant attempt to save him along with his will to live touched me deeply. For me his saga was about the horses that never make it, the Ruffians or my own thoroughbred mare, lives cut short from shattered bones. A New York Times editorial stated that "humans are not especially good at noticing horses but Barbaro was easy to notice and if his life caused us to pay attention to the possibilities of all horses, his death was tragic because of what every horse is. You would have to look a long time to find a dishonest or cruel horse. And the odds are that if you did find one it was made cruel or dishonest by the company it kept with humans. It is no exaggeration to say that nearly every horse-Barbaro included, is pure of heart. Some faster, some slower. Some wind up in the winner's circle. But they should all evoke in us the generosity of conscience-a human quality, after all that was expended in the effort to save this one horse." Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.