Stop stalling on global warming
OUR OPINIONS:
Monday, December 9, 2002
accessatlanta.com
A recent decision by President Bush to mount an ambitious scientific study of
global warming would be his best environmental policy initiative of the year.
If the year was 1989.
It has been at least that long since scientists earnestly began studying the
gradual rise in the Earth's temperature. In that time they've produced
overwhelming evidence that human activities such as driving gasoline-powered
cars and burning coal for electricity are at least partly to blame.
Concentrations of heat-trapping gases, especially carbon dioxide, have
increased by more than a third since the start of the Industrial Revolution. The
presence of those gases is expected to double by the end of the century largely
because of the voracious energy demands of developing countries.
Left unchecked, the effects could be dire, including severe agricultural
disruptions, the rapid decline of snow-dependent water supplies and global
die-offs of vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs and coastal marshes.
Yet last week, Bush invited hundreds of scientists to Washington to discuss a
new administration plan to waste another 10 years studying the problem. The
president supposedly wants to improve monitoring of ecosystems and devise
more accurate computer models to clarify the extent of the problem. Bush fears
that moving too aggressively to arrest the rise in greenhouse gases could harm
America's economy.
While information is valuable, this is not an honest effort at scientific inquiry. It's
an effort to stall any meaningful action.
If we need more data and better computer models --- and we do --- then let's get
them. But in the meantime, Bush should commit himself and this country to a
course of action that will stabilize and if possible reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases.
Upon taking office, Bush pulled out of the Kyoto treaty, the only international
effort to actually address the warming problem. By doing so, he abdicated the
responsibility to lead imposed on the United States by its status as the global
superpower and the fact that it is the leading emitter of greenhouse gases.
If Bush believes that the Kyoto accords are flawed, fine. But true leadership
requires him to propose a bold and timely alternative course of action. "More
study" fails that test.
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