Wonk Room » Earth To Bush: We Can’t Wait 15 More Years

Earth To Bush: We Can’t Wait 15 More Years

By Brad on Apr 16th, 2008 at 3:54 pm

Earth To Bush: We Can’t Wait 15 More Years»

Planet Earth President Bush just delivered his Rose Garden global warming speech:

If we fully implement our strong new laws, adhere to the principles I’ve outlined, and adopt appropriate incentives, we will put America on an ambitious new track for greenhouse gas reductions. The growth in emissions will slow over the next decade, stop by 2025, and begin to reverse thereafter, so long as technology continues to advance.

At the White House press briefing today, James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, heaped praise on Bush’s plan:

I would just observe, Europe as a union has stated a mid-term goal. They are working on how they’re going to implement that in each member state. Canada has stated a mid-term goal. The United States has now stated a mid-term goal.

We are the only three that have done that so far, but we know that all of the other major economies are working on it, and so we’re giving our own signal about how we’re structuring what we’re going to do, and hopefully they’ll reflect off of that and make appropriate decisions for their economies as well.

Let’s review:

	EUROPE	CANADA	UNITED STATES
2020 Target For Greenhouse Emissions	20% below 1990 levels	1990 levels	No target; keep increasing until 2025
Mechanism	Mandatory cap-and-trade system, performance standards, international offsets	Voluntary efficiency standards	Tax cuts for industry

Vice President Al Gore rightly described Canada’s plan when the Conservative government released it last year as “a complete and total fraud.” Bush’s proposal is sheer lunacy.

Bush’s plan, if the rest of the world followed suit, would push the planet into territory never before seen in the history of human civilization. For his senior environmental adviser to even compare this to Europe’s mandatory and unilateral commitment to aggressive greenhouse reductions is beyond shameful.

UPDATE: Climate Progress and Gristmill have more. The U.S. Climate Action Network links to responses from member organizations, including the Center for American Progress.

UPDATE II: Warming Law notes Bush’s astounding contempt for the Supreme Court.

UPDATE III: Responses from House global warming committee chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and ranking member James Inhofe (R-OK), Campaign for America’s Future, and Energy Smart.

Comments

3 Responses to “Earth To Bush: We Can’t Wait 15 More Years”

Brad Says:

Boxer:

The President’s plan to have America stand by while greenhouse gases reach dangerous levels and threaten America and the world is worse than doing nothing - it is the height of irresponsibility. I strongly believe that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee bill will not only make our nation a leader in the global warming challenge, but it will trigger an American economic renaissance.

Inhofe:

I applaud the President for outlining a bold alternative climate initiative that rejects the concept that the United States must adopt economically ruinous cap-and-trade legislation such as the Lieberman-Warner bill that would significantly drive up the already skyrocketing cost of energy on the American public. Today, as American families and American workers are faced with an economic downturn, the slumping housing market, and rising gas prices, they are unlikely to tolerate a ‘de-stimulus’ climate bill that will not have the sponsors’ purported impact on temperatures but will further exacerbate economic pain.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
A Siegel Says:

As per Inhofe, we should worry that what this really is about is to make Lieberman-Warner seem like it is coming from an environmentalist perspective, that it is somehow a strong/radical bill. Thus, we will have Lieberman-Warner (which is a bad bill, which fails on basic principle grounds re what is necessary) portrayed as the ‘radical’ solution, Bush as the not enough, and John McCain will come in with a diastrous middle ground as the cowboy to rescue the nation. It is a myth, much worse in policy-making than on TV.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
MSS Says:

Don’t miss Al Gore’s brand-new slideshow: How Dare We Be Optimistic?

An inspirational (and alarming) talk on climate change and what our generation can (and must) do about it, together.

excerpt from the show:

In order to be optimistic about [stopping Global Warming], we have to become incredibly active as citizens in our democracy. In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to solve the democracy crisis.

68% of Americans believe the earth’s atmosphere is impacted by Global Warming. What’s missing is a sense of urgency.

We have the technologies; we have to have a unifited view about how to go about this. What’s the solution? Put a tax on carbon — to replace a tax on employment which was invented by Bismark!!

We have to mobilize resources and political will, but the political will has to be mobilized to mobilize the resources.

What we need is another hero generation. How many generations in history have had the opportunity to rise to a challenge that is worthy of our best efforts? We have to approach this challenge with a sense of great joy and gratitude. We have to somehow understand that history has presented us with a choice. We now have a culture of distraction. We have a planetary emergency. We have to find a way to convey a sense of generational mission. We can rise to the challenge that history is presenting to us!

From the TED website, where you can see Gore’s presentation:

How Dare We Be Optimistic?

In Al Gore’s brand-new slideshow (premiering exclusively on TED.com), he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of “generational mission” — the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement — to set it right.

Gore’s stirring presentation is followed by a brief Q&A in which he is asked for his verdict on the current political candidates’ climate policies and on what role he himself might play in future.

Alliance for Climate Protection, which is launching a nationwide, grassroots campaign to end Global Warming, [I believe it is sponsored by Gore] and invites our help!
April 16th, 2008 at 7:34 pm