Speaking of global warming (Global climate change)

Speaking of global warming

This week could set a record for the number of high-profile hours spent discussing global warming and what to do about it. It begins with a special one-day session at the United Nations, at which Al Gore will press the case for strong collective action to stop the rise of greenhouse gases. It ends with a two-day White House "summit" involving all of the major emitters, including India and China. Both of those nations have been conspicuously absent from climate negotiations, but their help in arresting global emissions is essential.

The problem needs all the attention it can get. But if talk is good, it is also cheap. And it will change nothing unless it leads to a real treaty with real, and enforceable, limits on the production of greenhouse gases. That means a broader and more inclusive version of the Kyoto Protocol, a noble but flawed treaty that expires in 2012. As we know, firm targets are not what President George W. Bush has in mind. Bush announced this summit in June at a time when he was under serious pressure from scientists, the Supreme Court, his Europeans allies and the nation's governors to do something about global warming. He made it clear even then that he would continue to resist binding targets of the sort envisioned by Kyoto in favor of voluntary, country-by-country agreements - "aspirational" goals, in the words of his environmental adviser, James Connaughton, instead of real ones. If this summit legitimizes an every-nation-for-itself approach, it will have been a failure.

Nor should all the hoopla be allowed to obscure the fact that there are plenty of things that Washington can do, should do and is still not doing to start slowing the damage from global warming. One obvious step is to let California and 13 other states proceed with stiff new rules aimed at reducing greenhouse gases from cars and light trucks. This month, a federal judge ruled that the states should be allowed to proceed. In doing so, he systematically demolished every technological and economic argument advanced by the automobile industry as to why it cannot significantly improve automobile efficiency. But the states still need a federal waiver to proceed. Bush should grant it.

Meanwhile, Democratic leaders in the Congress should stop inventing endless excuses - Iraq, a crowded calendar, procedural difficulties - for why they cannot move swiftly to reconcile their two energy bills. One of the big sticking points is a Senate provision requiring meaningful improvements in fuel economy. Again the automobile companies say they can't do it. History says they can.

Of course, the energy bill is controversial. Most energy bills are; this one more than most because it actually has some tough provisions requiring serious investment in efficiency and in the way we create and deliver energy. This is a big test for Democrats. If they cannot deliver on this bill, there's little hope they can ever handle the far more complex, but essential, task of producing a comprehensive strategy on climate change.

To be continue in other article...

(Jakarta, Jumat 22 February 2008)

Re-publish by Jacob Paradox from link (www.routers.com),(www.iht.com), (www.routers.com), (www.nytimes.com)

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