Bush to Address New Global Warming ‘Strategy’

<p>Many are <a id="p4cz" href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/bush-climate-tack.php" title="skeptical">skeptical</a> about President Bush’s planned speech today on global warming, saying that his so-called new strategy will be a lot of talk with not much action. During his Rose Garden address, the president will talk about &quot;realistic&quot; emissions reduction targets that Congress should follow in coming up with legislation. But he won’t outline any specific plan, officials say. <br id="kc8d" />

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The Post’s Dan Froomkin <a id="f9e7" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/04/16/BL2008041601732.html?hpid=opinionsbox1" title="says">says</a> it’s just another move to buy time on this debate:</p>

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<p id="nns4">It took so long for Bush to even acknowledge the human role in global warming that whenever he even mentions the topic, some people act like it’s big news.</p>

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<p id="c:05">But in an era where a consensus has emerged that forceful action is required to save the planet, Bush’s essentially empty words are not very different from silence. And to the extent that their intent is to subvert sincere attempts to find solutions, they’re actually worse.</p>

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<p id="ymzk">Bush’s trick on climate change is to wait until others are about to embrace mandatory limits on greenhouse gases, then make a major speech about goals and process, without any specifics on measures or penalties.</p>

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<p>And Grist <a id="ii-2" href="http://grist.org/news/2008/04/15/bush/index.html" title="says">says</a> the White House is just trying to look good before this week’s meeting in Paris of the world’s biggest polluters:</p>

<blockquote id="g-.s">Tomorrow, at a Paris meeting of the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitters, the U.S. will be able to say that it’s <span id="naph"><strike id="orf9">doing</strike></span> saying something about climate change.<br id="awgx" />

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<p>We’ll soon find out if the Bush administration is just hiding behind rhetoric on global warming, once again.</p>