Substantial negligence: Bush's "pathetic attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the world" on global warming

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Blair may have thought he could convince Bush to agree to a "substantial cut" in greenhouse gas emissions at the G8 summit in Germany -- that is, to take global warming seriously -- but, as has been the case before, his hopes were the stuff of delusion. In an interview with The Guardian, Blair suggested that Bush's "new framework" -- which I debunked here and which another and more prominent critic, John Sauven of Greenpeace, called "a classic spoiler," "a disaster," and "a pathetic attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the world and an increasingly concerned US electorate" -- is "significant and important". He is right that Bush has admitted that global warming is a reality, but the "new framework" is nothing but an effort to look like he's doing something without really doing anything at all.

And, indeed, the U.S. has agreed to nothing at all at the G8 summit:

Washington says it will not agree to a deal on slashing greenhouse gas emissions at the G8 summit in Germany.

A top US climate official said the G8 should not dictate members' policies, but President Bush said he still had a "strong desire" for a post-Kyoto plan.

Bush may not be a global warming denier along the lines of many on the American right, but he is a unilateralist who refuses to pursue any sort of transformative international agreement on global warming. He wants to do it his way, to pursue some sort of post-Kyoto plan on his own terms, with talks conducted on his own terms. He may want to bring new powers like China, India, and Brazil into the mix, but what will that mean without a "substantial cut" in greenhouse gas emissions? Not much. And Bush doesn't want anything to do with a "substantial cut". In fact, he doesn't really want to do anything at all.

Ultimately, his "strong desire" amounts to fuck all.