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March 19th, 2002 Uncle Sam coming around? It is for the first
time that the Bush administration has linked an increase in global warming to human
activities in the us. The Climate Action Report 2002 of the us government says,
“Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere as a result of human
activities, causing global mean surface air temperature and subsurface ocean temperature
to rise.” In the past, the Bush administration had said scientific evidence was not
clear on whether the increasing temperature was due to human activities. The us is the
biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, (about 20 per cent) — mainly from the burning of
coal, oil and gas in factories and power plants (see A forceful endorsement,
p13). However, the report gives priority to the us economy over the environment. The
document states: “We seek an environmentally sound approach that will not harm the us
economy. We believe that economic development is key to protecting the global environment.
In the real world, no one will forego meeting basic family needs to protect the global
commons.” The report emphasises on a us response to global warming that relies on a
voluntary approach to reducing emissions by polluters. At the same time, the document
forecasts a 43 per cent increase in us greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 even after carbon
sequestration is accounted for.
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