In A Word: Greenhouse Effect
Gerald Eisman
April 06, 2006
Greenhouse effect: The phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation, caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the earth's surface.
Recently, the science academies of the G-8 countries (The US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and Italy) in addition to the academies of China, Brazil, and India issued a joint statement that called for prompt world action to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses. The communiqu?ecisively warned that delays would be costly.
It has since been discovered that the US and its current administration engaged in extraordinary efforts to completely undermine the science of climate change. It is now evident there was a distinct hardening of its position during the G-8 negotiations. "A European official close to the summit talks" leaked this news to a British newspaper.
According to the leaked document, the official Washington stance is the following.
The most important sentence removed from the report is the following.
President Bush personally dismissed a report put out by his own administration warning that human activities are behind climate changes that are having significant effects on the environment. In addition, scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it difficult for them to speak out honestly about the emission of greenhouse gasses (mainly carbon dioxide) and global warming. As a result, the American public is not getting all the facts on how our climate is changing.
Complaints by employees and contractors of government agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Geological Survey tell of deletions in their statements. Many references have been removed from their reports that allude to global warming. They have also been reprimanded for speaking out on policy questions. The new policy is to clear all media requests and research results with administration representatives prior to release to the public, a requirement not necessary before the summer of 2004.
Getting back to the report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dismissed by president Bush, it laid responsibility for much of the climate change on human activities such as oil refining, power plants, and internal combustion emissions (automobile exhausts.) Unfortunately, the report suggests little beyond voluntary reductions in the continual production of greenhouse gasses.
In previous statements issued by the Bush administration, the government's view of the situation was, there wasn't enough scientific evidence to support the theory that industrial emissions were even slightly responsible for global warming. The administration further denied the validity of the Kyoto protocol saying ratification would do great harm to our American economy.
It appears the current report from the EPA undercuts everything president Bush has said concerning global warming since he took office in 2000.
One member of the administration who feels president Bush hasn't done enough to prevent further erosion of the global environment is Senator John McCain. In a recent interview with Tim Russert on "Meet The Press", McCain said that the Bush Administration would not leave a very good environmental record. He voiced disappointment on the lack of action on the part of the administration toward alleviating the condition.
Recently, the science academies of the G-8 countries (The US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and Italy) in addition to the academies of China, Brazil, and India issued a joint statement that called for prompt world action to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses. The communiqu?ecisively warned that delays would be costly.
It has since been discovered that the US and its current administration engaged in extraordinary efforts to completely undermine the science of climate change. It is now evident there was a distinct hardening of its position during the G-8 negotiations. "A European official close to the summit talks" leaked this news to a British newspaper.
According to the leaked document, the official Washington stance is the following.
- All reference to the fact that climate change is a "serious threat to human health and the ecosystem is deleted.
- Any reference to the global warming currently happening is deleted.
- References to human activity being a causative factor no longer are included in the reports.
The most important sentence removed from the report is the following.
- Unless urgent action is taken, there will be a growing risk of adverse effects on economic development, human health and the natural environment, and of irreversible long-term changes to our climate and oceans.
President Bush personally dismissed a report put out by his own administration warning that human activities are behind climate changes that are having significant effects on the environment. In addition, scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it difficult for them to speak out honestly about the emission of greenhouse gasses (mainly carbon dioxide) and global warming. As a result, the American public is not getting all the facts on how our climate is changing.
Complaints by employees and contractors of government agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Geological Survey tell of deletions in their statements. Many references have been removed from their reports that allude to global warming. They have also been reprimanded for speaking out on policy questions. The new policy is to clear all media requests and research results with administration representatives prior to release to the public, a requirement not necessary before the summer of 2004.
Getting back to the report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dismissed by president Bush, it laid responsibility for much of the climate change on human activities such as oil refining, power plants, and internal combustion emissions (automobile exhausts.) Unfortunately, the report suggests little beyond voluntary reductions in the continual production of greenhouse gasses.
In previous statements issued by the Bush administration, the government's view of the situation was, there wasn't enough scientific evidence to support the theory that industrial emissions were even slightly responsible for global warming. The administration further denied the validity of the Kyoto protocol saying ratification would do great harm to our American economy.
It appears the current report from the EPA undercuts everything president Bush has said concerning global warming since he took office in 2000.
One member of the administration who feels president Bush hasn't done enough to prevent further erosion of the global environment is Senator John McCain. In a recent interview with Tim Russert on "Meet The Press", McCain said that the Bush Administration would not leave a very good environmental record. He voiced disappointment on the lack of action on the part of the administration toward alleviating the condition.
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