Editorial Published on Saturday, January 21, 2006 by the Philadelphia Inquirer
The message to the Bush administration on global warming couldn’t be clearer: Do something.
Since
2001, climatologists, environmentalists, economists, world leaders,
governors, senators and business executives have been begging President
Bush for something more than another study or voluntary cutbacks by
industry on greenhouse-gas emissions, which trap atmospheric heat and
warm the Earth.
Rising
surface temperatures are melting ice caps, raising sea levels, and
hurting plants and animals in ways scientists predict will increasingly
endanger human health. A study published in last week’s journal Nature
documents the first species believed to have been wiped out by global
warming.
The heat is definitely on.
Joining
the chorus for action this week were six former administrators of the
Environmental Protection Agency dating to William D. Ruckelshaus, the
agency’s first leader, who served President Richard Nixon.
During
a discussion Wednesday celebrating the 35th anniversary of the EPA,
five Republicans and one Democrat agreed: Global warming is real and
getting worse. The United States should stop ignoring it.
William
K. Reilly, who served President George H.W. Bush, called remaining
skeptics “outliers.” He demanded remedies – such as energy-efficiency
incentives or mandatory emissions reductions – instead of more hot air
about the validity of climate science.
Global
warming is rising on Congress’ agenda, thanks to influential advocacy
from senators including John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman
(D., Conn.). But key committee chairmen such as James Inhofe (R.,
Okla.), who once termed global warming a “hoax,” still block most good
ideas. Last year, Inhofe called novelist Michael Crichton, father of
the “techno-thriller,” as an “expert” witness. A medical degree and
well-footnoted fiction don’t qualify Crichton to advise Congress on
protecting the atmosphere.
Other
countries are acting aggressively to reduce man-made contributions to
warming. They’re wisely heeding scientists’ warnings that the ill
effects of climate change will only accelerate the longer humans tarry.
It’s time Congress and Bush likewise listened to the chorus.
©
2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer