Global Warming and the G-8

As the G-8 summit begins today one of the main issues being emphasized by Tony Blair, the current President of the G-8, is the reduction of greenhouse gases in order to slow global warming. It is generally recognized that the burning of fossil fuels over the past hundred years or so has contributed to the gradual warming of the planet. Republicans have always questioned these findings, bringing up some good points. For instance, there is also evidence that the warming of the Earth is partially due to sun activity. They argue that additional research must be done to clearly identify the causes before any corrective action can be instituted. This argument is merely a red herring. The true reason for their constant questioning of the science is the "harm" it would cause the US economy.

This argument that it would "harm the economy" is shortsighted in my opinion. The real problem is that the oil industry is so entrenched that there can be no success with any attempt to develop something better. With the number of intelligent scientists and engineers in this country I find it hard to believe that a cost effective alternative to fossil fuels cannot be found that would cause less pollution and reduce our dependency on foreign sources. Instead, our automobile industry is playing catch-up to the Japanese in regards to hybrid cars. With the amount of wealth, intelligence and business friendly laws in this country we should be pioneering new technologies, not following behind a country whose economy has been mostly stagnant for 15 years.

Listen to conservatives or read their articles and you'll see how they are all for drilling in ANWAR or off the coast of Florida, but then see how they dismiss increased fuel efficiency standards or belittle the development of renewable energy sources like wind, solar or hydrogen fuel cells. If they weren't in the pocket of the oil industry they should be cheering on the development of new technologies that we may then sell throughout the world. Instead we ignore or fudge scientific reports to make it appear the science is faulty in regards to the dangers of burning fossil fuels. We refuse to increase CAFÉ standards because it would "unduly burden" the auto industry. HELLO!!!! Detroit's problems aren't because they can't meet CAFÉ standards, their problems are due to being the last ones to catch new trends and invest in new tachnologies. Instead of leading, they're at the rear of the pack, constantly trying to play catch up and blaming everyone but themselves. I'm sick of it. We should be constantly trying to develop better, cleaner energy sources and leading the world in clean fuel technologies. Instead, President Bush is at the G-8 Summit trying to water down the wording of a Global Warming agreement so that it in essence says "It may be getting warmer but we're really not sure and would like to study it more until eggs can fry on pavement in the middle of winter, then we'll be pretty sure something may be happening."

Makes me sick.