So yes, as expected, George Bush's big speech on climate policy yesterday actually yielded very little in the way of good news. Yes, it's great that he finally got around to admitting climate change is real and a problem, and better still that he's at least discussing targets for emissions reductions. But here's the problem: his plan for "halting the growth" of U.S. emissions by 2025 not only doesn't call for mandatory cuts or enforcement mechanisms. Besides that, most of the rest of the world is calling for emissions to peak in 2020, and Bush's plan would mean 17 more years of unfettered emissions. Dan Froomkin does an excellent job of illustrating the many ways this speech was just like every other one he's given, and David Roberts picks it apart piece by piece. But I think Ed Markey, chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, put it best in his statement on the address, noting that "By the time President Bush's plan finally starts to cut global warming emissions, the planet will already be cooked."
--Kate Sheppard
