ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Bush steadfast on rejection of global warming

President Bush is holding fast to his rejection of mandatory curbs on greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming, despite a fresh report from 300 scientists in the United States and seven other nations that shows Arctic temperatures are rising.

And

"President Bush strongly opposes any treaty or policy that would cause the loss of a single American job, let alone the nearly 5 million jobs Kyoto would have cost," said James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Headed into his second term, Bush continues to believe he "made the right leadership choice" by repudiating the U.N.-sponsored pact negotiated in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, Connaughton said.

Former President Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, negotiated the treaty for the United States and had a major role in its final form.

"Kyoto was a bad treaty for the United States," said Mike Leavitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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The notion that reducing greenhouse gasses would cost the US five million jobs is very debatable, especially when you factor in the numerous economists who believe that compliance with the Kyoto treaty would actually create many jobs that would offset any losses. Even so, we're talking about an eventual environmental catastrophe that would render moot the entire question of job loss.

Read on.

From the Los Angeles Times, again via the Houston Chronicle:

Report cites rapid Arctic warming

The Arctic is experiencing some of the most rapid and severe warming on the planet, according to a new, eight-nation report — the most comprehensive assessment of Earth's fragile northern cap to date.

The report, a four-year effort involving hundreds of scientists, describes vast areas of melting ice, declining species and fading indigenous cultures.

"It's affecting people up there now," said Robert Corell, the American oceanographer who led the project. "And there are very serious consequences for people on the rest of the planet."

The report states that climate change is accelerating sharply, spurred by human production of greenhouse gases, which have increased in the atmosphere by nearly 30 percent since the Industrial Revolution.

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We are in deep doo-doo.

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