Heated Conversation
A discussion on global warming the world desperately needs.
By Amanda Terkel
Friday September 29, 2006
On May 22, a reporter asked President Bush whether he would see “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore’s new movie on global warming. “Doubt it,” Bush coolly replied.
It’s too bad President Bush didn’t see the movie. Evidently, Gore is quite persuasive at convincing skeptics that manmade global warming is real and requires urgent action. At last week’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) conference, word spread quickly that Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson would commit $3 billion to fight global warming. But the most surprising part of Branson’s announcement was that he used to be a global warming skeptic until a meeting with Gore pushed him to change his mind.
“I was skeptical, but I’ve met a lot of scientists. I’ve read a lot of books. I’ve had Al Gore spend two hours at my home giving me his personal time to convince me, and sadly, I’m now convinced that the world has a serious problem,” Branson later told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Climate change skeptics are quickly melting away. An ExxonMobil spokesman announced that this year, the company stopped funding the Competitive Enterprise Institute, one of the most prominent organizations to attempt to raise doubts about global warming. Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss®, who voted against a bill last year to cap greenhouse gas emissions, now believes “there really is something to it [global warming].” Even Pat Robertson — who was, like Branson, a former climate change skeptic — has admitted that “we really need to do something on fossil fuels.”
The president is one of the few remaining skeptics. In June he stated, “The fundamental debate: Is it manmade or natural. Put that aside.” But there is no debate among scientists. According to the National Academy of Scientists, "human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming."
Whereas Branson met with Gore, last year President Bush chose to instead sit down with science fiction author and climate science skeptic Michael Crichton, whose best-selling novel State of Fear suggests that global warming is an unproven theory and an overstated threat. Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes reported that the two “talked for an hour and were in near-total agreement.”
Bush has also reneged on his 2000 campaign promise to “require all power plants to meet clean-air standards in order to reduce emissions of…carbon dioxide within a reasonable period of time.” In a March 13, 2001, letter he said, “I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a ‘pollutant’ under the Clean Air Act.” In other words, Bush decided that the gas responsible for global warming doesn’t count as a pollutant.
Much of Branson’s $3 billion will go toward developing an alternative fuel, which he hopes will work in automobiles, trains, and even commercial jets. On Sept. 10, he announced the creation of Virgin Fuels, which will invest up to $400 million in biofuels over the next three years. The 2007 federal budget contains just $150 million for a biofuels initiative.
Not only should President Bush have seen “An Inconvenient Truth,” but he should have joined his wife at this year’s CGI conference. Committing $7.5 billion to alleviate poverty, improve global health, mitigate religious and ethnic conflict, and fight global warming, the conference’s members could have shown the president how to back up rhetoric with funding and action.
Branson’s commitment may have received the most press attention, but it wasn’t the only big project announced at the CGI conference. The Canadian Appleton Foundation committed up to $1 million to convert taxis and other public transportation across Canada to hybrid and low emission vehicles. The Enel Group pledged $400 million over two years to increase its commitment to renewable energy in developing countries. This announcement came at the same time the Bush administration said it will be eliminating research funding for hydropower and geothermal research, an approach that federal studies suggest could have “enormous” costs in lost opportunities. Hydropower and geothermal resources could replace more than 100 medium-size coal-fired power plants with emissions-free electricity
It’s encouraging that people like Branson, Clinton, and Gore aren’t sitting around waiting for the federal government to take action against global warming. But eventually, the government will need to step in. Hopefully the president will invite Al Gore – or even Pat Robertson – to sit down and chat before it is too late.
Amanda Terkel is a researcher at the Center for American Progress and writes for ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report. She recently attended the second annual Clinton Global Initiative conference.
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Check out this website for Global Warming and sea level rise predictions in Maine. The Bush family compound in Kennebunkport will be underwater…
— Jim - Sep 29, 03:50 PM - #Excellent work, Amanda.
One reason there was so much funding support for global warming initiatives at the CGI is that in the private sector, there is not only an emerging consensus that global warming is an urgent crisis—there is a growing willingness to address this crisis with meaningful action.
It is clear that innovative corporations and forward-thinking corporate leaders cannot solve this crisis alone.
But hopefully they can continue to “show the way” to a President who claims to hold them in such high regard.
— Reed - Sep 29, 09:31 PM - #