Bush has a new strategy to combat the War on global warming. No, that isn’t the punch line, but it is a joke. I don’t want to sound cynical, but any policy on global warming set forth by an administration that has launched an all out assault on the environment can be trusted as much as handing the keys to the hen house to sly Mr. fox, only these guys aren’t very sly.
This is the President after all that withdrew the U.S. from the Kyoto Protocol, so GM, Ford and Chrysler could go on producing gas guzzlers unchecked (a strategy that completely backfired on the Big two and a half) and factories did not have to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition, let us not forget the cronies he’s put in place over at the EPA, or their subsequent decision to fight the states for regulating auto emissions as unconstitutional, a bizarre case where the EPA claimed it had no authority to set regulations. A policy the Supreme Court found in favor of the states.
Or what about his pro oil company stance on alternative fuels, claiming that electric cars and hybrids were not enough, so lets wait for the fuel cell. While I agree the fuel cell is the future, hybrids make great stepping stones, and why didn’t Bush put his money where his mouth was anyway? Instead, they threw billions of dollars at a war over oil, while giving a tiny amount to researching the fuel cell. Why? Because hybrids will hurt the oil companies and the fuel cell will devastate them. Remember daddy Bush as well as junior and Dick Cheney all have large amounts of capital in oil. So you know that it’s all talk.
Now Bush has a plan to save the planet, all we have to do is trust him, sound familiar? This plan does not seek to limit emissions, rather have nations reach a common goal on reducing emissions, set for when the Kyoto protocol expires. In other words it has no guts, no drive and does not take the initiative.
So what’s the purpose? Well it’s a stratagem, probably intended to indicate a compromise on the issue to European nations who are still pissed off at Bush for withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol in the first place. Maybe he’s trying to suck up to them so he can enlist their help in Iraq, or perhaps some monetary policy, or perhaps he is attempting to make on last big favor to the industrial polluters, seeing that Green House emissions reduction is inevitable and seeking to have those reductions be as little as possible.
The only positive thing about this proposal is that it shows that even Bush sees the writing on the wall, that Global Warming is a reality, a reality not just in science but in politics and business as well. With the Wall Street Journal’s coverage not overtly anti-environmental, even taking a decisive tone against Bush in the article on the subject, things are changing.
Could it be that the corporate forces that run this country are starting to see the enormous money making potential in environmentalism? HSBC, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America are all getting in on the act, contributing Billions of dollars towards green initiatives, even joining with environmental groups in doing so.
The times they are a changing aren’t they?