POSTED 3 JUN 2002
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Global satellite map.
NASA Goddard Space Center.
In a striking about-face, the Bush administration has acknowledged that Earth is warming, and that the most likely cause is burning fossil fuels. The "U.S. Climate Action Report" acknowledged that global warming would "most likely" destroy alpine meadows, barrier islands and coral reefs. It may also cause the disintegration of southern forests. In the West, a decline in snow cover is expected to worsen water problems.
While growth of farm crops and forests is expected to increase, so will storms. Warming will also increase heat stress, air pollution and diseases transmitted by insects and rodents. Nonetheless, the report did not call for measures to combat warming, like conserving fossil fuels or finding alternative sources of energy. Rather, it said Earth and earthlings should adapt to warming.
The report was posted without fanfare on the website of the Environmental Protection Agency.
In finally admitting what scientists have been saying for years that emissions of greenhouse gases are the most likely cause of global warming, the report marked a "stark shift" for the Bush administration, as The New York Times noted.
But the report was considered a half-measure by many environmentalists. "The Bush administration now admits that global warming will change America's most unique wild places and wildlife forever," Mark Van Putten, president of the National Wildlife Federation, a conservation group, told the Times. "How can it acknowledge global warming is a disaster in the making and then refuse to help solve the problem, especially when solutions are so clear?"
©2001, University of Wisconsin, Board of Regents.