SOTU: Short shrift for climate change : The Island of Doubt

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James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.

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SOTU: Short shrift for climate change

Posted on: January 24, 2007 7:05 AM, by James Hrynyshyn

Here's what George W. Bush had to say about climate change in his penultimate state of the union address: "...and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change." That's it. A parathetical afterthought for the most pressing issue of modern times. I suppose we should be happy that even that much made it through the editing process. Oh well.

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Comments

Hey,
At least he finally mentioned it, for the first time. Imagine if he had to deal with a Democratic majority throughout his entire Presidency?

There are stories that after his election, he was really planning on being a "uniter" until Rove looked at the polls and realized there was no political upside to it.

Maybe he is reverting. Too little, too late.

Posted by: Robert P. | January 24, 2007 11:07 AM

Wondering how Bush can get away with continuing to side-step and downplay the climate issue? It's because his base among *college-educated* Republicans continues to refute the science and urgency of global warming. See this post on the details and why college-educated Republicans remain more skeptical than their high-school counterparts.

http://scienceblogs.com/framing-science/2007/01/in_latest_survey_only_23_of_co.php

Posted by: Matthew C. Nisbet | January 24, 2007 7:10 PM

Well he may have mentioned it, but his plans take as much as give. A big chunck of the proposed alternative fuels is coal to diesel. That would add about as much CO2, as the quite modest bump in CAFE saves. The rest is same-old same-old, talk of technology doing the job, but no substantial funding -or economic incentives for research/deployment. Looks just like Iraq, kick the can down the road for another two years.
I was surpised (dismayed) to hear foreign reaction -they seemed to think his position had actually changed.

Posted by: big | January 24, 2007 11:09 PM

"Republicans continues to refute"

Actually, they _dis_pute. It is not possible to refute either the science or the urgency.

Posted by: Greg | January 25, 2007 11:12 PM