Skipper

It's been a long time(much too long) a coming but today we're told George Bush is planning to reverse his position on climate change and the human causal connection. [My picture shows the Pasterze glacier in Austria which was two kilometres longer in the 19th century and is now no longer visible from this angle.]

We learn that after seven years in power, Bush has finally accepted the connection between global warming and CO2 emissions and the concomitant need for international agreement on a cap as agreed at Kyoto in 1997. The US had signed the Protocol but the incoming president who refused to ratify it; this despite the fact that his country, with 5% of the world's population produces one quarter of its emissions. Blair apparently discussed the topic with Bush before Christmas and may have had a bearing on the predicted U turn to be announced in the State of the Union message later this month. Well, that, supported by the Stern Report, would be some kind of return for the one sided 'special relationship' and maybe even a segment of that famous legacy...?

The timetable could be an EU agreement on a successor to Kyoto this spring, followed by formal agreement at the G8 in the summer. However, the article in The Observer cited above, also contains a warning by one source 'close to the negotiations' that Bush might flatter to deceive on this issue yet again. In August 2004, Bush seemed to make a U turn on causation but the expected follow up never materialised. The energy lobby did much to place their man in the White House and will not allow their poisonous golden goose to be slain without one hell of a fight. Let's hope and pray Bush has experienced a genuine epiphany on this vital issue.