Sign a petition to prompt Bush to address climate in his state of the union speech 3

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1. 

   Mike Frew Posted 6:49 am
   24 Jan 2008

   Brilliant, but....Surely the Cimate Action Project should be the first cab off the rank in endorsing calls for "accuracy over rhetoric".
   "We can no longer discuss the State of the Union without assessing the state of the nation's climate"
   Thats a nicely rounded call for policy action (or is it seekeing more rhetoric?!) which, unfortunately, misleads.
   Sure, my quibble is over semantics; climate should indeed be a cornerstone of the speech. But if Bush is to be accurate and inform action, surely he's best to address national impact on global climate. National emissions have global impact.
   For me, using Bush's rhetoric from last year, the statement would better read: "We can no longer discuss the State of the Union without assessing the state of the nation's impact on global climate change." Or would that be asking too much: an admission of global culpability?
   Inaccuracy is excusable (maybe!?) for grist readers - we're relatively well informed. But this seeks to influence an address to the nation. Perpetuating a soft national perception of impact does nothing for US citizens propensity to act.
   Nor does it shift global perception that the US (generally) is doing SFA in addressing "global climate change"...

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2. 

   Tasermons Partner Posted 7:44 am
   24 Jan 2008

   Bad idea......if he talks at all 'bhout climate change, it'll be over his belief that we need to ramp up ethanol production, that "his" energy bill increased furl mileage (never mind the California debacle), or how his "forest management" program cuts down on pollution from forest fires (never mind that it achieves that objective by clear-cuttin' said forests).
   We don't need him preachin' a skewed version of climate action to the country anymore than he already has.

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3. 

   wsb128 Posted 11:18 pm
   24 Jan 2008

   State of the Climate messageMike - You're absolutely correct, of course, that climate change is a global, not a national, problem. The reason we focused on the "state of the nation's climate" was to drive home an important point: That climate change is here and now, affecting the U.S. as well as Greenland, the Arctic, the Antarctic and the island nations. Part of our denial in this country is to think of climate change as distant in time and distant geographically. But as the statement says, we're already seeing impacts here in the U.S. that are consistent with the predicted impacts of climate change. In this case, we felt, understanding climate change as a U.S. as well as a global phenomenon was important to creating a sense of immediacy and urgency here.
   
   Bill Becker

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