Puh-lease Academies

Science academies from 11 countries say global warming is, yes, real

Yesterday, national science academies from 11 nations cosigned a letter to the world's leaders, making an unprecedented joint statement: Global warming is almost certainly caused by human activity; it's the biggest risk we've ever faced as a species; please #$&!*% do something about it. Signatories include science organizations from every member of the G8 group of industrialized nations, plus Brazil, China, and India, the three leading greenhouse-gas emitters in the developing world. The agitated scientists released the statement a month ahead of the G8's July summit, where summit leader U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair will push for a strong, unified statement on climate change. What's more, they spoke up on the very day that Blair was meeting with President Bush -- a tireless advocate of, uh, studying the problem more -- in Washington, D.C. Known for his indifference toward international opinion, Bush was no doubt relieved that at least the U.S. National Academy of Sciences never signs on to these things ... oh, wait, this time it did.