Oh, It's Unparalleled All Right

U.S. claims emissions-reduction success, U.N. Security Council debates climate

Today, for the first time ever, the U.N. Security Council will take up the topic of climate change and world security. "The security implications of climate changes are bigger than we thought even two or three years ago," says John Ashton, a climate lobbyist who pushed for the debate. "If there is no action, there will be no winners. All will be losers." Oh hey, and speaking of losers: according to U.S. EPA chief Stephen Johnson, the Bush administration's "unparalleled financial, international, and domestic commitment to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is delivering real results." His evidence? Emissions rose nearly 1 percent in 2005. "Things have come to a pretty sad state of affairs when the EPA tries to spin increased greenhouse-gas emissions as a victory," says Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch. In slightly less-sad climate news, a new study says Kilimanjaro's doomed glaciers will linger years longer than previously predicted. Somewhere Stephen Johnson is pumping his fist.