Given our interest in the climate change issue right now here in North Carolina, it?s worth pondering a blog post today at National Review?s The Corner that treats the G-8 developments as a win. Here?s the first part:
The official communique of the G8 leaders on global warming represents a significant victory for President Bush. There are no targets or timetables, no ominous declarations of immediate global catastrophe, and no calls to reduce world energy consumption. Instead, the statement recognizes that the threat is long-term and stresses the need for adaptation to deal with the challenges. Moreover, there is recognition that the world actually needs to increase power consumption to help the 2 billion people who have little or no access to energy. In effect, the G8 has adopted the American position on global warming as the consensus position (even the language about science comes straight from Administration documents). This statement relegates global warming to its proper place in world affairs – one to keep an eye on, and work to mitigate with appropriate, low-cost strategies, but not an immediate priority.
