George Bush’s wake-up call
Sep 01, 2005
THE Mayor of New Orleans is now estimating that thousands of people may have died when Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana this week. The minimum estimate for the damage caused by the hurricane is 25 billion dollars.
THE Mayor of New Orleans is now estimating that thousands of people may have died when Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana this week. The minimum estimate for the damage caused by the hurricane is 25 billion dollars.
The numbers who died and the cost are very similar to the al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Centre.
The September 11 attack prompted the Bush administration to invade and occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, and to spend a fortune on building Fortress America.
Many have questioned whether the conduct of the ‘war on terror’ is appropriate, effective or sustainable. But no-one has questioned the extraordinary commitment of the Bush administration to eliminating anti-American terrorists around the world.
By contrast, the Bush administration has been lukewarm on everything to do with the environment. It has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol that would limit carbon emissions globally; it wants to drill for oil in Alaska and national parks; and it has rolled back controls on industrial emissions.
Almost as an article of faith, the Bush administration refuses to accept that global warming is a growing problem. It wants to defend the ‘American way of life’ with its gas-guzzling cars and colossal energy consumption. But America contributes a quarter of total global emission of greenhouse gases. Unless America does something, there is no way that global warming will come under control.
Hurricane Katrina should be President Bush’s wake-up call on global warming, just as September 11 was on terror. Hurricanes in the Atlantic and Caribbean are increasing in frequency and intensity because of global warming. Hurricanes like Katrina will be the norm in the future, not the exception.
President Bush should now realise that the escalating strength of hurricanes is due to global climate change and that the United States must start to limit its emissions of greenhouse gases. At a minimum, Bush should now agree to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Ends
The numbers who died and the cost are very similar to the al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Centre.
The September 11 attack prompted the Bush administration to invade and occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, and to spend a fortune on building Fortress America.
Many have questioned whether the conduct of the ‘war on terror’ is appropriate, effective or sustainable. But no-one has questioned the extraordinary commitment of the Bush administration to eliminating anti-American terrorists around the world.
By contrast, the Bush administration has been lukewarm on everything to do with the environment. It has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol that would limit carbon emissions globally; it wants to drill for oil in Alaska and national parks; and it has rolled back controls on industrial emissions.
Almost as an article of faith, the Bush administration refuses to accept that global warming is a growing problem. It wants to defend the ‘American way of life’ with its gas-guzzling cars and colossal energy consumption. But America contributes a quarter of total global emission of greenhouse gases. Unless America does something, there is no way that global warming will come under control.
Hurricane Katrina should be President Bush’s wake-up call on global warming, just as September 11 was on terror. Hurricanes in the Atlantic and Caribbean are increasing in frequency and intensity because of global warming. Hurricanes like Katrina will be the norm in the future, not the exception.
President Bush should now realise that the escalating strength of hurricanes is due to global climate change and that the United States must start to limit its emissions of greenhouse gases. At a minimum, Bush should now agree to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Ends