Wishing Climate Change Away

For weeks there had been rumbles that Bush would make a major reversal in his policies on greenhouse gases.  Finally living up to promises that he made prior to the 2000 election, he would get tough on industry to halt climate change.  

President George W. Bush announced Wednesday what the White House calls "realistic long-term and intermediate goals" for stopping the growth of greenhouse gas emissions

First hint that there's not much to this?  The word "realistic."  Whenever the Bush administration uses that word, it actually means "insubstantial."  And in this case "imaginary."

Bush did not, however, propose specific legislation requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Instead he offered a broad goal of reducing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 without specifying how the goal should be reduced.

So what Bush is actually proposing is... nothing.  Nothing at all.  He's setting some goals for 2025 -- goals that don't come close to meeting the greenhouse reductions experts believe are required to slow climate change -- and even then he's not doing anything to meet those goals.  

That's not to say that today's announcement was without a purpose.  

Environmental groups argue the president's speech is political posturing designed to erode support for more strident legislation that will be debated in Congress this June. ... "The president is throwing a Hail Mary to polluters in a last-ditch effort to stave off any meaningful action on global warming. Under the president's plan we'll need a real miracle to save us from global warming," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club.

Just as Bush's "Clear Skies" plan allowed older power plants to increase pollution, and his "Healthy Forests" plan allowed more forests to be converted into wood pulp, this "Climate Change" program is designed to make sure that the climate gets to go on changing, unimpeded by any environmental legislation.

Update [2008-4-16 18:26:25 by Devilstower]: Some reactions to Bush's non-proposal.  

A Siegel at Energy Smart gives an annotated version of Bush's speech which he called "an insult to Americans".

Climate Progress declares Bush a modern Nero.

And Representative Edward Markey spells it out bluntly.

"By the time President Bush's plan finally starts to cut global warming emissions, the planet will already be cooked.

"The President's short-term goal is to do nothing, his medium-term goal is to do nothing much, and his long-term goal is to do nothing close to what's needed to save the planet from global warming."

(A tip of the hat to A Siegel for the links)