The (not quite) greening of the President

In his State of the (dis)Union speech earlier this week George Bush made a few grudging "concessions" to enviromentalists and all of those concerned about human induced climate change. Basically he suggested that Americans should burn more corn and that the big American automakers would volunteer to make their cars more efficient. There were, of course, no suggestions that American (and Western European) citizens needed to address their profligate use of energy to drive a wasteful, consume-at-all-costs society.

With the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change due to release its report next week which will suggest that the situation is real, it is grave and that dire action is required to address the problem, if it is addressable at all, the American government is planning a counter attack. The planned US response sounds as if it was assembled by a group of stoned university students who were trying to kill the time between pizza deliveries. Alternatives provided to any sacrifice on the part of the American consumer include:

• Sending some really big mirrors into space to reflect the naughty sunlight away. There is no suggestion that launching really big brollies were even considered and I would like to know why not.
• Launching clouds of pixie dust above the earth
• Digging some holes and burying the CO2 - possibly on New Jersey superfund sites.

The Americans are also upset at the report's lack of emphasis on the upside of global warming such as the addition of beaches to Tennessee's tourist attractions, Xmas day barbeques in Duluth and Massachusetts orange juice.

The US comments on the IPCC document are to be found here (PDF).