This infrared image of the Earth was taken on 5 March 2005 after Rosetta's closest approach to Earth by VIRTIS from a distance of 250 000 kilometres and with a resolution of 62 kilometres per pixel.
The image shows the distribution of CO2 bands in the Earth's atmosphere. In the green areas the CO2 concentration is enhanced.
Carbon Dioxide Bands in Earth's Troposphere (click on)
Published: March 11, 2007
If President Bush requires any more proof that he sits on the wrong side of the global warming debate, he should listen to his own scientists. An internal draft of a report the administration will soon forward to the United Nations shows that his program of voluntary reductions has done little to stop the rise in greenhouse gases generated in this country.
There is no sign that this report will alter Mr. Bush’s thinking; he contemptuously dismissed a similar report five years ago as bureaucratic boilerplate. But we are hopeful that it will add momentum to the bills circulating in Congress that would impose mandatory limits on these gases, a course Mr. Bush has opposed since renouncing his own 2000 campaign pledge to do just that.
The document — a distillation of expert views in various federal agencies — will show that Mr. Bush is making modest progress towards his goal of making sure that emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases grow at a slower rate than the economy. But it will also show that in absolute terms, emissions will grow nearly as fast in the next decade as they did in the last, when they increased by 11.6 percent. This is not much better than business as usual. And as national policy it is clearly unacceptable.
The carbon lodged in the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution has already taken a toll — disappearing glaciers, increasingly acidic oceans. The report predicts even graver consequences to come, including severe and persistent droughts in the Western United States. Essentially a scientific document, the report will not recommend new directions in policy. But its clear message is that stopping and then reversing these emissions is the only way to avert real trouble.
As Congress is beginning to realize, that will require a program of carbon controls at home and a good deal of persuasion and technological change abroad, especially in China, which will soon overtake the United States as the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases.
This page has long lamented that Mr. Bush seems perfectly happy bringing up the rear of a parade he ought to be leading. His lack of leadership is all the more noticeable now that so many prominent figures in government and business have joined in.
In January, 10 major corporations announced their support of a mandatory limit on emissions. Two regional agreements to cap greenhouse gases — agreements developed in part by Republican governors — are nearing completion. And Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, has urged the relevant House committees to produce a bill by the summer.
Mr. Bush changed his mind once on carbon emissions. He should change it again. The world will thank him for doing so.
