The World to the US

Bali - Climate Change Conference

"We seek your leadership. But if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way."

The conference exploded with applause, the U.S. delegation backed down, and the way was cleared yesterday for adoption of the "Bali road map" after a dramatic half-hour that set the stage for a grinding two years of climate talks to come.

My comment: How far we've fallen in the eyes of the world. How great our loss of credibility!

In our press to protect short term economic stability we have ignored the long term consequences and abdicated our position as leaders of the world. The long term consequences are almost universally recognized in the scientific community ... that part of the scientific community not on corporate PR payrolls ... and those consequences are dire. The long term economic consequences are far greater than any of the imagined short term consequences inherent in taking action.

But, if you believe that the second coming is at hand and you believe that you are in a position to "bring it on" ... well, the best course of action on this issue is in-action and that is precisely what our so-called leadership has been doing.

File it all under "You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time ... but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."