week 3: article one-pager

“White House Claims Green Success”
The big hubbub right now seems to be “going green” and doing everything that is environmentally friendly with the threat of global warming looming. In the article, the White House’s top environmental adviser claims the Bush administration has taken the major steps in the fight against global warming. There have apparently been decreases in some air pollution and a decrease in greenhouse-gas emissions. The decrease is being attributed to the government, the private sector, and the weather, which have all contributed. This claim that the Bush administration has done so much to combat global warming sparked a debate in the Senate. It seems some people believe the government has done very little as most of the changes can be attributed to favorable weather conditions. There are plans to discuss the issue at upcoming international summits, which have other nations involved. If global warming is real (I’m not saying it’s not) then the effort to save the planet will involve more than just the U.S. All of this “going green” stuff would help and trying to lower emissions helps, but in the end this will have to be a group effort among the world nations. I thought this article was interesting. I have not read a whole lot of this issue in a while. I do remember debates between people about if global warming is real or not. I guess it is a fact that there is a lot of pollution in the country and in the world. Efforts to reduce pollution and greenhouse-gases are important, as those are real. Part of the article says government statistics show the opposite of this new claim of the Bush administration’s triumphs. If these positive things occurred under this government, then why would the numbers be different? It is clear that no one really knows what’s going on around here as everyone has conflicting stories, opinions, and information. Instead of focusing on who should be credited with the three percent decrease in greenhouse gases, we should be focusing on ways to keep reducing them and other pollutants. Sure, this could mean the nation is making progress in improving the environment, but it is just one step. The entire world should be involved if it is not already and more steps need to be taken to save the planet. If the air pollution and greenhouse gases led to increasing temperatures to melt the polar ice caps, causing floods, we would be in some serious trouble.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jun/03/white-house-claims-green-success/?page=2