http://www.aspentimes.com/apps/pbcs....NEWS/306220015

Save the world - remove a Bush, experts declare




By Scott Condon
Aspen Times Staff Writer

Want to help save the world without making much effort? Remove a Bush,
advised some renowned environmental experts who spoke at the State of the
World Conference in Aspen this weekend.

That would be President George W. Bush.

Several speakers during the three-day conference entitled "Creative Ideas
for a Threatened and Threatening World" criticized the Bush administration
either directly or indirectly for its positions on environmental issues.
Bush was targeted for doing everything from soft pedaling global climate
change to bailing out of international family planning efforts.

"This is the most short-sighted administration there's ever been," declared
author Bill McKibben, who sounded an early alarm about global warming in the
book "The End of Nature," published in 1989.

Seventeen speakers identified social and environmental ills facing the
planet, the country and the American West during three half-day sessions.
The conference was presented at Paepcke Auditorium by The Sopris Foundation,
which is run by the John McBride family.

While most speakers tried to identify solutions to the problems, gloomy
assessments were in abundance. And many speakers made it clear that they
didn't think the Bush administration or American society as a whole is
helping to find the creative solutions.

The most partisan and critical speaker was David Orr, a professor and chair
of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College in Ohio.

Orr criticized the Bush administration for stressing the colored alerts for
terrorism threats in the United States but paying little attention to
environmental issues. The quality of our air, water, soils and wildlife are
"code red," meaning in the highest degree of danger, Orr said.

"First and foremost we've got a political problem," he said. The
conservative right wing of the Republican party has wrestled control of the
country while Democrats and liberals play "too nice," said Orr.

The right wing has a plan for carrying out 50 years of domination, Orr said,
but he doesn't think they will achieve it.

"The public is with us," he told the liberal, environmentally conscious
crowd. And world opinion is with "us," as shown by polls that showed
international opposition to America pursuing a war in Iraq.

"There is an explosion waiting to happen," Orr said. It won't be fast or
simple, but it is coming, he predicted. And one way for Democrats and
environmentalists to accomplish their goals is to stop being timid about
their stances and to get as aggressive as the conservatives have been.

"We're not fated to destroy Earth," said Orr. "None of this is inevitable."

Maybe not, but the speakers made a convincing case that the state of the
world is downright depressing.

Chris Flavin of the Worldwatch Institute noted that Americans consume nearly
25 percent of the world's oil output annually even though it accounts for
less than 5 percent of the population. America's love affair with the sport
utility vehicle, he said, meant that the vehicles sold last year had the
worst average gas mileage in 14 years.

He said it is simplistic to suggest that the U.S. military intervention in
Iraq was solely due to oil. It's also naive to think that the Bush
administration wasn't acutely aware that two-thirds of the world's oil
reserves are located within 300 miles of Baghdad.

McKibben said that humans have raised unparalleled problems for the world,
but also possess unlimited potential for solving those issues.

"There's no question we do a tremendous amount of damage and we need to
bring it under control," he said.

He was particularly critical of the U.S. stance on global warming. The
Clinton administration "wasn't very good" about addressing the issue; the
Bush administration is "pathetic," he said.

But McKibben remains hopeful that human problem-solving capability will
shine through. He stirred the crowd with an explanation of how thinking
about overwhelming problems motivates his search for solutions.

"It's inconceivable that 100 years from now people will amuse themselves in
the ways they are now - driving around in huge machines and shopping all the
time," he said.

Yet, there was always reminders during the conference about just how
daunting some of the world's big issues have become. Lester Brown, the
president of Earth Policy Institute, brought the mammoth issue of global
warming into grasp by showing its connection to lower crop yields.

China is consuming more wheat than it grows now because of its diminished
water supply and flagging yields that are likely tied to higher
temperatures, according to Brown. How does that affect us? The world's most
populous country will become a wheat importer, requiring it to turn to the
United States. That will send food prices skyrocketing. It could also make
for a less stable, and more desperate, China.

The result, he said, is that America will have to pay closer attention to
the issue of global warming and it will have to help China address its
issues because it cannot afford for that country to be unstable.

While President Bush has been widely criticized for not agreeing to the
Kyoto Protocol, which targeted reductions of about 7 percent in carbon
dioxide emissions, Brown said "Kyoto is history" and shot for too small of
decreases.

He pointed to recent history as evidence. Through May, 2003 is shaping up as
the third-warmest year in history based on global averages. The 17 warmest
years have been recorded since 1980. The warmest years were 1998 and 2002.

The crisis is severe enough that the countries of the world must shoot for a
50 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2015, Brown claimed. Buying hybrid
cars, like the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic, and purchasing wind power from
electricity supplies are two ways individuals can help, he said.

Brown, like McKibben, holds out hope that humanity will rally to address
some of these issues. The U.S., he noted, had a defense budget of $343
billion last year, dwarfing the total spent by other countries combined.

"We have the resources," Brown said. "What we don't have yet is the
political will."




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"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that
we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt

"Feels Good!"
---George W. Bush on the Brink of Declaring War on Iraq.