Ignoring a Growing Peril
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The Bush administration has acknowledged that the U.S. will experience far-reaching and, in some cases, devastating environmental consequences as a result of global warming. But it does not plan to do much about it.

The administration has been so poor when it comes to climate change that this odd bit of news was initially seen as some sort of progress. It was thought, momentarily, that the president might be starting to pull his head out of the increasingly hot sand on this issue.

The administration's interagency report, which was compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency, notes that the warming of the U.S. is expected to be greater in the 21st century than in the 20th, and will affect nearly every region of the country. Seas are expected to rise, causing an additional loss of coastal wetlands. Storm surges will pose a greater threat to coastal communities. We'll have to endure more stifling heat waves, and the disruption of snow-fed water supplies. Some treasured ecosystems, such as the Rocky Mountain meadows and certain coral reefs and barrier islands, are likely to disappear entirely.

In addition to acknowledging that the earth is already sizzling, the report made it clear that human activity — the burning of fossil fuels that release heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere — was the primary culprit.