President George W. Bush and the U.S. government might not be in denial of climate change these days, but their position is little more responsible than the cowboy stance Bush assumed on first coming to power. Climate change is happening, but hell, there's nothing to be done about it, they say.
"Adapting to a changing climate is inevitable," states the U.S. Climate Action Report, published in June. "The question is whether we adapt poorly or well." The report appeared on the Web site of the Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov) -- a government body that, under the current administration, should think about changing its name.
That fatalistic attitude was reflected last month at the latest round of climate-change talks in New Delhi, where the declaration on global warming failed to even mention the Kyoto Protocol.