Thomas Wagner of the Associated Press wrote a great article entitled, "Britain calls global warming calamity waiting to happen." In the article, Mr. Wagner addresses how seriously Tony Blair takes global warming and his dissatisfaction with U.S. environmental policy. As we all know, our current president refused to sign the Kyoto treaty, claiming that it would hinder the U.S. economy. Interestingly enough, Mr. Blair has aligned himself, environmentally-speaking, with George W. Bush's former nemesis of sorts, Al Gore. In fact, Great Britain has hired Mr. Gore to advise it on climate change. In addition, Mr. Blair has signed an agreement with California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to come up with technology to combat global warming. Given California's wealth of technological minds and innovative businesses, this seems like a great fit. I found the most poignant part of Mr. Blair's remarks to be the fact that even if Great Britain eliminated all of its 2% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, this progress would be wiped out in two years by the increase in China's emissions.

Mr. Blair is absolutely correct that the struggle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions cannot succeed without the cooperation of the U.S. and quickly industrializing nations like China and India. I read somewhere recently that the world's resources could be used up by 2050, if we continue to consume them like we are today. Similarly, as the article notes, average global temperatures could rise up to 5.4 degrees in the next 50 years. Our babies will not even be in AARP then.

As population swells and the need for more energy comes into play, smaller nations cannot make up the difference with greenhouse gas limits. California is a great example of how technology can flourish in a large region while keeping emissions in check. How can we serve as an example for China and India if we refuse to take climate change seriously and ignore real steps to limit our greenhouse gas emissions? What happens when every young Chinese person wants a car, as is starting to happen? This alone could prove devasting for the climate. Yet, at the same time, we as Americans need to look at our own way of living and show how modern living does not have to mean skyrocketing greenhouse gas emissions. As I've said before, the irony is that we are using archaic energy sources, like coal and oil, to fuel our technological advances. It's amazing that the biggest technological advances--those for developing energy in a carbon neutral way--are still extremely experimental and new. If we want to be technologically advanced, we need to move away from fossil fuels that are as old as our grandparents and great-grandparents.