The administration's goals regarding emissions

A timeline put together by The Times' Andrew Revkin and Farhana Hossain showing changes in the administration's view of global warming (click image to enlarge)

Yesterday, Bush spoke at the United States Agency for International Development in Washington. “In recent years, science has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new possibilities for confronting it,” he said.

The New York Times Radio Editor Jane Bornemeier discussed the talk and its implications with Times reporter Andrew Revkin. "There's been a groundswell of concern about climate that's built over two years," he said, "counting high energy prices, Hurricane Katrina, the Al Gore movie, and then the series of science reports from the UN have really built a case that's hard to undermine."

Revkin explained that Bush has never really said that we needed to cut emissions until now. The timeline above illustrates that fact. After several minutes of discussing this, Bornemeier got down to business: "Is this all talk?" she asked Revkin. "It's all talk until they meet," he replied, referring to the Group of 8 (or G-8) nations that will meet in Germany next week. "This is a long-term process."

“There is no more time for longwinded talks about unenforceable long-term goals,” said David Doniger, climate policy director for the National Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group in Washington, as quoted in the article. “We need to get a serious commitment to cut emissions now and in the G-8.”

The Times article can be found here.