After last week's terrorist attacks, it might have seemed obvious that I would write about the London bombings. It just so happens that the attack is especially chilling for me because I spent Spring Quarter of my sophomore year 10 minutes from King's Cross station. I thought about writing a column about how the image of a double-decker bus blown apart had made me feel angry, sad and confused in an all-too-familiar way. But I'm tired of terrorism eclipsing other issues confronting our world. So, in a personal 'up yours' to the terrorists, I've decided not to give them any more publicity.
Prime Minister Tony Blair had made it clear heading into the G-8 summit that global warming was one of his main concerns. Many other world leaders in attendence were hoping to achieve realistic standards for emissions, like Blair had hoped. But they were unsuccessful, as President Bush sang the same old song of development over conservation. Instead of a firm directive outlining goals and policies needed to address this threat, the G-8-released declaration was a hodgepodge of toothless rhetoric and halfhearted pledges.
However, the one success of the summit was Bush's first public acknowledgement that human activity does have an effect on the environment -though his staff removed the original opening phrase: Our world is warming; whoa! Finally, the leader of the free world has agreed with what scientists have been saying for decades.
Bush's stubborn alignment with the minority on global warming -in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary -is reminiscent to South African President Thabo Mbeki's belief that HIV does not cause AIDS. That standpoint caused some of the population to ignore medical advice on using condoms during sex to possibly prevent the spread of the disease. Like Mbeki, Bush has a responsibility to his country to set aside his personal beliefs when science has proved him wrong. He does not have the right to downplay this threat simply because he fought science at every turn. (See also: evolution, homosexuality, euthanasia).
I could champion the summit like many environmental leaders do, calling it an introduction to dialogue that will lead to a decrease in fossil fuel emissions. But the fact remains that Earth is experiencing global warming and our president seems content to put off solving the problem. Let's just hope his opinion does not have the same effects as Mbeki's. According to an Agence France-Presse report, more than 6.2 million South Africans were infected with HIV last year. It is frightening to consider what the environmental equivalent to the AIDS epidemic could be. Oh, and London is still the greatest city in the world.
-Eric Dryden is a senior Creative Writing major. Send him an e-mail at ed890402@ohiou.edu.
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Eric Dryden
