Efforts to stem global warming moving at a glacial pace

Political and diplomatic advances on global climate change are proceeding at a snail’s pace. Or to use a better metaphor, like the drip-drip-drip of glaciers melting in the heat of a warming planet. Which is to say, slowly – very slowly.

That’s true in Washington, where lawmakers are trying to craft a climate bill. And it’s also true abroad, where diplomats are preparing for a 192-nation conference in Copenhagen next month.

As the Associated Press reports:

“At U.N. climate talks in Barcelona, Spain, African nations walked out of meetings to protest rich nations' reluctance to make substantial carbon-cutting commitments. In Washington, some conservative Republicans boycotted the start of committee debate on a bill to curb greenhouse gases, fearful of the cost to the U.S. economy.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a joint session of Congress this past week "there is no time to lose" in tackling climate change, according to the AP. “But the lukewarm response to her comments on global warming -- in contrast to the ovations she received at other times -- only underscored the skeptical mood in the United States about climate action, which would require a shift away from fossil fuels to wind and solar power, smaller cars and -- the Republicans argue -- more expense to consumers.”

Senator Barbara Boxer (D) of California pushed a climate bill through the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee the other day. But as Reuters reports, “it's becoming clear the bill won't get far before the world meets in Copenhagen.”

Most climate science experts agree that the earth is warming at a pace that may be dangerous, and reports from Earth keep illustrating that.

A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council calls global warming “the greatest threat” to national parks in the United States.

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