• Bookstore

Speaking on the lawn of the Whitehouse, George Bush said "We also talked about climate, and here we share a common interest: One, we recognize that we have a problem with greenhouse gases; two, we recognize we have a problem with a dependence on oil; three, we recognize that we can use technologies to help solve this problem; and, four, we recognize we have an obligation to work together to promote the technologies necessary to solve the problem, and encourage the developing world to use those technologies."

Merkel added, "We are aware of the fact that we do have a problem here, that we need to solve this problem. One of the issues we talked about, for example, was a commitment of the United States of America to introduce 20 percent biofuels over the next few years to come, until 2020, and to have this at their disposal. And for that, too, we need to develop a common market."

On China, Bush commented that America "could shut down our economy and emit no greenhouse gases, and all it would take is for China in about 18 months to produce as much as we had been producing to make up the difference about what we reduced our greenhouse gases to."

Bush failed to mention that one of the reasons China's emissions is rising so fast is that the West is sending its manufacturing capabilities there. In effect the West is displacing its own emissions to China. Let's hope we don't ignore this fact and just blame China for our emissions.