Bush: Climate Change Stops at the Water’s Edge

Re “Nations Adopt Climate Pact Without U.S.,” July 24: Global warming treaty? We don’t need no stinkin’ global warming treaty. This is America. We should be able to continue to pollute more than any other country--it’s our right!

Give up our SUVs? That would be too much of a hardship; we shouldn’t have to make that kind of sacrifice. It’s not “in our best interest” to cut our greenhouse emissions to help save the planet. It’s not “in our best interest” to take responsibility and do our part. I just feel so proud to be an American today.

Karin Delman

Sierra Madre

With all the information available on the current crises of power, water and waste disposal, and with proof of global climate change, President Bush refuses to acknowledge any of it publicly, while still looking out for the interests of his crony energy providers. He is an isolationist in anything that might cost us or make us modify the way we live but a strong proponent of globalism when he sees that it might benefit us economically; a president whose token tax cuts drain social benefits from the public and expire just after his maximum term would; a president who has no clue about real issues.

We need a proponent of sustainability in office, not an industry flunky. We are among the most able to make a difference in the future of the planet yet, in policy, the most unwilling. It sets a shamefully bad example.

Zack Griffin

Ventura

Through his stubborn refusal to support international action on global warming, the president has succeeded in putting this issue on the front burner not only of domestic but of international politics. An issue that previously was the purview of a few academics and special-interest groups is now debated widely and for the first time understood by the American public in terms of its immediate implications and long-term consequences.

This has come none too soon. Although it is not clear whether Bush will succeed in his ignoble resistance to any American effort to help alleviate this problem, he has rallied international support for action, unfortunately at the expense of undermining the world leadership position of the U.S.

Shirley Hall

Manhattan Beach