It was in the 1980's that Michael Jackson said those words in a song. The meaning has come up again for a different case: Global Warming.
NASA is precicting RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES. Global warming is a problem and I consider myself to be an environmentallly concerned person.
weak El Nino and human-made greenhouse gases could make 2005 the warmest year since records started being kept in the late 1800s, NASA scientists said this week.[...]John McCain and Joe Lieberman realize the problem and want to help fix it.
"There has been a strong warming trend over the past 30 years, a trend that has been shown to be due primarily to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," said James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, based in New York.
The warmest year on record was 1998, with 2002 and 2003 coming in second and third, respectively.
Short-term factors like large volcanic eruptions that launched tiny particles of sulfuric acid into the upper atmosphere in 1963, 1982 and 1991 can change climates for periods ranging from months to a few years.
Meeting with reporters in the Capitol, the Republican from Arizona and Democrat from Connecticut shared the podium with a bipartisan group from both houses, stressing that concern over global warming is growing and that it crossed party lines and geographic regions.Global warming is a problem. Now if you want to vacation in the Caribbean Sea or the Pacific Oceans, do it soon before it is too late.
"This is one of the toughest tests for political leadership," Lieberman said. "The need is more urgent, the case is more clear than ever, and as we begin this battle today, we know there are special interests who will try to stop it, but we are beginning with a sense of commitment and optimism."
The McCain-Lieberman "Climate Stewardship Bill" would require that U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases -- in particular carbon dioxide, a product of combustion -- be no more in 2010 than they were in 2000. The law would apply to industry and transportation, including cars, but not to homes or farms. Companies that achieve greater reductions would be able to trade their credits in the open market, creating economic incentives to invent new technologies, the senators said.
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reduce the ability of the Earth to radiate heat into space, much like greenhouse glass retains the heat of the sun. The rise of average temperatures, especially in the regions of higher latitudes such as Alaska and Antarctica, were predicted years ago by scientists concerned about the global effects of pollution. Lieberman and McCain said that with glaciers in fast retreat, sea ice melting and drought plaguing large parts of the globe, including McCain's state, it was time to act.
"When John and I began this battle, we were basing our concern about the impact of global warming on the planet on scientific models, and we were projecting what we thought might happen," Lieberman said. "That period is over. Today, we can see with our own eyes what global warming is doing."[...]
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who serves on Stevens' Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee with McCain, said that when McCain chaired the committee in 2003, he held a number of hearings on global warming. Those hearings "provided overwhelming and undeniable evidence that we had a serious and profound problem, that we were impacting our environment not only in all the corners of America, but around the world," she said.
The measure would provide easier goals for the United States than its obligation under the Kyoto treaty of 1997. President Bush said in 2001 that the United States would never sign the Kyoto agreement.
Kyoto would have required the United States to reduce emissions by 7 percent below its 1990 levels, a target about 20 percent harder to meet than the McCain-Lieberman bill, according to Lieberman environmental counsel Tim Profeta.
In response to a reporter's question, McCain said that he has been talking to both Stevens and Murkowski "and they're very concerned about what's happening to Alaska Natives. So we're hoping they take another look at it."
Several years ago, McCain said afterward, Stevens proposed that proceeds from oil leases in the untapped Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be diverted to pay the costs of relocating coastal villages flooded by rising seas.
"And I said, 'Why don't we divert some money to address the source of the problem?' There was no answer."
Rent The Day After Tomorrow. No one should go without seeing that film. I hope it does not happen. I say that from the bottom of my heart. True, I want to focus on news using humor but this is no laughing matter even if I quote Michael Jackson.
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