[BREAK] Could we look any dumber to the world community?

Smog above Phoenix, Arizona
US report suggests reflective dust could reduce warming.
Photograph: Deirdre Hamill/AP US answer to global warming: smoke and giant space mirrors Washington wants scientists to develop giant space mirrors and reflective dust to block sunlight. The US government wants the world's scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch way to halt global warming, the Guardian has learned. It says research into techniques such as giant mirrors in space or reflective dust pumped into the atmosphere would be "important insurance" against rising emissions, and has lobbied for such a strategy to be recommended by a major UN report on climate change, the first part of which will be published on Friday.

I guess Bush thought the old Jerry Lewis film, "Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River" was an inspired documentary? I guess that any plan, no matter how daft, that doesn't ask us to cut down on our use of oil or investigate new renewable energy ideas, that might (God help us) cause some lowering of oil company profits, is a plan the current administration would fund. Of course, even were this a plan that deserved discussion, would not the other countries on the planet have a right to be consulted, BEFORE WE TURN OFF THE SUN? All this reminds me of an old, politically incorrect joke. So, I'll change it a bit. GW Bush to Nasa chief: "I want you to build a rocket that I can pilot to a landing on the sun." Nasa chief: "But Mr. President, you can't land on the sun. It would burn you up!" GW: "Well, you're not too bright. I'd land on it at night!" Only, with GW as our President, this type of joke becomes a sobering reality. [/BREAK] =====

US answer to global warming: smoke and giant space mirrors | Climate change | Guardian Unlimited Environment The US government wants the world's scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch way to halt global warming, the Guardian has learned. It says research into techniques such as giant mirrors in space or reflective dust pumped into the atmosphere would be "important insurance" against rising emissions, and has lobbied for such a strategy to be recommended by a major UN report on climate change, the first part of which will be published on Friday. Article continues The US has also attempted to steer the UN report, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), away from conclusions that would support a new worldwide climate treaty based on binding targets to reduce emissions - as sought by Tony Blair. It has demanded a draft of the report be changed to emphasise the benefits of voluntary agreements and to include criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol, the existing treaty which the US administration opposes.

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