State of Denial: The Bush Administration and Global Warming

State of Denial: The Bush Administration and Global Warming:

"Great powers rise and fall in association with specific energy sources. Rome’s greatness was predicated on slave power, Holland’s preeminence depended on wind and waterpower; Britain’s global rule was fueled by coal; and America’s hegemony depends upon petroleum. History shows, however, that sooner or later new energy sources emerge and great powers must adapt to them or they will be hobbled by their reliance on the older, more costly, and less efficient forms of energy they are accustomed to.

"Global warming is not a phantom menace (like Saddam’s WMD). Nor will the solutions to global warming derail the American economy. The idea that global warming is a hoax, or that we can’t do anything about it without undermining America’s economy, is sophistry spouted by those with a vested interest in the status quo."