The global agenda: stewardship vs. stalling

President George W. Bush is not fooling any of his G-8 colleagues in Germany with his belated call to set long-term goals reducing emissions related to global warming. The same is true here at home.

In the absence of leadership on climate change from the White House, remarkable movements are under way in statehouses, boardrooms and places of worship. A coherent federal plan is needed, but no one is waiting while the incumbent stalls. Six years ago, the president announced the United States would ignore the Kyoto Protocol and its mandatory emissions goals for industrialized nations. In advance of today's gathering of the world's eight leading economies, Bush said he wanted to convene meetings that formulate a plan by the end of next of year.

The timing is too clever by half. That is when Kyoto expires, along with his presidential term. European nations are all but rolling their eyes.

Others in the United States are not waiting. A coalition of major corporations and environmental groups formed the United States Climate Action Partnership in January to push the federal government to get involved in global-warming issues.

At the state level, California is trying again for an exemption from the federal Clean Air Act so it can put in place its own strict controls on auto emissions. Washington and nine other states have a stake in the outcome, each having adopted similar standards.

All this was spurred on by an April Supreme Court ruling that said the federal government could regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from cars. If the feds will not act, California and other states are eager to step in.

The extent to which climate change is becoming part of a much broader discussion in society was amply demonstrated by a four-day interfaith gathering last Friday through Monday in Seattle.

Religious leaders from Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions around the country explored the role of their faiths in caring for the Earth and all creation. The Faith & Environment Festival was held in four locations: Town Hall, Seattle First Baptist Church, Temple De Hirsch Sinai and St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral.

Being stewards of the environment is a theme crossing civic, business and theological traditions and organizational lines. Stalling politicians will be evermore irrelevant as others step forward to do the work and work around them.