Science academies from 11 countries say global warming is, yes, real

Yesterday, national science academies from 11 nations cosigned a letter to the world’s leaders, making an unprecedented joint statement: Global warming is almost certainly caused by human activity; it’s the biggest risk we’ve ever faced as a species; please #$&!*% do something about it. Signatories include science organizations from every member of the G8 group of industrialized nations, plus Brazil, China, and India, the three leading greenhouse-gas emitters in the developing world. The agitated scientists released the statement a month ahead of the G8’s July summit, where summit leader U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair will push for a strong, unified statement on climate change. What’s more, they spoke up on the very day that Blair was meeting with President Bush — a tireless advocate of, uh, studying the problem more — in Washington, D.C. Known for his indifference toward international opinion, Bush was no doubt relieved that at least the U.S. National Academy of Sciences never signs on to these things … oh, wait, this time it did.