Bush faces climate criticism from greens, U.S. mayors, entire world

You know how, when you’re making a bad choice, your friends try to tell you, but you can’t see it? Listen up, Bush administration. In a speech yesterday, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan cited a “frightening lack of leadership” on climate change. He later said he wasn’t pointing at the U.S., but you wouldn’t know it from the response of Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs. “We think the United States has been leading in its groundbreaking initiatives,” she said, before asking that all mirrors be removed from the site so she wouldn’t have to face herself. On the home front, greens sued the White House for failing to issue a climate report due in 2004; mayors gathered in Utah to report on their efforts to meet Kyoto Protocol goals; and Washington, D.C., considered a bill that would make it the first major U.S. city to require developers to use energy-saving measures in new buildings. We do it out of love, George. We’re just worried about you.