Former CIA Chief Says US Must Act On Warming Or Lose Leadership - Reuters

[hatrack]

Uh, John? We lost it about six years ago, in case you haven't been keeping up with current events . . .

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States must act to cap its emissions of greenhouse gases and join the fight against climate change or risk losing global leadership, a former CIA director said in a report released on Monday.

"The United States must adopt a carbon emission control policy," John Deutch, head of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1995-96, said in a report to the Trilateral Commission, a grouping of business and opinion leaders from Europe, the United States and Asia.

"If the United States or any other OECD country that is a large producer of greenhouse gas emissions is to retain a leadership role in other areas, it cannot just opt out of the global climate change policy process," he wrote.

EDIT

He advocated an additional tax of about $1 per gallon on gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products in the United States, coupled with a tightening of fuel economy standards for U.S. car manufacturers, to encourage fuel efficiency and dampen demand, while recognizing that would be politically difficult.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1919416220070319

[NNadir]

1. Lose leadership?

Wouldn't you need to have leadership to lose it?

[phantom power]

2. I think I know what's going on

There is some kind of new a-causal definition of "prevention," where you can speak of preventing things that have already happened. Like that UN report where they talk about "preventing" positive feedbacks from kicking in, which in fact have already started.