【标准VOA】2008-04-21
Bush Sets New Targets for Curbing Growth in Gas Emissions (2/2)
They note Congress is about to start work on new legislation dealing with the environment. And they stress the 17 leading industrialized countries taking part in the Paris negotiations this week hope to have an agreement by the end of next year, meaning the groundwork must be laid now.
The president's proposals fall far below European goals to reduce emissions.
And environmental activists say the position taken by the president amounts to too little, too late. Senator Barbara Boxer, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, calls his approach the height of irresponsibility.
But Mr. Bush defends it as realistic.
The president warns climate change is a global problem, and U.S. action alone is not enough. He says other countries must come up with their own goals for cutting greenhouse gases.
The Paris talks on Thursday and Friday will address possible steps to protect the planet after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
The United States is the only major industrialized country that did not ratify the protocol, although it emits more greenhouse gases than any other country.
