Said Senator Kerry in yesterday's speech at the Center For American Progress Action Fund on Post Bali Climate Change Policy. A fitting description of the US goverment's criminal refusal to even contemplate serious participation in a world-wide effort to solve this very urgent problem.

We stink up the world in more ways than one, but America's 25% usage of global resources and its 25% contribution to the world's carbon emissions, and the refusal to reduce our carbon footprint is one of those ways that has finally tested the patience of those nations who are serious about saving our planet.

Still, as Senator Kerry notes, despite the limitations due to our current administration, progress is being made on local levels in the US that indicate that America is ready and willing to lead the fight against Global Warming.

In Bali, I spoke with delegates from seven delegations, including the EU, China, Japan, Australia, and small island states, and spoke at our environmental community’s gathering, and everywhere I went, I said the same thing. Over 500 mayors across our country have pledged to “meet or beat” Kyoto commitments in their cities. Five Midwestern states recently joined 10 Northeastern and six western states in launching a regional emissions trading program to cap their output of greenhouse gases. That’s over half our economy. The world needs to know: this White House doesn’t represent the American people today, and it cannot represent America’s policy beyond January 2009.

It is a step in the right direction, and will ultimately lead to a nation-wide effort, supported by a new administration. The question that looms, however: Will the time until we have a Democrat in the White House be precious time lost in this fight?