U.S. Is Odd And Out At Climate Summit

In the short history of world concern over climate change, the United States has avoided the spotlight, even as its oversized footprint and role as a world leader forces it again and again to center stage. The next act is expected to play out much the same next week, when the world's most powerful economic leaders meet at the G-8 Summit in Germany to discuss the world's climate and what should be done to stabilize it. Today, Bush proposed a new plan for climate that has been criticized as "a charade." Europe and Japan want strict caps on greenhouse gas emissions. Developing countries only want to shoulder the burden for their relatively recent contributions to the problem, and they want to see historic polluters pony up. The U.S. stands alone in its resistance to most any action. Meanwhile, states and cities, celebrities, companies and households are taking action. The willpower to act seems everywhere present but the White House, according to a story in the May 31 Christian Science Monitor.