Fresh reports every day tell of glaciers melting, thinning polar ice triggering prospects of a new colonial scramble for the riches under the Arctic ice cap, dangers to the natural habitat of polar bears and worries about rising water levels inundating low-lying countries from Kiribati to Bangladesh. Then there are the pieces of a trillion plastic bags that are discarded every year on both sides of the Pacific being fed mistakenly by albatrosses to their chicks on remote Midway Atoll, and soaring oil prices causing truck drivers and fishermen across Europe to set up blockades.
With this background, environment ministers, scientists and bureaucrats from the Group of Eight industrialised nations and leading developing countries - like Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa - met in Kobe, Japan, last weekend. Their aim was to do something about the most pressing environmental issues facing this fragile planet. Three days of deliberations produced just another few million dollars of hot air. They agreed to try to agree to halve emissions of gases blamed for global warming by 2050 - which is almost two generations away - and called on the rich countries - which is them - to lead the way. Just to show that they have their eye on hot-button issues, they also declared that reducing the use of disposable plastic bags and other consumer products is a good idea.
Devotees of international diplomacy said Kobe represented a significant step forward from last year's decision in Heiligendamm, Germany, to 'seriously consider' slashing output of greenhouse gases. Kobe now has its own special line in the index of international negotiations, as 'the Kobe Initiative'.
It should be named 'the Kobe Pious Wish'. Indeed, how could anyone dream of reaching a real agreement while George W. Bush is in the White House? Scott Fulton, of the US Environmental Protection Agency, said the purpose of Kobe was to avoid 'delicate subjects' like midterm emissions-reduction targets. How could it be otherwise when the US has rejected the Kyoto Protocol, which requires greenhouse gas cuts of a mere 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012?
Washington does its defiant diplomatic dance with the grace of a spoiled child screaming that it won't join the party unless the new children, notably China and India, promise in advance not to drink too much. The newcomers ask why they must restrict growth when the industrialised countries have despoiled the world's resources and fouled the atmosphere for years. There are few reasons to be optimistic that a new US president will change American attitudes.
Global warming itself is becoming a fervently fought issue that could turn into a latter-day religious war. Most scientists accept the overwhelming evidence that global warming poses a major threat. But there are still small groups of non-believers, with powerful political and business backing, who demand more evidence or more time.