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Scripps Scientist Calls Bush's Alternative Fuel Proposal a Small Step Forward

President Bush wants Americans to cut back on using gasoline. He proposes cutting gas consumption by up to 20 percent. Bush says one way to reach that goal is by using alternative fuels. Scripps Insti

President Bush wants Americans to cut back on using gasoline. He proposes cutting gas consumption by up to 20 percent. Bush says one way to reach that goal is by using alternative fuels. Scripps Institution of Oceanography Professor Richard Somerville calls the Bush proposal a small step in the effort to reverse greenhouse gas emissions.

Somerville: You know what matters to the climate system is how much carbon dioxide and the other manmade greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere and so to stabilize the climate at the level that  won’t be dangerous change requires a global reduction in these emissions.

Somerville says he’s still waiting for a meaningful initiative from the federal government to combat global warming. Somerville is the lead author of a United Nations climate change report. The report will be released next week in Paris.