Britain and California formed a trans-Atlantic partnership to address global warming, bypassing the Bush administration to explore ways to curb greenhouse gas emissions and promote clean-burning fuels.
"We see that there is not great leadership from the federal government when it comes to protecting the environment," Schwarzenegger said. "We know there is global warming, so we should stop it."
California is looking to cut carbon dioxide -- a byproduct of coal, oil and gasoline combustion -- and other heat-trapping gases that scientists say are warming the planet. President George W. Bush has rejected the idea of ordering such cuts.
Schwarzenegger has called on California to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2010. California was the 12th-largest source of greenhouse gases in the world last year, bigger than most nations.
Blair has called on Britain to reduce carbon emissions to 60 percent of its 1990 levels by 2050. Britain also has been looking at imposing individual limits on carbon pollution. People who accumulate unused carbon allowances -- for example, by driving less, or switching to less polluting vehicles -- could sell them to people who exceed their allowances -- for example by driving more.
The United States is responsible for a quarter of the world's global warming pollution. Bush administration officials argue that requiring cuts in greenhouse gases would cost the U.S. economy 5 MILLION jobs!!! Instead, the administration has poured billions of dollars (euros) into research aimed at slowing the growth of most greenhouse gases while advocating a global cut on one of them, methane.
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