Yet there is one line of reasoning that could save Bush's business sense, if not saving the country. Bush claims that there is no complete consensus on the causes and solutions of global warming. Studies show that somewhere lives the one out of three climate scientists who will not state a 90 percent certainty of global warming. (Never mind the fact that nearly all state that they are 50 percent sure there is global warming.) Bush gambles on that one-third of a chance that global warming is not real, that it will all go away.

Taking risks in business may lead to higher profit. But it often leads to bankruptcy. Bush's business-like reasoning risks sending world ecology to disaster. No matter how much Bush or I admire the private sector, the United States of America is not a company. Bush's sworn duty is not to preserve the power bills of the American people, but to safeguard the nation. As a result, Bush's decision to leave companies free rein with regards to carbon dioxide emissions is a short-term political judgment--a judgment that is ultimately only disappointing.

Erin B. Ashwell '02 is a government concentrator in Eliot House. Her column appears on alternate Mondays.