This past weekend, I commented to my wife that the sky is not nearly as blue as I remember from my youth. I also told her that I don’t remember us having smog alerts in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio area when I was growing up. We don’t want to admit it but, we are going too far. We are polluting the air to the detriment of not only ourselves but, more importantly, our children.

While I was not particularly moved by it, it was interesting to not that, after years of denying its existence, George Bush finally admitted that global warming is real, is a problem and the U.S. needs to do something to reduce emissions. But, of course, we weren’t watching his hands as he was telling this because, his actions belie his words. So, while his mouth was saying one thing, his hands were busy authorizing measures that will actually reduce the monitoring of climate change from weather satellites.

A confidential report to the White House, obtained by The Associated Press, warns that American scientists will soon lose much of their ability to monitor warming from space.

They’ve been using a costly and problem-plagued satellite initiative begun more than a decade ago. It was intended to gather weather and climate data. But the Pentagon has decided to downsize and launch four satellites instead of 6 satellites.

The reduced system will now focus on weather forecasting. Most climate instruments needed to collect more precise data over long periods are being eliminated.

So, how do you know that a problem is really being addressed if you can’t measure the actions/inactions taken to address it? It’s simple — you don’t know and that’s the issue.

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