As we enter the final week of the George W. Bush presidency, it gives us a chance to reflect on the President’s record over the last eight years on a myriad of issues. One of the areas where President Bush has been most scorned during his tenure has been the environment. This is due in large part to his administration’s inaction on the climate change issue. Indeed his unwillingness to deal with climate change, or even to admit that it exists, is one of the main reasons that the President is vilified by most people that consider themselves to be environmentally aware. 

Only time will tell how history will perceive President Bush in terms of his environmental legacy. I would like to pose a question that might not sit well with many of my eco-minded colleagues: Was the President’s ignorance and outright refusal to act on climate change actually a positive thing?

President Bush’s outright ignorance of the climate change issue left no question in people’s minds – if action was going to be made it would be done at the state or multi-state level. While shockingly short-sighted of the President to ignore climate change, at least it was such a strong refusal to address the issue that there was absolutely no uncertainty that other levels of government would have pick up the slack. The President’s inactions spurred a number of regional initiatives across the country (RGGI, WCI, CCAR, to name a few) that have been positively embraced across state lines (and even international boundaries) and will likely set the framework for a future continental cap and trade market.

What if Bush had tried to appease his critics and had given climate change even a small amount of attention within his government? It likely wouldn’t have been given anything but a token mention within policy meetings, as his administration obviously had other issues that they placed at a much higher priority. But if this had occurred, the very fact that his government recognized climate change might have led to the kind of uncertainty that has paralyzed action in Canada for a number of years. My assessment of the Canada situation will be the subject of a follow-up post in a couple of days.

I’m not saying the President’s choices were good. Obviously it would have been better to have had strong support from the White House several years ago - who knows where we might have been now? But at least he made it clear that he wasn’t going to deal with it, and that left the door open for others to take the lead. It seems hard to believe, but someday we might actually thank President Bush for his stubborn climate change stance.