WASHINGTON - October 30 - Below is a Sierra Club statement reacting to the British government's release of their report analyzing the economics of global warming from Dave Hamilton, Sierra Club Global Warming and Energy Program Director:

"We have heard again and again from the President Bush that we can't afford to take measures to combat global warming, but the Stern review clearly demonstrates that we can't afford not to. The conclusion of the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change is that the world has the resources, capability, and the methods to stop global warming. It states quite clearly, however, that we have a small window in which to act after which the sticker price of success becomes significantly higher while the likelihood of success gets smaller.

"The Stern Review is a "can-do" manifesto and instruction manual for controlling global warming. By contrast, all we have heard for the last 6 years from the President Bush and Congressional leaders is what they "can't-do." They have viewed global warming almost exclusively through the eyes and interests of the coal, oil and gas, electric utility, and nuclear industries. If the Bush Administration genuinely believed its own free-market rhetoric -- rather than just doing the bidding of its campaign contributors -- it would read the science on global warming, follow the Stern Review, and enact mechanisms that recognize the true environmental, public health, and economic cost of burning fossil fuels. Once people are required to pay the full costs of their energy use, it will open the floodgates of innovation, investment, and breakthroughs in low carbon technologies that will sustain our lives without ruining our planet.

"Right now, the cheapest, cleanest, most abundant energy source the U.S. has at its disposal is energy waste. The use of energy efficient technologies to capture that waste should be our top national energy priority for the next decade, followed closely by aggressive development of renewable energy. Only that kind of sustained investment in emissions reductions will future generations a fighting chance at a decent quality of life."

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