The climate's changing. The cause matters.

At first glace, it seems the Bush administration has taken a huge step forward in acknowledging the problem of climate change and the need to find solutions. Time was, this administration was systematically editing the merest mention of climate change out of agency documents and stifling employee discussion of the topic. But last week, the president called climate change a "serious problem." (AFP) What a change of heart!

Errr...not quite. Here's the rest of the quote:

"There's a debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused...we ought to get beyond that debate and start implementing the technologies necessary to enable us to achieve a couple of big objectives..."

Of course, there is less debate over whether climate change is caused by human activity than Mr. Bush suggests. But putting that aside, doesn't the question of whether the phenomenon is "manmade or naturally caused" have direct bearing upon what solutions we should adopt? Doesn't that tell us a little something as to how much control we have over the future course of the problem, and what the most effective solutions might be?