Australia has a new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, and he is making global warming a top priority. Rudd has pledged new leadership from Australia in the fight against global warming; he is seeking advice on ratifying the Kyoto Protocol as soon as possible and attending the U.N. Climate Summit in Bali at the beginning of December. 

Rudd’s motions signal a new direction for Australia, the only other industrialized country besides the U.S. that failed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. That leaves the United States as the only industrialized nation to refuse to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol.

Looking ahead to the U.N. Climate Change Conference that begins next week, a diverse chorus of elected officials and citizens are speaking out to assure the international community that Americans are moving global warming solutions forward, despite the lack of White House leadership.

We cannot afford to lose momentum in the international arena because the White House is out of step with the rest of America. There are many of us in the United States that are committed to ensuring that our country moves from being a global laggard to being a global leader in reducing global warming. We have a moral responsibility to do everything we can to reduce global warming pollution.