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FROM NPR THIS MORNING:

NASA head Michael Griffin says he regrets saying climate change was not a problem. He says the issue is far too political and technical for him to make such a general statement. He made the comments recently on Morning Edition.

COMMENT??

I appreciate UK and Europe's relative awareness of man's effect on the environment. But the elephant in the room of all rich countries is the recent outsourcing of many of the worst polluters to China and other 3rd world countries. Should an English child buy a toy or wear a Chinese-made shirt (or, in 5 years, SUV) that was cheap in part because no smokestack was needed in the making of it?

The high moral ground now is whether the EU, UK and other countries that have created relatively high and noble pollution restrictions that apply to their own countries can push for such stringent criteria to extend to goods and services purchased by their home markets. After all -- one pondering global warming in a conservative way will quickly conclude that offsetting home deliveries of organic pizzas in London, by planting trees in Costa Rica might not be completely effective in its desired intention, saving Earth.