From a speech by President Bush, 2002:

My Cabinet-level working group has met regularly for the last 10 weeks to review the most recent, most accurate, and most comprehensive science. They have heard from scientists offering a wide spectrum of views. They have reviewed the facts… about what is not known on the science of climate change.

First, we know the surface temperature of the earth is warming…
Yet, the Academy’s report tells us that we do not know how much effect natural fluctuations in climate may have had on warming. We do not know how much our climate could, or will change in the future. We do not know how fast change will occur, or even how some of our actions could impact it.

…And, finally, no one can say with any certainty what constitutes a dangerous level of warming, and therefore what level must be avoided.

Today:

The Bush administration has unveiled plans for a high-level conference on global warming next month that would bring together the world’s biggest polluters, including Australia, to seek agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

…In a letter to invitees obtained by Reuters, Bush said: “The United States is committed to collaborating with other major economies” to agree on a global framework for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”

Let’s keep in mind that this isn’t really about policy - the Bush administration is still against “economy-wide” caps on emissions.  But what this is about is a major advance in scientific knowledge.

Who’d have suspected, back in 2002, that science would advance to the point where we could tell, without too much doubt, that the warming of our planet was most likely the result of human activity!?  It boggles the mind.  Not a lot of study was being done back then, and scientists were for the most part blaming the increased temperatures on “coincidence,” “bad mojo,” and “the Gods.” [see, for example, the American Scientific Journal, April, 2002, “The Effects of God’s Firebreathing Dragon on Global Temperatures,” by Dr. A. W. Bockington.]

It’s a proud day, but also a sobering one.  Back in 2002 we could live in blissful ignorance that our SUVs, our refineries, and our factories were harming the planet.  Scientific remedies for the warming trend were limited to such ideas as “leeching” (New Scientist, April, 2001), “sunscreen” (Climatology Today, June, 2000), and “turning on the A.C. and opening all the windows” (Nature, August, 2002).

Not anymore.  Science has marched on, and we can now say conclusively that there’s a good chance that this global warming thing might or might not be happening due to human activity and that beginning to talk about setting a framework for discussing some industry-friendly plans for beginning to reduce greenhouse emissions should begin… pretty soon.  And that’s progress.

Tragically, that is progress.