“The [British economist Nicholas Stern report on the economic impact of global warming] flies in the face of the academic literature on the subject.”

– Jerry Taylor, of the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C,; who also said industrialized economies can benefit from global warming.

“[When] Bar Harbor is underwater, then we can do global warming stories. Until then, no more.”

– Michael Palmer, general manager of two Bangor television stations, in an e-mail to reporters after stories on the film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” according to The New York Times.

“Contrary to stereotype, [President Bush has] been actively engaged in trying to fight climate change and will continue to do so.”

– White House spokesman Tony Snow on the Stern report.

And the heat goes on.

In the nine years since most of the world’s nations met in Kyoto, Japan, to address global warming, the U.S. record in addressing it, remains fraught with equivocation and political pap in the place of progressive policies and leadership.

Surprisingly, the debate has spiked in Maine, where the Bangor television executive’s comments, published in The New York Times on Oct. 30, broadcast an astounding myopia. The e-mail reportedly compared climate change to African killer bees and the Y2K computer scare.

It also stated plainly: “We do local news.”

Yet, when the National Resources Council of Maine held a news conference in September to say climate change, if unchecked, could put areas of Mt. Desert Island and elsewhere on the Maine coast under water, the stations still declined to attend because of the incredulous policy, according to the NRCM.

“It was startling,” said the NRCM’s Dylan Voorhees. But, he added, “I couldn’t have planned a better way,” about drawing attention to climate change. The NRCM report found a 1-meter sea level rise would destroy 20,000 acres, 1,000 in downtown Portland alone, and called its projections conservative.

The sad irony is that Maine is home to some of the finest journalism and research into climate change, from the Society of Environmental Journalists honoring the Bangor Daily News on Oct. 25 for a series on climate change, to the University of Maine housing the nationally noted Institute for Climate Change.

And cheers to Sen. Olympia Snowe attacking ExxonMobil this week for funding warming denial studies, and for saying the U.S. has a reputation abroad as “unwilling to engage in forthright discussion on what many consider to be one of the most important and environmental issues of the 21st century.”

The reputation is deserved and must change, as the U.S. should lead in addressing global warming, not lag like a petulant child.

In response to the Stern report, White House officials said the U.S. will spend trillions on climate change over coming decades, on top of billions already spent. It’s debutante rationale, the notion of charity as attending black-tie galas for fashionable causes. Funding alone won’t change America’s statements, or reputation, on global warming.

Only the U.S. finally putting its mouth where its money is, will.