Is the government lying to us about global warming?

In recent years, global warming has been the most talked-about issue. Nations all over the world have started taking notice of the issue and governments have been put in the spotlight, particularly in regard to what they are doing to help mitigate the ill effects of global warming.

Governments around the world are assumed to be active in providing public information about any issue that affects its constituents. However, most of the information about the climate problem and how we can help has been available not through government channels but through organizations operating outside them.

Governments are also currently being questioned from a legislative standpoint. All fronts ask various questions that fundamentally boil down to "What are you doing within your legal power to solve the problem?" People understand that the laws governments make and implement are crucial in curbing activities that may aggravate the climate problem, and as such, people expect them to be highly involved in this matter.

Additionally, volunteer groups tend to be more active in getting more people to get involved in activities that pertain to the climate cause. Agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are active in promoting activities and initiatives that support the climate cause, while some governmental agencies (often underfunded) pale in comparison. Greenpeace, the UN and other non-government agencies are arguably more visible than any other government agency when it comes to initiatives for global warming.

The fact that people get more involved in volunteer projects outside what governments can offer implies that they may not be reaching out to constituents. Furthermore, there seems to be a growing notion that governments are protecting the interests of specialist interest groups, which results in their motive to modify environmental reports or legislative bills. That governments are protecting economic interests in particular is a major concern, since businesses are in many ways related to politicians because of the financing they provide.

Moreover, the current US administration seems to be downplaying certain details about climate change. Although they admit to some things like man-made pollution being the main culprit for global warming, there is also news of officials seeking to modify international reports on the issue. Of particular concern are alterations in proposals for G8 countries where the US government tried to water down the wordings of the reports, ultimately revising the proposal's aim to control and decrease gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol, for example, is an important environmental treaty whose objective was to curb greenhouse gas emissions. As of December 2007, only the US and Kazakhstan refused to ratify the act.