Bush (George W.) Administration

GEORGE WALKER BUSH (b. July 6, 1946) was the 43rd president of the United States, serving two terms between January 2001 and January 2009, with [Page 148]the first inauguration taking place on January 20, 2001. During his presidency, Bush would be both sharply criticized and highly praised for his stance on environmental issues and, over the years, would be seen to accept global warming verbally while politically denying it. Nevertheless, Bush would eventually come to support research into alternative energy means, if not for environmental preservation, for national security measures.

In his first year in office, Bush retreated from the Kyoto Protocol, which had been established as a way to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from global, economically-leading nations. Bush chose not to support the Kyoto ...