Gratifying, encouraging, and yet sad. Bush decided very early in his first term to flip-flop on his campaign promise, turning his back on Kyoto and not once has he revisited the matter. (Funny, if he had such reservations and strong feelings against it, you'd think he could've arrived at those conclusions prior to the 2000 election, before he wrongly misled voters by proclaiming he was for it. It's not like anything changed with Kyoto in the months after November 2000 that would make him suddenly reverse course. Nope, it was a lie from the start, pure and simple).

And yet here we have the residents in the town of Newton, MA trying to do what they can to honor the treaty:

While much of the rest of the world today marks the beginning of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a plan in the works in Newton would urge residents to get rid of the gas-guzzling SUVs, buy a hybrid car or better yet, take public transportation.

The recommendations are a few of several the Newton Citizens Commission on Energy will make to the town in its Energy Action Plan, scheduled to come before the Board of Aldermen at some point in the spring.

The group hopes the five-year strategic plan will set the groundwork for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent overall and 20 percent in the municipal sector below 1998 levels by 2010. (NewtonTab.com)

I mentioned in a post several weeks ago that states and towns will start to take up the slack for this corporate-backed administration. Expect to see many more such examples, which again is terrific to see but also quite a pathetic statement about our national leadership.