The White House Effect

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You've had enough. I have too.

We've all had more than enough of this hot, humid, hazy weather.

And we're all sick and tired of hearing about more 90-degree days.

You do it all right at your GM dealers.

Hi, I'm Belinda Carlisle, and you're watching MTV.

["Heaven is a Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle plays]

That's it! Whoo!

Another day of sweltering temperature for most of the country.

In at least two dozen cities,

there has never been a June 22nd as hot as this one.

This is by far the worst it's been.

I can't remember one that's where the heat has just gone on and on.

It's very difficult for me particularly because I'm asthmatic,

and it poses a serious health threat.

Alarm bells are beginning to sound across the continent

as the drought of '88 enters a critical stage.

The government says there are now drought conditions in 48 states.

The barren spots in the mountains, the parched fields of the Midwest,

the soaring temperatures throughout the country

all finally have got people believing in what once seemed science fiction.

Nationwide, our heat wave has killed at least 36 people.

Two men in their early twenties

died of heat stroke during the last month here.

The big worry, that the hot temperatures may be due to a buildup of carbon dioxide

in the atmosphere, the dreaded greenhouse effect.

I think the question that everybody's asking today,

with all of the heat going on

across the Middle West and the Southwest and so on is,

is the current heat wave and drought related to the greenhouse effect?

I'd like to start with Dr. James Hansen, uh,

the director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

The rate of warming in the past 25 years is the highest on the record.

The four warmest years have all been in the 1980s,

and 1988 will be the warmest year on the record.

This evidence represents a very strong case, in my opinion,

that the greenhouse effect has been detected

and it is changing our climate now.

No one heat wave can be ascribed uniquely to the greenhouse warming.

But, as Jim said,

it's reasonable to assume that the greenhouse effect is here.

It's happening. The warming has begun.

We have changed the atmosphere itself,

many scientists are now persuaded,

and made an entrapping bubble of it.

We find ourselves inside the bubble.

Rapid climate warming would change the face of the globe

and might well be accompanied by more frequent natural disasters.

New York could have the same kind of weather that Miami has today.

Dr. Stephen Schneider is with the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

I've probably received ten phone calls a week

in the last several months asking the question,

is this heat wave and drought finally the manifestation that you and others

have been talking about for 15 years?

Are you ready to say, "I told you so"?

There are not many opportunities when someone with your expertise

has a chance to talk to millions of Americans

at the same time and say, "Hey, dummies, wake up."

No matter how we do the calculations, backwards, forwards, or sideways,

it comes out the same.

So we know that the greenhouse effect is real.

Do you know what the greenhouse effect is?

The pollution through… oil and plastics

and the destruction of those things in our natural environment.

We regulate traffic and we regulate other affairs in our life.

This is one very important issue that we should take care of.

President Reagan went to America's heartland today

to get a firsthand look at the effects of the drought.

Farmers face the worst natural disaster since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

In Illinois, Vice President George Bush consoled farmers whose fields

are full of withered crops.

In this campaign year,

the White House and the vice president are very sensitive to the fact

that how they handle the drought emergency could have a big effect

on Republican chances.

Ladies and gentlemen, the vice president of the United States.

After seven years in the shadow of Ronald Reagan,

George Bush moved into the spotlight tonight and said,

"I want to be your leader."

"Listen, take a look, tell me in November what you think."

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What this is about today, my aspirations.

We'll talk about what I want to do, how I want to lead in the environment.

Vice President of the US, the Honorable George Bush.

- - Welcome to Michigan.

Thank you all. Thank you.

- It's beautiful out here. - It's a lovely setting.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you very, very much.

This summer, we've seen a lot of talk about the greenhouse effect.

As the nations of the world grow,

they burn increasing amounts of fossil fuels

and that gives off carbon dioxide

and thus could contribute to an increase

in temperatures in the atmosphere.

But some say these problems are too big,

that it's impossible to solve the problem of global warming.

My response is simple.

It can be done and we must do it.

And these issues

know no ideology, no political boundaries,

not a liberal or a conservative thing we're talking about here today.

They are the common agenda of the future.

Those who think we're powerless to do anything about this greenhouse effect

are forgetting about the White House effect.

And as president, I intend to do something about it.

Soul Train.

The hippest trip in America.

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Is it just bad weather or a historic change in climate?

And how will it affect our lives?

Scientists have been brooding over those questions for years.

Now one of them has gone public with this issue.

He's Dr. Stephen Schneider, a climatologist in Boulder, Colorado.

And he warns that we are gambling with our future and losing.

Schneider is deputy head of the Climate Project

at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Whether he's meeting with colleagues or looking for trends in weather data,

his concern about our survival is almost obsessive.

Certain human pollutants are growing at an exponential rate.

You're talking about industrial and automotive

pollution of the air.

That's one example, yes.

The burning of fossil fuel, coal and oil and gas,

it all ends up with a by-product, carbon dioxide.

And the amount of carbon dioxide that was produced over the last century

we know has been increasing in the atmosphere.

There's no doubt about that.

We see about a 10% increase in carbon dioxide over the last 20 years.

Now, what does that do?

Well, it leads to the greenhouse effect, with tending to warm up the Earth,

which could lead to a change in the climate

that's unprecedented in the last 5,000 years.

That could occur as early as the end of the century,

competing with natural changes.

You saying it could happen?

It could happen. I don't think it's one in 10,000 either.

- You think it's-- - Much higher than that.

Good evening.

Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you

about a problem that's unprecedented in our history.

The oil and natural gas that we rely on for 75% of our energy

are simply running out.

Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems.

Wasteful use of resources.

Conservation helps us solve both problems at once.

Is there an area that the president touched on tonight

that you can't live with?

I don't like to be cold in the winter.

Are you willing to make some sacrifices to get us out of this bind?

I-- I have no problem with that,

and I have no problem saying to my children they should too.

In fact, they're telling me much of the time.

Would you pitch in what you can?

I think I will. I'm going to try to. Yeah.

I think the president can't do it all himself.

I'm sure that we're all going to have to, uh, pitch in.

Did President Carter scare you last night as far as energy's concerned?

I didn't see Carter last night, man. I got drunk last night.

By the end of this century, I want our nation to derive 20%

of all the energy we use from the sun.

The long-term threats,

which just a few years ago were not even considered,

the buildup of carbon dioxide.

These kinds of concerns affect you and me.

Energy conservation has got to become a way of life.

This is the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

Good evening.

Three presidents have tried to convince us we must use less oil.

But without success.

Consumption has risen and so has the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

While Iran is struggling to regain political order,

it still is not exporting oil.

And Iranian oil is an important part of American gasoline production.

The situation could become as serious as the '73-'74 Arab oil embargo.

["Take the Long Way Home" by Roger Hodgson plays]

Energy Department officials unveiled a standby gasoline rationing plan

which could restrict automobile users to two gallons a day.

I've been in two gas lines already.

- This morning? - This morning.

- How long for the first one? - In both lines over an hour.

And I'm out of gas.

Dead out.