(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Many adults in the United States believe their president should take specific steps to deal with climate change, according to a poll by Knowledge Networks for the Program on International Policy Attitudes. 86 per cent of respondents believe George W. Bush should be willing to act to limit greenhouse gases if other world leaders agree to take action as well.

Yesterday, the annual G-8 summit began in Perthshire, Scotland. British prime minister Tony Blair has declared that global climate change and economic development in Africa will be his two priorities during the meeting.

The term global warming refers to an increase of the Earth's average temperature. Some theories say that climate change might be the result of human-generated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

In 1998, several countries agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, a proposed amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement commits nations to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The U.S. signed the protocol but has not ratified it. 73 per cent of respondents believe their country should participate in the Kyoto agreement.

Yesterday, Bush outlined his views on climate change, saying, "Kyoto didn't work for the United States and it, frankly, didn't work for the world. The reason it didn't work for the world is many developing nations weren't included in Kyoto. I've also told our friends in Europe that Kyoto would have wrecked our economy (and) put a lot of people out of work."

The American president urged for a new approach, saying, "I think there's a better way forward. I would call it the post-Kyoto era, where we can work together to share technologies, to control greenhouse gases as best as possible. (...) We spent about over $20 billion U.S. last year on research and development on new technologies that we are willing to share with the world. "

Polling Data

U.S. president George W. Bush and the leaders of the other major developed countries will be meeting in Scotland at what is called the G-8 summit. One of the major topics for discussion will be climate change or global warming. Do you think that if the leaders of these other countries are willing to act to limit the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, Bush should or should not be willing to act to limit such gases in the U.S.?

Based on what you know, do you think the U.S. should or should not participate in the Kyoto agreement to reduce global warming?

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