OK, so it's not particularly related to higher ed, but I have to remark on the White House's belated release of a report to the effect that global warming is real, and human activity is substantially responsible. There are no news-worthy facts or conclusions in it, but this isn't an administration that reaches conclusions based on facts, nor that is comfortable with the idea of "news" as separate from propaganda.

Given that it's less than six months to the presidential election, and that John McCain has proposed a plan to begin to address the problem, the release seems most likely to be a political move intended to make it easier for the GOP candidate to mend his ties with the immovable ditto-head constituency. Certainly, the timing is such as to make any real action a problem for the next (surely, not this) president.

Still, this report may be useful. The fact of its existence can be used to deflect, if not entirely negate, objections in open meetings to climate-related sustainability proposals. It won't change the internal attitudes of a number of Greenback's decision-makers, so those proposals still need to be presented primarily in terms of cost savings and risk management. But its very existence may make the internal sales challenge a little easier. I sure hope so.