Ten prominent figures ranging from former Russian president Mr Mikhail Gorbachev to actor Harrison Ford have written an open letter to President Bush urging him to develop a plan to cut greenhouse gas production, Time magazine said yesterday.
The letter, in Time's US issue due to appear yesterday, was published less than a week after the Bush administration signalled it had effectively abandoned the 1997 Kyoto treaty, which is aimed at cutting emission of the greenhouse gases that many scientists say are the main causes of global warming.
Mr Bush said he opposes the agreement, signed by former president Mr Bill Clinton in 1998 but never introduced in the Senate, because he thinks its economic costs outweigh its benefits.
The US move has triggered a storm of criticism from around the world.
The open letter said that while the provisions of the Kyoto treaty were debatable, "the situation is becoming urgent, and it is time for consensus and action".
"There are many strategies for curbing greenhouse-gas emissions without slowing economic growth. In fact, the spread of advanced, cleaner technology is more of an economic opportunity than a peril. We urge you to develop a plan to reduce US production of greenhouse gases.
"The future of our children - and their children - depends on the resolve that you and other world leaders show," the letter said.
It was signed by Mr Gorbachev, Ford, former US president Mr Jimmy Carter, former US senator Mr John Glenn, financier Mr George Soros, primate researcher Dr Jane Goodall, former CBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite, Celera Genomics chief Mr J. Craig Venter, biologist Dr Edward O. Wilson and physicist Dr Stephen Hawking.
In a Time-CNN survey in the same edition, the magazine said 75 per cent of Americans considered global warming a serious problem, and 67 per cent believed President Bush should have a plan to deal with it.
The survey said 52 per cent of respondents thought the United States should take measures to ease global warming even if other countries failed to act.
Some 42 per cent identified carbon dioxide as the main cause of global warming, but only 48 per cent said they would be willing to pay an extra 25 cents for a gallon of petrol. Burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide.
The telephone survey of 1,025 US adults was conducted on March 21st-22nd and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 per cent.