Slate: Australians like to think of themselves as green. Their island country boasts some 3 million square miles of breathtaking landscape. They were an early global leader in solar power. Theyve had environmental regulations on the books since colonial times. And in 2007 they elected a party and a prime minister running on a pro-climate platform, with promises to sign the Kyoto Protocol and pass sweeping environmental reforms. All of which makes sense for a country that is already suffering the early...