A dozen years after the U.S. Senate refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol it is again threatening to walk away from its responsibility to protect the global environment. When climate negotiations continue today in Bangkok, many European nations rightly believe the U.S. is bargaining in bad faith; that we’re afraid to put our money where our mouths are.
Why should they feel any different after the Kyoto experience in 1997, when then-President Bill Clinton signed the treaty, only to have his signature erased by a miserly Senate? They shouldn’t. Truthfully, European and other world leaders should be even more wary of U.S. commitment this time around.
The Senate’s issue following Kyoto was that the U.S. would pay more to help poor countries than developing countries like China and India. That might be the same reason the U.S. balks at getting the deal done this time too.
Wealthy European nations are on board to start the necessary work on righting the wrongs of global warming industrialization set in motion. It’s critical to move on these issues now because the planet is already realizing the impacts of deadly heat waves, melting glaciers and rising oceans.
The U.S. agreed with all other countries that came to Bali two years ago that the need to reduce our carbon footprint can’t be delayed any further.
Rich countries are also dragging their feet by not committing to reducing emissions to levels that will help lower the climate enough to start turning back the already-realized damage.
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao each vowed tough measures to combat climate change during a U.N. meeting last week. They should because their countries are the two largest greenhouse gas emitting nations on this “Big Blue Marble.”
Without sufficient support to poor countries, though, Obama and Jintao are merely offering lip service. As a result, the poorer countries don’t see us as being sincere, and will consequentially not convert to green economies.
If world leaders don’t have a comprehensive treaty in place when they complete the talks in Copenhagen in December, it’ll be another two years before serious discussions are initiated.
The U.S. needs to stop dragging its feet. Developing countries like China are merely following our earlier lead to damn the environment and extract what limited resources we can. Unchecked emissions standards have polluted the planet to dangerous levels.
If we don’t work to reverse the damage, it will eventually place all living things in harm’s way. When that happens, Europe and other nations will be able to justifiably point the finger of blame at us for our failure to lead.
Without taking the helm in Bangkok and Copenhagen, the U.S. will still be a leader in global issues. But we will only be continuing the irresponsible practice of the last administration, which by no stretch of the imagination were stewards of the Earth.