Not quite, Stephen.

Emissions are way, way down. There are plenty of volunteer programs in place for corporate self-regulation, and since so many of our citizens are genuinely interested in preserving the environment, "green technologies" are in heavy demand. There's a massive waiting list for the new hybrid cars, and the production of alternative fuels is finally becoming cost effective (thanks to the non-manipulation of oil prices).

The main problem with Kyoto was that it was unfairly punitive of some countries (especially the US of A) and completely disregarded the up-and-coming great polluters in the developing world. If Kyoto was a level playing field, I'm sure it would have been enacted years ago, with the full cooperation and blessing of the past and current administrations.

There is a strong feeling in this country that the junk science behind SOME of the Global Warming publicity is merely an excuse for our international business competitors to shackle the US economy with unneeded, unverified and unwaranted environmentally restrictive policies.

Meanwhile, the technological developments being made in America can serve as real catalysts for environmental improvement the world over. If our free market system can produce energy production technologies that don't create greenhouse gasses, then they will be free to send these technologies to the developing nations that today represent the biggest "increasers" in greenhouse gasses in the world. In order to afford to do this kind of research, the companies cannot be shackled by unfair environmental policies that keep the technologically advanced nations from prospering, and allow the technologically deficient nations to dump all the greenhouse gasses into the environment that they wish.

Kyoto was economically punitive... not environmentally useful. All we've ever asked for is good documentation of the causative relationship between current human industrial activity and the (possibly) entirely natural changes in the earth's climate. Statistics are not proof, and correlation is not causation. Otherwise, the OCT would have to be accepted as a given.

I posted an article a while back about how the current CO2 production is helping to repopulate the rainforests. Remember, until this causal relationship between human activity and global temperature change is firmly established and clearly understood, we may well discover that our current greenhouse gas production is preventing a disaster... not causing one.



Anthony

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.