Word: protocolic
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Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has been an international festival of environmental celebration and protest. With President George W. Bush's rejection of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which calls on industrial nations to help slow global warming by cutting carbon dioxide emissions, environmentalists and governments alike might be excused for feeling there's little to celebrate - and much to protest - as this year's Earth Day (April 22) rolls around...
...British woman visiting the U.S. also asked about the Kyoto protocol, which the Senate rejected early this year, and about President Bush's environmental policy...
...matter how the talks turn out, the kind of bitter medicine the protocol prescribes, with the U.S. taking the biggest slug, did not go down well in Washington even before Bush arrived. In 1997 the Senate, which must ratify treaties, voted 95 to 0 that no global-warming pact that came before it would be okayed unless it treated developed and developing countries equally. Such a repudiation is one more argument the Administration is using to pull the plug on Kyoto--though it was more than mere conscience that was probably driving the Senate. One of the resolution's sponsors...
Where this burst of public and private activity leaves the Administration is anyone's guess. The E.U. and the other Kyoto signatories may continue to proceed as if the protocol is still alive, hammering out such complicated details as emissions trading, which would permit countries that exceed their required cuts to sell credits to other countries, allowing them to fall short of their own. The U.S. has not said it won't attend the July meeting, though things could get awkward if Washington has pulled out of the pact and sends its representatives simply for appearances. So far the White...
...challenge we face is more momentous than the threat of global climate change. The current provisions of the Kyoto Protocol are a matter of legitimate debate. But 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 plant to reduce U.S. production of greenhouse gases. The future of our children--and their children--depends on the resolve that you and other...