Keith Hudson wrote:
> [EW:]
> > As one example, despite the
> >fact that the Kyoto Agreement has been around for some ten years, the world'
> >s largest producer of greenhouse gases, the US, has not ratified it.
>
> Well, no other country has ratified it either!
Untrue. At least 30 countries have ratified it.
> Australia, Singapore (and
> one other I believe) have said that they "intend to". But when?
When the biggest polluter has done it ?
> IMHO, the
> Americans (that is, the Bush camp) are being less hypocritical than others.
Worse, they are actively taking anti-environmental steps (rollback of
enviro regulations from the previous administration), and even internet
censorship (Ian Thomas case).
> Before anybody says I'm bneiong reactionary, of course something should be
> done. But what?
Reducing GHGs. (hint: that's what Kyoto is about)
> Our greatest Prime
> Minister-who-never-was of the past century, Rab Butler said, "politics is
> the art of the possible".
This quote is from Bismarck. (Ok, some also attribute it to Butler, but
Bismarck lived a century before Butler, so I guess Bismarck had the idea
first.)
> The Kyoto Agreement was as much hot air as the
> hot air that it was meant to solve.
Kyoto is a beginning. But Bush is not even willing to begin.
> A much more comprehensive agreement
> must be framed that would also undertake specific responsibilities for the
> likely events that will occur if the atmosphere continues to heat up due to
> our fossil-burning.
The responsibility is mainly with the biggest polluter -- the USA.
> But this is taking me away from the main point of this discussion. I
> disagree with Ed. I still think that the rioting youngsters are just using
> Kyoto, WTO, TNCs, GM crops, etc, as pretexts. They just happen to be useful
> alibis. Worthy though those causes may be (or may not be), it's clear that
> the youngsters have no intellectual arguments to bear. So they have a riot
> instead. Their main purpose is still that of wanting to draw attention to
> themselves, to be noticed, to be let into the adult world.
Reactionary indeed. You're reading the wrong newspapers, Keith.
Chris
