Do YOU think global warming is bullshit?
And here's an article to set it off:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/11 ... index.html
MONTREAL, Quebec (AP) -- U.S. officials told a U.N. conference on climate change that their government was doing more than most to protect Earth's atmosphere.
In response, leading environmental groups blasted Washington for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, a global treaty that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Canada opened the 10-day U.N. Climate Control Conference on Monday, with about 10,000 experts from 180 nations, to brainstorm on ways to slow the effects of greenhouse gases and global warming. The conference aims to forge agreements on cutting poisonous emissions, considered by many scientists to be the planet's most pressing environmental issue.
Dr. Harlan L. Watson, senior climate negotiator for the U.S. Department of State, said that while President Bush declined to join the treaty, the U.S. leader takes global warming seriously. He noted greenhouse gas emissions had gone down by 0.8 percent under Bush.
"With regard to what the United States is doing on climate change, the actions we have taken are next to none in the world," Watson told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference.
He is leading a delegation of dozens of American officials at the conference and will be joined by U.S. Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky next week, when 120 government ministers arrive for the high-profile final negotiations.
Watson said the United States spends more than $5 billion (euro4.3 billion) a year on efforts to slow the deterioration of Earth's atmosphere by supporting climate change research and technology and that Bush had committed to cutting greenhouses gases 18 percent by 2012.
Elizabeth May of the Sierra Club Canada, however, accused Washington of trying to derail the Kyoto accord.
"We have a lot of positive, constructive American engagement here in Montreal -- and none of it's from the Bush administration, which represents the single biggest threat to global progress," May said, adding that Washington had "continually tried to derail" the Kyoto process.
The United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, saying it would harm the U.S. economy and is flawed by the lack of restrictions on emissions by emerging economic powers such as China and India.
In the first ever meeting of all 140 signatories of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Canada's Environment Minister Stephane Dion is juggling the presidency of the 11th U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Control while facing the imminent collapse of his country's government.
No-confidence vote
Opposition leaders have garnered enough votes in the House of Commons to topple Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority government in a no-confidence vote Monday night, forcing him to dissolve Parliament and set a day for national elections in January. (Full story)
Though Dion would remain in office, he would also be called upon to begin campaigning for his Liberal Party and could be mightily distracted. Opening the conference, Dion vowed to stay the course and described climate change as "the greatest environment hazard" facing mankind.
"Tragic experiences in many countries over the last year have once again reminded us of the world's vulnerability to climate-related disasters and highlighted the urgent need for adaptation" to rising sea levels, glacial melting and warmer atmospheric temperatures, he said.
The Kyoto accord, negotiated in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, targets carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases blamed for rising global temperatures that many scientists say are disrupting weather patterns.
The treaty, which went into effect in February, calls on the top 35 industrialized nations to cut emissions by 5.2 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012.
This conference will set agreements on how much more emissions should be cut after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires, though signatories are falling short of their targets.
Canada is up there with Spain, Ireland, Greece and five other nations as having the biggest increases in gas emissions. According to the United Nations, Spain is the worst, with a nearly 42 percent increase in emissions between 1990 and 2003; Canada stands at 24 percent and the United States experienced an increase of 13 percent.
The Kyoto accord was delayed by the requirement that countries accounting for 55 percent of the world's emissions must ratify it. That goal was finally reached -- nearly seven years after the pact was negotiated -- with Russia's approval last year.
The targets vary by region: The European Union initially committed to cutting emissions to 8 percent below 1990 levels; the United States agreed to a 7 percent reduction before Bush denounced the pact in 2001, saying it would cost too much and exacerbate a bothersome energy problem for the world's largest consumer of fossil fuels.
Beyond the Kyoto deadline, the European Union appears to be taking the lead, endorsing a plan in June to bring emissions of greenhouses gases down 15 percent to 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
As signatories to Kyoto's parent treaty, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, Washington is still an active participant at the conference, even if it says it prefers investments in climate science and technology rather than mandatory emissions caps.
Many had hoped Canada would persuade its neighbor to join the Kyoto fold, though Washington no longer has that option.
"I will certainly welcome any idea that may bring the United States closer to Canada, Europe, Japan, England and other countries as partners in this convention," Dion said. "We cannot do without the Americans because they represent 25 percent of emissions, and an even greater percentage of the solution."
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
