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You may or may not agree that global warming is real and needs to be addressed. I've lately begun to believe so, although I'm still very interested in hearing the best arguments of the skeptics. But even while acknowledging something needs to be done, I've felt that the Kyoto Protocols were massively overhyped, and that the whole "blame the U.S." for global warming meme has been a cynical farce. With the big "what next" talks on in Montreal, the U.S.-bashing has started anew. And so I think this editorial in today's Newsday is especially on point.

The UN summit on climate change going on in Montreal was billed as the next step in advancing the controversial Kyoto Protocol to limit production of greenhouse gases. But it could be the beginning of the end for Kyoto. For good reasons.

The flaws in the climate treaty, cited by both the Clinton and Bush administrations for the U.S. refusal to participate, are becoming starkly evident. But even if the Kyoto protocol dies, the crisis it was meant to address won't go away. And the United States has an obligation, as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases today, to pitch in to come up with better solutions, instead of simply rejecting bad remedies.

Global warming leading to destructive climate change is a reality. On that, there is widespread agreement. But how to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases - such as carbon dioxide - the prime cause of global warming, has become a conundrum with few apparent long-term solutions.

The biggest Kyoto flaw now is clear: China and India and other developing nations going through rapid industrialization are exempt from any limits under the protocol- and they are consuming far more energy, and producing far more greenhouse gases than anticipated when the protocol was drawn up. In a short time, they are expected to equal and even surpass the United States in greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet they reject limits with a simple argument: Developed nations have no right to tell developing nations not to duplicate the environmental damage they themselves caused in the process of becoming rich. The burning of fossil fuels that produce CO2 and the deforestation of vast tracts of land that act as sponges to absorb it are seen as keys to their development.

India and China can't be let off the hook. Their huge and rapidly-expanding populations and industrial sectors make their full participation crucial. To make excuses for them while holding the U.S. to a higher standard is to wield global warming as a political hammer, with no real regard for the environment itself. Alternative fuels - from algae derivatives and biodiesel to nuclear - need to be profitably developed, and become part of the global warming control strategy. So does carbon sequestration. Ending the rape of the Brazilian rainforest by Brazilians would also be nice. And don't forget bovine methane control.

TECHNORATI TAGS: GLOBAL WARMING, KYOTO, UNITED STATES, CHINA, INDIA, BRAZIL, ALTERNATIVE FUELS, CARBON SEQUESTRATION

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 8, 2005 05:23 PM

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