Bush facing pressure over Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol, which went into effect on the 16th of this month, committed 35 industrialized countries to reducing by 2012 their emissions of six "greenhouse gases" that trap heat in the earth's atmosphere — principally carbon dioxide — to 5 percent less than 1990 levels.
Seven years in the making and ratified by 141 countries, the agreement — made in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 — has been controversial from the start on the issue of the damage it would do to the economy as to the concern of the climate of the whole world.
The Bush administration refused to sign on to Kyoto for two principal reasons: that it would harm the U.S. economy by requiring very costly changes to manufacturing, transportation and other aspects of business; and because the agreement did not initially cover the most rapidly developing countries — India and China — where economic advancement is valued over smokestack issues.
But the president has begun to feel some political pressure from his allies on global warming.
Sen. John McCain warns of the "devastating consequences of climate change." He has joined with Sen. Joe Lieberman in sponsoring a bill that would require reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions from the electricity-generation, transportation, industrial and commercial sectors of the economy, which represent 85 percent of overall U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions.
Seven years in the making and ratified by 141 countries, the agreement — made in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 — has been controversial from the start on the issue of the damage it would do to the economy as to the concern of the climate of the whole world.
The Bush administration refused to sign on to Kyoto for two principal reasons: that it would harm the U.S. economy by requiring very costly changes to manufacturing, transportation and other aspects of business; and because the agreement did not initially cover the most rapidly developing countries — India and China — where economic advancement is valued over smokestack issues.
But the president has begun to feel some political pressure from his allies on global warming.
Sen. John McCain warns of the "devastating consequences of climate change." He has joined with Sen. Joe Lieberman in sponsoring a bill that would require reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions from the electricity-generation, transportation, industrial and commercial sectors of the economy, which represent 85 percent of overall U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions.
