Bad bad Big Daddy

bangalore: all holy books have a lot to say about those who go back on their promises, and no wonder big daddy america is in the doghouse. president bush's backing out of the kyoto treaty has brought about everlasting shame on the golden country. let's try to see how it happened. in december 1997, around 160 nations adopted the kyoto protocol whose targets were to set specific emission reductions of greenhouse gases that everyone now knows to be the cause of global warning.thanks to media-prompting awaareness, it's not only scientists but even the average citizen who is aware of the fact that without reaching these targets, the world's ambient temperature will increase. the result will be the raising of sea levels jeopardizing coastal populations and eco-system. in addition the global water cycle would rapidly speed up, exacerbating drought and increasing flooding. let's remember that big daddy had a lot of time for the making up of mind and all that. negotiations on the kyoto protocol to the united nations framework convention on climate change were completed on december 11, 1997, committing the industrialised nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six "greenhouse gases". the treaty was opened for signature on march 16, 1998 through march 16, 1999. bid daddy signed in on november 12, 1998, so one can't exactly call it an impulse. president clinton voiced strong support for the kyoto protocol, though criticising it for not including commitments for developing countries. you cannot even say that was clinton speaking because the kyoto commitment had been one of bush's election promises. however, apart from the fact that it is not proper for an elected representative to betray an election promise, i think america's attitude may soon turn infectious; it won't be long before other countries too back out of international agreements saying they simply don't feel like complying with them. it was in march this year, bush changed his eco tune. said he does not support the kyoto treaty because it exempts the developing nations around the world, and is not in the united state's best economic interests. reminds one a bit of sidney sheldon's 'nothing lasts forever' which should have actually been titled 'games american presidents play'. and this time the beating is not about but at the bush; and his poor brother, who happens to be governor of florida is having a lot of darts thrown at him as florida will be very badly affected by any sea level rise. bad enough he's going back on america's word, he's also going diametrically opposite to the direction kyoto plans to take. consider this: us has only 4% of the world's population and yet it emits 25% of all co2. there's more to come. bush's power plan includes the addition of more than a thousand extra power plants over the next 10 years which is obviously going to increase the us's carbon dioxide emissions. the awe for the golden country should not blind us to the fact that america is terribly selfish and sees only to its own interests. i think it is time that the us starts paying up for all the growth it has had at the expense of the environment.