Phendrana Drifts

I have never called myself an environmentalist, but I also think I thought green before some (all Liberal and Conservative politicians) but long after some (Al Gore - given that he started before I was born). Still, I'm not perfect. We recycle, we don't own a car (although we keep thinking that will change soon), we use the awesome lightbulbs that use only a little energy, etc. I also double-side print at work, recycle and try and be green in the office as well as home.

I also believe that global warming represents a threat to our planet. But I was not a fan of the Kyoto Protocol and still am not. But for much different reasons than most.

Kyoto was designed with the United States as a signatory in mind, and without them on board, Kyoto is at risk of not actually doing what it was meant to do. Without the United States obligated to cut greenhouse emissions, and with nations like China and India left to do virtually what ever they want with their emissions, Kyoto is unlikely to stop, or even substantially curtail the greenhouse effect.

As the debate in Canada restarts on greenhouse gases I hope the conversation to some degree goes towards using diplomacy to convince the United States to sign on and convince heavily polluting developing nations to cut their emissions as well. Certainly we should set ambitious goals for ourselves, and the Kyoto ones can certainly be admirable ones, but Canada is only a part of the problem. In fact, we are only 2% of the problem, meaning that cutting our emissions by say, 20%, will only solve 0.1% of the problem globally. Convincing the United States to cut emissions by 20% however will reduce global emissions by about 6%.

Regardless of who sits in the Prime Minister's chair, I was always convinced that Canada's real commitment to Kyoto died when President Bush decided to thumb his nose at the protocol. Let's go change his mind, or at least encourage the United States to take action on greenhouse gases. Then again, if I had the opportunity to influence American policy, greenhouse gas emissions would only be one of many, many topics I'd want to discuss.

Labels: environment

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