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Saturday, October 22, 2011

The Reality of the Kyoto Protocol (as I see it )

The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 2005,  is an effort to fight Global Warming.
37 countries have committed themselves to reduce emissions of "Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide and Sulphur Hexafluoride" to prescribed levels.
Only the USA have refused to sign this protocol. Asked for the reason for this refusal, President George W. Bush replied that, although he took global warming very seriously, he opposed the Kyoto Treaty because it excempts 80% of the world and had set goals, the achieving of which, if at all possible, would seriously damage the economy of the USA.
At this point it is interesting to note that not one of the 37 signatories to this laudable undertaking has achieved its goals, inspite of the possibility of "Credits". This means that if Country A invests money in the reduction efforts of country B, country A may take credit for the resulting reduction. This, on the surface is a good thing. "The World" according to Baha U' LLah "is but one country and mankind its citicens."
One has to accept that "Global Warming" is indeed a global problem and therefore the exact location where it is prevented is of no importance. If Austria, f.i. funds a  change from a coal fired industry to a gas fired one in an African country,  the subsequent reduction in emission of CO2 is of benefit to the global community. Therefore, Austria should receive the credit for it.
Inspite of all of this, not one country has achieved its objective.
What, if this sample African country has a corrupt government, (and we have heard of some) the question arises how much of the money is earmarked for the private pockets of its leadership? So, how do we control and account for the supposed "Credit"?
Each farmer's cow is a Methane production plant. How do we stop cows from farting? A cork in their rear end?

Hey, let's put on our collective thinking cap.
We have to come up with some workable idea.

bertstravels.

2 comments:

Lianne said...

There is a commercial running on "The Animal Planet" TV channel here for you to eat less beef because the fewer cows there are the less global warming there will be.

Bert said...

It would be intereswting to find out what the contribution to global warming is from all animal gas expulsion... including your two cats and my dog... and the millions of animals in Africa and the hundreds of millions of farm animals all over the world. The more I think of it, the more I must conclude that it has nothing to do with exhaust gases from my car, but my dog is responsible for the whole mess.