Kyoto Protocol

Since the start "of the industrial revolution concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased nearly 30 percent, methane has... more than doubled." (2) This shocked world meteorologists so much that they helped put toghether the group that created the Kyoto Protocol. Countries that sign this promise to lower greenhouse gases that they emit over a certain period of time. 172 countries have signed this plan to stop global warming, except for the U.S and Australia. The U.S. and Australia think it is unfair that countries like India, China, and Brazil do not have to cut down their emissions by as much because they are poorer countries. A Dutch research group that keeps track of countries pollution announced that china is now ahead of the U.S. as a number one carbon dioxide emitter. The air quality in Beijing is so bad that people wear masks to keep from breathing the soot in the air. China uses coal as their main energy source because they have alot of it. this is 42 percent higher than the world's average because China has less money to put into cleaner fuel sources that richer countries use. Bad air quality is just one of the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions. Did you know that besides making our summer's hotter and melting the glaciers, which are causing sea levels to rise, global warming is causing droughts in some areas? It's also causing stronger and more hurricanes than we have in the past. Greenhouse gases are also reducing the ozone layer causing more skin cancer in some places. Other health problems such as Malaria have been predicted to increase due to the lowering of ocean ph because the water is getting warmer. So with almost all the scientists agreeing on this why aren't we doing anything? It always comes down to money and who's expected to pay. It's expensive to make changes that reduce our needs for non renewable energy sources. China may be number one now in total emissions, but if you count that they have four times as many people as the U.S. China puts out "10,500 lbs of carbon dioxide per person while in the U.S. it is nearly 42,500 lbs. per person." (3) Also, if you consider that the U.S. has been an industrialized country for alot longer than China, the biggest portion of the pollution in the atmosphere is ours. Some of the factories in China that are responsible for their increased pollution are American companies that are using China's cheap labor. What needs to be done in my opinion is we first have to stop worrying about who's the biggest polluter and fix the problem, by doing what's right no matter the cost.



Refences: 2. www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/climate_change.shtml

3. www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-06-20-124188869_x.htm

4. http://www.mongabay.com/

5. www.celsias.com/2007/06/27/chinas-boost-in-co2-emi

6. www.greenpeace.org/international/news/china-climate-change

7. www.investmentu.com/research/coalstocks.html

8. www.environment.sa.gov.au/reporting/atmosphere/ozone/stratospheric.html