It is hard to believe that it was back in 1997 when forward thinking countries around the world gathered to agree to admit to the topic of climate change and many opted in to do something about it. The title of the program was called Kyoto Protocol and was established under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. At that time, 191 countries bought into the program, however, the United States (along with a few other countries) refused to ratify the agreement. While there seemed to be some excellent movement ahead, even without the U.S., the program itself may be fizzling out unless the new Kyoto 2.0 can be implemented.

The meeting in Qatar in 2013 brings two hundred delegates to the table once again, to discuss the climate change topic on an international scale, with goals set for the year 2020. In the past year, the European Union has continued to support the efforts, but Canada, Japan and the United States indicated they will not offer support. On top of this already daunting challenge is the fact that there are underlying disagreements between the underdeveloped and developed countries as to who will carry what percentage of the financial burden. The original Kyoto agreement involved part of a vision that brought binding emission cuts by those countries in the industrialized work, but not in the fast industrialized countries such as India and China. At this time, these two are the third-largest and largest carbon emissions generators, respectively. According to reports by the International Energy Agency, developing countries account for over half of the world’s carbon emissions. In essence, something has to change in the direction of the vision, because it is vastly lop-sided.

The developed world has slowed down and curbed carbon emissions, but as of 2009, the United States and China combined, have been responsible for over 40% of the emissions. The U.S. carbon emissions have actually shown a 10.5% rise since 1990 and China remains reliant on coal, the highest carbon-intensive fossil fuel, to power its fast economic growth.

In a fifteen year span since the original Kyoto meeting, the health of the environment has deteriorated at rapid levels. The changing weather patterns are bringing Northern Hemisphere crop failures, there are record ice melts in the Arctic Ocean as well as acidification of the oceans around the globe. Ships and tankers are now scheduling trips through the Arctic using pathways that were never before available, all due to the thinned ice cover.

The list of environmental changes and devastations that they cause gets longer with each year. While the European Union has reduced its carbon emissions by one-fifth, with a 30% goal by the year 2020, they seem to be standing alone as the leader to the challenge. The goal of the Qatar meeting is to attempt to bring everyone together again to focus on the use of technologies for climate change action. However, any decisions that are to come to fruition will require 194 delegation votes, and that may be a challenge that equals the topic of climate change itself.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/26/world/global-climate-talks/index.html

6 Responses to “The Ongoing Battle of Kyoto: Arguments as the Planet has a Melt Down”

1. 1
   CommodityGuy Says:
   

   Kyoto has been a major embarrassment for America for the last number of years. When other countries proved they were progressive, the influence of the oil industries kept the U.S. from joining. Pressure from all over still didn’t make any difference, until finally, with the Democrats, we began the process of pollution reduction. It’s still not enough. China refuses to reduce, unless they can make money on it as well. It seems they have learned something from the U.S.

   May 27th, 2013 at 2:24 pm
2. 2
   FastNotFurious Says:
   

   How bad does it have to get? We are already seeing horrible results of global warming all over the world. Some can blame it on normal cycles, others on religious retribution, but the reality is we are warming ourselves (and the planet) to death. As a country we need to stand as an example and the fact that we won’t belly up to the table and join Kyoto is just disgusting.

   May 26th, 2013 at 10:05 am
3. 3
   NoPlaceNoTime Says:
   

   If the oil companies could gain something out of Kyoto, we would have been the first in line. Sad that it’s politics that makes the rules and not common sense. If the people would stand up and demand it, the politicians would be scared of losing their votes. Only then might they shed the shackles of their oil contributors.

   May 25th, 2013 at 10:44 pm
4. 4
   FastNotFurious Says:
   

   How bad does it have to get? We are already seeing horrible results of global warming all over the world. Some can blame it on normal cycles, others on religious retribution, but the reality is we are warming ourselves (and the planet) to death. As a country we need to stand as an example and the fact that we won’t belly up to the table and join Kyoto is just disgusting.

   May 16th, 2013 at 10:07 am
5. 5
   NoPlaceNoTime Says:
   

   If the oil companies could gain something out of Kyoto, we would have been the first in line. Sad that it’s politics that makes the rules and not common sense. If the people would stand up and demand it, the politicians would be scared of losing their votes. Only then might they shed the shackles of their oil contributors.

   May 15th, 2013 at 11:45 pm
6. 6
   CommodityGuy Says:
   

   Kyoto has been a major embarrassment for America for the last number of years. When other countries proved they were progressive, the influence of the oil industries kept the U.S. from joining. Pressure from all over still didn’t make any difference, until finally, with the Democrats, we began the process of pollution reduction. It’s still not enough. China refuses to reduce, unless they can make money on it as well. It seems they have learned something from the U.S.

   May 14th, 2013 at 9:47 pm

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.