Screaming Penguin

Who cares? Blah, blah, blah, we don't need to knuckle under to every Euro-trash dumbass idea. At least we have a Prez with ballz that doesn't kowtow to the Euro-Left. More for us I'd say---Turn up the A/C & fire up the grill!! Oh, and gimme some more cabbage---

Yawn----Oh well, lunch is over, off to more useful pursuits--

Really, is this a Tech site, or some pro-left sheep, and pro-right cow site? Give it a rest, the so-called Kyoto accords are seriously flawed and shouldn't be implemented as is. So GWB is trying to get a better deal for the US, that's one of the things he's supposed to do. F*CK the rest of the world--that's right, the hell with them. As far as caving in to industry, what about Bill Clinton and the DMCA? This onerous piece of "legislation" is bought & paid for by the media companies to persecute individuals, such as the DeCSS kid & EBook russkie

I just wanted to say that I posted this story because I believe its important regardless of which side you are on. I do believe in doing something about the problem of global warming. If you dont, or have something else to say about the matter, which is serious, then fine say it. But lets try not to deteriorate in an ad hominem flaming argument, that is a waste of everyones time. I am NOT suggesting you dont speak out, whatever you believe, but calling somebody else names rather than speaking factually and substantively about the issue issue is a lame ass excuse for an original thought.

While the Kyoto Accord/Protocol/Civic whatever is a step in the right direction (or maybe just a lean), there are some serious problems with it that, in his own special kindergarten way, Khowa has pointed out. First is monitoring and enforcement. Who will do the monitoring? A special UN taskforce? Scary stuff! Or will each signing nation monitor themselves (we all know how well this will work). And if they are over the set limits, then what will happen? If you are thinking about economic sanctions, this is BAD BAD BAD. They usually don't accomplish anything (see Iraq, Libya, etc etc) and in fact might exacerbate (sp?) the problem. If a country is restricted on trade, then 2 things happen. First, they lose alot of money and can then no longer afford the relatively expensive anti-pollution measures. 2nd, they must increase domestic production of items which means more pollution in the country. Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Next big problem are the countries that aren't part of it because they are still developing. India, China, etc. When these guys reach even half of the industrial capacity per capita that the Industrialized countries do, watch out! And China just loves that coal power. Of course, they could always use more nuclear reactors, especially the kind that produce bomb-grade material. I seriously doubt that these countries are going to embrace clean technologies (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc) because they are not cose effective and completely reliable. The problem with the Kyoto Accord is that it is an attempt to regulate the people of the world as if they were under one government. They aren't, unfortunately, and thus this accord lacks teeth and doesn't offer up any solutions. Yes, we all know that the US environmental policy sucks, especially as of late with our beloved GWB (shoulda voted Libertarian!). But these kinds of things are definitely an internal matter. If you don't like US env policy, then vote for better candidates, get active, stop buying big vehicles, invest in fuel cell/alternative fuel technologies, etc. Oh, and stop encouraging companies to produce disposable products. Geeze, that pisses me off. Disposable cameras, cell phones, etc. Pre-made brown-bag meals (Lunchables) that taste horrible and come with too much packaging. Also, recycle as much as you can. Here in Atlanta (at least my neighborhood) recycling is practically non-existant. Drink water instead of Cokes and stuff (you end up conserving energy, water, metals, etc). Do a few of these things and you might even save some money. Do your part in the war effort! Uncle Sam needs you! Soylent Green is people! OK. I'm done.

Nice rant sir. All I can say is you are correct. Thats what I tried to convey, I dont think Kyoto is PERFECT by any means. But I think it is far more responsible to START to work on a problem than to ignore it. You are correct about Russia, China and India. Europe already does a great job of consuming wisely. These other guys wont be easy but maybe by making clean alternatives economically viable and by showing them it can be done successfully we can help them to get started. Also the problem with these countries treating everything separately and NOT as one entity (despite that fact that they are disparate countries) is that we all have ONE sky. We have to deal with it globally, there is no way to avoid that. It might be damn hard to do, but there is no option, this is not something we can just ignore and live through. And BTW, I own a hybrid car and voted for Harry Browne.

Hello. My friend and I are in grade 10 (level 1)doing a project for "Canadien Economy". We were asked, what is the Kyoto Accord/Protocol? What are the economic implications?...and can we afford not to impliment the accord? We would love it if you'd e-mail us back! Thank you very much! Have a nice day! -Erica & Ashley