Thomas Palm wrote in message .229...
(SwimJim) wrote in
om:

Mike1 wrote in
message
news:Mitchell-Holman-special-ed-project-5E0CD8.22244919082004@phswest.
com...
(SwimJim) wrote:

He should have said "only the current Presidential Administration in
the United States is out of touch with reality" to be a little more
accurate.


Yeah, like *China* is breakin' is hind-end to sign Kyoto.

Where did I mention Kyoto? I don't support it. Being out of touch
with reality means recognizing that global warming is going to be a
problem requiring real action with solutions that work. Because I
don't think that the Kyoto Protocol is a solution that would work, I
don't support it. (However, I do support the UN Framework Treaty on
Climate Change.)

The Kyoto treaty is still nice to have in place until something better has
been worked out, flawed as it is. If you look at all the complaints against
the treaty you will find that they are quite contradictory and these
contradictions are going to plague any further treaties too.

My focus has always been on how Kyoto is phrased; it expects
countries to make self-sacrificing moves that are not in their
national interest. It seems to me already obvious that the signees
can't live up to their commitments, and I really doubt that most of
them want to try. Thus, I think that their ratification provides a
convenient excuse for not really doing anything, in the line of "Look,
we signed the Kyoto Protocol, we must be serious about climate change
-- nevermind that our fossil fuel consumption is still increasing and
we aren't hitting our targets. And let's bash the United States for
being realistic while we're at it."

For a treaty like this to work, it's got to be designed to cater to
national interests. Like a scorecard. A country gets points awarded
for each program it implements, for each reduction it achieves, for
each unit of hybrid vehicles that its citizens drive. The points
translate into real things: discounted prices on the world market for
vital commodities might be an example. Or contracts with other
countries for specific business objectives. You trade success on
pollution and energy consevation for something else.

I don't know China's status regarding the Kyoto Protocol, since they
were specifically exempted, along with India. I would have expected
that they'd ratify it for that reason.

Good guess. China ratified the Kyoto treaty 30/08/02
http://unfccc.int/resource/kpstats.pdf

It was a good guess. I couldn't imagine China not signing something
that favored their interests like that.

------------------------------------
SwimJim
(formerly James G. Acker)


The great tragedy of science -- the
slaying of a beautiful hypothesis
by an ugly fact. - Thomas Huxley
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