In reply to:
First of all the treaty gives developing nations unrestricted rights to pollute. While I do think that developing nations need more leniency than developed nations, I don't see how giving developing nations a free pass is going to help anything(esp since India and China(2 developing nations) are expected to surpass the US in pollution in the next 20 years).
Agree with you there. I think a global agreement to cut emissions is a good thing though, the Kyoto protocol was a pretty poor attempt.
In reply to:
Second, based on a number of studies carbon dioxide is not the major cause of damage to the atmosphere. If you look at how much the envirnoment produces(100 million tonnes) compared to how much man produces(7 million tonnes) it's just a drop in the bucket. I think far more attention needs to be paid to other pollutants, such as soot(it's been shown to cling to water molecules and cause harm to the formation of clouds, which help sheild the earth from some of the sun's heat and rays).
Drop in the ocean?
In the last one hundred years, The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased 25%. CO2 output levels are still rising dramatically. This table shows how much we could expect the temperature to rise if we stabilised CO2 emissions in different years. As you can see, if the levels had stopped increasing last year, we would still get a 2.8 degree rise.
Estimates for 2100
Year / (Pgr/year) / CO2 (ppm) / Temp rise (?C)
1990.........6.7..........522....... .2.5
2000.........8.1..........567.........2.8
2025........12.4.........686.........3.5
2050 .......16.9 ........786.........3.9
2075........22.0 ........862.........4.2
The USA prodcues 23% of world CO2 emissions, despite having only 4.8% of the worlds population, so the fact that it refuses to cut emissions is clearly irresponsible. The Kyoto protocol might not have been to it's liking, but refusing to even negotiate any cut in output shows what influence the energy companies have in the administration.
All these figures from US government websites:
http://www.cnie.org/pop/bongaarts/popgrowth/b.htm
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/iea/tableh1.html
In reply to:
Though there exists a level of exploitation throughout the world of workers in developing countries, I have to ask isn't exploitation better than starvation which in many cases is the alternative?
No, it's not the only alternative, its a case of whether globalisation benefits everyone or only a minority. A global agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions clearly would benefit everybody in the long-term. It is just the short-term interests of a few that are the obsticle to such a treaty.