WHEN the Kyoto Protocol was first signed, it was met with joy...

Another story on the recent implementation of the Kyoto Protocol...

WHEN the Kyoto Protocol was first signed, it was met with joy and excitement throughout the world. The 1997 agreement pledged its signatory countries to implementing programs against global warming. With the world weather patterns increasingly reminding the world that global warming is a real phenomenon, the wisdom of the global effort that resulted in the Kyoto agreement has been validated.

However, the United States, the largest energy consumer in the world, which accounts for a significant percentage of the planet's greenhouse gases, withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol during George W. Bush's first term. The decision of the American Republican administration was met with outrage throughout the world: not least because previous (Democratic) American administrations had been at the forefront of the lobbying for the agreement.

The Kyoto accord establishes, as global policy, the directive that the use of fossil fuels should be accompanied by strict emission standards and by a serious effort to develop more fuel-efficient technologies, as well as energy substitutes that reduce greenhouse gases. Obviously such policies endanger the healthy profits of oil companies, car manufacturers and electricity producers, all of which were significant contributors to the Bush campaign.

It is, therefore, no exaggeration to say that the official American about-face with regard to Kyoto was a matter of business. Long ago, an American president, Calvin Coolidge, said "America's business is business." Just as the American obsession with business interests and its inherent tendency to be isolationist torpedoed America's participation in the League of Nations (the post-World War I precursor to the United Nations) in the 1920s, so too does the withdrawal of Republican support from the Kyoto accord and the International Criminal Court show that American idealism tends to play second fiddle to American profiteering.

It's been said that America's turning its back on the League of Nations led to the unchallenged rise of fascism. America's ambivalence toward the UN after World War II has also led to an uneven American engagement with the global community. There is an American saying: "All politics is local." And the Bush administration's turning its back on two immensely important global agreements, the Kyoto Protocol and the International Criminal Court, shows as much.

The world community, faced with what could have been a catastrophic American withdrawal from the Kyoto agreement, decided to go on without the United States. It helped that emerging global economic and military powers, such as the People's Republic of China, saw that environmental protection cannot be separated from sustainable economic growth. The European Union, Japan and the emerging powers-such as India, China and Brazil- continue to be dedicated to the spirit of the Kyoto agreement. So does the Philippines, which has been feeling, deeply and painfully, the price of environmental mismanagement.

Energy Secretary Vince Perez hailed the most recent accession to the Kyoto Protocol by the Russian Federation. He recently announced new government initiatives seeking clean indigenous energy resources, and he said the government is keen on the development and commercial utilization of renewable energy. These government programs aim to promote clean alternative transport fuels and to enhance energy efficiency as well as conservation efforts to ensure sustainable energy development in the country.

On the surface at least, the country is on the right track. While it took five years (from 1998 to 2003) for our country to ratify the Kyoto accord, the fact is we did. As did so many other nations. This only goes to show that the tantalizing possibility of America increasingly getting left behind by the combined efforts of other countries may be upon us.

It may be a passing era when the United States could call the shots virtually at will in the global scene. America is powerful, but rivals are rising to the fore. America will be a crucial world player for generations to come; but it must increasingly adopt to the possibility of its remaining to be an important power bloc, but just one of many. Be that as it may, it's good to see that our country remains where it does best: not simply following the American Pied Piper, but discovering there is wisdom and strength in collective global engagement.

Kyoto protocol comes into force


Now if only our shitty administration could figure out that the U.S. is the biggest polluter on the face of the planet and that we need to take a part in this effort. Man, the arrogance of this country and the politicians here is inexcusable! I need to become one too so that I could present some alternative points of view on issues like these. It's so hard to take power from those who've always had it. I'm just afraid that I'll be around when major climate shifts happen and I'll regret not doing anything to prevent it when I had the chance. More stories on the Kyoto protocol soon.


Staff and agencies
Wednesday February 16, 2005

Guardian Unlimited
The delayed Kyoto protocol on global warming finally came into effect today, seven years after it was first negotiated.

Environmentalists welcomed the development, which comes amid increasing fears about the effects global warming is already having. However, many voiced concern that the US and some other key countries had yet to ratify the protocol and that it does not go far enough.

Tony Blair, the prime minister, today said he was determined to pull the US "back into dialogue" over the need to tackle climate change.

He sought to reassure Washington that investment in science and technology meant reducing emissions did not have to affect living standards and economic growth and reaffirmed his commitment to making the issue a key priority during Britain's presidency of the G8 group of industrialised nations this year.

In central London, around 50 Greenpeace demonstrators blowing foghorns stormed into the International Petroleum Exchange, bringing trading to a halt just before 2pm. Police were attending the scene. The activists said they wanted to make the point that the aims of the Kyoto protocol were modest. Their message to petroleum firms was that "people's futures [are] more important than their profits".

The Kyoto pact, which has been ratified by 140 countries - but not the US, Australia, China or India - officially came into force at midnight New York time (0500 GMT). It was first negotiated in Japan's ancient capital, Kyoto, in 1997 but its implementation has been delayed because of a requirement that countries accounting for 55% of the world's emissions must ratify it. That goal was only reached after Russia signed up to the deal last year.

The protocol, an adjunct to the 1992 UN treaty on climate change, imposes limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases. It sets the target of a total cut of at least 5% in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2012.

Climate change experts warned of disastrous weather - including extremes of temperature, storms, droughts and floods and the melting of glaciers and the polar ice caps - if nothing is done to curb the emission of warm gases, which come mostly from transport and industry.

The environmental organisation Friends of the Earth welcomed today's development, but said more drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions were desperately needed.

Some commentators blame George Bush's administration for damaging efforts to prepare for a successor to the treaty, which expires in 2012.

The US, the world's largest emitter of such gases - accounting for almost one-quarter of global emissions - has refused to ratify the agreement. It had agreed to a 7% reduction before Mr Bush denounced the pact in 2001.

US officials argue that it would harm its economy and is flawed by the lack of restrictions on emissions by emerging economies such as China and India, which have also not signed up.

A White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, yesterday said "we are still learning" about the science of climate change. He said: "We have made an unprecedented commitment to reduce the growth of greenhouse gas emissions in a way that continues to grow our economy."

Speaking on Channel Five's The Wright Stuff, Mr Blair emphasised the importance of bringing China and India into the protocol, warning that within 40 years global warming was "going to be a major, major issue", while Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, described global warming as the "most significant issue for the human race in the next half century".

Australia defended its decision not to sign up to the protocol, although the environment minister, Ian Campbell, said the country was nevertheless on target to cut emissions by 30%.

The protocol focuses on carbon dioxide and five other gases that can trap heat in the atmosphere and are believed to be causing global temperatures to rise. Its targets vary by region, with the UK and other EU countries committed to cutting emissions to 8% below 1990 levels by 2012.

Since 1997, some countries have pledged to cut greenhouse gases further than the levels they had committed to in the treaty.

The enactment of the treaty today was being marked with a series of official events around the world. Japan planned to celebrate at the convention hall in which the accord was negotiated.

In a recorded message to be played at the event, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, called on the world community to be "bold" in providing a "concerted global response" to the issue of climate change.

However, Japan - the world's second largest economy - is struggling to find ways to meet its obligations, with a report this month showing that 11 of the 30 leading Japanese industries risked failing to reach targets.

The country has also been especially active in carbon trading, a system under which governments have allocated carbon dioxide quotas to industrial facilities. Those emitting less gas can sell the "credit" to other companies that emit too much, and figures suggest Japan bought more than 40% of the available credits last year.

The Kyoto targets:

The 25 member states of the EU will redistribute their quotas among themselves, taking advantage of a protocol scheme known as a "bubble". Romania, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Bulgaria, which are non-EU states, are also committed to cutting emissions by 8%.

Canada, Hungary, Japan, and Poland are committed to cutting emissions by 6%, Croatia by 5%. New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine and Norway are committed to allowing only a 1% rise in emissions. Australia agreed not to increase its emissions by more than 8%, and Iceland by no more than 10%.

Of the 140 countries that agreed upon the emissions targets, 30 are industrialised.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

Jennifer Lopez To Star In 'Bordertown'


Great, J. Lo is going to take another Mexican related event and use it to futher her career! Man, fuck her! I hope the director can at least remain truthful and sensitive about the subject matter. He also directed both Selena and Mi Familia but I still have issues with him. I'll just have to wait and see how this movie's going to be made and marketed. The atrocious deaths of so many Mexican women should definitely not be fodder for a Hollywood "thriller" movie! Urrgh, there's some protesting/boycotting to be had if this movie comes out poorly! I feel very strongly tied to these murders as a Chicana and I have to be this angry about it. After all, who's looking out for us Mexicanas anyway?




Production Weekly reports that Gregory Nava is in talks with Jennifer Lopez, who he directed in 'Selena', to star in the thriller 'Bordertown'. Lopez would play Lauren, an impassioned American reporter for the Chicago Sentinel who heads to Juarez, a Mexican bordertown, in order to investigate a series of mysterious slayings involving young factory women from all over Mexico. As she discovers hundreds of victims, she gains the trust of local factory workers but falls into danger. Production on the film is scheduled to begin March 7th in Mexico.