I’m extending to you our kailian Ben Padua’s invitation which he sent me by email, to join the fight against global warming. According to the National Geographic, the average temperature has risen by 1 degree Fahrenheit in the last century causing the Arctic sea ice to melt, ergo, rising sea level. It may not be our foremost concern but I’m sure we’ve all felt the effects of this phenomenon – erratic weather conditions, excessively hot summers, very strong typhoons, tornadoes, hurricanes. Countries have begun a joint effort to reduce global warming through the binding agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, which took effect in February 2005 and seeks to reduce carbon dioxide / greenhouse gas emissions to halt the increase in earth temperature. A total of 55 countries have ratified the agreement, but did you know that the United States the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases “per head,” backed out of the agreement in 2001? The reason: it will damage the US economy and besides, the agreement does not require developing countries (China falls under this category) to reduce their own emissions. Quite a lame excuse, don’t you think? It’s true, China is the third largest source of greenhouse gases, but the US’ excuse is just not reasonable. Just think: if every country had this selfish mentality, the earth is set for self-destruction. Fortunately, countries in all of EU, the second largest producer of gas emissions, have ratified the agreement, together with China (2002), Russia (2004), Japan (2002), India (2002) and other countries. So, I guess Americans, more than anyone else in the planet, should pressure their government to join the fight against global warming, and, if I may add, this should include changes in their lifestyle, too.

Filed under: April 2007, Environment | You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.