by Rick Lowe
There were a couple interesting comments left to this recent blog titled Weather Armageddon by Joan Thompson.
Tutela responded rather sarcastically, saying:
"Aren't you afraid you could get skin cancer from that non-exisent sun you can't see with your head in the sand.
Why must we all join you and the American corporations in dispoiling our little space ship earth for $$$$$$?
You shouldn't mess with Mother Earth!
If you like paying for bottled water, you'll love bottled air."
Well, this is the scare mongering that avoids an honest discussion of the facts as we know them and as pointed out by Mrs. Thompson in her blog.
Those American corporations that are "despoiling our little spaceship earth" are far cleaner today than they were just thirty years ago.
H. Sterling Burnett of the National Center for Policy Analysis pointed out in this opinion piece that:
"According to the International Energy Agency, as much as 85 percent of the projected increase in CO2 emissions will come from developing countries - the same countries and regions exempted from the proposed treaty (China, India, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, etc.). The U.N. estimates exempted countries will contribute 76 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions within the next 50 years. By 2025, China alone will emit more carbon dioxide than the current combined total of the United States, Japan and Canada. Thus, even if developed countries unilaterally stopped all their greenhouse gas emissions immediately (something no one seriously proposes), total greenhouse gas emissions would continue to rise."
So with this in mind, does it make economic sense for America to risk its economy on the Kyoto Protocol when China, the worlds fastest growing economy will be exempt? Also, this does not take into consideration how polluted China is today. And this will only worsen as they develop.
Not being above a little sarcasm ourselves, Tutela should read something other than Michael Moore's or Al Gore's attempts at scaremongering. S/He, might spend some time reading about the history of development in the US to learn how clean and environmentally concerned corporations are today.
Of course there will always be offenders, but if the regulations are enforced, these companies will pay, either fines or loss of business from environmentally concerned consumers.
And yes, we all need a push to improve. But at what cost?
Mr. Tarzwell responded in a more mature manner. He said:
"The Bahamas is just as responsible as the USA for any carbon dioxide in the world. Do we not drive cars, do we not have electrical generators to power our cities and homes, do we not have bussiness which refine oil, do we not have big cruise ships visit our shores. We in the Bahamas generate just as much co2 per human as the USA because we live just like the USA, and consume just as many resorses just like the USA."
Many of these points cannot be disputed. Taking this one step further however, the question that should be asked is, like China, what is The Bahamas doing about these emissions, other than lecturing America on what they are doing about them?
The answer is nothing. That's right, nothing but talk!
For example:
We import vehicles that do not meet the emissions standards already in place in the US (and these specifications are becoming more stringent with each passing year in the US as manufacturers try to out do each other with the most environmentally friendly vehicles). We allow vehicles to spew black soot from their exhausts with impunity. It has been reported that our government owned electric company stores used oil in 55 gallon drums and these will eventually leak into the water table, if they have not done so already. We have road side garages that dump their used oil and coolant into the ground and release freon into the air.
An important consideration to bear in mind is that, although we have a large middle class, the majority of the people in The Bahamas can be considered poor, so it will be an immediate hardship on them to implement these "clean air" programmes in the short term. They will obviously have to be phased in over many years.
Once The Bahamas decides to seriously deal with these issues, Fred Mitchell can then lecture America and any other country whose standards are lower than ours. But until then, we should not embarrass ourselves on the world stage by calling the kettle black.
