Why Bush's New Direction On Global Warming Won't Work

The Kyoto Protocol is a "mess" but a free market approach could help fix its weaknesses.

1 minute read

June 11, 2007, 2:00 PM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech


"Bush is correct about one thing: Kyoto is a mess. The president has rightly forced other world leaders to address one of the major flaws of the pact, which is that it doesn't apply to emerging economic giants such as China and India. Yet he also seems to think that these developing countries should be held to the same standards as the U.S., and is unwilling to do anything unless China does the same. That's unrealistic and unfair."

"China and India didn't create this problem, the older industrial powers did. Further, Americans remain far and away the biggest energy hogs on Earth - yearly per capita CO2 emissions are many times higher in this country than in China or India. We are in a vastly better position to cut emissions without derailing our economy and will never persuade the developing world to come along unless we lead by example."

"China and India both care more about raising standards of living than about pollution or global warming, but that doesn't mean they don't care at all."

Monday, June 11, 2007 in The Los Angeles Times

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