Flashback 2004: "New coal plants bury 'Kyoto'"

[leftchick]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1223/p01s04-sten.html

<snip>

So much for Kyoto.

The official treaty to curb greenhouse-gas emissions hasn't gone into effect yet and already three countries are planning to build nearly 850 new coal-fired plants, which would pump up to five times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce.


The magnitude of that imbalance is staggering. Environmentalists have long called the treaty a symbolic rather than practical victory in the fight against global warming. But even many of them do not appear aware of the coming tidal wave of greenhouse-gas emissions by nations not under Kyoto restrictions.

By 2012, the plants in three key countries - China, India, and the United States - are expected to emit as much as an extra 2.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide, according to a Monitor analysis of power-plant construction data. In contrast, Kyoto countries by that year are supposed to have cut their CO2 emissions by some 483 million tons.

The findings suggest that critics of the treaty, including the Bush administration, may be correct when they claim the treaty is hopelessly flawed because it doesn't limit emissions from the developing world. But they also suggest that the world is on the cusp of creating a huge new infrastructure that will pump out enormous amounts of CO2 for the next six decades.

[Dems Will Win]

1. We need to start a boycott of Chinese goods

Anytime you buy something labeled "Made in China" you are helping to kill the planet through coal.

India too. Everything labeled "Made in India" must be boycotted.

Only a total boycott of Indian and Chinese goods by environmentalists and one and all can save us now.

We need to start speaking out before we are silenced forever.

[necso]

2. "The findings suggest that

critics of the treaty ... may be correct when they claim the treaty is hopelessly flawed because it doesn't limit emissions from the developing world." (For the neocons, of course, this isn't a real concern, just a rationalization.)

And this when phenomenal growth (in GDP, energy use, etc) is occurring in some "developing" countries.

I remember discussions (decades ago) about avoiding the same mistakes in "developing" countries that the west had made (pollution, resource depletion/waste, etc).

Of course, this would cut into the relative advantages of these countries -- and the profits that can be made there.

[brokensymmetry]

3. Given a chance at short term profit/comfort - at the

cost of long term disaster - people will always choose
the short term.

That's the same reason a boycott of goods won't work.
People value cheap prices over all other things.

Sad, I suppose. Humanity thinks they have the
intelligence to go to the stars - while acting
with the wisdom of a yeast colony.

[Gregorian]

4. First we need to understand.

An intelligent leader would be speaking to the people about the causes, and what can be done about the problems. But even a good leader can't stop what is happening, because the world economy depends on it. And we're demanding that things be made for us.

I used to joke about boycotting Chinese goods. That was 20 years ago. And already, everything was being manufactured there. The joke is, when they make everything, you can't boycott it without giving up everything. And it has to be made somewhere. If not in China, then Chicago, or elsewhere. The same BTU's are used for a pair of shoes made in Beijing as in Baltimore. It's not who is making it, but the very act of making it. It, being the things we are asking for when we go shopping. Tires, toothpaste, socks, soap. And all six billion of us aren't even doing it yet. There are nearly three billion still waking up. And that should really frighten everyone. We are not through modernizing. And it's modernization that is the root cause of all of this. In these numbers. A billion people can live this way. Six billion can't.

The problem is demand for a modern lifestyle, in these numbers. The answer is a one word solution- LESS. Less demand, or less CO2. And less CO2 is a long term, not realistic dream. Not in time, at least. The only solution I see that can make a fast impact is to literally stop the consumption. And that is not something we're going to do. Who doesn't make that vacation plan? Who doesn't take a warm shower tomorrow morning? Who stops their assembly line first?

I was very worried for many years. Now I'm resigned to simply watching the whole thing sink into oblivion. I'm deeply saddened. The people didn't have a clue. The politicians were silent. And the scientists didn't have the proper tools until recently. But mainly, people aren't willing to limit themselves. AND they aren't willing to make big changes until crisis hits.

[Bobbieo]

5. The people of Kyoto will pay for it with their health problems.

Just ask the Navajos from the Four Corners area.