The debate about Kyoto

The G8 is over and sadly the bomb attack in London drew attention away from the real agenda. President Bush continues to refuse to even talk about Kyoto as is would “ruin America’s economy.” That’s pathetic, as curbing emissions would spark new innovation to clean up existing products thus increasing future revenue streams from people upgrading and changing over to new less or non pollution systems. Isn’t that obvious?

America used to be THE land of innovation. What happened? We now hold on to a vision of the past which saw America have unfettered access to all of earth’s natural resources. I think most people in America believe change is coming but put this off in their minds to a distant future. The change is right now though. China and India already are competing on a small, but increasing scale, for Oil.

It’s interesting to note, IF America’s leaders believe that curbing emissions would harm the economy so much now, what will happen in the future? Fossil fuels are finite. We will in the future be forced to cut emissions as there simply won’t be much fuel to burn up and spew into the environment. America is still the largest economy in the world, but that is predicted to change in the next decade or two. The change is only going to get harder when we are number two or three.

I heard James Fallows interviewed on “On Point” (www.onpointradio.org) about three weeks ago. He wrote an article in last months Atlantic Monthly (www.theatlantic.com) titled” Countdown to a Meltdown”. In this he speculates if America has what it takes to be a leader in the world and hold on to the success we have achieved so far. Honestly the answer is no unless we make some voluntary changes now.