With the exception of classified information, the Bush
Administration has failed to prove that Saddam Hussein poses a
clear and present danger to the United States. Such lack of
evidence, writes Grist Magazine?s Bill McKibben, is the
reason that 70 percent of Europeans oppose the invasion of Iraq.
What’s remarkable, McKibben notes, is not the overwhelming European
consensus, but the fact that it’s based on ?an uninformed
judgement,? resulting from a lack of ?necessary data.? Why won?t
Europe give Washington the benefit of the doubt? McKibben believes
it?s a result of President Bush?s environmental politics.
If Saddam Hussein is this year?s problem, then global warming is
the problem of the century McKibben warns. This clear and present
danger has been overwhelmingly corroborated. The proof comes not in
the form of top secret intelligence, but ten years of hard,
scientific data collected and analyzed by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change. The results conclude that global warming
is an imminent threat?both to America and the world. Still, George
Bush not only refuses to address the issue, says McKibben, he also
refutes it as if it were ?a well-honed dagger aimed at the heart of
the U.S. economy.?
The Kyoto Protocol is a single but significant battle in the war
on global warming ?a fight that America refuses to join, even
though 110 countries have already enlisted. For the treaty to take
effect, its participants must produce at least 55 percent of the
total carbon dioxide emissions. To date, the countries that have
ratified Kyoto account for 43.9 percent of the world?s pollution.
If the U.S. were to ratify, the victory would be a win for the
entire planet. Best of all, Americans wouldn?t have to sacrifice
their lives?only their lifestyles.
?Erin Ferdinand
Go there>>
http://www.gristmagazine.com/soapbox/mckibben031303.asp
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