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Ron
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A Personal Commentary Kyoto: What Happens If We Do Or Don’t? With our government making noises of ratifying the Kyoto Accord, to immediately cut down our greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming, I wonder what happens if we don’t? It is not like we are dying off. Life expectancy has risen to unprecedented levels in every nation on earth over the past fifty years, with folks from the industrial nations most to blame for the emissions living the longest. Where we find low life expectancy is in the developing nations, and Kyoto allows them to emit as much of these gases as they wish over the next century. If the stuff is so harmful, then just where is the logic in that? With the Kyoto Accord exempting India, China, and Indonesia from the emission targets, combined with the United States refusal to join the parade, you’ve got the four most populous nations, representing 45% of the world’s population, unaffected. They are not alone. Meanwhile, how is all this going to affect your family over the next year or two, after Canada signs on? Well, if we are to cut our energy use by 30 - 40% by 2010, then expect sin taxes on fossil fuels comparable to those on cigarettes and booze. The U.S. Energy Information Agency, during the Clinton Administration, predicted the Kyoto fallout could deliver a 40% increase in gas prices, cause electricity costs to soar 80-85%, and heating oil to jump by 60%. Imagine how such increases would affect every facet of our economy and our way of life. Imagine the challenges it would present to your employer and the impact it would have on you and yours. All for what? Ron Thornton |