Sign a Global Treaty
On September 29, 2000, during the run-up to the presidential election, candidate George W. Bush called for "mandatory reduction targets" for CO2 -- the main culprit behind global warming -- and chided his opponent, Al Gore, for only advocating voluntary targets. (You can take a deep breath as that sinks in.)
Within two months of taking power, Bush rejected US participation in the Kyoto Protocol. It was -- and continues to be -- one of the most stunning political betrayals in environmental history. Casualties included Bush's own EPA chief, Christine Todd Whitman, who resigned after being publicly hung out to dry.
There's not likely to be much of a political cost. The average American probably didn't even know that Bush had made the promise to unilaterally reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
That's how Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute gloated.
The damage did not stop there. The official US delegation to annual UN climate talks have consistently worked to sabotage progress all the other assembled nations of the earth have been trying to achieve. This too, has not caught the eye of the US public, and has had no political cost either.
Up to now.
The China Excuse
The misleading reason given for Kyoto's rejection? Why should the US abide by a treaty if China (and India) are left to have a free hand? It's an excuse that played well in the heartland, though it did great damage to America's international reputation.
Tony Blair, a passionate climate action advocate, worked hard on President Bush to move him to climate action and leadership. To no avail, despite the UK's unwavering support on Iraq. And most observers and advocates are convinced the administration will not budge from its strategy of deliberate inaction during its time left in office, despite posturing to the contrary.
The global dimension of solutions to warming has been severely retarded by the US stance. If the world's leading emitter refuses to lead negotiations, there is little hope for establishing a international regime of cooperation that includes China and India. A strong federal climate law will allow the US to lead the world by example.
Montreal Protocol Shows What's Possible
The twentieth anniversary of another treaty reminded the world of what is possible with US cooperation. Signed in 1987, the Montreal Protocol brought the world together to close the ozone hole that had opened over the Antarctic. Ronald Reagan, president at the time, was adamant about addressing the planetary emergency, despite contrary counsel from the deniers and opportunists in his administration.
Al Gore, now of Nobel fame, who has advanced the climate agenda despite the Bush betrayal on Kyoto, used the opportunity of the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol to gently chide the President. Follow in Ronald Reagan's footsteps, he suggested.
Take another deep breath and ponder this: the US could be celebrating the 5th anniversary of its participation in Kyoto instead of continuing to obstruct international progress on climate action. (And dare we say, instead of the fifth year of the war in Iraq?)
Where the Action Is
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), established in 1992, is the agreement that has governed international progress. It was under the UNFCCC that the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1997.
For more information, see here and here.
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