Pg-#8-
The Kyoto Conference:
This Conference has been heralded as a major breakthrough in the reduction of greenhouse gas emmissions, but, not all is as rosey as it at first seems: "By the stroke of a pen, President Clinton is rejecting the clear advice of the U.S. Senate and research by his own Energy Department
showing conclusively that the treaty would cost American families billions of dollars and millions of jobs." (Connie Holmes, Chairman of the Global Climate Coalition, C.N.N. Nov. 12, 1998)
Pump up the Price:
The Economic impact of this agreement could be devastating. According to economist Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute,"These [committments] could literally rip the guts out of the whole engine of economic growth.". He goes on to predict that a million blue-collar jobs could be lost in the U.S.'s steel, oil and mining industries and that 90,000 coal miners in Australia would be out of work. And, according to C.N.N., the results of the Kyoto Conference could mean paying 50 cents more for a gallon of gasoline and 40% more in monthly power bills. (C.N.N. , Dec. 2, 1997)
If the environment is the primary concern, why not deal with it more precisely at a national level where leaders can be held accountable? And, why were nations like China, India, Brazil and Mexico exempted from binding cuts when China, for example, is expected to overtake everyone in carbon emissions in the next 20 to 30 years? (C.N.N., Nov.27, 1997)
But the most important question in all this has to be, "why were the people not consulted on a policy that will have such an enormous impact on their lives?"