So guess which country in the world, the one country most largely responsible for global warming, refused to ratify this treaty and ask for its economy to straighten up and take a freaking shower? I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t Sweden.

Isn’t this disgusting? I can see every American reading this cringe. Our nation, once again, has turned to the rest of the world and put up the Finger. Our government has officially shouted out, "So what if all of you are going to have to suffer from our SUVs that are bigger than our houses! We don’t give a damn if we’re not just dragging down ourselves, but the entire planet on this sinking, gas-guzzling, and noxious gas-emitting ship! We’re the best damn country in the world! Just try and screw with us! We’ll nuke your ass! And when we’re done, just to add insult to injury, we’re going to build McDonalds and SuperWalmarts on the twisted remains of your country! Why? Because we’re dirty, bloodsucking republicans, and we’re the leaders of the free world!"

But what I love about this mock speech is that the end is true. Every time a politician does a dirty rotten thing that everyone knows just stinks, they go on to say that it was the people’s fault. That means you and me. That means Bush is blaming every idiotic thing he’s done on us. That’s even what he calls it, "the will of the people." In fact, the reason the Bush administration gave for pulling out of this treaty was that it would hurt the economy, which is just another way to blame it on the average American consumer. Personally, I really don’t know anyone who would object to buying a hybrid car if the government would just put a little more money into research to make them cheaper. I personally would have no problems at all buying my power from a company that produces electricity cleanly. In fact, I recently did a pole just to see where the general political standpoint of the average American was. It was amazing to see that, in a world where the environment is being beaten down and neglected in every way possible, every single person I polled said that both the United States and the international community are not doing nearly enough for the environment. One hundred percent of the citizens of this world care about what happens to our collective home, and yet still nothing is happening.

All eyes turn to the White House. I personally feel outraged that my President would think that I wouldn’t support the ratification of a treaty that will ultimately save the fate of this world. How dumb do the people in Washington honestly think we are? Personally, I think we all would rather see the money going into the war in Iraq be put into research for cars that don’t need gasoline. That way, we get no war, we get no destroyed planet, and we get no starving blue glaciers grinning toothily on our doorsteps.

Everybody wins! (Except the glaciers of course.)

So what can you do? Well, first off, don’t vote Bush this fall! Seriously folks, there should be no voting for Bush taking place anytime in the next millennia. Moving beyond that, however, it would be a better idea to say, vote for the Greens! Vote for Ralph Nader! I would advise you even to stay away from voting for democrats, because a democrat is normally sponsored by the same people as greasy republicans, and so they’re bound to end up working for big corporate CEOs sooner or later. No, I advise you to vote this fall and vote wisely. Really think about who is going to place an importance on the values you care about. Think about who you would want to represent you in front of the rest of the world. Above all, don’t think about who’ll win, but think about who is right.

My second bit of advice is to write to your politicians. They actually do pay close attention to the amount of mail they receive; they even get statistics on it on a daily basis. Most of the time your representatives haven’t completely forgotten that it was you who elected them, you who pays them, and ultimately you that they take their orders from. Let them know what’s on your mind. If every American does this, the government won't look the same before long. Never underestimate the power of your own voice. It can be as simple as a postcard with one sentence on it, the important thing is that you use the power that the constitution gives us all, and make your voice heard. And speaking of making your own voice heard, why not start your own magazine, newspaper, TV, or radio show? When you start making your opinions heard, suddenly you make other people wonder just what their opinions are, and that, my friend, is how you change the world.

You can also get involved in your community. Why not run for office? You could be the head of the school board, the city council, or a number of other places where you could use your influence to better the world. If you’re not interested in actually being in office, why not do community service or participate in community education programs. Every little bit helps.

My last bit of advice is to keep abreast of what’s happening in the world. Check out Michael Moore, for example. Not only is he fascinating, he’s funny on top of it. In fact, most of the information in this article came directly from his book Stupid White Men. Don’t just start watching the nightly news; most of that stuff is skewed anyway. Read books and get your info from nonprofit or unaffiliated news sources. An educated citizen is the key to democracy, so go out there and raise a ruckus!

I, of course, am a passionate environmentalist, and that’s why the Kyoto Protocol took up most of the space in this article. There are, however, countless other issues that you might take close to heart and wish to spread a little public awareness about. This includes issues like federal spending cuts in the areas of education, public health, and workers safety; deforestation; lowered restrictions on the cleanliness of drinking water; aid sent to foreign nations, like to Africa for the AIDS epidemic; oil drilling in national wildlife preserves; logging in national wildlife preserves; the ridiculousness of the Star Wars defense system; the United State’s foreign policy; the war in Iraq; tax cuts for the wealthy; perspectives on abortion, gay marriage, gun control, and capital punishment; tax havens; racism; just for the sake of repetition, the sickeningly, pathetically small amount of money going into education; sexism; speciesism (for all you animal right’s activists out there); human rights; centralized agriculture; centralized everything; the need for more than two political parties in America; the war on drugs; etc.; etc.; etc. You see, there are hundreds of thousands of issues that everyday Americans like you and I need to bring to the table. The rejection of the Kyoto Protocol isn’t the only heinous thing that our current government leaders have both done and blamed on the citizens. It’s time for us to start fighting the fights that need fighting. It’s been said so many times that all it takes for evil to rule is for the good people of this world to do nothing. Americans today are faced with a tricky situation. The average citizen is suddenly the good, and the evils are residing in the fancy offices we elected them to. Fortunately we get the choice of free election and free speech. It should never be forgotten that those things are a privilege and we must use them if we don’t want to lose them. So let’s do some good as a collective people. Let’s let our leaders know that we won’t stand for anymore bullshit. Let them see that the next time they point their crooked white fingers down at the citizens of the United States of America and say the words "the will of the people," they are going to see millions of fingers of all colors pointing back at them, and voices saying "We'll show you the will of the people!"

Come on America. We can take ‘em on.