GLOBAL WARMING
Bush vs. the planet
By Heather Cottin
Acting unilaterally, the Bush administration has turned its
back on the Kyoto accord on global warming, signed by 178
nations last March. In its place, President George W. Bush has
put forward a "voluntary" plan for U.S. corporations to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental groups have strongly
denounced this plan, charging it "would do nothing to halt
global warming." (New York Times, Feb. 13.)
Bush's approach is in sharp contrast to the emission limits
mandated by the 1997 Kyoto accord.
Bush has accused China and India of being major contributors
to global warming.
But the United States is by far the world's biggest
polluter, both in absolute terms and in proportion to
population. Reuters reported on Feb. 15 that the U.S. emits
one-third of the developed world's human-generated greenhouse
gases--mainly carbon dioxide.
"Greenhouse effect" is a euphemism for the drastic climate
changes causing havoc in many parts of the world.
U.S. automobile and oil corporations, by consistently
lobbying against public transportation for decades, forced a
system of private transportation on this country that has
helped make it the major consumer of the world's oil
reserves.
Bush is willing to sacrifice the environment to protect the
profits of the oil industry--the major perpetrator of global
warming.
Corporations that generate electricity also play a giant
role in global warming. Most of these utilities are fueled by
oil. The top three electric utilities also maintain
exceptionally close ties with Washington, as the Enron scandal
shows. These utilities emit over 100 million tons of carbon
dioxide annually. Coal companies contribute approximately 5
percent of all carbon dioxide emissions. (Corpwatch.org)
So when George Bush lays the blame for climate changes on
China and India, it is a bald-faced lie.
Pollution propaganda
The U.S. energy industry organized the Global Climate
Coalition (GCC) in 1989 to head off attempts to address global
warming by environmental groups, explained author Jeremy
Leggett in "The Carbon War."
Leggett noted the U.S. government's role in watering down
wording on the earliest international pronouncements on global
warming. The U.S. made every effort to cast doubts on the very
existence of the problem, and Bush is continuing in this
mendacious tradition.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said last June, in
reference to a report on the effect of greenhouse gases on the
earth, "It concludes that the Earth is warming. But it is
inconclusive on why--whether it's man-made causes or whether
it's natural causes." (Washington Post, June 7) This is
contradicted by all the latest scientific evidence.
Ross Gelbspan's book "The Heat is On," points out how
members of the GCC, the American Petroleum Institute, the
Automobile Manufacturers' Association and Western Fuels have
worked behind the scenes since the 1990s to limit international
control over carbon emissions.
The group has spent more than $63 million to combat any
progress toward addressing the climate crisis--including a $13
million ad campaign in 1997 to support a Senate resolution
against ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
Last Earth Day, Mary McGrory wrote that the new president
had just "cut funds for solar energy research by 54
percent--and wind, geo-thermal and hydroelectric power, all by
48 percent."
Butterflies, poverty and struggle
An unusual storm hit central Mexico in January, accompanied
by unprecedented freezing temperatures. Millions of migrating
butterflies died as a result. Dr. Bart Drees, an entomologist
at Texas A&M University, said this devastation of 80
percent of North America's Monarch butterflies should be a
"wake up call" to those who would ignore the climate crisis.
(United Press International, Feb. 14)
Global warming is real and it is already producing a crisis
that directly affects not only animals and plants, but, most
directly, the world's poorest people.
Global warming has melted 40 percent of arctic ice,
according to the National Aeronautics and Space Agency. Melting
permafrost is rapidly releasing carbon dioxide, threatening the
Arctic peoples--especially indigenous peoples of North America
and Siberia. (www.solcomhouse.com)
As the polar ice caps melt, the fragile islands of the Coral
Sea thousands of miles away become uninhabitable as the rising
ocean destroys their fresh water.
Already global warming has caused up to a 20 percent decline
in rice production in Asia, where hundreds of millions already
face hunger. ("Consequences," Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig and Dr.
Daniel Hillel)
Forty of the world's poorest countries are likely to see
major losses in their ability to produce food--declines of up
to 25 percent--if the climate continues to warm substantially.
Nations in tropical climates--including India, Brazil and much
of sub-Saharan Africa--will see huge losses in food production.
This assessment was released last July at a major gathering of
world climate scientists in Amsterdam.
More temperate climates, by contrast, could experience large
gains in crop yields as higher temperatures lengthen growing
seasons. (Los Angeles Times, July 11) But in the temperate
climates of the Northern Hemisphere, rising temperatures have
produced drought, fires and a plague of insects that threatens
humans, animals and crops. (Scientific American, August
2000)
Nations in the Southern Hemisphere face insect infestations,
droughts, storms and ecological devastation. They have to
contend with climate destruction by the U.S. oil industry and
struggle against increasing exploitation by the imperialist
powers at the same time.
When they organize to resist the terrorism of imperialism,
they face the military might of the United States that guards
the interests of the capitalist class. And the U.S. has waged
war for oil--the core commodity of the climate crisis.
The scientific community and environmental movements have
taken up the issue of global warming. To save the earth, they
must now join the anti-imperialist struggle against the system
that is presently condemning millions to death through the twin
crimes of capitalist exploitation and militarism.
Reprinted from the Feb. 28, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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