Published July 1997 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Keeping Our Global Boat Afloat
In December, the United States will participate in an international summit in Kyoto, Japan, where the world's developed nations are expected to sign a protocol to make legally binding the current voluntary air pollution reduction targets formerly agreed to in an international treaty known as the Rio Pact, negotiated in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, in 1992. Developing nations, however, would be left off the mandatory hook. The Rio Pact's aim was a reduction in the worldwide production of greenhouse gases, which scientists widely believe have contributed to a slow warming of the Earth's atmosphere. While it is difficult to forecast what the precise effects of global warming might be, it is projected to cause a rise in sea levels; shift's in temperatures, rainfall, and agricultural patterns and zones; and an increase in the severity of weather events. The United States should address the problem of global warming in a serious fashion by taking environmentally and economically responsible steps which address climate change concerns and also help to preserve domestic jobs. But the notion that developed nations, including the U.S., Japan, and the European nations, can solve global warming without the participation of the developing nations -- such as China, India, Brazil, and Mexico -- is far-fetched. Emissions of the developing nations are growing at a rapid pace and will, in a few years, overtake those of the developed nations. In fact, based upon current trends, China alone -- a developing nation -- will surpass the U.S. in carbon emissions by 2015. Environmentally, we are all in the same global boat. It does no good for the developed nations to work feverishly to plug the holes in one end of the boat, if the developing nations are drilling holes at the other end as fast as we are plugging ours. All that such a strategy accomplishes is to assure us all of a long, long swim. Because of my concerns about global warming, I recently introduced a Sense of the Senate Resolution, which 64 other Senators have joined me in cosponsoring, that urges the Administration not to sign any agreement in Kyoto which would mandate new commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions by developed nations, unless it also mandates binding commitments on developing nations. If the United States is going to be a leader in the issue of global warming, we must do so by ensuring that China and the other developing nations do their part to keep our global boat afloat. To do otherwise is environmentally and economically unsound. July 9, 1997