New Scientist News - Kyoto promises are nothing but hot air
From the start of the article:
Under Kyoto, each government calculates how much carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide its country emits by adding together estimated emissions from individual sources. These so-called "bottom-up" estimates have long been accepted by atmospheric scientists, even though they have never been independently audited.
Now two teams that have monitored concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere say they have convincing evidence that the figures reported by many countries are wrong, especially for methane. Among the worst offenders are the UK, which may be emitting 92 per cent more methane than it declares under the Kyoto protocol, and France, which may be emitting 47 per cent more.
From further down:
In the past, he says, estimates of greenhouse gas emissions were inaccurate simply because of the difficulty of measuring them, but that may have changed. "Now that money enters the picture, with the Kyoto protocol rules and carbon trading, so also can fraud. There will be an incentive to under-report emissions."...
The European Union recently shut down its pioneering programme of measuring atmospheric methane across the continent. "Ironically, the best monitoring is done by the US and Australia, which are both in denial over Kyoto," Nisbet says.
Well, "in denial" but with good reason, Mr Nisbet?
I don't believe the U.S. is in denial over Kyoto. It is just simply a matter of slowing the economy if we partake in the protocol, and that isn't going to happen.
ReplyDeleteWhy not? Well because no one is willing to give up a damn thing on a personnal level to reduce greenhouse gases. Even the most environmental citizens are not going to give up the SUVs to shuttle the kiddies to soccer practice or give up the power boats for weekend fun. So until someone comes along with the formula to separating hydrogen from sea water to power our cars, homes and business' the world's air is going to get progressively worse. In Al Gore's "An Inconvient Truth" he depicts a world on a scale balanced by gold bars, are we selling out mother earth for gold? Hell yes!