President Bush has a few good reasons to change his mind about the Kyoto protocol, especially if he wants to make good on his campaign-end promise to bring Democrats and Republicans closer.
By having the United States sign back on to the Kyoto protocol, Bush has an opportunity to right his wrongs with the United Nations. Small steps, albeit unlikely ones, would help soothe U.N. members who mistrust America's international relations agenda. "U.N. members" of course, including just about all of them.
This takes care of liberals and the United Nations all in one move.
The U.N. conference on climate change - opened Monday - is the place to do it. Insert your own weather climate change and political climate change witticism here.
When President Bush dropped out of the Kyoto agreement in 2001, the crux of his argument was aimed at two things: the cost and the exclusion of developing nations. Fixing the air by reducing carbon dioxide emissions will take some effort. Big businesses would have to spend money retooling factories, but so be it. The cost won't cripple our confused economy.
Feigned concern that pollution in developing nations makes the world a worse place doesn't work, especially when Bush's real motive of looking out for big business remains so transparent. If Bush doesn't want in on the Kyoto protocol this time around, he needs documented reasons - not heel dragging for the sake of India, China and Brazil, the other countries absent from the protocol.
What percentage of the world's aggregate air pollution comes from American-owned businesses - home and abroad - anyway? Twenty-five percent? Thirty percent?
If America signs back on to the Kyoto protocol, our country needs to stick by it. After all, the United States and Australia - the two industrialized countries out of the treaty - contribute one third of world emissions. The very nature of the protocol itself demands that the United States follow some international standard.
Following that standard, and proving America can once again play nicely with others are the top two priorities. And if it keeps the air clean for future generations, then so much the better.
There can be no clean emissions across the board without the United States' help. We can't help but agree with people like Juan Carlos Villalonga, campaign director at Greenpeace Argentina, who've called the Kyoto goals a fantasy until more international cooperation is gained. Eventually, even India, Brazil and China will have to be included if the world wants to clean up its act.
The problem with arching environmental issues such as global warming is that they're intangible. We can't touch, taste or feel global warming - yet, anyway. Getting people to sign on to something they can't see or feel might be a challenge, but it's one America will have to overcome.
If the environment were the only thing at stake, that would be enough, but in this case joining in the Kyoto protocol could serve as diplomacy, inside and outside of our country. If Bush really wants to get on top of his promises to unite the nation, this would be a smart, post-election move.
