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spectre is haunting Europe," began Karl Marx's The Communist
Manifesto in 1848. This week, in a similarly eerie tone, European
politicians and environmental groups are trying to convince the
world that global warming is imperiling our planet. They want to
embarrass Bush for having dismissed the doomsayers.
In March, President
Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol, a 180-nation agreement based on
the premises that global temperatures are increasing, that such
warming is caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases, that this
temperature increase threatens the survival of the Earth's fragile
ecosystems, that small reductions in emissions will reduce the impact,
and finally, that allowing energy tsars based in Bonn, Germany to
control energy policy is the ideal solution. If ratified, the Kyoto
Protocol would require the 38 richest countries to undertake drastic
actions to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions — mostly by scaling
back the use of carbon-based energy.
But a report
released last week by the National Academy of Sciences shows that
"there is no consensus, unanimous or otherwise, about long-term
climate trends and what causes them," according to NAS panel
member Dr. Richard Lindzen, quoted in the Wall Street Journal
this week. Before his departure to Europe, Bush confirmed that any
action taken by the United States in reaction to global temperature
change will be science-based, rather than hysteria-based — if a
problem even exists at all.
If we were
to listen to Europe's energy Cassandras and implement the Kyoto
protocol, any reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions would simply
be offset by an increase in poor countries' emissions. The cost
in terms of reduced economic output will mean reduced consumption
everywhere — leading to global impoverishment, unemployment, and
misery.
However, European
governments have already committed themselves to the foregone conclusion
of perilous climate change and, consequently, the need for international
action, i.e., the Kyoto Protocol. Backing down now would open these
statesmen up to ridicule.
European politicians
and journalists have lambasted Bush since March, alleging that the
U.S. — as the world's wealthiest economy and society — "owes"
it to the world to stop being so darned productive. In the face
of Bush's call for science-based regulation, European Union (EU)
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem released a report on
climate change and Europe's implementation of Kyoto. "We cannot
rely on voluntary agreements," she said. "The strength
of Kyoto was that you could have deadlines and targets for countries."
So far, President
Bush has received a very lukewarm welcome from European citizens.
Spanish citizens took to the streets on Sunday and Monday, outraged
about the U.S. death penalty because of a recent high-profile Florida
case where a Spanish citizen was acquitted of a double murder. A
Spanish feminist carried a sign saying "What misfortune that
the mother of Bush could not abort."
The ever-present
environmental scare-group Greenpeace has been typically active this
week, alleging that Bush's rejection of Kyoto spells certain doom
(but perhaps they are only scared that their revenues will fall
once it is revealed that the emperor has no clothes).
On Sunday,
the multinational environmental group boarded an oil tanker off
the coast of France, intending to prevent it from delivering a shipment
of Norwegian oil to the U.S. On Monday, they claimed victory, having
derailed the tanker from its journey. Greenpeace campaigner Truls
Gulowsen explains, "Though it is a first small step towards
safeguarding the Earth´s climate, the Kyoto protocol which
has been formulated over ten years, is the ONLY global legal instrument
available to start tackling the problem. Oil exports to the U.S.
will only lead to continued unregulated CO2 emissions by a country
that is trying to destroy the Kyoto Protocol."
Just in case
people couldn't grasp the subtlety of its message, Greenpeace hung
assorted banners and slogans off the tanker: "Bush + Esso +
Chevron + Conoco = Climate Killer," and "STOP OIL TO BUSH
— RATIFY KYOTO."
Over the past
few weeks, Greenpeace has engaged in a massive attempt to get consumers
to boycott Exxon-Esso in Europe. Exxon is one of the few oil companies
that has refused to equate its product with the impending destruction
of our planet. British Petroleum and Shell, meanwhile, have been
made out as the moral equivalent of drug dealers for selling carbon-based
energy. They ultimately sold out to Greenpeace by undertaking new
investments in so-called "renewable" energy — but time
will tell whether their shareholders feel that renewable energy
is such a wise investment. According to Greenpeace, Bush is simply
a mouthpiece for "big oil" — anyone who would question
Greenpeace's policies must have been paid to do so.
When he addressed
NATO leaders in Brussels, Bush faced allegations by protesters accusing
him of "crimes against humanity and the planet" for rejecting
the Kyoto Protocol. Greenpeace, Oxfam, Attac, and other NGOs demanded
that he respect international agreements. A group called "For
Mother Earth" called for his immediate arrest. And American
ex-pats used the opportunity to empathize with their European counterparts:
"Dear Europe, We didn't vote for him either! Love, America"
read one sign. "Help! My president is a moron," read another.
And so, it
will surprise no one that anti-globalization (pro-nihilism) activists
will also extend their cold welcome to President Bush when he arrives
to meet leaders of the European Union in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The leaders
will probably sanction the protests, but President Bush shouldn't
worry: He made the right decision for the rest of the world.
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