IN WHAT constitutes a major slap in the face, not to say a kick in the teeth, for the whole planet new US President George W Bush has rejected the Kyoto environment protocol.
Guy Baker
This 1997 agreement between world leaders was meant to take steps internationally to restrict emissions of the polluting gases that cause global warming.
It has been widely ignored but had symbolic value for world leaders to at least pretend something was being done to reverse the trends of environmental destruction that are now widely accepted by the scientific community.
The latest UN report says that temperatures could rise by up to 5.8 degrees celsius over the next 100 years if no action is taken. This will result in melting of the polar ice caps, rising sea levels, more chaotic weather conditions, huge environmental destruction and resulting massive population displacement, amongst other effects.
The world’s worst polluter by far is the USA which is responsible for 25% of these gases, whilst having only 4% of the world’s population! Bush, a creature of Texan Big Oil, is a running boy for US big business who reject any interference in their ability to make mega-profits.
Bush was heavily backed during his recent election campaign by the big oil, gas and logging companies who resent measures for environmental protection. Now they are reaping their rewards.
Bush’s pull-out has caused deep anger around the world and has reignited the debate within the USA itself. Bush has claimed that a concern for US jobs is his motivation but when was the last time that he or US capitalism took any measures in favour of US workers.
If the US corporations were so concerned why have they relentlessly moved US jobs to cheap-labour countries? Their only concern is for their profits.
For socialists it is stark confirmation that the health of the environment is totally incompatible with capitalism and the chaos of the “free market.”
Democratic socialist planning on an international scale is the only answer. We need action, not phoney treaties.