The
fate of the Kyoto protocol
Accounting
for 25% of the worldÕs greenhouse gases, the US has effective veto power over any treaty to
combat climate change. In March
2001, the newly
elected president George W. Bush declared that the US would not participate in the Kyoto
Protocol, citing the lack of participation of developing countries and the
burdens it would place on the US economy.
Though the
Clinton administration strongly supported the treaty, US senate ratification had always been in
doubt.
Though
reaction in the US
was muted, protests occurred elsewhere in the world. Europeans were particularly outraged that the treaty was effectively being shelved.
This
photo shows Europeans
carrying Texas-style
ÒwantedÓ posters.