| Show fyaiffwifnfyymiryMyiH The Salt Lake Tribune Kyoto Failure May Be Best For the Planet P G WYNNE DYER FREELANCE - SERVICE The UN Climate Summit that opened Monday in Kyoto Japan will probably not end in a flaming row Countries must not lose face and so they are more likely to cobble together some shoddy compromise that is worth nothing But a spectac- ular failure would be much better for at least it might get the donkey's attention Or more precisely the frog's attention Environmentalists often compare human behavior to that of frogs — who if you drop them into a pot of boiling water will jump right out again and survive But sit a frog in a pot of cool water raise the heat gradually and he'll sit there happily until he boils to death Are humans really like frogs? Of course they are Take Malaysians for example The haze is gone from Malaysia now but the cabaret group "Instant Cafe" is still getting mileage out of it They were playing a corporate function in Kuala Lumpur last month — for people who'd coughed and wept their way through the haze for all of September and October — and the audience rocked with laughter when they did their "Haze" song The "haze" is mostly smoke from the thousands of forest fires that are set in Indonesia every dry season: First you log out any commercially valuable trees then you burn the rest because that's the cheapest way to clear the land for cultivation The smoke from huge areas of burning forest drifts over neighboring Malaysia blocking out the sun and causing respiratory disorders Yet few Malaysians think they can do anything about it because they know that the companies that are setting most of the fires in Indonesia have close links with President Suharto's government in Jakarta and generally get their way People in large industrialized democracies like the United States like to think they are different: better information more open societies a more educated public But in fact they are equally captive to special interest groups The United States for example promised at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio to cut its carbon dioxide emissions back to 1990 levels by the year 2000 Instead US carbon emissions are 13 percent higher than in 1990 and Washington is ' now saying it can't get back down to the target f igure until 2013 What happened? The Clinton administration knows what (Here's my Pledge) A to reduce global OPINION Tuesday December i'v grSv -- All 2 1997 Any Treaty on Global Warming Will Result in Economic Costs VN" BY FOR fore Congress Carbon dioxide emissions had been going up rapidly an administration witness said because energy costs were too low and economic growth was too high That is indeed the connection Controlling greenhouse gases means higher gasoline and electricity costs and lower economic growth Environmentalists have tried to discredit economic studies forecasting job losses and lower industrial output But a Department of Energy study which the Clinton administration tried to suppress predicted similar major losses in jobs and e indusoutput for six tries And the goal of those pushing a Kyoto treaty is indeed to make us poorer by cutting our energy use President Clinton of course denies there is a price to be paid for cutting greenhouse gas emissions When the president announced his proposals to take to Kyoto he said: "If we do it right protecting the climate will yield not costs but profits not burdens but benefits: not sacrifice but a higher standard of living" Countries such as China India and Mexico know better They are refusing to commit to any limits on their own economic growth If we sign a treaty to reduce our own greenhouse emissions while exempting all developing countries there will be a massive transfer of American industrial jobs to those countries and no global reductions in greenhouse gases The environmentalists have known better all along In 1992 a leading environmentalist published a book that foresaw just the kind of snake oil President Clinton is trying to sell Of the sacrifices people were going to have to make to save the planet this environmental prophet warned: "Minor shifts in policy marginal adjustments in ongoing programs moderate improvements in laws and regulations and rhetoric offered in lieu of genuine change are all forms of appeasement designed to satisfy the public's desire to believe that sacrifice struggle and a wrenching transformation of society will not be necessary" This oracular passage appeared in a book called Earth in the Balance Its author is now our vice president Albert Gore Jr MALCOLM WALLOP NEWS SERVICE KNIGHT-RIDDE- Do you look forward to paying much more for electricity and gasoline? Do you want government to tell you you can't buy certain cars because they don't get enough miles to the gallon? If your answers are no then you're not ready for what's coming out of international negotiations in Kyoto Japan this month The Clinton administration and other supporters of a treaty to reduce greenhouse gases have done a good job of convincing Americans that global warming is a real threat But they have done everything they can to hide the fact that controlling greenhouse gases will have a high price tag Yet the direct relation between energy use and standard of living is well established while global warming remains a speculative theory Life on earth is possible because "greenhouse gases'" trap some of the heat from the sun's rays in the atmosphere Water vapor is the main greenhouse gas but trace gases such as carbon dioxide and methane also play a part Carbon dioxide is good plants can't grow without it But burning fossil fuels such as coal oil and natural gas releases more carbon dioxide into the air The theory is that this added carbon dioxide (currently 360 parts per million but rising) will increase the greenhouse effect and lead to higher temperatures That's theory not fact The most accurate temperature measurements from NASA satellites show a slight cooling trend Should we believe unproven computer models or actual measurements? Treaty supporters such as President Clinton claim a scientific consensus has been reached that global w arming is certain and its effects on humanity will be catastrophic They point to a letter signed by 2600 scientists Thanks to Citizens for a Sound Economy we know that fewer than 10 percent of these 2600 "scientists" know anything about climate science Among the signers CSE discovered a plastic surgeon two landscape architects a hotel administrator a gynecologist seven sociologists a linguist and a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine Undersecretary of State Timothy Wirth who has just resigned once exMalcolm Wallop is chairman of Fronplained what really is behind the global warming scare: "Even if the theory of tiers of Freedom Institute in Arlington Va A rancher from Big Horn Wyo he global warming is wrong we will be doing the right thing in terms of both economic served in the US Senate from 1977 until and environmental policy" his retirement in 1995 Readers can conThe administration astonished the tact him at the Frontiers of Freedom Incountry last summer when it made this stitute 1100 Wilson Boulevard Suite 1700 Arlington Va 22209 point even more clearly in testimony be energy-intensiv- W NIL ubA it should do At a preparatory meeting of the climate change conference in Geneva earlier this year the United States mobilized the world's big insurance companies who proved that global warming was already hitting their balance sheets in terms of soaring claims for storm damage That debunked the "junk science" (paid for by fossil-fue- l producers) that pretends global warming is just an hypothesis With the European Union offering emission cuts to 15 percent below 1990 levels by 2010 and the US also apparently on board success in Kyoto seemed within reach What went wrong? Basically Clinton belatedly realized that US fossil-fue- l producers in alliance with other major industries that worry about higher energy costs control enough US senators to block any treaty that hurts their interests So rather than fight a hopeless battle he has chosen surrender Just as in Jakarta the tail is wagging the dog Many more Americans have an interest in curbing global warming than in the industries that cause it but the majority is less conscious of its interests: The water in the pot is getting hotter but only gradually So the prospective victims exert less political pressure and the other side gets its way Without a serious American offer on cutting emissions none of the other holdouts at Kyoto will be under any pressure to yield for the US is the most flagrant polluter of all (4 percent of the world's population 24 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions) So the best that can be hoped for at Kyoto is dramatic failure The Europeans should stick to their 15 percent cuts proposal and make no compromises They won t get their way but that will at least ensure that the problem isn't shelved for five years after a cynical deal that leaves everyone free to do whatever they want Complete failure would at least make everybody come back for another conference next year In the meantime we should pray for weather so extreme that it wakes the frogs up indeGwynne Dyer is a London-basependent journalist whose articles are published in 35 countries d 1 :r r s2n I I Sport®' $20 - t SP' A slL J I jf ji ! o FOR MFN Waterproof duck boot witn learner upper ana Thermalite" lining J Navybrown sizes sizes only "TV Cold weather booties for the entire jamily k "nw Shji'' tJMf V X "CINCH" FOR WOMEN nylon insulated bootie in black or ice sizes 1 0M whole Mid-ca- ll 6-- sizes only SSf $20 'A CV NADINE" FOR Waterproof sueded leather ankle bootie with Thermalite lining Black brown or natural sizes 1 0M h ev " S ra Ts" II U li il 11 r M S l dl Iflf jf vl S "Trxcrwr" rUK TvrAvrrc A For boys or girls just starting out Whole sizes 1 0M 5-- tS I "'Sr fi I if Ik II tJ "LI'L CINCH" FOR GIRLS Vwsrs B Insulated bootie in Girls' whole sizes 9-- 1 3M 9:30-8:9- 0 Monday-Frida- y Sattirday 9 9 30 and Sunday 11-- 6 at alt Dillard tocations In Salt Lake City: Fashion Plao and South Town Center In Ogden: Newgate Mali We welcome your Dillard's Credit Card The American Express Card Diners Club International Mastercardr Visa and The Discover Card Shop i II ' - V? 6-- i J ffS Sx rwWs y--- Jk JvCM p'A |
