Remember when John Bolton was nominated as Ambassador to the UN, and his critics brought out video of his saying stuff like “[T]here is no United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that’s the United States, when it suits our interest, and when we can get others to go along”?
Today, 150 members of the international community decided they were going to have formal talks about mandatory greenhouse gas reduction, and they decided they would do it without the United States. To put this in perspective, that’s more countries than will be at next week’s World Trade Organization meeting.
So much for how the United States can make the international community go along with whatever we want.
American officials have been trying hard to make the Kyoto Accords go away, and it isn’t happening. They threatened to pick up their toys and go home if Clinton was allowed to speak yesterday (he did, they didn’t). Nevertheless, it is becoming more clear that the weather is becoming more dangerous around the world. Just about the only scientists who think Global Warming is bunk seem to work for big polluters. Even though our government is not on board, a growing number of large businesses and cities are in, and doing what they can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution.
Unless you really expect the end of the world to be sometime before next summer, the time to act is now. Quick reminder: everyone who has predicted the end of the world has so far been wrong.