Global Warming: A fact or myth? The BPL advances the public conversation
Earlier this month, the Boston Public Library hosted an interactive lecture entitled Economics of Global Warming: A Political Conversation with expert lecturers from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The topic was presented with a very balanced and global view of the serious threat that Global Warming poses to every citizen of the world.
This lecture provided much needed education on this sensitive and highly political topic that only 45% of the population believes exists or that it is caused by human activity. This subject started gaining much needed attention with the Kyoto Protocol that followed the Earth Summit that was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
The Kyoto Protocol became the primary update to the Earth Summit Treaty that set carbon emission limits and targets for so called Annex 1 countries. Annex 1 countries represent 37 industrialized states that would commit to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 5.2% from 1990 levels. The 1990 date is an arbitrary date that was accepted by the council as the baseline to measure the collective target reduction levels.
The Kyoto Protocol was rejected by the United States President and the US Senate by a vote of 95-0. Even if the President had supported the treaty, it would need to be ratified by the Senate. This was clearly a resounding and non-partisan rejection of a short sighted plan that involved only the industrialized nations reducing its carbon footprint. While the industrialized nations, almost by definition, has historically caused many of the challenges that we are now trying to address, we must look at the future to address the problem and that must include the exceptionally populous nations of China and India, among others, which the Kyoto Accord would not have included in Annex 1 countries.
The much anticipated Copenhagen Climate Conference that was held just a couple of months ago is viewed as a great disappointment. The disappointments are based in the lack of tangible results, not to mention the extremely poor logistics that left many delegates standing in the cold. There was a significant positive outcome of this accord however that is not getting as much attention as it should. That positive outcome is the more broad acceptance of nation-states to adhere to standards to reduce carbon emissions rather than just the so-called Annex 1 countries.
Whatever your specific views and opinions on this critical topic, we all should be grateful that our public library opens this dialogue to its citizen at no charge with the country’s leading experts. Those of us that attended not only got to listen to a policy advisor explain the challenge facing the global community and his views, but received and answered questions from the attendees.
I will continue to support sound policies that will reduce greenhouse gases and the carbon footprint that the human race inflicts upon our environment. Perhaps more importantly however, I will support my public library that invites the average person such as me to come in and hear from experts on these topics so that I may educate myself and offer a relevant and educated voice to our democratic process.
