Doing Their Own Thing

Fourteen years ago, a large group of nations came together in Kyoto, Japan to pledge their best efforts to reduce carbon emissions and other pollutants to the atmosphere. Almost all nations ratified the Protocol. The U.S. never did. For all their talk about "leading the world" in worthy causes, the Americans were unwilling to commit to reducing their share of polluting the planet. The Protocol is about to expire, and there is talk of renewing it, but how effective will this be if one of the major culprits is so indifferent to the problem? How can the U.S. tell China and India -- other major contributors to the problem --  to stop polluting, if it's reluctant to do so itself?

Once again, the U.S. discourse is one thing, and its actions are quite another.

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