world marketplace. These critics pointed to the
rapid growth in greenhouse gases by countries such
as China. China’s path to industrialization was being
supported by the extensive burning of coal, a major
source of carbon dioxide as well as other polluting
gases. Failing to regulate the emissions of nations
such as China or India would give them an economic
advantage because of their low costs of production.
These critics also pointed out that some of the less-
industrialized nations would soon be major contri-
butors to the level of carbon dioxide in the atmo-
sphere, so failing to regulate them would make a
reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
harder to achieve.
The second group of opponents made strong
points against U.S. ratification of the agreement as
written. Efforts would be made at a conference held
in Berlin in 2002 to try to address some of these criti-
cisms, but no agreement was reached. Supporters of
ratification in the United States and abroad made
the point that the reduction of greenhouse gases
had to start somewhere. The industrialized nations
both were the major contributors to emissions and
were better able to withstand potential economic
costs of reductions.
Impact The failure of the United States to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol cast the country in somewhat of a
bad light internationally. Some foreign nations see
the United States as more concerned with its own
short-term self interest than in dealing with a major
international problem. Even though the United
States has not ratified the agreement, it is making
some efforts at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.Further Reading
Dessler, Andrew E., and Edward Parson.The Science
and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the
Debate. New York: Cambridge University Press,- Excellent brief analysis of Kyoto in a
broader context.
Nordhaus, William D., and Joseph Boyer.Warming
the World: Economics Models of Global Warming.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000. Economic
analysis of the impact of Kyoto by two critics.
Schneider, Stephen H., Armin Rosencranz, and
John O. Niles, eds.Climate Change Policy: A Survey.
Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2002. Good dis-
cussion of Kyoto in the broad context of climate
change.
John M. Theilmann
See also Air pollution; Clean Air Act of 1990;
Clinton, Bill; Earth Day 1990;Earth in the Balance;
Global warming debate; Gore, Al.496 Kyoto Protocol The Nineties in America