Elizabethtown, KY--February 5, 2006
In the year 64 A.D., ten of the fourteen Augustan regions of Rome burned while--as popular legend has it-- Roman Emperor Nero fiddled.
Today the United States, China and other nations fiddle while the Earth faces the prospect of runaway global warming.
Forty-six nations agreed to support the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But not the largest contributors to global warming--the United States, China, Russia, and India.
These large countries burn enormous amounts of fossil fuel. The burning of fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases that trap the heat of the sun, instead of the sun's heat being reflected back to space, as would normally happen.
What are the consequences of trapping the sun's heat instead of reflecting it back to space? According to an analysis of the IPCC report by (Phillipine newspaper) Inquirer editorial consultant Amando Doronila, they include "melting ice sheets, rising sea levels, heat waves, worsening droughts, heavy rainfall in some regions, and stronger hurricanes and storms."
Doronila listed the "Highlights of the Report" as follows:
* "Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, [which] have increased markedly as a result of human activity, exceed pre-industrial values."
*The global increases in carbon dioxide concentration "are due primarily to fossil fuel (mainly oil, coal, and gas) and land-use change."
*"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observation of increases in global average and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising mean sea level."
*Eleven of the last 12 years (1996-2006) rank among the 12 warmest years in the record of global surface temperature (since 1850).
*The Earth's surface temperatures were predicted to rise between 1.8 and 4.0 Celsius and sea levels by 7.1 inches to 23.3 inches by 2100.
*Numerous long-term climate changes have been observed at continental, regional and ocean basin scales.
*Significantly increased precipitation has been observed in eastern parts of North and South America, northern Europe and northern central Asia. Drying has been observed in the Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and parts of southern Asia.
*More intense and longer droughts have been observed over wider areas since 1970, particularly in the tropics (where the Philippines is located) and sub-tropics. Increased drying linked with higher temperatures and decreased precipitation have contributed to changes in droughts.
*Widespread changes in extreme temperatures have been observed over the past 50 years. Cold days, cold nights and frost have become less frequent, while hot days, hot nights and heat waves have become more frequent.
*There has been an increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic since about 1970 as well as in some other regions. "It is very likely that hot extremes, hot nights and heat waves have become more frequent", says the summary.
Doronila goes on to say, "Far from being alarmist, the report is couched in careful scientific language that is criticized by some quarters as too conservative and an understatement of the panel's case."
A similar report was issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2002, but President George W. Bush dismissed his own EPA's advice as a "report put out by the bureaucracy."
It is alarming, but not surprising--that an administration as in bed with the oil and gas industry as the Bush administration is-- continues to fiddle, despite the wealth of scientific evidence indicating the current level of burning fossil fuels is disastrous to the world.
The Bush administration has also refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which was opened for signature in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. The protocol is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations. It was entered into force on February 15, 2005.
The United States has signed the protocol, but not ratified it, which means it is not enforceable in the United States.
China, the world's second largest contributor to greenhouse gases-- second only behind the United States--has also resisted the requirements of Kyoto. It is predicted that China will pass the United States as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in a few years.
Because India is still classified as a developing country, it has been exempted from the requirements, though India did sign and ratify it. But India is a significant and growing contributor to global warming.
Russia did sign and ratify Kyoto, but has so far not supported the new IPCC report.
Another large contributor to greenhouse gases is Australia. But Australia, like the United States, has signed Kyoto but refuses to ratify it.
The European Union supports the IPCC report, and has signed and ratified Kyoto. In total, 169 countries and other governmental entities had signed the Kyoto protocol as of December, 2006.
As the world burns, the United States, China and others continue to bury their head in the sand; primarily out of fear of losing industrial competitiveness to countries who have not ratified Kyoto, or who are not otherwise limited by the protocol.
It is a sad situation when lining the pockets of industrial barons today--whether here, or in China, Russia, India, Australia or anywhere--is valued above saving the Earth for future generations.
You would think that people who are supposedly intelligent enough to lead their nations could hear the loud and clear message from the scientific world, which says: "Our planet is burning, and you are lighting the fires."
But then, the fiddles are playing loudly in the palaces of the powerful, both here and around the globe.
