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Nov. 17, 2009
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JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
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JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
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JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
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Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
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JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review June 13, 2007 / 27 Sivan, 5767

U.S. is being castigated by environmentalists and most world leaders even though it has done the most to reduce greenhouse gases

By Ed Koch


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | At the meeting of the Group of 8 held last week in Germany, a major issue was achieving the goals of the Kyoto treaty, which went into effect in 1997. The United States Senate has refused to ratify the treaty.


The position of President Bush has been that the U.S. would not agree to mandatory goals, nor would we agree to any regulation of greenhouse gases unless China and India were bound by the same agreement. China and India, which have rapidly growing economies, were exempted then from the treaty because they are considered developing nations. Both China and India have recently reiterated that they will not be bound by Kyoto.


The U.S. has been criticized sharply by the leaders of other nations and by advocacy groups for its position on Kyoto — refusal to ratify and subject itself to mandatory reductions.


The New York Times summed up what happened at the G-8 meeting: "The United States agreed to 'consider seriously' a European plan to combat global warming by cutting in half worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, averting a trans-Atlantic deadlock at a meeting here of the world's richest industrial nations." The Times also reported, "If ways cannot be found to foster emission cuts in fast growing China and India, any progress in industrialized countries is likely to be swamped by rapidly increasing pollution, particularly in Asia"


China recently passed Japan to become the second largest consumer of fossil fuels — oil and coal — immediately following the U.S. The Times reported on June 5th, "China, with the world's fastest growing major economy, had been projected to surpass the United States by 2009 or 2010 as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, which scientists say cause global warming. But China's coal-based, high-polluting economy is growing so rapidly that the chief economist for the International Energy Agency is now predicting the country could become the global emissions leader as soon as this year."


This is prelude to the most interesting article I have read in years on the subject of Kyoto and greenhouse gases, which appeared on the op ed page of the Wall Street Journal, authored by Kimberley A. Strassel. To the best of my knowledge and surprisingly, the vital information has appeared nowhere else. Ms. Strassel reported: "There's been a capitulation on global warming, but it hasn't happened in the Oval Office. The Kyoto cheerleaders at the United Nations and the European Union are realizing their government-run experiment in climate control is a mess, one that's incidentally failed to reduce carbon emissions. They've also understood that if they want the biggest players on board — the U.S., China, India — they need an approach that balances economic growth with feel-good environmentalism...Yesterday's G-8 agreement acknowledged those realities and tolled Kyoto's death knell. Mr. Bush, 1; sanctimonious greens, 0...President Bush's approach is...[to] allow economies to grow, along the way inspiring new technologies and new forms of energy that lower CO2 emissions...Take your pick. Under the vaunted Kyoto, from 2000 to 2004, Europe managed to increase its emissions by 2.3 percentage points over 1995 to 2000. Only two countries are on track to meet targets...meanwhile in the U.S., under the president's oh-so-unserious plan, U.S. emissions from 2000 to 2004 were eight percentage points lower than in the prior period."


So here we have a ridiculous situation: the U.S. is being castigated by environmentalists and most world leaders even though it has done the most to reduce greenhouse gases. Isn't that almost always the case? When it comes to pulling our weight in global matters that are considered "good" it is the U.S. which usually far exceeds other countries, but it gets scant recognition for its good deeds. One case that comes to mind is that the U.S. provides, according to The New York Times, "more than half the food aid that feeds hungry people around the world..."

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JWR contributor Edward I. Koch, the former mayor of New York, can be heard on Bloomberg Radio (WBBR 1130 AM) every Sunday from 9-10 am . Comment by clicking here.

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© 2007, Ed Koch

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