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Happy Kyoto Treaty Day!
Or as it’s known in the United States, Wednesday.
With a smattering of somewhat half-hearted fanfare across Europe and Japan, the Kyoto Protocol officially goes into effect today — at least in the 35 industrial nations whose greenhouse gas emissions are to be curbed under the agreement. While the United States is one of two industrialized nations that have refused to ratify the treaty (Australia joins us in this dubious club), the story still garnered headlines in all the major dailies. The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times all printed relatively thoughtful reports on the treaty and its particulars — but all managed to leave out one salient point.
What all the stories ignore is the not-insignificant irony that 1998, the year following the treaty’s initial ratification, marked the warmest year on record since temperatures began to be recorded in the late 19th century. And a new report from NASA says that the increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere likely means that the title will pass to the year 2005, which is already shaping up to be the warmest on record. Just for fun, you’d figure that one of the big dailies might have included that fact, or that 2002, 2003 and 2004 presently come in second, third and fourth place, respectively, as the warmest on record.
To be fair, the Los Angeles Times didn’t completely fail in reporting the facts on global warming in its global warming story — it stands as the only paper to mention that 2004 currently occupies fourth place on the hit list. The New York Times, notably, took a slightly different approach, lauding American Electric Power, the largest electricity generator in the United States (and the top emitter of carbon dioxide) for its efforts to cut its emissions. However, the Times fails to note that AEP also takes top honors in spewing out the most sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide, according to Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.
Getting honorable mention in this roundup is the Washington Post, which provides the gloomiest assessment of all, noting, “With the United States on the sidelines, the Kyoto treaty could end up as ineffectual as the post-World War I League of Nations.”
And we all know how well that turned out.
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