U.S. booed in Bali (and so we'll just continue to pollute)

As we know, George W. Bush and his corporate cronies don't want any interference. No restrictions. No rules or regulations. Too inconvenient.

And so they opposed and ignored the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This past week, at the U.N. climate change conference in Bali, the U.S. had an opportunity to reverse course, and take a leadership role in addressing the problem of global warming. But, of course, we blew it.

From an article by the Associated Press:

In a hushed conference hall, as envoys from 186 nations looked on, the world's lone superpower took a tongue-lashing from its most powerless, nation after poor nation assailing the U.S. "no" on the document at hand. Then the delegate from Papua New Guinea leaned into his microphone.

"We seek your leadership," Kevin Conrad told the Americans. "But if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way."

The U.N. climate conference exploded with applause, the U.S. delegation backed down, and the way was cleared Saturday for adoption of the "Bali Roadmap," after a dramatic half-hour that set the stage for a grinding two years of climate talks to come.

A Washington Post article elaborates:

Delegates from nearly 190 countries emerged from a final 24 hours of bruising negotiations Saturday with an agreement on a new framework for tackling global warming, one that for the first time calls on both the industrialized world and rapidly developing nations to commit to measurable, verifiable steps.

The deal, which will form the basis for a two-year, U.N.-sponsored process aimed at forging a binding international climate pact by the end of 2009, could transform the way rich and poor nations work together to preserve a rapidly warming Earth, observers said. But it also postpones many tough decisions and provides more incentives than penalties when it comes to addressing global warming.

The consensus document was accepted by acclamation following an acrimonious confrontation between the U.S. delegates and leaders of developing nations, who bluntly accused Washington of pressing them for commitments while refusing to make its own. Finally, after a succession of delegates lambasted the American position, the U.S. delegation acceded to language pledging industrialized countries to provide quantifiable technological and financial aid to less well-off nations, including the economically burgeoning China, India and Brazil.

We needed to give a mile, and we barely gave an inch.

Meantime, the U.S. -- with about five percent of the world's population -- remains the world's chief polluter, generating 26 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.

Let's hope that the next occupant of the White House cares more about this planet and its inhabitants than corporate profits.