My topic is on the international agreement going on around the world on the topic of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and water vapour, are relevant in today's society, because greenhouse gases add to global warming, which in turn, deplete the ozone layer, letting in toxic and harmful substances that can and do kill people.

In 1990 a group of environmental scientists, under the guidance of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, banded together and wrote up a report stating that the carbon dioxide emissions needed to be reduced by 60 to 80 percent just to diminish the effects of global warming enough, so that humans and animals could adapt to it (Jaimet A9). Historically, the Kyoto Protocol, which received its name from where it originated in Kyoto, Japan, has been around for decades, though, the Protocol, was only established in 1997 with three simple missions in mind (Jaimet A9).

1. Find alternative sources of energy to satisfy the world's population (Jaimet A9).
2. Find a more practical and environmentally friendly way of burning fossil fuels (Jaimet A9).
3. Find a method to cut down on the amount of greenhouse gases that were released into the atmosphere, through industries, automobiles, gas, coal, oil, etc (Jaimet A9).

Canada alone burns approximately 1.8 million barrels of oil, along with 192 cubic meters of gas per day (Jaimet A9). The United States burns ten times the amount Canada does (Jaimet A9). The Kyoto Protocol called for the world to come together and reduce those statistics drastically by 2008-2012 (Jaimet A9). Canada's main objective was to originally cut the greenhouse emissions by three percent and the United States agreed to cut their emissions by seven percent (Jaimet A9). This set off a slight competition and Canada, not wanting to look foolish, declared to cut its emissions by six percent (Jaimet A9). Soon after, eighty-four countries signed the Kyoto Protocol (Jaimet A9).

This leads into the problem in society now. Some countries, although they signed to Protocol, began bending the rules and slacking off in their agreement (Jaimet A9). President of the United States, George W. Bush announced that Kyoto was "fatally flawed" and scrapped the entire project (Jaimet A9). Needless to say, the United States was out. Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, taking a more 'democratic' way out of having to make the decision to either follow through or ditch, turned to the provinces of Canada to decide (Bryden A1). This didn't bode well since Alberta relies mainly on fossil fuels to power its factories. Additionally, the mining of the fossil fuels contribute to a great portion of the employment in that province (Jaimet A9). As well, Jean Chrétien argued at the G-8 Summit, that Canada's hydro-electricity should count as clean energy, since Canada only emits two percent of the world's carbon dioxide (Jaimet A9). Yet, the EU (European Union) rebutted his plea with the fact Canada also exports a colossal amount of coal and oil (Jaimet A9). As it stands now, fifty-five of the world's countries that produce fifty-five percent of the recorded greenhouse gases in 1990 must ratify (Jaimet A9). In fact, several have, such as the European Union and Japan, bringing the grand total up to eighty countries. Those eighty countries contributed to 36.6 percent of the greenhouse emissions in 1990(Jaimet A9). Even though Canada's agreement in this Protocol is really quite unnecessary, it would in fact bring the Kyoto Protocol to North America, making its presence known (Jaimet A9).

Even though North America has yet to sign, the Kyoto Protocol has been rocketing over Asia and Europe. With close to forty percent of the greenhouse gases targeted, we can all hope that the eighty countries that have signed will follow through with their promise and that by 2010, the greenhouse gases should be reduced drastically (Jaimet A9). Alberta is working on a 'Plan B' to the Protocol, which extends the time frame by eight years, which will in theory, cut down on the emissions by six percent, without damaging one of Alberta's, as well as Canada's main industries (Olsen A14).

Ultimately, the Kyoto Protocol was established to assist the world's problem with global warming, by cutting down on the outpour of greenhouse gases. So far, eighty countries worldwide have signed the Protocol, with the intention of making this almost impossible dream of cutting down on the carbon dioxide emissions a reality. With more and more greenhouse gases escaping into our air, I leave you with this question. If greenhouse gases continue to seep out into our atmosphere, just exactly how are humans expected to live on a planet that will be dead?

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