SUNDSVAL, SWEEDEN- As the climate meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark was taking place, we in Sweden avidly paid attention to the issues discussed. Sweden is a neighbor to Denmark, and we actually speak the same language.
The summit was probably one of the biggest and most important meetings that ever have taken place, yet sadly there was no progress made. Hopefully important resolutions will be established soon in the future, as climate change affects us all.
Sweden is currently the leader of the European Union, and has been that during the past five months. One of the biggest challenges during those months has been agreeing upon the limit of carbon dioxide emissions until year 2020. Our Swedish leaders have done a good job making the decision to decrease our emissions by 20% until 2020 if no industrialized nations chose to make any effort.
However, the United States is probably is the most important key if we want to save the climate, being one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions. The United States hasn’t made any effort to lower the CO2 emissions.
The Copenhagen Summit is a replacement for the Kyoto protocol in 1997. Since the climate issue has to be dealt with right now, it is harder to make limitations.
The United States hasn’t chosen to ratify the protocol during the 12 years that it has been effective, and has been the biggest economy in the world during these years.
Since developing countries like China and India has seen that USA hasn’t been ratifying it, they don’t want to commit to it either. This is a big problem because the USA, at its peek, was responsible for approximately 40% of the total emissions in the world. Currently China is in the largest contributor.
The main argument from the U.S. is that the economy will be harmed. On the other hand, all countries in the EU, and especially Sweden, already have managed to drop our emissions and at them same time had a steady increase in our economy.
All over Europe, there is a big dissatisfaction about the way USA is treating this issue.
I care about the environment, and believe the Unites States can fight climate change if they tried. A developed country like Sweden has the means to fight it, and contribute less to the evident process of global warming.
After spending a month in USA I understand that it is the lifestyle that is the problem. For example, your cars compared to ours. Yours are much, much bigger both in terms of size and motor capacity. Do you really need to drive a big SUV to work? In Europe, cars are much smaller, and emit much less. SUV’s are only used to plow snow.
I hope the rest of the world will take part in postponing climate change, especially the United States, China, and India. It is time to wake up and take responsibility; otherwise it will be too late.
As always, i love to read all of your post. *,**:*