Canada Officially withdraws from Kyoto

But Canada's statement is not true. Kyoto covers every nation on Earth. It simply divided them into tiers according to when action would be mandatory. The renewal of Kyoto would have seen what Canada pretends to wants but does not want since it would require Harper to drop his religiously fervent denial of Global Warming. He would have to tell that adviser from the Family Values Coalition that he had seen the light. He would have to tell the oil industry that he could no longer be bought.

Eureka,

You may want to let the US know that.

They have not ratified. Kyoto has zero legal bearing over them.

The US agreed to Kyoto. It was not ratified because Clinton knew it would be defeated by the Republican majority. The US has not yet considered ratification but it is a signatory to the Accord and had not withdrawn.

Canada is alone in this. It has been described by other members as a pariah. IT made clear before the conference that its object was to sink any chance of agreement. Conservative Parliamentarians in Parliament cheered when they heard the news that Canada had received another "fossil of the day" award.

Canada is entirely alone in the world over this. It is nothing to cheer about but a cause for shame for every Canadian. Even those with Royal Blue skins.

Why don't they just implement a green tax and cut some other general tax the same amount. This would encourage conservation and show we are doing something. Each year you could get a little more aggressive to get people on the energy saving path. It would stop the argument.

Wow.

By not ratifying the treaty, the US has not agreed to be legally bound by any of the terms.

They don't need to pull out, they never entered.

Ratified or not it still obligated the US to certain actions in compliance. But I am not going into that. I have no interest in argument about who ratified and what they are obliged to do. It is unparalleled evil when the consequences are well known to this government.

And they are known and catastrophic climate change will be unavoidable. The scientific consensus is that there are just a few years left in which to begin effective measures to stop the increase of CO2 emissions in order to restrict temperature increase to that 2C which may (or may not) be something that humanity in relation to the Planet can cope with. That, btw, is the optimistic view and there are many scientists who think that coping at that level will not be possible.

It is you and your descendants who will feel them not just those in distant lands who can be ignored.

The rest of the world is telling you that. Are Canadians so saturated in the propaganda of the CPC and the American Republicans that they have lost the ability to think - and see?

To start, Dan, the US committed at Bali to setting targets comparable to the other Annex 1 countries. That means a de facto acceptance of Kyoto. The US, btw, is actually making some headway finally; if not enough. Canada is doing nothing, federally.

But, as I have said, I am not remotely interested in getting into legal quibbles about this.

Can you think of any instance in history where one country has defied the totality of the rest of the world as Canada is now doing? Canada has sabotaged Man's hope.

That is not hyperbolic. The stakes are that high and it will be too late by the time some future agreement can be made.