Raul, 21 years, Madrid.
Letter from a scientist by the name Claus Hentzel:
“Dear Metro,
I hope you all will read what I’ve got to say. For the past few years scientists have measured that the temperature has increased with 0,2 degrees Celsius. The amount of CO2 in percent has increase in the air. How do we know if this is due to global warming? It is not even proven that global warming does exist. There are many strange things happening on Earth that are not expected. Maybe the rise of temperature is one of them. This is my personal thought.
Best regards,
Claus Hentzel”
Letter from a scientist by the name Stanislaw Nowak:
“Dear readers,
Global warming is something that I take really seriously and I think that you should do too! Each year the temperature rises and creates huge problems. There are many countries affected by violent weathers. The weather becomes dangerous when its surroundings are unstable. Glaciers and poles are melting, because of the unexpected temperature rise. There will be huge disasters when the new amount of water overflows cities. Water expands when heated, so low-lying countries will be flooded. Venice would most likely be one of the first cities damaged. It is such a beauty; therefore it would be a huge loss. The cultural image of that town is unique. People are in a danger and we have to do something about this issue! It would be great if you all could think about what you are doing every day. There are many ways in which you could stop emitting CO2 in the air. Think about using solar power; buy ‘nature free’ products that do not destroy the environment. It is never too late!
Wish you all luck,
Stanislaw Nowak”
Treaties – the Kyoto protocol
The Kyoto Treaty commits industrialized nations to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, principally Carbon Dioxide, by around 5.2% below their 1990 levels over the next decade. This is to make the global warming lower.
The treaty was drawn up in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, and needed to be approved by countries who were responsible for at least 55% of the world's carbon emissions in 1990 to come into force.
The agreement was dealt a severe blow in March 2001 when President George W Bush announced that the United States would never sign it. It started to look like fiasco. But then a scaled-down version was drawn up four months later and finalized at the climate talks in Bonn in Germany in 2002. The treaty now only needs Russian approval to come into force. The country or Vladimir Putin does not want to sign it. It could force him to cut down on his nuclear power, which he can’t do
If and when the revised treaty takes effect in 2008, it will require all parties, including 39 industrialized countries, to achieve different emission reduction targets.
With that aim, it will provide a complex system which will allow some countries to buy emission credits from others.
For instance, a country in Western Europe might decide to buy rights or credits to emit carbon from one in Eastern Europe which could not afford the fuel that would emit the carbon in the first place.
The US produced 36% of emissions in 1990, making it the world's biggest polluter.
The revised Kyoto agreement, widely credited to the European Union, made considerable compromises allowing countries like Russia to offset their targets with carbon sinks that are areas of forest and farmland which absorb carbon through photosynthesis.
The agreement in Bonn during the climate conference also reduced cuts to be made to emissions of six gases believed to be intensifying global warming from the original treaty's 5.2% to 2%. As the US wouldn’t sign the treaty it would be impossible to reach the 5%.
It was hoped that these slightly watered down provisions would allow the US to take up the Kyoto principles but this has not proved to be the case. You can therefore conclude that it feels as if the Kyoto Treaty has been put on ice for the moment.
The key points of the treaty were to make sure that the LEDC’s recieve both a financial and mental support to achieve the goals of the treaty. Also systems would be created to check the emission of gases. The countries failing to meet up to the ideas would be faced legally due to failing to show as positive results as they promised.
