With the recent re-emergence of the term "crisis" in administration vernacular, it gives one pause to consider its usage in conjunction with perhaps the most stable domestic government program ever devised, as opposed to its usage to describe the current status of our rapdily deterioriating climate. With US politicians refusing to participate in, and even actively undermining, attempts by the global community to make at least some effort to deal with our current and impending climate crisis, the folks at the
Climate Crisis Coalition have taken it upon themselves to organize a petition proclaiming that if the US government won't sign on to Kyoto, let the people say they are for it!
To sign the petition and learn more, visit:
http://www.kyotoandbeyond.org/
More after the jump.
The text of the petition is as follows:
When faced with a grave threat to a livable future for ourselves, our children and future generations, it is our duty as Americans to respond.
To date, some 140 nations have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which enters into force in February 2005, in order to arrest the intensifying destructiveness of global climate change.
In contrast, the United States, which generates 25 percent of the world's polluting carbon emissions with only 5 percent of its population, refuses to join in this worldwide effort to keep this planet hospitable to civilization.
We recognize the current goals of the Protocol are too low – and its timetable too long -- to effectively halt the escalating instability of the global climate.
We also recognize the Kyoto Protocol is the only existing diplomatic framework through which the entire global community can address this unprecedented challenge.
We further recognize that the Constitution of the United States grants us the ultimate authority of government.
Therefore, as citizens of the United States, we hereby ratify the Kyoto Protocol and demand that our elected representatives follow suit.
Additionally, we pledge to support subsequent phases of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce worldwide greenhouse emissions by 70 percent. This global transition to clean energy would address nature's demand for a stable climate even as it generates millions of clean energy jobs.
Finally, we declare, through this act of ratification, our allegiance to the democratic process, our fundamental and mortal relationship with this Earth and our essential solidarity with every other member of the human family.
In a recent 2004
poll by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, 71% of Americans polled thought that the US should sign on to Kyoto, indicating that the CCC should have a pretty easy time finding signatures. The poll itself is quite fascinating, with large majorities supporting US involvement in treaties banning landmines (80%), nuclear testing (87%), and participation in the International Criminal Court (76%), results that are naturally unspeakable in the media. You can guess which side of these issues Bush is on, but I digress.
Regarding Democratic Party politics, it seems to me that the Democrats need to jettison the DLC-business wing of the party as soon as possible and claim the impending climate catastrophe (along with other public, not business, interest issues) as a major policy front, megaphoning the mounds of scientific data and putting substantial legislation on the table. With even the Pentagon declaring that climate change would be a threat to national security and clear majorities of the population in support of action, it is more urgent than ever that Democrats seize this issue as a battering ram against the Republicans.
In the end, whether the Democrats take on the issue or not, we the public must demand change, and demand it now! Sign the People's ratification of Kyoto today!