America must compromise on environment

During the past 10 years, the United States has released more than five times the ozone-depleting gases of any other developed country. But in recent United Nations-led international talks aimed at reducing ozone damage, the United States refused to compromise with European and developing countries, insisting on a different method of calculating emissions. \nThis selfish attitude toward environmental issues is keeping the world from reaching a compromise. As the world's most industrialized country and the source of much of the ozone damage that has occurred worldwide, the United States should be a leader, not a follower, in attempts to save the planet from further damage.\nNegotiations about ozone damage involving many nations reached a major milestone in 1997, when more than 170 countries agreed to the Kyoto Proposition. This treaty requires three dozen industrialized countries to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases to 5 percent below 1990 levels. The goal was to accomplish this by 2012, but the countries did not establish how this would occur. \nThat is what they are not trying to accomplish. The most recent attempt to set down guidelines revolved around several industrialized countries' attempts to lower the amount of emissions they must reduce. The group, led by the United States and including Japan, Australia and Canada, is attempting to set up a system in which countries could earn credits for forested and farmed land. These countries claim forests and farmlands act as carbon dioxide "sinks" and absorb the most harmful of the greenhouse gases.\nWhile forest and farmlands do absorb carbon dioxide, each of these industrialized countries is producing carbon dioxide at far greater rates than the plants can absorb. And the amount of land covered by forests and farmlands is shrinking as cities and suburbs expand into them.\nThe U.S. negotiators fear strict environmental guidelines will hurt businesses to the point of hurting the economy. This might be a valid concern, but these issues are keeping an international group from making landmark decisions about how to save our environment. Because no specific guidelines have been set down, ozone emissions continue to rise. \nBy paying too much attention to business interests, the United States is doing a disservice to the citizens of the entire world. We are primarily responsibly for this problem; it is up to us to drive the solution.