This week and next, signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its principal treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, are gathering in Doha, Qatar, to coordinate an international response to climate change. Judging from the failure of past conferences to establish far-reaching, binding agreements in Copenhagen and Cancún to effectively tackle global warming, the prospects for the latest climate conference are bleak.
Previous attempts at international emissions regulations have been unsuccessful because major powers are often reluctant to sign onto and enforce these treaties. Most notably, the U.S. failed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the most significant binding agreement for industrialized countries to date. China is also at fault; its ‘developing country’ status exempts it from Kyoto obligations to reduce emissions. Together, these two nations are responsible for 40 percent of global carbon emissions. Any successful international climate change treaty requires these powers’ earnest participation.
States like the U.S. and China are afraid of losing a competitive edge if they are the only ones implementing green reforms, often seen as anathema to growth.
However, it is imperative that major industrial polluters commit to these kinds of treaties, at the very least to bolster their implementation. Given Republican control of the House, cities and states should begin looking into improving their own, small-scale environmental policies—consider it making change where you can.
California’s historic 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act and the recent inauguration of the law’s cap-and-trade program provide a model of local-level action. Though cap-and-trade in particular may not be the most effective strategy to tackle global warming, it sends a signal to national government that it needs to take action. As the 8th largest economy in the world and the 12th largest carbon emitter, California also sends an important signal to the international community that developed economies are willing to do their part.
Local eco-friendly initiatives include the District’s plastic bag tax, which was instated two years ago. At five cents per bag, this isn’t much more than a symbolic measure, but nevertheless it is changes like these that express popular concerns, initiate a broader dialogue, and serve as jumping-off points for more effective change.
Instead of counting on delegates in Doha to achieve any sort of meaningful agreements or enforceable commitments, inhabitants of the planet should take matters into their own hands at any level they can. Though local movements may not be enough to prevent global temperature increases, they are indispensable in signaling a grassroots desire for environmental regulations necessary for broader social change to materialize.
