[alaskanfan]

The useless Kyoto Protocol's emphasis is on CO2 emissions. The exclusion of India and China was a political decision because the Kyoto Protocol ostensibly addressed current greenhouse gas producers, and India and China weren't considered major at the time, though there potential growth in emissions was obvious.

So essentially it was a political/economic decision rather than being based on environmental issues?

Therefore President Bush's decision to disregard this issue is not an environmental decision.

[cogitator]

Therefore President Bush's decision to disregard this issue is not an environmental decision.

You will get no argument from me on that point.

And... even its proponents say that the Kyoto Protocol is merely Step One, and that it doesn't do very much about global warming. The primary benefit that they cite is the precedent for better treaties/protocols that actually might do something about global warming. The only ones that I would advocate at present would be treaties that have controls on black soot emissions and methane as well as CO2.