What The United States Doesn't Understand

The UN Climate Change Conference concluded last week after a 13th unscheduled day of talks and set the bar for participating countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions for what is now called 'Kyoto II'. But the United States still remains the only major industrialised nation to reject the Kyoto treaty and will not comply to mention figures as it feels developing countries, like China, needs to make tougher emission commitments.
The senior US negotiator, Paula Dobriansky, said she had heard "many strong statements from many major developing country leaders on a greater role in helping to address urgently this global problem." But "doesn't seem it's going to be reflected in our outcome here in the declaration."
Dobriansky was loudly booed by other negotiators, and a US environmental activist representing New Guinea said to thrilling applauds:
"If you're not willing to lead, please get out of the way."
Fighting climate change will require commitments not only from developing countries but also from larger developed nations.
As a citizen of the United States, I feel that I am not in an agreement with my government over this issue. The United States is taking a back seat to a global initiative to halt a crisis that will eventually affect billions of people, especially those in third world countries all because we fear that China is not setting a high enough goal for itself.. See that's how much America believes in you, World. Aim higher then you believe you can achieve, if not we will not join any of your clubs.

To fully understand the concept of my photo above go to MySpace.com/TheChardonairs and listen to the song Captain America!

UPDATE: It is now being reported that the United States has joined in the global emissions pledge to now take part in the negotiations. The two main debatable questions to be answered are how to reduce gas emissions for developed/developing nations and what sort of commitment poor and emerging economies should take on in the future.
Yesterday, I was very upset with my country (if you couldn't tell with that last bit of sarcasm) and now I am very proud. We decided to quit dragging our feet and step up to join the world in solving our crisis.
Other commitments for change include sending the necessary technology to aid the rising economies to grow, to deal with the severe issue of deforestation (which is responsible for one-fifth of the world's greenhouse gases) and to create a U.N. fund to help poor countries adapt to the effects of climate change, such as droughts and flooding.