No not George W. Bush…global warming.  The European Union, in preparation for the conference on climate change in Montreal this week, says that it’s willing to "design a system with different types of participation, under
which developing countries would take on commitments that were in line
with their level of economic development.â€?  Afraid that industrializing countries like India, China and Brazil may scuddle the talks EU Environmental Minister Stavros Dimas seems to be watering down the commitments layed out for industrializing nations with a "its not fair" argument.  

I can’t say he’s wrong.  But can we afford to watch more than one-third of the world’s populatoin (India and China) follow in America’s footsteps with coal power plants, a billion vehicles on the road within a system that  lacks an environmental cleanup strategy and ideal?  I don’t think our earth can sustain an explosion of growth like that.  Here’s the dilemna: who gave us the right to say to China, India and other developing nations what they can and can’t do industrially? On the other hand, if the world’s ecological health (and our human existence) hangs in the balance, its no longer a question of who gave us the right, but how we’ll be able to convince these countries to do otherwise.

These are the type of overarching themes swirling around the 11th Conference of the Parties and the First ever Meeting of the Paries in Montreal this week.  We all know that this mass meeting of the world’s most powerful and most dependant nations will not solve global warming. However, its a key step in acknowleding the problem as a world community and for the first time working together to implement the Kyoto Protocol.  Let’s hope they aren’t distracted by the surrounding politics of it all.