What problem is the kyoto protocol designed to address?

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty, which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, based on the premise that (a) global warming exists and (b) man-made CO2 emissions have caused it.

the Harvard scientists and economists who study climate change express almost universal criticism of the accord, which they fault as economically inefficient, unobjective, inequitable, andworst of allineffective. And they point out that the protocol fails to include the largest future sources of CO2 emissions. China, for example, will pass the U.S. in annual emissions of CO2 by 2013, according to Boas professor of international economics Richard N. Cooper. Another projection suggests that, by 2050, China's cumulative contributions of CO2 to the atmosphere will exceed those of the United States.

The original agreement outlined in Kyoto committed individual countries to reduce their CO2 emissions to below-1990 levels. But the choice of 1990 immediately introduced inequities into the ensuing political process to determine who should cut how much, says Butler professor of environmental science Michael B. McElroy.

on this day in 1939, in response to hitler’s invasion of poland, britain and france, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on germany.

the first casualty of that declaration was not german—but the british ocean liner athenia, which was sunk by a german u-30 submarine that had assumed the liner was armed and belligerent. there were more than 1,100 passengers on board, 112 of whom lost their lives. of those, 28 were americans, but president roosevelt was unfazed by the tragedy, declaring that no one was to “thoughtlessly or falsely talk of america sending its armies to european fields.” the united states would remain neutral.

as for britain’s response, it was initially no more than the dropping of anti-nazi propaganda leaflets—13 tons of them—over germany. they would begin bombing german ships on september 4, suffering significant losses. they were also working under orders not to harm german civilians. the german military, of course, had no such restrictions. france would begin an offensive against germany’s western border two weeks later. their effort was weakened by a narrow 90-mile window leading to the german front, enclosed by the borders of luxembourg and belgium—both neutral countries. the germans mined the passage, stalling the french offensive.

it is the code of hammurabi