When you point one finger, three are pointing back at you

National News Story


This week is the huge Copenhagen Summit. It is essentially a meeting of over 200 world leaders to create a plan to reduce carbon emissions on a global scale. I am extremely interested in this because ideally I will be working in an environmental sector after I graduate. I also think it is necessary for there to be a global agreement in order to realistically reduce carbon emissions. This is a follow-up from the Kyoto Protocol back in the ’90’s. At the Kyoto meeting, many countries vowed to reduce (in increase) their carbon emissions by a certain percent depending on their wealth and development as a country. They believed it was not fair to not allow some undeveloped countries to develop because they cannot put carbon into the atmosphere. Each country was analyzed and given a certain percent to increase or decrease their carbon emissions. The United States is by far the highest producer of carbon emissions per person. This means that my home country has the majority of the responsibility for this issue and needs to address it. However, until recently, President Obama was not stating whether or not he would even come to the Copenhagen meeting. Currently he has announced that he will attend the meeting, but may not attend the last few days to create a solution. As a concerned American, this is just embarrassing. How is it that the country that is leading the issue (and also sets examples for many other countries) does not believe it is a priority to fix it’s mistakes and literally help the world? The goal was to reduce overall carbon emissions by 50% by 2050. This would be the amount of sustainable carbon emissions.

In the last 4 months in Spain, I have noticed a lack of interest and concern in environmental issues. For example, my host mother does not recycle at all, and neither does any of my friend’s host families. There are some recycle bins next to dumpsters for recycling so it is available, however it is just not a main concern. I have told my host mom that I can take out the plastic bottles of water to recycle them and she said, “This is how we do it. We put everything in the trash and throw it away all at once.” I have also noticed a similar situation at my school, IES. The school systems should be the most concerned about environmental efforts because schools influence children who influence their families. However, there is one recycling location at IES, an establishment spread out across three floors. Also, since the Kyoto Protocol, Spain overall has increased it’s emissions by 40%. I do recognize some things the government has been doing to help. The Catalan Government has a really cool idea to make schools “eco-friendly” so that children are always aware of environmental issues. However, the main producers of waste are adults. The adults in Spain seem to have the same outlook as President Obama: there are more important issues to deal with right now.