TOPIC QUESTION: Should our country legislate reductions on carbon dioxide emissions in power plants to avert global warming.

The above graph shows the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere per capita for the major industrialized countries. Per capita means the amount for each person living in that country. Notice that the amount for the USA is almost twice as much as for any of the other countries.

During the 1990s, the world became aware of the problem of global warming, and that the emission of carbon dioxide gas (along with several others) was causing the problem. During this time there were a number of meetings of the nations of the world to debate this problem and possible solutions. A number of agreements to limit the emission of carbon dioxide gas were signed by many countries of the world. One of the most famous negotiations occurred in Kyoto, Japan, at the World Conference on Climate Change. An agreement know as the Kyoto-Protocol was hammered out, with at least 37 countries signing this agreement to limit global warming or greenhouse gases. United States president George W. Bush has stated that the United Sates will not sign the Kyoto-Protocol, fearing that the costs to limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will hurt the United States' economy. As the present time the United States, which is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, seems to have little interest in even talking about an agreement.