to act are unthinkable- more record floods and droughts, diseases and pests spreading to new areas, crop failures and famines, melting glaciers and stronger storms and rising seas. Our first step should be to set realistic and achievable binding emissions limits. For our part, the United States remains firmly committed to a strong and binding target that will reduce our own emissions by nearly 30 percent from what they would otherwise be, a commitment as strong or stronger than any we have heard here from any country. The imperative here is to do what we promise, rather than to promise what we cannot do. For example, in my country, we remember- NARRATOR: But in brokering the Kyoto treaty, Gore had agreed to let the developing nations off the hook. They made no binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. Most developed nations, however, committed to binding cutbacks, with the U.S. agreeing to roll back greenhouse emissions to 7 percent below what they were in 1990, about 20 percent below what they are today. Reaction in the U.S. was swift. FRED PALMER, Western Fuels Association, Inc.: What the long-term goal of the vice president of the United States is, is to ultimately eliminate all fossil fuel use in the United States. President Clinton, in connection with Kyoto said it was - his words - a "good first step." A first step to what? A first step to eliminating fossil fuel utilization in the United States. NARRATOR: As Gore left for home, he