In December, negotiators from 122 countries agreed to a legally binding treaty that will severely restrict 12 persistent organic pollutants. Flavin expressed concern about what he said was the anti-environmental rhetoric of the Bush campaign during the presidential election. Two weeks of international talks in the Netherlands on how to cut pollution that is warming the planet ended in failure Nov. 25, after disputes between the United States and the EU proved insurmountable. The key issue blocking agreement was whether and to what extent countries should be allowed to count the carbon dioxide absorbed by forests and farmlands toward their emissions reduction targets. Greenhouse gas emissions mostly come from burning fossil fuels for factories, power plants and cars.
Carbon dioxide is a major component of the emissions.
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