The purpose of the Kyoto treaty, so named because of it pending in Kyoto, Japan, is to get 28 industrialized nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Since the Industrial Revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth s atmosphere has roughly doubled.
Carbon dioxide absorbs sunlight reflecting off the Earth, heating up the air.
Many scientists believe that this added heat will cause the polar ice caps to melt, raising ocean levels. It will also make weather, particularly storms, more unpredictable. The treaty would have required the United States to reduce its emissions output by 7 percent by the year 2012. However, Clinton never submitted the treaty to the Senate. Recently Bush announced that he does not intend to continue negotiating the agreement, saying that the country s economic interests were at stake.