Controls would require expensive modification of coal-burning power plants. Carbon dioxide is not a poisonous gas. It is the stuff we exhale every time we inhale oxygen. But when it collects in the upper atmosphere, it traps heat below. In doomsday scenarios, the Great Plains will eventually become deserts, the polar ice caps will melt, and coasts will be flooded around the world.
Many experts are convinced that the greenhouse effect is real.
The consensus was reflected in a diplomatic accord in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, calling on industrialized nations, including the United States, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The Clinton administration accepted the consensus and initialed the treaty, but never submitted it to the Senate for ratification because it was sure to be defeated. In fact, even before the Kyoto meeting convened, the Senate voted 95 to 0 to reject the treaty. What united conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats in opposition was that the accord would exempt rapidly developing nations like China and India, which would be free to burn coal as they competed with American industry and workers. Bush attacked the Kyoto agreement on the campaign trail, which was not surprising.