For five years, the WTO has in every case ruled against the environment and against fair labor practices. Each decision has been made by a panel operating in secret, and under the rules of the WTO each decision is binding. Add the fact that child labor can also not be challenged under the WTO, and it makes sense that the environmental, labor, and human rights communities were all well-represented in Seattle. The good news is that Ford Motor Company is the first automobile maker and the first major U.S. company to leave the Global Climate Coalition. The author of the report is the public lands policy advisor to George W. Bush.
Probable culprits are global warming and climate change caused by human activity.
Larry Crenshaw is a native South Carolinian now writing and doing environmental work in Alabama.